What the heck was that Noise?

So far I have to tell you that the Tennessee River is pretty nice.  We left Green Turtle Bay a few days ago and pushed on down Kentucky Lake.  So far the scenery has been out of this world.  Having spent a little over a week in a marina, Anna and I have opted to anchor our way to the Pickwick Lock about 200 miles from leaving Green Turtle bay.  I am happy to report it was a great move.  So far we have had a number of wonderful night in little creaks and towheads along the way.  Two days ago we awoke to a beautiful sunrise with a mystical fog covered river.  It was quite a sight.  We have even had the chance to see quite a few Bald Eagles on the sides of the river.  With the scenery being as spectacular as it is and with the need to kill some time before we head down to the gulf of Mexico, we have decided to take a side trip up the Tennessee to Chattanooga.  My Mom and Dad have made plans to fly in to see us there.  It should be loads of fun. Anna and I did have an interesting thing happen to the boat the other day that gave us a good scare.  When we were leaving our first Anchorage we heard a load screeching noise coming from the drive shaft when you pulled the engine out of gear.  With a little more investigation we isolated it to be coming from the Cutlass Bearing.  It seemed that with the final two to three rotations of the prop shaft the screech would sound out and then stop with the rotation.  I was beside myself.  Here we had just had Blue hauled out and now it seemed we would have to have her hauled again.  My fear was the Cutlass had gone our even worse the transmission was about to let go.  Our friend Jerry on Sassy informed us that he new of a good yard about 30 miles up river, so with a few phone calls we made arrangements to have it checked out.  It was a stressful ride up river, having a major mechanical failure now was not what we needed.  Upon our arrival to Lee Spry Marine Services, Lee himself met us on the dock hoped on and gave her a look.  Twenty seconds on the boat and he popped up from the shaft and said in his deep southern draw "Yup they do that".  I was in shock, you mean to tell me that noise is normal?  Lee went on to explain that with all the nitrogen in the water from the farms on the banks of the river, the rubber in the Cutlass on occasion will get sticky.  As the prop shaft comes to a stop, the stickiness will cause a loud screeching noise like a screeching tire on the road.  I never would have believed it, but at this point Lee could have told me I needed a new cutlass and I would have believed why would he steer me wrong.  Lee was a real gentleman, I tried to pay him for his time but he would have nothing of it.  He said if I had talked to you on the phone I would have told you down river, this was a pretty common thing around here.  So feeling like we dodged a bullet Anna and I pushed off. You learn something every day I thought, once again this day was no different. 



We saw this beautiful 26 Nordic Tug on her way up river.  I spoke with the Captain on the radio and learned that they were out of Boothbay Maine and were doing the loop in reverse.  I had to hand it to him, fighting the current on the Mississippi was not what I would call a good time.  Good Luck Promises, we hope to see you on the other side.



What a sunrise!



The Fog is nice, not only does it make us think of home, it gives us an excuse to have one more cup of coffee.




The Fall colors are just starting to show as we make our way to the Blue Ridge Mountains.




Anna got this great shot of a Bald Eagle looking for fish on the banks of the river.




One thing you see a lot of here is bass boats.  These guy know one speed.  W.T.F.O.  Wide The &^%$ Open.  They are a sight blasting buy us at 70 miles an hour with only a few inches of transom left in the water.