Decatur to Athens to Rogersville, AL

We left Ingalls Harbor in Decatur a little after the other two Looper boats that spent the night on the free dock with us. Wheeler Lake has been very different—and much more enjoyable—than our passage upriver, where we did a fair bit of rocking and rolling on this stretch of water. Light winds and daytime highs in the 70s made conditions ideal as we traveled 17 miles to Lucy’s Branch Marina in Athens, AL, a family-run operation, easily identified by the white barges used as breakwaters. 

We were the only transient boaters, and did a little laundry and boat cleaning before enjoying dinner at Lucy’s Barge, a bar and grill located on—you guessed it—a barge. It was Saturday night and the place was full of locals watching the Alabama vs. LSU college football game. Coincidentally, I was wearing a red fleece (Alabama’s color), and Kathleen had on a yellow sweatshirt (LSU), so we fit right in with the friendly, but passionate crowd. 

This morning we went 11 miles in picture-perfect weather to Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, AL, to attend the annual America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association Fall Rendevous. We’ll be here for five nights; there are already 34 Looper boats in the harbor with more expected tomorrow, and the lodge is full of Loop planners who traveled by car. After settling in, we took a walk around the park, and met some very tame deer. 

This evening there was a kickoff happy hour in the marina, hosted by AGLCA Sponsors and Harbor Hosts. We enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from our travels, and meeting new Loopers, including a couple from Stillwater, MN. 

Retracing our Steps

KG here - full disclosure- I was supposed to write the blog last evening but I was very much under the weather and was unable to do anything that required me to be upright.  I’m happy to report that my immune system worked overtime last night and I was able to fully support our underway trip today from Ditto Landing to the Ingalls Docks in Decatur, AL.  So this will have to cover two days of movement.

We started the day yesterday in Guntersville, AL.  Since it was still below our 40 degree F minimum for moving when we were ready to go, we borrowed our marina’s courtesy car and went out for a hot breakfast.  There we had what will likely be the first of several check-ins for our Great Loop.  We’ve learned a lot about each other so far on the trip: 1. we’re never going to be able to read each other’s minds so we’ve stopped expecting the other one to read ours and that has improved communication greatly. 2. We’ve both accepted that if one of us thinks a job sucks, the other one of us feels the same way and so we have to put on our big girl (or big boy) panties and do our fair share of of the chores/sucky tasks.  And so the vote was 2-0 in favor to keep going on the loop.  We’re looking forward to getting through the rest of the rivers portion of our trip (including 17 more locks) all the way to Mobile, AL so that we can be on the Gulf.

After returning to the boat, we got underway before lunchtime and travelled back down Guntersville Lake to the Guntersville Lock.  We arrived to the lock at the same time as another “Looper” and locked down with them.  The ride was significantly smoother going down as they let water out of the chamber; instead of the water swirling in around us as one is locking up.  We are getting closer to our Rendezvous and so we’re seeing more Loopers along the Tennessee as we are all slated to be in Rogersville, AL on Sunday.

We docked for the night (last night) at Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville, AL We’ve described this stop previously in the blog and we didn’t learn any additional fun facts, but this time the transient slips were full of Loopers.  The cold overnight temperatures continued last night, but the days are warming up nicely and we were able to take a walk along the river and still get underway before 10:30 with temperatures already in the mid 50’s.

On today’s transit, we got another chance to pass by the Painted Bluffs which marks the end of Merrill Mountain in the Cumberland Plateau of the Appalachians. The cliffs seemed to be more spectacular on our way down river. 

That was about the only landmark of note all the way to Decatur, AL. We did arrive here earlier this go around so had a walk into town enjoying parts of one of the three walking tours they have set up and available for download to your phone. Here I am at the tracks of the original railway station. 

And also the street view of the station.

If you’ve been following for some time, you might remember that we stopped at the Ingalls City Docks on our way to Chattanooga also, and were roused out of a sound sleep on that Saturday morning by the sounds of a fishing tournament getting underway.  We didn’t see anything online about a fishing tournament tomorrow (we couldn’t find anything last time after we left) so we thought we’d risk another Saturday morning here. This is a city dock that is free to use but doesn’t have any power or water to hook up to.

More than just the possibility of an early busy harbor, it also looks like we’ll have another cold overnight with temperatures in the 30’s and since we don’t carry a generator, we can only use our electric heater when we are plugged into shore power.  However, we have one last piece of equipment that Tony brought that we haven’t tested - a Little Buddy propane powered heater that he got from an ice-fisherman colleague.  Somehow the idea of using a compressed gas to run a heat source in a boat that can get tossed by wakes from other boats passing quickly seems a bit fraught with peril - so if this is the last blog post to this site, you might want to ask Mrs Google about a “McGregor boat explosion” in Decatur AL.  Just Sayin’

Scottsboro to Guntersville, AL

Last night was the first time we plugged in our electric cabin heater, due to the 32F overnight low temperature and brisk north wind. The inside of the boat never got colder than 60F and we slept well. We waited until it warmed up to 40F outside—which took until 10:00 AM—before  departing on the 23-mile run to Guntersville. As we headed out the now-familiar channel cut through the hydrilla weeds, we had to slow briefly for a swimming deer to cross in front of us!

The wind was at our backs and the cockpit enclosure up, and we stayed comfortable during the 3-hour journey. We chose to stay at the family-run Alred Marina on the north side of the river, rather than return to the free City Harbor docks on the south side, as the latter will be open to the forecasted wind and waves, and does not have electrical power to run our heater during another expected cold night. Our plan is to continue with shorter legs while the temperature is below average, until we get to the AGLCA Fall Rendevous on Sunday.

Hales Bar, TN to Scottsboro, AL

We went to bed on Saturday night to loud music and screaming from the Hales Bar Dam haunted house, and woke up the next morning to ducks and coots looking for food.

The entrance to Hales Bar Marina is a little tricky, and we had to call the harbor master for instructions when we came in. There is an old railroad bed that is submerged just below the surface, and only the shallowest of drafts can go directly over it. We took the safe route and went around, but it added almost two miles to our approach. Hales Bar also has some cool-looking floating cabins that we would love to visit someday on another adventure. 

We’re backtracking down the Tennessee River after leaving Chattanooga. It’s fun to see the same scenery from the opposite direction, and the 1 mph current is now in our favor. We had a 7-hour, 53-mile day on Sunday, with one lock (Nickajack), where we went down 40 feet instead of going up. 

We passed the Coca-Cola Stage, a converted barge that was used for many years at Chattanooga’s annual Riverbend Music Festival. The stage was severely damaged in 2020 when the tugboat moving it collided with the I-24 highway bridge.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has some pretty impressive projects, but nobody’s perfect. Below are the cooling towers from the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, AL. After 40 years and $4 billion, it never produced a single watt of power and remains unfinished. A private outfit offered to buy the site and complete the project, but the deal fell through, and the property sits idle.

We stopped at Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro, AL again, and scheduled another in-port day to do laundry and buy groceries. We couldn’t resist, and visited the Unclaimed Baggage Center to check it out. It’s basically a huge thrift store, with lost airline luggage, and their contents, for sale at a discount. There is also a small museum, with some of the strange, rare and valuable items that have come through their doors, including a diving helmet, bagpipes and a suit of armor.

We were invited over for drinks with Steve & Darci, Loopers we met in Chattanooga, then had dinner at The Docks restaurant, where I enjoyed their signature entree, shrimp and grits.

Chattanooga to Hales Bar, TN

It was a day full of curiosities as we started downriver. Starting with a rare sighting of an Oscar Mayer Weinermobile in downtown Chattanooga, complete with Wisconsin license plates!

Next was this volleyball net in the water in the middle of the Tennessee Gorge. We were in 30 feet of water about 30 yards away, and could only assume that there was a sandbar there where folks could stand.

The mass of concrete below is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s largest and most unique hydroelectric facility, the Raccoon Mountain Reservoir Plant. Working like an enormous storage battery, water is pumped from here to fill a reservoir on the top of the mountain when electrical demand is low. When demand is higher, water is released from the reservoir and travels through a tunnel drilled through the center of the mountain to drive hydroelectric generators in an underground power plant.

Lastly, this other massive structure is the historic Hales Bar Dam Powerhouse. Completed in 1913 and one of few privately-built hydroelectric projects, the dam was plagued with chronic leaks. The TVA assumed control in 1939 and spent more than two decades trying to repair the leaks before giving up and removing the dam after the Nickajack Lock was opened in 1965. The powerhouse is now used mainly for storage for the nearby Hales Bar Resort and Marina, where we’re spending tonight. It is also home to a small whisky distillery and a seasonal haunted house, which we will not be visiting. 

The river was busy with pleasure craft on a beautiful 80-degree Sunday, and the Gorge was even prettier with the sun out. The weather is forecast to turn sharply lower this week, as a cold front crosses much of the country.

Chattanooga, Day 3

We set our alarm clocks again today, but not for an early underway. Today was the ChattaJack 31, a kayak/canoe/paddleboard endurance race that goes 31 miles from downtown Chattanooga through the Tennessee Gorge to Hales Bar, just upriver from Nickajack Lock & Dam. Here’s the view last night, with all of the boats staged on the riverfront.

The start of the race went right past our dock, in two heats, with everything from solo kayaks and stand-up paddlebaords to six-person outrigger canoes and dragon-type boats. 

Many of you know how different Kathleen and I are, and watching the race together was a perfect example of our contrasting personalities. While we both found it thrilling to see the racers pass by, I was thinking that we were witnessing yet another flavor of crazy, while Kathleen was trying to decide which type of watercraft she would compete in!

This afternoon was spent on our bikes, and we logged 23 miles on the Tennessee Riverwalk, a beautiful paved trail that passes industrial, historical and artistic sections of the city, mostly along the waterfront, all the way to Chickamauga Lock & Dam. We only took one picture, this public art sculpture.

Dinner tonight was at Thai Smile Restaurant in downtown Chattanooga. We’ve adopted a dining practice from Chris and Kathy on the MacGregor 26x we met in Dubuque—order two entrees, eat half of each and have leftovers for another night. We try to bring containers to minimize the use of throwaway take-out boxes, but don’t always remember :(  

Tomorrow we’re leaving Chattanooga and heading back downriver.

Chattanooga, TN

We spent most of today ashore sightseeing in Chattanooga. Our first stop was the Tennessee Aquarium, an amazing, two-building display of fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and even butterflies. The focus is primarily on local and regional ecosystems, but there are many exhibits highlighting the extensive work the aquarium is doing to preserve and restore endangered aquatic life globally. My two favorite pics: A master of camouflage, the mossy frog is native to Southeast Asia and looks like a clump of moss, even up close. And Stella the Seahorse, a sculpture made up entirely of plastic trash recovered from our waterways. 

After the aquarium (and lunch), we hopped on the city’s free electric shuttle bus to the restored depot of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The depot is original, the train is not, and we were underwhelmed, although the site is being renovated and expanded, and has potential. The famous nickname was given to an 1880s steam locomotive that ran from Cincinnati to Chattanooga. The famous song was written for the 1941 musical, Sun Valley Serenade and was performed by Glenn Miller—it quickly became the #1 tune in America.

Next we got back on the shuttle and went to Lookout Mountain to ride the Incline Railway up to the top. The Incline, as it’s known, has been in operation for more than 125 years. The counterbalanced ascending and descending cars (called a funicular) ride a one-mile track up 1,450 feet with a variable grade that maxes out at 72.7% near the top, one of the world’s steepest. The views of Chattanooga, the Tennessee River Valley and the Cumberland Plateau are magnificent. Also at the top is a National Military Park describing the importance of this strategic high ground during the Civil War, and how it ultimately fell to Union control in “The Battle Above The Clouds.”

We had dinner at Agave & Rye Tequila and Bourbon Hall near the waterfront, which is gearing up for two consecutive weekends of racing events on the river. When we returned to Dragonfly, the Southern Belle, Chattanooga’s local riverboat, was coming back from her nightly dinner cruise in the fading light.