Cruise to Knoxville

For the past couple of months our boat was docked at Harrison Bay State Park near Chattanooga. We continued to work on the boat making repairs and upgrades during this time. It wasn’t all work though. We also had visits from our longtime friends, the Tubachs and the Youngs, who stayed overnight and cruised with us around Chickamauga Lake. And we met new friends, the Knoxs and the Burgers, on our dock. The best parts of this experience so far are the people we meet and the people that join us on the boat.

In early September we packed up the house and started moving our ‘stuff’ onto the boat. Essentially, we turned our home back into a house and turned our boat into a home. We said goodbye to our family, friends and our wonderful cul-de-sac neighbors in Spalding Woods. On September 9th our daughter drove us to Harrison Bay and we said our ‘good-byes’ (leaving her and everyone is hard, just sayin’). On September 10, we finished unpacking and cleaning the boat and felt we were finally ready to start our adventure. We left Harrison Bay the next morning and headed toward Knoxville. The original plan was to cruise to Louisville, Ky but after taking a harder look at the timing and situation on the Ohio River we decided to go to Knoxville instead. Though we were disappointed that we weren’t going to get a sandwich at Captain's Quarter in Louisville, this trip to Knoxville would allow us to visit more parts of the beautiful Tennessee River and visit other good friends while there.

To get to Knoxville, we rode up two locks, Watts Bar and Fort Loudon, and passed by two nuclear plants, Sequoyah and Watts Bar. When you enter a lock, sometimes you are the only boat in there and sometimes you’re with other boats. The time we rode up the Watts Bar Lock we were joined by 17 bass fishing tournament boats! We were lucky to avoid rainy weather and storms in the area on our way to the first stop, Blue Springs Marina. But while we were at dinner at the marina, a storm hit us with lots of wind and rain. We were glad to not be on the boat when it hit but now we know where the leaks are! At dinner, one of the restaurant patrons encouraged us to stay in Knoxville for the weekend home football game and be part of the Vol Navy. Having not attended Tennessee and having gone to schools in Kentucky and Georgia, we didn’t think that was a great idea.

Our next stop was Fort Loudon Marina. While on our way, we called ahead to secure a transient slip at the famous Vol Navy Landing in Knoxville for the next night because we had planned to tour the city and visit our friends, the Layendeckers. However, we found out that they did not have a transient slip for us. So we quickly changed our plans and stayed longer at Fort Loudon Marina. Fortunately Kathy was able to visit for a night but unfortunately, Steve was not. The captain always reminds friends, family, and the first mate how it can be challenging to make firm plans while traveling by boat.

Since we couldn’t go to Knoxville, we decided to cruise up the Little Tennessee River on Tellico Lake. Each of the lakes on the Tennessee River has a different look and feel. Guntersville Lake is wide but more shallow and grassy which makes it great for fishing. Nickajack lake is wide and not populated and is where you start to see more mountains. Chickamauga Lake is wide, deep, and has more boaters. Watts Bar Lake is somehow more beautiful than the others but the difference is hard to describe. Tellico Lake is deep and cold and the banks are covered with neighborhoods of multi-million dollar homes. And it also has breathtaking views of the Smoky mountains! From the Sequoyah Marina on Tellico Lake, we took our new dinghy to Fort Loudon State Park to visit the fort there. It was built as a British fort on the edge of the western frontier in 1756. It has an interesting story regarding the Cherokee Indians which you can read about here. The next day we took the boat up the Little Tennessee as far as we could go, which was almost to the Smokies. The view was spectacular!

During this trip and on our trips up the Tenn-Tom we’ve used cruising guides written by Fred Meyers. Most cruising guides note details and ratings about marinas, anchorages, bridges, locks, etc. But Fred’s guide is better because it informs and entertains us by sharing stories about the river and points of interest along the way in addition to marinas and anchorages. Without this we would miss sites like the Cherokee monument and the marker for the Indian town Tanasi (supposedly where Tennessee got its name).

We did end up making it to Knoxville via the marina courtesy car. We visited Vol Landing where the Vol Navy was starting to assemble as well as Market Square and the Sunsphere, which was built for the 1982 World's Fair.

On the banks of the river we were seeing tinges of color signaling the coming of Fall. We’re looking forward to being on the water when the changing leaves are at their peak colors.