Day 182: Harrison to Watts Bar Lock and Dam
Day 182: Monday, October 17th: We had planned to get up early and get going today because we had a long way to go. This scene greeted Bill as he started preparations (it is an almost full moon setting over the far side of the lake):
However, Mother Nature decided to make it a misty/foggy morning, so we waited to leave. It looked like this about 7:30am:
Bill decided he could see the channel markers well enough to navigate so we left Island Cove Marina. This is what the sign looked like as we passed:
Remember what it looked like yesterday?
Actually, in a few moments, the mist blew by..
As we dropped into the routine cruise configuration (1600 rpm, 7.5 mph, Otto the Autopilot driving, Bill studying charts and cruise guides, Ruth cleaning and working like crazy), we began to witness another perfect day developing. We rated this day as a perfect "10". We've had about three of these: one in the Chesapeake Bay, one in Georgian Bay and this one. Everything clicked today! It was so perfect that we forgot to take many pictures.
Of course, there were pretty rock faced bluffs:
The water was smooth with a slight breeze. Being a weekday, there were almost no other boats. There were waterfowl, and particularly an eagle. It was great. The banks along the river offered a bucolic scene:
We soon got a view of the TVA nuclear plant cooling towers at Watts Bar Dam. Clearly, one was in operation:
We arrived at Watts Bar Lock and Dam to find a tow going through. Fortunately, he had already passed his barges up through the lock and was waiting for the chamber to be ready for him. A sailboat had been waiting for several hours. Fortunately we only waited an hour and a half; here's all the waiting going on:
The barge finally cleared and we headed in behind the sailboat. This is the smallest TVA lock on the Tennessee River, but still gigantic in comparison with some we have seen. It has a lift of about 60 feet:
This is the second lock in the system with a curved downstream door:
This is the view of the lock and dam from just upstream. The lock is left of center, and that's a highway bridge over the dam:
We went another mile and poked our nose into a little bay. We dropped the anchor, set a stern anchor and had a pleasant happy hour watching fish jump and Great Blue Herons stare.
Position tonight: N35 37.957 W084 48.241
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