Anchorage at Little Cedar Mountain Cove, Mile 426.9

Wednesday:  We were up early again; 05:15.  It was a very still night and the boat barely moved.  But it did move some this morning doing a slow 360 turn.  We had about 5' to spare on each bank.  It was a good thing the banks were deep.  It was a foggy morning and when we called the Guntersville Lock Master we had to wait 2 hours due to a tow and the fog.  Keith went back to bed and I got caught up on things.  I called the Lock Master at 08:10 and he said it would be another hour.  We got to the lock by 09:10, were in the lock by 09:20 and out by 09:35.  We went up 40'; it was a little windy but we managed.  This was the first time we have been through the Guntersville Lock and the farthest on the Tennessee River.  It is beautiful scenery with a lot of islands and rolling hills and not a whole lot of houses. 
This was another long, hot day.  We got to our anchorage at Mile 343.0; Burns Island at about 17:00 and tried for over 30 minutes to get the anchor to hold without any luck.  It felt like the bottom was slate and the anchor would just skip over the bottom.  Now we had a problem; we were running out of day light and no place to anchor.  We decided to go another 4 miles to the Nickajack Lock and look for an anchorage above the lock.  We got through the lock in about 15 minutes, just in time to see the sun set.  Two miles from the lock we found a nice little anchorage and got settled just before dark at Mile 426.9, Little Cedar Mountain Cove.  That was close; sure did not want to be out on the river after dark, especially since this part of the river is all new to us.  We traveled 83.5 miles today at 1700 RPM’s in 11 hours.  We only saw 1 tow today and went through 2 locks.  Sure am glad we have a short day tomorrow.

N35.01452
W85.58836

CO’s comments: A lock master made the CO feel good today. After hundreds of locks and harbor masters I was finally addressed properly as the Skipper of the vessel. This has only happened a few time previously. Commanding Officers are always addressed by their proper rank or Skipper (USMC). He most likely saw my Marine Corp flag.

8-28-2013: XO’s view of the bollard chamber in the Guntersville Lock, going up 40'

8-28-2013: XO’s Bollard Loop on a floating bollard

8-28-2013: View of the Bridgeport bridge from the RR lift bridge about 4 miles away.

8-28-2013:  Go around a big bend in the river to the Bridgeport bridge at Mile 418.4

8-28-2013: Old abandoned Ferry Boat near Bridgeport.

8-28-2013: Sun set at Nickajack Lock