Tennessee River - October 2006

The Tennessee River starts in eastern Tennessee near Knoxville and runs southwest through Chattanooga dipping down into Alabama before it turns north and up through Tennessee and into Kentucky.  The course of the river is shown in yellow and red on the map to the left.  The yellow portion is the 'upper' Tennessee river which we did travel on, and the red portion is the 'lower' Tennessee which we did travel on. The Tennessee joins  the Ohio river at Paducah, Kentucky.  Both the Ohio and Tennessee eventually drain into the Mississippi, as does the Illinois river. The Mississippi river and its tributaries provide drainage for approximately 40% of the lower 48 states.

We had intended to travel up the Tennessee at least as far as Chattanooga, but the fates conspired against us.   The large chamber of the lock just past Florence was damaged when a barge hit it (ouch!). All commercial barge traffic going up the Tennessee now must go through the much smaller 'pleasure craft' lock chamber. Each string of barges has to be de-coupled and each individual barge is put through one at a time.  This has caused an unbelievable backup at the lock and extremely long delays for everyone trying to get through. We opted instead to spend a week at the  marina in Florence and rent a car to explore the area by land.

The blue river marked on the map to the left is the Tenn-Tom waterway.  It joins the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River which eventually drains into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile, Alabama. We turned onto the Tenn-Tom after our stop at Florence on the Tennessee river. 

When you are traveling up a river - i.e. against the current - then you are said to be traveling 'upbound'.  If you are heading down the river - i.e. with the current - then you are said to be heading 'downbound'   Because most of the rivers in the US flow north to south, tug drivers use the terms 'northbound' and 'upbound' interchangeably as well as 'southbound' and 'downbound' regardless of the direction that they are actually traveling. This caused no end of confusion for us poor 'Pleasure Craft' when talking to the tow boat operators on the upper Tennessee River (shown in red on the map).  On his portion of the river we were traveling 'upbound' or against the current but also heading south.  So when you KNOW that you are clearly going south, and you call the boat coming toward you who is clearly going north, but they respond as 'southbound tow XYZ'.  Well, you get the picture...

As we traveled along the Tennessee, we spotted the Delta Queen going the other way.  North. Really. Even if he does announce himself as 'Southbound Delta Queen.'

On the way down the Tennessee, we stopped at Paris Landing state park. The marinas at the state parks are VERY nice and not terribly expensive.  The marina had a gauge showing the depth of the water relative to the top of the dam and the summer and winter normal pool levels.  We were still above the winter pool level, but significantly below the summer pool level. Many of the anchorages that are usable in the summer are too shallow in the winter due to these changes in pool levels.

It has gotten really COLD here on the Tennessee river over the past few weeks.  One of the nice things about this is the changing of the leaves on the trees all along the river.  One of the bad things is being really cold all the time.  Fortunately, my good friend Julie made me a really warm jacket a while ago.  I have been getting lots and lots of good use out of it. Thank you, Julie!

This is a picture of some homes perched high up on the banks of the Tennessee river. Great views, and they SEEM to be high enough to be out of flood danger.  Maybe..

I took this picture one afternoon when we were out walking near the town of Johnsonville along the river.

Clifton is one of those neat little towns that seems to have been bypassed by time.  Even though the town is tiny, it does boast a beautiful old hotel down by the river front.  We stopped in a little diner for lunch (the only restaurant in town), when the waitress asked us where we were from.  We explained that we were traveling down the river on our boat, to which she responded - 'And you stopped in Clifton???'.  She seemed amazed that anyone would come here to visit.  

We visited Shiloh, the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil war.  They had stationed the cannons around the battle ground in the same positions as they were during the battle. 23,746 men were killed, wounded or reported missing after this battle on April 7, 1862.  The same number of men died in Corinth from disease during the 7 weeks following Shiloh as perished in the battle itself.   

The national cemetery in Shiloh.   

Dinner with friends also doing the loop - from the left and clockwise around the table - Janet and Jeremy, Cindy and Frank on 'Peacekeeper', Diane and Bob and Becky on 'Seascape'. Great friends, great food - who could ask for more???

More fall foliage in Florence Alabama. The second photo is of downtown Florence.

Florence is the hometown of W. C. Handy - Farther of the Blues. 

Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller is in Tuscumbia, Alabama, a small town across the Tennessee River from Florence. Helen was born healthy, but an illness at the age of 19 months left her both blind and deaf. Ann Mansfield Sullivan came to live with Helen when she was 7 years old to teach her how to communicate by spelling words using sign language into her hand.  Ann eventually taught Helen to speak.  Helen ended up going to Radcliff university where she graduated cum laude.  She lived her life as an inspiration to others.

We had noticed on the visitor's map of Florence, that there was a Coon Dog Cemetery near by. We felt that, in the interest of research, we should really try to find where all good Alabamans bury their coon dogs. We drove and drove and followed the signs and drove some more.  Off the main road, onto a windy country road, onto a dirt road until we found a sign for the Coon Dog Cemetery.  Must be close!  Unfortunately nearby were several other signs saying 'Private shooting and hunting club', 'No Trespassing', 'This means you', etc. etc.  So I snapped a picture of the sign, we got in our car and scurried back to civilization as fast as our little rental car could take us!

Since we had a rental car for a few days, we decided to take a drive up to Huntsville to visit the space center there.  Huntsville is really where the space program started - when Werner von Braun came to the US from Germany together with several of his compatriots. With the encouragement of the federal government, they started building rockets with the intention of launching and men into space and eventually landing an American on the moon.  It's hard to believe that it was 45 years ago when John Glen first orbited earth in 1961 and 37 years since Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon in 1969 with his now famous words 'A small step for this man, a giant leap for mankind'.  I know that we have other financial priorities as a country right now, but I found it profoundly sad that the space program has taken such a back seat in our national priorities.  Traveling and exploring is in our blood as a nation and a species - and I can not imaging any greater or more interesting place to explore than outer space.   

Surprisingly enough, when we entered the museum, we found not a spaceship, but a motorcycle. It was the Liberty Bike built by Orange County Choppers.  The bike is beautiful, but really not meant to be ridden.  We especially liked the wheel rims and the torch mounted on the side of the engine. 

Outside the space museum is an impressive rocket farm as well as a space shuttle prototype and a lunar lander. 

The Saturn V rocket and the F-1 engine.  The F-1 is America's largest and most powerful rocket engine and was developed to power the Saturn V rocket.  Each engine generated 1.5 million pounds of thrust.  A total of 5 engines were needed to power the Saturn V first stage. The engine burned liquid oxygen and kerosene propellant at the rate of 2.84 tons per second for a total burn time of two and a half minutes. 

Janet trying out a 'sleep pod' in a space station mock-up.

The next day, we drove north up to Nashville to visit the country music capital.  I found Elvis, and we had a little 'dance session' together. I was thinking of you, Sheila!!!

There is a wonderful car museum in Nashville called Lane's Auto Museum.  They have quite a unique collection of cars including a lot of 'mini' cars.  The little green one below is a 1956 Zundapp Janus 250.  The back seats face backwards and you get in through the door in the back of the car.  No, there is no trunk. The engine is mounted between between the tow rows of seats which can also be lowered to create sleeping space for 2 people.  Granted, they have to be short, thin and VERY friendly. The name 'Janus' was chosen after the Roman God who faced in 2 directions. 

Jeremy's trying to figure out how he could possibly fold himself up enough to fit into the little red 1957 Messerschmitt KR200 below. 

Is it a plane or is it a car?  It's a 1932 Helicron, a one of a kind propeller driven car. 

This car was definitely built down to a price.  Tiny, only one front tire, and lawn chairs for seats.

These single-seaters were the smallest cars in the showroom.  I'm not sure if they're really street legal, but there was a video of the museum owner driving the little Trident (the second one that looks like it has a bubble on top) on the streets around town.  There was one time where he was surrounded by big-rigs.  It's a wonder they didn't squash him like a bug.  These cars only have forward gear - no reverse.  If you want to turn around you get out of the car, pick of the back end using the handy handle back there built for that purpose, and physically turn it around.  He also mentioned that you don't want to try to drive the Trident in the summer.  There is no air conditioning and the air in the bubble can get REALLY hot in the summer sun.

This was the car I picked out for me. It was love at first sight.

The owner's wife, Susan Lane and fellow Nashvillian Eve Hutcherson drove this 1956 Ford Thunderbird convertible in the Rallye des Princesses in June 2006. The rally is a 1000 mile race from Paris to Monaco for women only.  Susan and Eve were the only American team to enter, and so they thought it appropriate to drive a classic American car.  While they did not win the race, the soft springs and low-geared steering being no match for the twisty Alpine roads along much of the course, they did win the prestigious "Prix Special" for bringing the ambiance and spirit of the original 1929 rally.

Talkin' Southern

If American English is the simplified subset of the English language (as some Brits will tell you), then Southern English has been simplified even farther.  Having spent some now in the deep south, we have learned one or two things that we'd like to share. 

First of all, there are virtually no G's in the southern dialect.  It's cookin, fixin, goin, talkin , etc - not a G to be found. I'm starting a new campaign 'Send a G to Tennessee'.  Donations of unused G's gratefully accepted.

Many words have been shortened even farther- Something is 'sumin'. Your is 'yur'. The phrase 'son of a bitch' is 'sumbitch'.  I have absolutely no idea what 'ain't' is a contraction of, but it is used freely in the south - as in 'He ain't your brother, he's your cousin - so you kin go ahead and git hitched.'. 

If you are going to do something, then you are 'fixin' to do it. 

If you are really certain of something, then you say 'shu-nuff'. For example, when driving to Shiloh with some of our new southern friends, Jeremy noted that 'we should probably take the next left turn, my good man'.  Bob, who was driving, responded with 'shu-nuff'' meaning that that was certainly the correct turn and he would take it. 

A 'piece' is an indeterminate distance. For example, if you ask for directions you may be told to go down the road 'a piece' until you get to the old Johnson place. Can't miss it!.  What? You don't know the old Johnson place?  'Yur not frum 'round here, are ya?'

Finally, forget what you've been taught in your history books - it was not the 'Civil War'. It was the 'War of Northern Aggression', there was nothing 'civil' about it and it 'ain't over'.

Updated November 16, 2006

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