Day 173 - Nov 23, 2007 Soddy Daisy, TN

It was in the low 40's and very windy, seeming much colder than that, when we left downtown Chattanooga heading north. We traversed the Chickamaugua Lock without delay. It's an old, smaller lock and known for long waits for commercial traffic sometimes. Heading north, the setting on Chickamaugua Lake (TN River) soon became a bit more rural. Enroute there were some magnificent estates along the river.

Harbor Lights Marina will be home-base for CRAZY EIGHTS. We will be about 2 1/2 hours from the marina, rather than 6 hours from St. Simon's Island, where she was previously docked. Note the covered slips on the photo. This is something new to us. It will be nice to keep the boat cleaner and cooler in the summer.

Our plan is that we will cruise on shorter trips, exploring the coves and lakes further north, all the way to Knoxville. We'll leave "The Loop" trip open-ended for now. We would've completed The Loop had we continued south, around FL and ending up in West Palm Beach, where we purchased the boat in July 2005. We traveled nearly 4,000 miles and many locks in 2007.

We want to say that it's been just a fabulous five months on the water, seeing new places and meeting wonderful Loopers from all over. Everyone always says, it's not what you see, but the friendships that you make along the way. It is SO true. There are too many to mention but you are all special and we hope that our paths will cross again.

The trip was more expensive this year than anticipated for several reasons. We stayed in marinas more than we had planned for. We ate out more, rarely saying no if someone was going out. After all, that's a lot fun and you get to know others better :=) And fuel was higher than last year - there's no choice there! So we had a trip of a life time and we wouldn't trade it for anything!

We arrived home to Atlanta on Thanksgiving weekend. The early part of December I decided it was time to go back to work. A three hour commute to/from Fayetteville even several days a week soon made me aware, that this plan is nuts. So I changed realty companies and I am now with RE/MAX Center, working from the Dacula office. I work from my home/office most of the time but am only eight miles away from the office. Portia, my partner, is still handling south metro Atlanta with Century 21. I hope that we will always be good friends and business "partners."

This area has been pretty busy and I've got some listings and a several buyers that I am working with. I work primarily Gwinnett and Hall counties, northeast Atlanta. If you have a real estate need, give me a call or quick email. I'd like to be your real estate resource. I can connect you with another real estate professional most anywhere in the country, if the need is out of my service area. It would be my pleasure. My phone is 770/891-1108 and email: Lee.Johnson@remax.net, and website: www.LeeJohnsonHomes.com.

Our new home is still a work in progress. We're meeting new neighbors. My niece,her husband and little girl live a few minutes from here. I have several Delta friends who live up this way, so it's all feeling "like home." Reggie is loving all the walking around the neighborhood and meeting new "buddies." I guess this makes us "landlubbers" again!

If you are up our way, or visiting in Atlanta, please let us know!
Sorry for the delay in finishing our Journey. We wish you all the best for 2008!

Day 171 - 172, Nov 21-22, 2007 TN River

We locked through the Nickajack Lock about 2:30PM the afternoon before and stopped at Hales Bar Marina for the night. We were 40+ miles from Chattanooga and on Nickajack Lake, the first of the TVA dammed lakes in TN on the Tennessee River.

The ride from here into Chattanooga is called "The TN Grand Canyon" and is some of the most beautiful area of the entire trip. To our wonderful pleasure, we were still seeing most of the fall colors at their peak! The cruise was awesome and I only wish that the photos could really show the beauty that we saw. As we neared Chattanooga, the countryside gave way to more urban scenery and some magnificent homes along the River. We saw one gigantic white home with huge columns up on a mountain ridge that had 7, yes 7 chimneys!

We docked at Marine Max Marina, downtown Chattanooga, conveniently located near the TN Aquarium, restaurants and shopping. My brother and sister-in-law from SC arrived about the same time we did. After getting CRAZY EIGHTS settled in, we hopped in the car to drive north of Chattanooga to Soddy Daisy to check out Harbor Lights Marina, which was going to be CRAZY EIGHTS' new home for awhile. It wasn't as easy to get a long term slip here as it had been on the East Coast. The marina is on Lake Chickamaugua which will offer some nice cruising and anchoring next spring. We enjoyed a nice late lunch at local marina restaurant.

Thanksgiving Day we all a Holiday Buffet at the Sheraton Reed House in downtown Chattanooga. It was fabulous, though a bit pricey. We ate until we could eat no more. I do think we got our money's worth :=))

The weather had finally turned cold and very windy. The cold weather had been a concern since we were delayed in moving south after repairs. We were blessed with decent weather for the most part.

Day 170, Nov 20th TN River from AL into TN

Another 0530 alarm - maybe only one more of those o-dark-thirty starts!
Everything seemed routine as we left the Alred Marina in Guntersville, AL.
About forty-five minutes out, we encountered fog. Visibility was reduced to two hundred yards or less so we reduced speed and slowly made our way, hoping that the fog would quickly lift.

Over two hours later, things turned back to normal and we thoroughly enjoyed "another day in paradise" on the water. The one photo shows the fog hanging suspended mid-way on the hills. It was really strange how it lifted.

I've included the one photo showing a green marker on shore. We navigate on the water with red and green buoys to stay in the channel. In addition, there are markers, either red or green, that indicate a mile marker, too, so that you can check yourself on paper charts. Rich works the chart plotter and I do the "backup" on paper charts in the event of an electronic failure.

You must know exactly where you are with all the tow and barge traffic. When you talk to the tow Captains to ask permission to pass or when meeting them, you give your location first. This is your navigation lesson of the day!

We have 41 miles more to Chattanooga, passing through the Grand Canyon of Tennessee area. We're told that it's some of the prettiest area on the Tennessee River.
How can it get any prettier??!! More to follow.....