We arrived back at Green Turtle Bay Marina, Kentucky, after spending a couple of weeks at home. After borrowing the courtesy car to return the rental car and reprovision the next item on the list before we could continue on the river was to have the boat hauled to change the oil and bottom end fluid. We drove the boat over to the lift first thing the next morning and they had us drive right on - and up the boat went - hanging in the sling with us on it - a little nerve wracking and an experience I do not want to repeat. On the relaunch they put the boat in the water, drifted it over to a dock and then we got back in the boat - the way it should be.
One of the spring floods the water level rose to the top of the concrete piers supporting the Yacht Club building (top left in the photo).
When we returned to Grand Rivers (Green Turtle Bay Marina) the town was decked out for Halloween. Rory and I wondered the town and took in all that Patty's Settlement had to offer, there was everything a tourist could want and more - the restaurant, mini golf, stores, a wedding chapel, gardens, fountains and did I say stores?
Patty's Restaurant home of the famous 2 inch thick pork chop
Turkey dinner?
The roses are still in bloom here
When we left Green Turtle Bay Marina the place was full to capacity, the loopers were arriving on mass, when we returned it was to a much quieter marina, lots of availability. We enjoyed a pot luck dinner with Muddy Waters (Jennifer, Michael, Keenan and Daria), Inconceivable (Andrew, Elizabeth, Sabastian and Paisley), Love Shack (Barrie and Jodie whom we had last spent time with on Lake Michigan) and Irish Rover (Kevin) and then a beach campfire complete with marshmallows. The two families are doing the loop and home schooling the children, what an experience for them all but I cannot imagine homeschooling, the discipline it would take on everyones part.
The children loved roasting marshmallows for the adults, especially the requested burnt offerings Frank enjoys
The leaves are beginning to change colour and we know it is time to start heading south. We cast off the lines and head to Paris State Park and Marina, the Land Between the Lakes was beautiful, trees, cliffs, sand beach and solitude on the river.
Always on the lookout for the big guys
Although it looks like fluffy clouds it is morning fog on the river, a challenge on numerous occasions as the trip progressed and the weather got colder.
Following the shore of the river is the Tennessee national wildlife refuge, in the fall 25,000 Canada geese arrive at the refuge to spend the winter. We are getting used to following the flocks in formation heading south.
A building that stood the test of the flooding when the dams were built
Bass fisherman were a common sight for weeks to come
We reconnected with Karen and Bruce (OokPik) when we pulled in to Pebble Isle Marina, they also had been back to Canada for a couple of weeks but had left their boat at Pebble Isle, it was great to see them again and the following morning we set out together along with Muddy Waters who was travelling faster to get up to Chattanooga to meet family.
Apparently the poles at the front of the barges are depth sounders, not high tech but effective as they read the depth before the barges ground on shoals. The tranducers on pleasure boats are all to often located near the stern which unless you are travelling slow doesn't help much to avoid problems.
Sharing the river with all sorts of boats
At marinas you often see boats that do not look like they have left the dock for quite some time but this is the first time we noticed a tree growing.
Pickwick State Park Marina 
We borrowed the courtesy car from Grand HarborMarina and drove to Shiloh with Karen and Bruce (OokPik). Shiloh is the location of one of the biggest battles of the Civil War, 24,000 young ment were killed while shooting at each other with approximently 100 feet separating them.
While at Shiloh Frank got talking to the clerk at the bookstore about restaurants and it was recommended that we go to the Catfish Hotel for dinner, a lovely location overlooking the Tennessee River and the parking lot was packed. It seems that there are more varied liquor laws than we thought possible, this restaurant was licensed to sell beer, no wine or alcohol. As the specialty was catfish we all had to try it and it was tasty although everything is battered and deep fried and it is taking a bit to adjust. When we came out of the restuarant it was dark, Frank was driver and the only glasses he had brought were his perscription sun glasses, now his eyes have improved and he no longer has to wear glasses to drive so this was the night he got to try driving without glasses. It was a 30 minute drive back to the marina, everything looked very different in the dark, there were 3 navigators (back seat drivers) attempting to keep us on the right track and thanks to Karen we made it back to the marina only having missed one sign.
Grand Harbor Marina - It was here that we decided to change our float plan and travel north/east along the Tennessee River to Chattanooga. The riverway was described as the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee River. So off we went accepting the 500 mile roundtrip detour, it didn't disappoint.
We spent the night at the Florence Marina, borrowed the courtesy car to reprovision, and joined TerrMar and OokPik for dinner at the marina, lots of laughs with great pizza, wings, beer and wine.
Floating bollards
TerrMar approaching the lock, dwarfed by the lock walls
Keenan (Muddy Waters) helping at the lock
Rory our not so calm boat dog
We arrived at Joe Wheeler the day after the rendevous ended and there were plenty of loopers still on the dock. It was great to meet new people but very special to see people that you had not seen in a couple of months. We spent a couple of days here, it is a huge park with a marina, campground, hotel, cabins, pool, golf course, tennis, walking trails and restaurant, I am going to omit talking about drinks and food this time as you will think that is all we do on the river besides the food was not worth mentioning.
TerrMarr (Mark and Terri) leave Joe Wheeler trying to make the lock with the first wave of boats that left after deciding to head to the Gulf instead of Chattanooga
We left shortly after following OokPik and the fog had totally lifted - the trees are in their glory
Decateur, where you look one way and you see numerous manufacturing concerns, including the manufacturer of Meow Mix and on the opposite shore were hundreds of white pelicans congregating preparing for their migrations south. We have been seeing white pelicans since we entered the river systems in September but we have never seen such a large grouping. We passed Decateur on our way back from Chattanooga and the wind must have been blowing from a different direction as Meow Mix really caught Rory's attention.
The next night we pulled into Ditto Landing, Alabama, where we reconnected with Sweet Grass (Jerry and Jenny) who we had travelled with on Lake Michigan in our Fishtown Five days. They were travelling to Chattanooga with Ron and Jan (Adagio) and Penny and Chuck (Two Bears) so in the morning we followed along. The next night we spent at Goose Pond Marina where NautiNell (which had a water pump breakdown and was expecting parts in a couple of days) and Sweet Pea were docked. We had met Sweet Pea on our first night on the trip in Byng Inlet, Ontario, some 1500 nautical miles away and had not seen them since. Many mornings there is fog on the river which burns off, sometimes you stick your nose out into the river and realize it is still too thick and turn around but other times you head out and half an hour later you run into another fog bank.
Fog had lifted so we set off
No fog
Fog awaiting around the next bend in the river
Clear again
And back into the fog again - this really was the sequence of events on this day- this is why we monitor channel 13 on the VHF and wish we had AIS
Adagio following us
The vessel Two Bears nervously entering the Guntersville Lock as lock virgins, they made out fine
Karen on OokPik heading into the lock, after 40 years of sailing and numerous locks they make it look so easy.
Hydrilla and water milfoil are water plants that are prolific on some of the lakes on the Tennessee, the migrating birds were using it as a rest stop
Sunrise at Goose Pond, we often try to get an early start particularly if we've got a long day planned, it is nice to be able to tie up earlier in the afternoon than later. Don't want to miss cocktails........I mean coffee hour.
Two views of the same cliffs
The colours are brilliant
We really enjoyed the river as we headed to Chattanooga
Volley ball nets?
Not everything is pristene - homesteaders?
Unloading a barge
As we have navigated the rivers there have been numerous signs like this as pipelines cross the river
Tennessee Aquarium from the water
Chattanooga bridges (2 of the 3) complete with water cannons
Having a good time
This angle makes us look big, just an illustion
Always such a sad look when we leave him
In the morning we headed over to the Tennessee Aquirium, one of the biggest tourist attractions in Chattanooga. We spent hours and hours touring the two buildings. We particularly enjoyed the fresh water building as we sail through the Tennessee Watershed, we now know what is under the keel.
This photo is taken in the butterfly section where they actually import the larvae and hatch them there as the longevity of adult butterflies is very short.
It's quite a look isn't it? We saw two IMAX 3D films, Born to be Wild and then it rained so much the next day we saw Tornado Alley and understood why the film shook Jerry, I would not want to cruise these waters during Tornado season.
The Delta Queen across from our dock
The Chattanooga Choo Choo
All to soon we had to turn around and head back to Grand Harbor so we can once again head south. The nights can be quite cold, almost freezing temperatures for a few nights, and then they climb again only to plunge again.
Bald eagles, periodically we have spotted bald eagles but never have they been so co-operative
Gray bat caves on the Tennessee, Gray Bats are a protected species and this is one of the major nurseries. Never saw it but they say the exodus from the caves at dusk of hundreds of thousands of these bats is something to see.
OokPik getting ready to leave the lock
Fishing
Painted Bluff
We rented a car with Karen and Bruce (OokPik) so we could visit the Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. This was the birth place of the race to the moon and quite worthwhile to see. We passed the facility, Redstone Arsenal, by water and didn't even realize or see it until we read about it at this museum, amazing.
Turmoil in the water caused by water discharge from TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant 
We were glad the trip from Joe Wheeler was a short day, we drove right into the Joe Wheeler lock and had to wait about 30 minutes for the Wilson lock. The morning was cool and drizzly but by the time we arrived at Florence Marina the sun was shining, it felt so good we decided to eat lunch at the marina restaurant outside. We must have been feeling very lazy that day as we went back to the restaurant for pizza at night.
Mooring cells for the barges to tie to while waiting to lock through or during fog
Our last day on the Tennessee River and she decided to show us a side we had not seen, the ugly side. The day started off wonderfully, no fog, sunshine and blue skies. About when we entered Pickwick Lake the effect of the north wind and the fetch created waves that hit us directly on the nose and at times buried the bow. This made visibility very difficult.
Salty Paws was handling herself wonderfully, the waves were on the bow which is the best way for us to handle the waves, we were climbing the waves and rocking and rolling when over the VHF Bruce from OokPik asks if we would like him to slow down so we could catch him and tuck in behind and follow in his wake - again - just like on Lake Michigan our blocker made our trip conciderably easier.
We left the Tennesse turning to port, heading south on the TomBigbee Waterway.
