Day #3 of Maiden Voyage

Ahhh...such a glorious day!  We slept peacefully at Goose Pond and awoke to a foggy but gorgeous morning.  SUCH beauty:

Since we had a short (53 mile) day planned today, we did not leave at the crack of dawn.  We ate breakfast and got cleaned up.  Since Goose Pond always has the cheapest fuel on most all of the TN River system, we decided to go ahead and fill up the boat so as to not have to do it again this summer.  :)  The tanks were just above half full so not too bad.  We got under way soon after refueling.  The folks on the fuel dock had told us that this weekend was the last weekend of duck hunting season and that we would probably hear some shots that day.  Just outside the marina as we got back to the main channel from the Goose Pond channel, we were met with this great sight...a man, a boat, his retriever, and shotgun at the ready.  I liked how the picture came out:

There were some rolling fog banks early in the morning that were beautiful to watch and even more fun, they burned off each time as we got to them: 

Just more beautiful scenery on the river today:

This old car ferry reminds me so much of the farm my grandparents lived on when I was very young.  Only way to get there was to cross a ferry over the green river just like this!

A welcome sight...approaching Nickajack Lock!

I always wondered why so many people fish below dams until I noticed the fishfinder screen on our garmin:

Approaching the open Nickajack Lock:

Dad tending the cockpit while locking through.  Note the weather teak that we will refinish and the broken boat hook!

Looking up the lock wall before going up:

This is how we tie off the boat inside the lock.  The bollard is recessed inside the lock wall and floats up/down with the rising or falling of the water within the lock.  You pull up to the bollard and loop around it and tie that line off at your midships cleat:

A visitor at the lock overlooks the proceedings with the thoughts of a quick dinner as fish may get stuck on the lock gates as the water receeds:

Almost to Hales Bar Marina:

And....finally, Hales Bar Marina just at dark:

It is hard to believe we will be back to Island Cove tomorrow!!  What a great trip!  The boat has ran great.  We have put just over 30 hours on the main engines on this trip and the boat has done fabulous.  We are very, very excited!!