The girl's brother, Dallas, had helped me change the oil in Genesis last Saturday in preperation for this trip.
Here is the link to our track for today:
We pulled away from the Guntersville Marina at 6:35 this morning. Our goal for the day was to make it through the lock at Nickajack, about 67 miles upsream, then anchor out a few miles up from the lock.
There were lots of fishers out this morning.
It was a cool morning, and we made good time for most of the day. There were lots of fishermen out this morning, but otherwise we almost had the river to ourselves. We passed only one tow boat with barges, and one sport fisher boat, all day long. The weather could not have been any better!
Dakota got some good shots with her new camera, such as these ospreys.
The Widow Creek Steam Plant.
Glenda took the wheel and gave Dani and I some time to enjoy the weather from the deck.
During the last few hours before we got to Nickajack the current increased and slowed our speed from the 7+ mph we'd been doing to just under 6. I increased the engine speed a little and got back to about 6.3, which kept us on our original goal of making it to Nickajack by 4:30 central time. (We are apparently right on the eastern-central time zone border - our cell phone are conflicted over it 😀.
We may have set a personal record for eagle sightings in a day - NINE! There were a couple more that we couldn't get close enough to to identify for sure.
Here are the ladies waving goodbye to Alabama and hello to Tennessee as we crossed the border.
The girls helped me get the fenders and lines ready for our trip of 57 feet straight up in the Nickajack lock.
Entering Nickajack lock.
Yea! Back on the water. This time traveling with almost 11 Dani and almost 15 Dakota. After a comfortable night with AC at the marina, we got away about 6:30. Dani chattered like a magpie. It is so fun to share the joy of a child. The weather has been perfect. Dani helped with lunch and washed all the dishes. She is embracing every part of boating life. We watched for animals and enjoyed the journey. Dani played in the water at corp of engineers campground where we stopped for the night. Her older sister was not up for the fun. They did convince me to let them try out the dinghy. By God's grace alone we made it back to the boat. No just kidding, they both did really well. So thankful to be able spend time with them.
Glenda and the girls took a legthy dinghy ride from the dock.
Sunset tonight above Nickajack dam.
Dani says:
Lunch today was AWESOME! We had fried rice with chicken and cantaloupe. For dessert GG,Papa,and I had strawberry cake that I had made for Father's Day,Dakota had strawberries.
Weather today has been AMAZING! And I hope that it will be like this tomorrow. I helped papa keep the boat from hitting the sides while we were in the lock. I was not scared at all except when the horn blew telling us we could enter the lock. I played in the water when we stopped and collected little clams.
Dakota says:
Unlike everyone else my day started at 5:15am because i like to take showers in the morning, but papa said that he would not wait for me if I took to lond at the marina shower. Luckaly I made it and started the day cleen. The morning was a little chilly, but we stayed on the top deck for most of the morning. For breakfast Dani, papa, and I had cereal and gg had a gronola bar. Aperently mine was the only one that had a bug in it. Ya gross, anyway after that intook some good pictures of osprey and even egales. I took a pretty good nap after that and didnt wake up untill dani said it was time for lunch which was chicken and rice. After lunch I took some more pictures and practiced with my camera I got for Christmas (thx mom). Then like a typical teenager I took another nap. Soon we made it to the lock which was awesome. There were herons fishing in the lock while i helped gg with the dinghy to make sure it didnt hit the side. Once we left the lock we stoped at a campground for the night. Dani and gg went to swim and me and papa had to find a charger for his camera. Dinner was sandwiches and chips which i was looking forward to all day. Cant wait for tomorrow and the rest of the week! Untill tomorrow.
Dani says:
In relate to the bug in cereal I had a bug in mine too.
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