Florence, AL to Chattanooga, TN

We have had some pretty long cruising days and sporadic internet, so forgive my delays in posting...

We left Florence in the morning, after the fishermen left. The Tennessee River has been beautiful, with some very tall locks, wide places that are actually lakes, and with foliage, rocks, mountains and wildlife. The leaves are just starting to turn. Some of the trees are brilliant, but they will be even better by the time we backtrack to Joe Wheeler State Park. We are not seeing many little towns along the way. That was surprising until I realized that the Tennessee Valley Authority built their series of dams in the 1930s and many of those original rivertowns were flooded.

We spent two nights at Joe Wheeler and met some new friends. Most of them were not loopers, but local folks off for a weekend. From there, we went to Ditto Landing, then Goose Pond, then Hales Bar and on to Chattanooga. We have had some windy conditions and a few rainy days. There are lots of fishermen in this area and they seem to be catching lots of fish.

The closer we have gotten to Chattanooga, the more homes we have seen along the river. Some have been really huge - and there is a fair amount of new construction in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee. We are still seeing barges and tows, though not quite as large now.

Donald and Theresa from Great Escape have been travelling on about the same schedule as we are. We have run into Confetti in a few places. The Cooper is a few days behind us, but we are going to Knoxville and they are turning around at Chattanooga. We will catch up them somewhere on the Tenn-Tom (Tennessee-Tom Bigbee).

We are now in Chattanooga, waiting for Sara, Ryan and Olivia to arrive tonight. We will do a whole entry on this beautiful city and our visit with the kids. In the meantime, we have LOTS of photos for you...

The fishermen leaving in the morning.

It was kind of breezy out on the river

Coming to the lock - the boat you see is bigger than Gemini

They are fishing above the lock too.

The wind made it a great day for sailors.

The river becomes a lake here

The leaves are beginning to turn

The next lock - also a tall one

Great Escape is in there with us

In the lock

Going into the next lake

Going into Joe Wheeler State Park

Sunset at Joe Wheeler

And sunrise - getting ready to leave Joe Wheeler

The lodge at Joe Wheeler

The trees aren't much, but look at all the birds!

Rainy today

Coming out of another lock

Through this stretch, there is some tornado damage

There were several houses with blue plastic covering the roof

Going into Goose Pond

We drove inside for a few days

Lots of water lily pads and seaweed

Goose Pond marina

This guy was watching us leave

Another rainy day

The tall smokestack is 1000 ft

More fishermen

And another lock

At least it's the last one until after Chattanooga

A really small tug

This is a stage that lives at Hales Bar - they move it to Chattanooga yearly for a music festival

An abandoned dam and the marina

The marina rents these boat cottages

Some of the people who have boats here build patios

Some of the patios are pretty elaborate