It is Hard to Leave....

Pebble Isle Marina. The company has been excellent, the food and service is basic but worth a second visit (or third, in our case!) and we had made friends with the owners, Randy and Tammy. They conjured all kinds of excuses for us to stay, but when you gotta go, you gotta go!.
Everyone questioned our sanity, in the cold and drizzle, once we got to the fuel dock for a pump-out...Why leave on such a day with such weather that didn't look like it was going to get any better??? Well, you have to leave SOME TIME! and NOW is as good as any. No tornado on the horizon, according to the weather forecasts from many sources, and we wouldn't melt in a little light rain.




As it turned out, light rain was the worst of it, but the sun never appeared and the temperature dropped along the way. We were back to down jackets and a scarf for me. Of course Rain + River + Flood, and the Tennessee was flooded....about 12 feet above normal. We could see that in the submerged trees where they should be living above water level,. The debris was sporadic, however, so it wasn't dangerous to be motoring.
We were followed by Todd and Debbie, who motor faster than us by a knot or two, and they overtook us about 2 hrs into the journey. They are Marina bound, and had a longer journey that day, than we did. Anchoring out in pre-determined anchorages...Waz is nothing if not 'prepared' with several choices, depending on conditions, all ready to be taken.

I had to take this photo of the restaurant at Pebble Isle Marina, and Waz (in red jacket) about to sit down for the morning cinnamon roll:)

 Billy reading the electric meter just before we cast off the lines to leave. I told him to give us a wave:)

Looking back through the drizzle to Pebble Isle Marina, with Todd and Debbie's boat at the fuel dock.

Todd and Debbie about to overtake us, on the Tennessee River.

 WE are going UP stream, so at 1700RPM we are only doing 6.7 knots, which turned out to be the fast speed of the day, considering we went down to 5.6 knots at one stage. The current got worse the close to the large corners we got. Depths varied from about 17 ft to around 66ft in places. Lots of place names with 'Hollow', or 'Branch', attached:)

When it wasn't drizzling, it was overcast and plain cold. At least there wasn't any wind and no driving rain. We might have stayed in the marina if those conditions had prevailed.

Homes so close to these crumbly cliffs, amazed us. We photographed at least one whose deck had disappeared into the abyss called the river.

 Too bad we couldn't focus on the building, instead of the plastic, but this building/home was a tower shaped as a Light house, complete with light on top. It was for sale. We briefly (emphasis!) contemplated living there:)

 A new home at a more sensible height above the river, but many were at least three stories high on their stilts. There must have been some historically high river levels for that to be the case...which tells us that this house isn't high enough above the river.

 The color is coming...slowly. No REAL cold snaps to make the sudden change, but soft and pretty is fine by us.

 T and D up ahead on the river bend. The tree on the left shouldn't be in the water, but we have a 12ft flood going here.

Unfortunately, a river at flood level coupled with grey skies makes for dull travel. How the sun makes life so much more interesting!


Our goal for the day was to travel 60+ miles and reach our anchorage at Double Island. We achieved the goal but it was time to get food by the time we reached there and we were both hungry. Lots of twists and turns in the river today, and a few tows to pass both coming and going. Otherwise we felt quite alone on this large river.

Large chunks of rock were evidence that the cliffs, small as they are by comparison to what we are more familiar with in NZ, are constantly crumbling. This is Limestone, we believe.

 Our anchorage was behind a little Island..one of two known as Double Islands. Because the river was flooded, our depth was 12 feet above what we might have had at low pool. This meant we anchored in 25ft! You can see the tow (yellow triangle at left) about to pass the entry to the anchorage.

 ...and there he goes. He is going WITH the current, going north...or as they say on the radio, just to confuse matters, they are going 'down' stream (even tho they are going north), while we are going 'up stream (against the current, going south).

Dinner! I cut a couple of bacon wrapped Filet de Beouf  in half in order to make them faster to cook, steamed the beans and Brussels in the microwave, and made the mushroom sauce with the dribblings and some cream, when I removed the beef to rest, after cooking. The whole thing took 1/2 an hour! thank goodness. 'twas very yummy!

I have learned to shop smarter for items that take less prep. time, though I still like to trim my own veg and meat. The veg here came in steamer bags ready to microwave. I did take the Brussels out and trim their bottoms, however, as they didn't look that appetizing as they were. 4 mins in the micro and they were perfect to eat.

We were incredibly tired after all that, and were in bed by 9.30, sleeping through until the alarm went off at 7am. We both got us to look out the window and went back to bed....FOG!
 More on that in the next blog.