SHADY GROVE HARBOR

June 18, 2009---What a day of waiting. There was no water at the Marina. Keith went to the Marine Max office & reported the problem. The staff located a 2" line on their city service that had separated and a full stream of water was flowing into the river. No telling how many thousands of gallons were wasted. Had to wait for the city to turn off the water, fix the problem & wait for the city to turn the water back on. Having waited we washed the boat & filled our fresh water tank.

The Coca-Cola stage (I had referred to as the main stage) looked lonesome now that the Riverbend Festival is over. Grassy slopes were vacant of people. The worlds largest fresh water aquarium (Tennesse Aquarium) looms in the background.
A golf course along the river looked challenging. The club house high on the bank looked to be quite a large structure.









It was a peaceful 7.5 mile ride past Chattanooga to the Chickamauga Lock. Again the waiting started. There is major repair work taking place on the lock. An electrical problem that had to be fixed. About 2 1/2 hours went by before the lock master called on the VHF radio and said he would have the gates open in 10 minutes. We had moved out of the main channel and set anchor to wait. By the time anchor was raised and we got thru the no wake zone and past the construction cranes, tugs and barges the gate was open. It was a 48' lift to the upstream lake. The railroad bridge just before the lock had a couple of trains cross while we had waited for the lock.






Having called around comparing diesel prices the Chickamauga Marina about 1/2 mile above the lock had the best price at $2.18 per gallon. We pulled into their fuel dock and took on 170 gallons. The journey from there to Shady Grove Harbor at mile 487.5 was very pleasant. We only traveled about 7.5 MPH because of all the boat traffic. This was the most activity we had seen in some time. A number of boats had people fishing, some boaters just running the lake and PWC's were also busy.
At mile 484 is the Sequoyah nuclear power plant. The plant is located in east Tennessee 18 miles north of Chattanooga, on the banks of Chickamauga Reservoir. Sequoyah is TVA’s second nuclear power plant. Construction began in 1969, and Unit 1 began full commercial operation in 1981. Unit 2 began operations the following year. The operating units at Sequoyah are pressurized water nuclear reactors. The plant makes electricity by splitting uranium atoms to produce steam. The steam is piped to turbines, which spin generators to produce electricity. Power lines leaving this facility are large and numerous.

Shady Grove Harbor did not have any dock room so we set anchor in a cove directly across from the marina. It was now 8:00 p.m. It had taken all day to travel a total of 24 miles! Sure a good thing we don't have a schedule. We set the dinghy in the water and went about 1/2 mile farther in Soddy Creek. There is a very low fixed highway bridge that keeps taller boats from going up this creek to Pine Harbor Marina. Our goal was to eat at a restaurant called Steve's Landing. We tied up the dinghy and walked a short way to the restaurant overlooking the marina. Wow the people! Again waiting took place. Not bad though, they called our name after about 35 minutes. The food was excellent and worth the wait. By the time we traveled back to the "Dream Manor" it was very dark. Just a sliver of moon did not provide much light. I think Maryann was glad we did not have far to go.