Goose Pond back to Pickwick Lake

Sitting pretty at Goose Pond Marina

Well, Wednesday morning when we went to pay for our slip rental we found out that if we stayed for five nights, we got 2 more nights free. Guess what – you guessed it! We had stayed for our five nights SO here we were – ready to head out but we couldn't let FREE nights go to waste. LOL! SO we decided to stay a little longer. The forecast was calling for rain on Thursday so we thought what the heck.....!   We could find more to do around here. And we did!

Mike's Capt Morgan impression in Wilson Lock

View from inside the Wilson Lock
Big Gates!!

Anchorage at the Waterfall on Pickwick Lake
Beautiful and peaceful

Looking out on the Lake from the Waterfall
What a view!

Riding along - singing a song!!



Still alot of fall foliage along the river







Gorgeous Sunset



Storm that had just passed us

We finally took the time to go for a bike ride. There was a bike/walking trail all around the marina area. We must have rode a 100 miles – okay maybe 10 – it seemed like that anyway! It might have been about 5 miles, okay! Beautiful scenery – but a new hatch of bugs! They were everywhere! Still a good ride.  Though when we got back we had bugs all over the front of us! We must have been going really fast or maybe they were really slow stupid bugs! Who knows!

Several Loopers came back to the Marina from their trip to Chattanooga. We enjoyed visiting with them. Ray (our Harbor Host) made plans for all of us to go out to dinner on Thursday night. We really appreciate his hospitality.

We spent much of Thursday again working on the boat. Mike worked on our forward head again. It's working! I cleaned the carpet in our aft bedroom. I'm telling you – there is always something to do!!
No time for sitting around eating bon bons!

Ray was true to his word and picked up all twelve of us at 5:30. We were going to dinner at Barry's Bar-B-Que. It was about 20 miles from the marina. He had told us that it would be an experience and it was. The place is a metal building behind the owner's home out in the middle of nowhere. There was a little sign on a fence post showing where to go and where to park. Inside there was a buffet set up and lots of tables and chairs. It didn't take long for us to feel at home. The buffet consisted of broasted chicken, bbq pork and fried catfish along with turnip greens and peach cobbler, oh - and homemade peach ice cream. We met Barry himself - a good ol' boy from Alabama along with his son (the cook) and his aunt (the hostess). We had a blast visiting with everyone and no one left hungry.

Friday morning around 8:30 we finally left the marina. It was nice to get going again. We traveled with Brown Eyed Girl, Free to B and Something Special as far as Ditto Landing. There they all stopped for the evening. We went on about 25 more miles to a great anchorage at about MM 314 – Limestone Creek near Decatur. It was really nice to be out of a marina and on the hook. But it was a little chilly! We planned a full day of traveling for Saturday.

But on Saturday we woke to a thick, dense fog. There were five bass boats right near us in the cove and we could barely see them. It was good that we were big and they could see us! LOL! We weren't able to leave our anchorage until around 10:00. Just about the time we were weighing the anchor along came the threesome that had stopped at Dittos the day before. The fog hadn't been that bad at Dittos. We expected to be 20 miles ahead of them but here we were now in the back! HA! We traveled along – locking through Wheeler Lock and Dam. They were going on to Florence Marina and locking through Wilson Lock and Dam. We had planned to anchor in Wilson Lake. Wilson Lake is beautiful and has lots of great anchorages. On the way down we stayed in a cove "Camp David". This time we planned to stay at Six Mile Creek. This anchorage turned out to be an A++++ anchorage! There was plenty of water and plenty of swinging room. We had a great dinner and enjoyed the evening.

This silly time change! Set the clocks back an hour! I can remember not long ago when it really mattered to me to get that extra hour of sleep. That's when we lived by the alarm clock. NO MORE! We got up our regular time only it was an hour earlier! The trouble with this is that it will now get dark an hour earlier – so we don't really gain anything.

We left our anchorage about 7:30 heading back down the Tennessee River to Pickwick Lake. We locked through the Wilson Lock (about 90 feet drop) by ourselves. We heard a few boats on the VHF but only saw one cruiser and one tug. Plenty of bass boats though - in a hurry to get somewhere - only to hurry to get somewhere else. That's fishing!

We could hear Sweet Pea, Erika Lin and several other Loopers cruising into Grand Harbor Marina. We wanted to anchor out again – the weather was so beautiful. We anchored this time at the best anchorage ever! It's rated 5 stars in the cruising guides. It's the waterfall in Copper Creek at MM 218 on Pickwick Lake. It is wonderful. Peaceful and very protected. Tomorrow morning we will decide whether to go into Grand Harbor or to venture on down the Tenn-Tom to Bay Springs at Five Finger Cove. Stay tuned!

Have I mentioned lately how Mike and I are still saying each day that we can't believe we are doing this? Well, we still can't believe it. Every day we thank God for this great opportunity to experience our fantastic voyage. We are having the time of our lives. Although we do miss our family and friends, we have continued to enjoy each and every day to the fullest. Who knows what tomorrow may bring!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"