Day 29 off to Clifton, TN

     We departed from Grand Harbor shortly after 8:15 am and headed 56 miles to Clifton, TN. The reason for the later than normal departure is shown in the first photo (at right).  Yes sports fans! I bought the hat on the left when we stopped at Grand Harbor in October, 2014 when we stopped here our first Loop. It has turned out to be my favorite hat ever since, and I have bought probably 6 other hats since then. That does not sound like a lot of hats, but I am sort of picky about color, logo, closure in back, etc. Thus, one of the real reasons for doing another Loop was so that I could buy a back up, and the marina store/office did not open until 8:00 am...

     The day is going to be cloudy all day with rain and scattered thunderstorms beginning in the late afternoon, and the photo at the left shows the grey clouds with much darker clouds coming in from the west (left). We have to go 8.9 miles to the Pickwick Lock to get into the Tennessee River below Pickwick Lake. The photo also shows Lucky Us in the Pickwick Lock in the company of Lady Chateau. Lady C. is about 75 feet, and even she looks small in this 1,000 foot long lock. The drop was 55 feet, and it felt strange to be going down after spending several weeks where we always went up. It will be "downhill" in the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Ohio Rivers, and then we head back up the Mississippi River. We saw the Lady Chateau again at the marinas for tonight and tomorrow. Nice folks!

     We did get some rain but not the "possible" thunderstorms. The observant Admiral captured this photo of a bald eagle in a tree along the shoreline. They are so magnificent that I really get a lift whenever we see one along the route.

     The photo at the left shows Lucky Us tied alongside the pier at the Clifton Marina. The marina was dug out of the river bank so it sits down like in a little bowl. This photo is taken from up in the parking lot looking down at the marina office and restaurant. Literally everything in the marina floats to allow for floods, but the short channel in from the Tennessee River probably protects everything from strong currents during a flood.

     This photo shows the main building that also includes outside seating. After checking in the Admiral announced that we were eating in the restaurant. This came as no surprise since we were both tired, but my choices turned out to be your average hamburger. It was better than many, but...

     Lucky was treated to some nice walks along the riverbank in the parking lot and then out into a very large grassy area that also served as a RV park. We made the walk around these areas a total of three times so even Lucky was tired. The last photo shows the sunrise the next morning, which technically belongs in tomorrows blog. However, this is a sunrise over the Tennessee River, and it shows what I meant about the lovely views from along the edge of the parking lot.

     It goes without saying that once again, sleep came early...