Departed Joe Wheeler 7:35am.  The first part of our trip was through lots of industrial areas.  A funny thing we went past was the Meow Mix plant.

The scenery become much more beautiful as we trekked on.

Pulled into Ditto Landing Marina in Huntsville, Alabama around 2:45.

Had dinner aboard Heartbeat with our now adopted Penny dog!

Departed Ditto Landing 7:45am Friday.  Sailed into some decent fog.  Hailed a tow with barges who stopped on the Right Descending Bank while we passed (going pretty damn slow).  Went through the Guntersville Lock which dumped us onto Guntersville Lake. The homes along this area are breathtaking!  Mike and I actually looked up real estate online.

 

Went into Goose Pond Marina for the afternoon/night.  Super skinny water and a shit-ton of water lilies.  The grass was so deep, our two depth sounders stopped working.  Mike used our handheld depth sounder and confirmed we had at least 6 feet.  The folks at the marina were wonderful.  Mike, Kent, Heather and I used the courtesy car and went into the super cute little town of Scottsboro, AL.  There was a parade that day, which led to a ton of candy strewn across the streets.  We went to Payne’s for ice cream.  Place has been in business in Scottsboro since 1869 (this is 100 years before I was born).  It was super cool!

Walked around the adorable little downtown for a bit, then back to the boats.  Oh, and we hit the Piggly Wiggly!  I have read about this chain for so long, but had never seen one.  It’s actually under a super corporate conglomerate umbrella, which took away some of the romance, but was still stoked to see one.

I did a couple loads of laundry, then met the crew at The Docks, a very picturesque restaurant across the way from the marina.  I was rushing to get the laundry out of the dryer and make it to the place before sunset, and failed to put on bug spray.  Also, did not know we would be eating outside, but it was so pretty, and the sunset was so beautiful on the water…

Had an epic dinner.  And, they had live music after which was great.

The downside???  I got eaten ALIVE by a kazillion mosquitos!  I hate those bastards!  I literally have kankles today.  And, Mike is tired of me bitching, but it’s brutal!

So, departed the Mosquito Coast this morning around 8:20 while we waited out some fog.  Other than the parts of the day I was ice packing my ankles and inner thigh to sooth my effing mosquito bites, the sail was beautiful.

During the afternoon, we got a text from Kent on Heartbeat asking if we had an onion (we knew he was making his epic spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight).  We did, so we slowed and Mike pitched an onion to Heather quite expertly.

Went through the Nickajack Lock today which was super smooth.  As we were getting near the top, Mike noticed a gigantic hornets’ nest.  Scared the bejesus out of me.  We told the lock master we had a present for him, but that we couldn’t get it to him until we pulled forward a bit, and why.  Mike expertly tossed him a jar of his zombie sauce.  The (super cute) lock master caught it and was thankful.  I don’t like hornet nests.  I love the south, but the bugs suck.

Arrived at Cedar Creek Anchorage in Jasper, Tennessee around 3:15 this afternoon.  43.3 nautical miles today, 7:07 total time.  Averaged 6.1 knots, which is not bad considering we’re going upriver.  There was a Bayliner at anchorage when we arrived.  Shortly after, another AT34, Katie B, came into the anchorage.  Was super cool to have 3 ATs at an anchorage in TN.

Another beautiful day…another beautiful anchorage.

Fantastic dinner of Kent’s epic spaghetti sauce, zucchini and sliced tomatoes with balsamic with great wine and company to cap the day.  Tomorrow, we are Chattanooga bound!

Happy Saturday!  M&M