As we continue to move further into the deep south, Stel and I find that we are no longer the minorities with southern accents. We can finally refer to our northern based friends as the ones that talk a little funny. I have enlightened many of the northern loopers with the definitions of “y’all” (2 to 4 people) and “all y’all” (5 or more) to get them ready for their entry into the wonderful southern legs of the trip. I have happily spent a great deal of time convincing them that “grits”, properly pronounced gri-yets, should become a regular part of their diet, whether ordering breakfast, lunch or dinner….and should never be ordered without a tall glass of sweeeeet ice tea. It will be a hard sell, but maybe by the time they pass the coast of South Carolina in the spring, they will have adapted to some of the ways of life unique to the deep south.
Stel and I have spent the last 10 days cruising down beautiful Kentucky Lake and into the Tennessee River. Kentucky Lake is one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the world. It covers 160,000 acres, has 2,380 miles of shoreline and even though the southern half looks more like a river, the lake is technically 240 miles long. On the east side of the lake is the “The Land Between the Lakes”, officially designated a National Recreation Area by John F. Kennedy is 1963. We discovered some beautiful bays in this wilderness area and enjoyed some quiet, moon-lit nights at anchor as we made our way south. This area is one of our country’s bass fishing hot spots, so there were high powered bass boats blowing past us all day long. Sharing the waterways with bass boat traffic was a pure pleasure compared to all the tow boats that we had been dealing with during the prior weeks. As a matter of information for my fishing buddies back home, I was no threat to the bass population in the area, but was able to catch a few lumbering catfish with a high degree of fishing finesse…hotdog on a bare hook!
We have decided to take a long side trip up the Tennessee River to one of our favorite cities, Chattanooga. Our daughter, Katie, went to college in that area and we fell in love with it. It will add another 500 miles to our trip, but we may never have another opportunity to see this part of the country by water. We will be meeting some friends there, and they will hopefully be enjoying the peak of the fall colors with us as we cruise through what is known as the “Grand Canyon of the Tennessee.”
- Kentucky Lake landscaping. I wish my hair had roots like these cypress trees!
- The only occasion when losing your hair is fun!
- Approaching some of these locks can be rather intimidating!
- Hiking around a perfect Kentucky Lake anchorage
- A good start to what you hope is a romantic anchorage!
- Sediment rock formations on Kentucky Lake…makes me hungry for sugar wafer cookies
- When you see this you wish you had listened in high school geology class
- Continuing parade of impressive bass boats, but I never saw anyone of them catching a bass!
- In case you wondered, that boat does not belong to a looper. He just happens to own the marina.
- Only in Tennessee….rocking picnic tables
- Stel was happy to find pickled okra to make one of our favorite appetizers
- Oh shucks, I forgot the bait. Honey, will you go back to the house and get it for me?
- Beautiful log home overlooking Pickwick Lake.
- Finally seeing some hilly country as we cruise up the Tennessee River in northern Alabama
- The beginning of sheer rock formations as we cruise east toward Chattanooga
- Leaving the Guntersville Lock on a blustery October afternoon
- Loopers Ken and Terry Westby, and Stel and I are stopped on the street and cordially welcomed to town by Mike, the head of Public Works.
- Thinning out the sides to match the top in a “Mayberry-like” barbershop in Alabama
- Pointing out “home sweet home” to a few friends as we pass this unique patio
- The pure joy of another day on the water
- Stel waves good night from the city dock in Guntersville, Alabama