From Wheeler to Goose Pond – along the Tennessee

Surrounded by Autumn Colors

On our way to Joe Wheeler State Park we had to lock through the Wheeler Lock. This was the easiest one ever! No wind – no current – no problems! Just past the lock we see the entrance to the State Park. Wheeler Lake is really pretty but I think Wilson Lake has it beat. Anyway as we approached the Marina we could see all the Looper boats sitting tall and proud.

Tennessee River sunset

Anchorage at Joe Wheeler State Park

Surprise!  Look what we caught!
Our anchor chain was wrapped around the branch
about six times.  What a mess!

Somebodys fishing hole caught us!

Mike took the branch over to the far bank
after freeing it from the cement block and our boat

It was really neat to see all of them. It was even better to see all our Looper friends!
We anchored just passed the marina around the bend. It was absolutely beautiful. The leaves are really starting to turn. The weather is getting a little bite to it in the mornings but the afternoons warm up nicely. We took the dinghy over for a visit during the Looper Crawl (Happy Hour). It was good to see some of our Looper buddies. However, we didn't get to visit with EVERYONE! Wish we had.

Tuesday morning Mike fished and we pretty much just hung out while enjoying the really gorgeous weather and scenery. Some of our buddies came over to visit. Other than that – I'd say we didn't DO anything! How great is that!

We decided to leave our wonderful anchorage on Wednesday morning. Capt. Chappy was getting antsy. We planned to head toward Chattanooga. Sweet Pea would catch up to us after the Rendezvous. We didn't get away as easy as that though. When we weighed the anchor – or I should say tried to weigh the anchor we found that the chain had wrapped around this HUGE tree branch at least a half a dozen times! Not only that – the HUGE branch had a cement block tied to it! We must have gotten into someone's "fishing hole". Anyway, we tugged and tugged – but finally Mike had to get the dinghy back down and chop the rope holding the block with his hatchet! Yea! Once that was loose he was able to break off some of the branches and free the chain. He then took the branch over to the edge of the bank. What a morning! So it was about the crack of 11:00 when we headed out. We went about 25 miles and anchored in Flint Creek. Now this looked like a great place on the charts (what charts we have anyway). However, it was really shallow. There were markers that took you in and out. The channel was about 8 feet but outside the channel just a little bit - it went down to four feet. At little bit farther in and there were a couple of labs playing in the water – uh, they were touching?! Mike was able to anchor NautiNell just right though so we would be fine for the evening. It turned out to be a nice evening with another beautiful sunset.

Thursday morning we were up and ready to go fairly early. Well, at least Capt. Chappy was. I need to start going to bed earlier, I guess…. LOL Anyway, we headed on down. Sweet Pea called and told us that several were going to leave Joe Wheeler this morning and planned to stay at Ditto Landing near Huntsville. That sounded fine with us! After all, if you purchase 100 gallons of fuel your slip is free. Can't beat that! We needed fuel anyway – don't we always?

We got to the Marina about noon. After having lunch we went to the grocery store. They don't have a courtesy car, but someone at the marina will drive you to the store. How nice is that! It's only about 3 miles – but who wants to bike that if you don't have to! We loaded up on groceries and beer – should be good for a couple of weeks….. hopefully. We hadn't been back to the marina very long when some of the Loopers from Joe Wheeler started to show up. We spent the evening visiting with Sweet Pea and the rest of the gang. It was starting to rain and really turning cold – that cut the visiting rather short.

After dinner, Mike and I watched the Cardinals pull the sixth came out of their hats! Wow, what a game – extra innings even! Hopefully we'll be able to get TV so we can watch the final game.

Friday morning was cold and rainy. We still wanted to head out though. Not sure why – but anyway we did. Everyone headed out rather early. We headed out about 10:30 – right on time! Sweet Pea stayed behind to get provisions, etc. They will catch up with us tomorrow. We had only planned to go about 20 miles or so and drop a hook but it was such a cold rainy day – we just kept plugging along. We locked through the Guntersville Lock without any problems. At least it quit raining for a short time. About 4:30 we pulled in to Goose Pond Marina near Scottsboro AL. Most of the Loopers that had left this morning were there. We visited with everyone for a while. The temperature had really dropped – glad we were where we could plug in and use our heat!

Till next time!

Admiral "C"