This morning Bicki said, "We're at 602 and have to get to 477 plus change by Tuesday." I had to laugh, a month ago this would have been Greek. Today it's our normal language. Latitude and longitude have been replaced by the river's mile markers. Knoxville is at 648, Lenoir, last night's anchorage is at 602 and tonight's anchorage, Pearl Harbor, is at 542. What Bicki was saying is that we have three days to go 125 miles; an easy pace by any metric.
A Lake House with Low Maintenance and Low Taxes
Does the movement for restoring the Everglades to its natural state have a broader appeal, say to those on and around the Tennessee River? When I pose the question the universal response is a quizzical look which morphs into a look of concern for my mental health. Clearly this topic is not within Tennessee's Overton Window.
Emergency Pin Release
Our practice had been to never cleat Nellie off to a lock's floating bollard (aka pin). This is because a cascade of really bad things happen when pins jam. The first is that the dock line gets too tight to release. The second, depending on if you're locking up or down, is that the boat gets pulled underwater or suspended above it. Both are good things to avoid. But, holding the line by hand, especially when a wind is blowing, is near impossible. At the bottom of the picture above is the solution to the problem. A while back we saw this emergency release tool employed while locking down. The boat infront of us was literally suspended in the air when the knife was employed. The sounds of the line parting and the boat scraping against the wall as it fell were frightening. By having the knife close at hand we hope to avoid any drama.
Tonight's Anchorage in Pearl Harbor
Great Sun Angle in Pearl Harbor
At anchor in the very scenic Pearl Harbor, Tennessee, MM542 after a relaxing 54 mile run. Total mileage for the journey is now 2265. DBH
