Fort Loudoun Lake the Hamptons of the Tennessee River (Zillow Photo)
We're worried. The 50 miles from Fort Loudoun Dam to Knoxville is lined with beautiful homes and thousands of boats. Thus far we've had every anchorage and the entire waterway to ourselves. Yesterday we saw the season's first water-skier. A bad omen for sure. A quick check of the solitude barometer shows it in free fall. A storm is coming. A downpour of river revelers is predicted for Memorial Day. We're worried.
21 MPH Winds, A Long Fetch, But Calm Seas--Ahh...
Knoxville Ho!
At MM647 we reach Knoxville, the eastern terminus of our cruise up the Tennessee River.
"Here [Knoxville] the river suddenly ceases its wild leaping down the mountains and, like a maiden about to be married, pauses to dream upon the alliance it is speedily to form with a mightier stream... The hills sit here like dethroned kings, met for consultation: they would be very garrulous, surely, but the exquisite peace of the pastoral scene below them has stilled their life; they have forgotten the ancient anarchy which brought them forth; they dream and dream away..." Sidney Lanier, poet, describing a scene on the Tennessee River in 1860.
Above Nellie's Dock is the Atlanta to Louisville Railway Bridge (circa 1906)
University of Tennessee--Go Vols!
Knoxville, Site of the 1982 World's Fair
A Snail's Route for Our Snail's Pace
At the free dock in downtown Knoxville. 45 miles today and 2169 miles for the journey. DBH
