Tennessee River and Chattanooga

For those of you who figured that we must have fallen off the face of the earth, I am pleased to report we are alive and well. Since our last posting we have been cruising up the Tennessee River from Grand River, Kentucky to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The river is very sparsely inhabited, which means that there is very little cell phone service/Internet access. Chattanooga is the first place we have had decent Internet access in over a month.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the river, however. We left Grand River with our Miami friends, Rob and Carol Harris, on board on Labor Day.  We found wonderful, empty anchorages to spend nights in and Carol even swam in the river while we were anchored. A week after the Harrises left us, our friends Bill and Birute Fleck from Charlevoix, MI, joined us in Guntersville Lake, Alabama, and rode with us to Chattanooga. We had a couple of days of overcast weather while they were on board, but scenes like this bridge more than made up for the grey.

Tennessee River bridge

We are headed up the Tennessee towards Knoxville. The further upriver we go, the closer we get to the Smoky Mountains. When we left Kentucky, the river was wide and the surrounding land was flat. The eastern shore of the river is the Land Between the Lakes, a national recreational area formed by Kentucky Lake and the creation of Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River in the 1960s. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, this area was roamed by herds of bison and elk numbering in the thousands. Although the area is now covered in trees, then it was flat prairie because the herds kept the trees from growing. The USDA, which manages the recreational area, has re-introduced a herd of 50 bison and nearly 40 elk into the area. We didn't see any elk while we were touring, but the bison have no qualms about hanging out near roads where people can see them.

Baby bison

Herd just off the road

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned corporation created by congressional charter in 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, owns most of the riverfront on the Tennessee River because they created lakes by damming the river to generate electricity. The lakes flooded the towns and farms that had existed along the riverbanks and the TVA had to buy out the original owners. You can motor up the river for miles and miles without seeing a single building. Even when you do come to an area where there are riverfront homes, often they are trailers, or even just RVs on the riverbank. Interestingly, most of the RVs are parked under sheds, some with screened porches on the front and garages for the owner's car.

RV under its riverside shed

Single-wide trailer built to withstand flooding

As you get further up the river, you begin to enter the foothills of the Smokies. Hills become more common and you see limestone cliffs on the side of the river. The further you go, the more forested the hills become. The trees haven't started turning colors yet, but we are assured that the colors will be spectacular during the last couple of weeks in October.

Limestone cliffs on the Tennessee River

Chattanooga is the first real city we've spent time in since Chicago. I was here briefly twenty years ago and it has changed a lot. The wealthy residents decided about 15 years ago to clean up the waterfront and begin to market the city as a sports destination, emphasizing water sports like kayaking and paddle-boarding, mountain biking, hiking, and other outdoor sports. It is attracting 20-somethings and young families to live here and has a vibrant restaurant and bar scene. There is lots to do and it is a very walkable city with good public transportation. Bill and Birute brought their car from Guntersville to Chattanooga after we got here and we used it to tour around a bit, including a trip up to the top of Lookout Mountain. Lookout Mountain has the steepest incline railroad in the world and a great view of the surrounding area. They claim you can see seven states from the top, but I think that is more hype than truth.

Incline Railway

View from top of Lookout

On our way back to the boat from Lookout Mountain we stopped to see the International Towing and Recovery Museum, a museum devoted to the history of the tow truck industry. Turns out that the first tow trucks were developed by a company here in Chattanooga. It is a small museum but it has a wonderful collection of tow trucks from the last 100 years and a very large collection of tow truck related toys.

We will be leaving here on Friday and heading further up the river, maybe as far as Knoxville. If we have Internet access, we'll post more frequently. I promise.