The forecast was for occasional showers in the AM and sun later. Early yesterday was the day that we moved from Kentucky to Tennessee. Today we could notice the difference. The river has narrowed down and we see cliffs on at least one side. There are clusters of houses along the shore but we don't see any residents. Perhaps they have moved to warmer weather.
Fall leaves continue but are not as bright and some of the trees have lost their leaves. Above is a side stream. The water looks shallow. We will have to be careful picking tonight's spot.
We only pass three barges today but see equipment digging up sand and loading it on barges. There are few bridges and many unpopulated areas. During the morning the river looked like the picture below.
The clouds are above not in the river but the mirror water reflects them. When there is no wind or current (from water being released down river to make hydroelectric power), we make 6 mph with one engine.
Afternoon arrives and so does the sun.
Since there is not much traffic and driving is easy, we enjoy the scenery. Here is a house or two with a great view
Another thing we notice is that our verizon's service is spotty. That includes internet and phone. So if you cannot reach us or do not see our blog, we are okay.
As we get further down the river we start seeing banks covered with rocks to keep down erosion and houses on stilts. These steps to the water are about two stories high.
During the afternoon we see many trailers along the banks. Some of the parks only have a few scattered along the bank with many open lots. This is a sure signal to head south along with the trailer crowd. We have two anchorages picked out as there are few marinas in this area. The first one, Indian Creek, we find is adjacent to a trailer park. We decide to go a mile further to Swallow Bluff Island. It meets our expectations and we motor slowly behind the Island. Tom points out three very tiny deer nibbling grass on the bank. They are even smaller than the key deer.
We are off the river early 2:45 p.m. We do not have time to cover 20 more miles to the next anchorage (3 hours) before dark at 5 p.m. At the end of Swallow Bluff Island is another tiny nameless island. We drop bow and stern anchors in time to have a rice-vegetable-chicken casserole and salad as we enjoy the sunset.
