Louisville and Nashville Railway Bridge
This bridge at Tennessee River MM100 used to be at MM22. It was floated to its new location when the Kentucky Dam was completed in 1944. The bridge looks old because it is old, and its only 25' above the water. Nellie's air draft is 23-1/2'--I think. We put the mast down; better safe than sorry...
Kentucky Lake is the Largest, East Coast, Man-Made Lake
At a dam's tail--the low water side--the river is usually narrow and its banks scoured. Proceeding down stream the river widens and takes on the appearance of a lake. Flooding is an issue at any point on the river but moreso just below a dam.
Two Houses and Two Solutions
It was on the Kentucky Lake, just miles below the dam, that we started noticing how high the houses are built. The house pictured above is easily 16' up. But then we noticed something else; many lots didn't have houses, but house trailers under roof-only shelters (left side of the picture above). Hmm, that's an interesting way to get around the building code. Other plusses include lower taxes and insurance; lower maintenance costs; and if a flood threatens, simply move the trailer to high ground ;-) The ingenuity award, however, goes to the guy that installed pilings on his lot and then tied a houseboat to them. Always thinking these Tennesseans.
The plan was to anchor out tonight but then we came across Pebble Isle Marina, Tennessee (MM96): $1/ft; courtesy car; and fast wifi. Yea, this is pretty much cruising heaven. There is another motive for stopping here. Trev Croteau splashed his LNVT Hjortie here before cruising her up the Mississippi to Lake Pepin (Mississippi MM776). Since from here north we're following in Trev's wake, it's appropriate that we should begin where he did.
It was a short 43 mile day. The journey total is now 2719 miles. DBH
