SCOTTSBORO/Golf Course

Aug. 10, 2009---What a beautiful morning. Looking south, the water was so still the reflections of trees created a wonderful pattern. A little breeze broke the tranquility and we it was time to weigh anchor and continue down river.

It was short run from the cove at 426.9 to Nickajack dam. This lock & dam was built in the 1960's to replace the Hales Bar Dam. Nickajack Lake above the dam is 46 miles long. The total dam height is 81' and the width is 3767'. The actual lift change is 40'. The lock chamber was full and there was no waiting as the lock master opened the gate and sounded the horn to let us into the chamber. At 40' lower the gate opened and we continued down the Tennessee River. Looking back the gate could be seen closing behind us. This was the first lock thru for Dan & Anna. They sure enjoyed the operation.

At 418.5 the suspension type bridge is quite interesting. It is Tennessee hiway 156 that leads to the town named South Pittsburg.

At mile 416.3 there were no lines on the water to show we had crossed the state line and entered Alabama!

There is a railway bridge at 414.4.

Widows Creek power plant stands tall at mile 407.5. This is TVA's third largest coal-fired plant. Constuction of this plant began in 1952. The worlds tallest chimney at 1000' was added in 1977. The plant is located less than 5 miles from Stevenson, AL.

There was a lot of equipment working on the Highway 35 bridge. We passed at an idle to make sure no wake disturbed the big cranes. We met a small tug pushing a hoe that appeared to be headed to the construction site.

The mountain along the south side of the Tennesse river is Alabama's most prominent land feature. It is more than 50 miles long and 15 miles wide. When we bought produce at the farmers market in Dayton, TN some of the folks had come from this mountain range in Alabama. They simply reference it as "the mountain". The soil on top the mountain is very fertile and there are many small farms growing vegetables.

The co-captains kept a watchful eye on Dan and Anna as they took turns steering the "Dream Manor".

We ended the day's 48.9 mile journey by turning starboard at mile 378 and following the small bouy markers about a mile to Goose Pond Colony marina. There is as open area next to the golf course just past the marina slips and there we set anchor. The marina is owned by the city of Scottsboro, AL.

We had fun watching the golfers. Just far enough away they could not hear us talk about their swings and misses! Later we learned this was the 14th hole.

As the sun set sprinklers came on to water the greens.