" When Pigs Fly"

Locks smocks, who can’t do a lock?

While staying at Ditto Marina in Huntsville, AL we were tourists for a couple of days. We rented a car and went into the city. Our first stop was Constitution Square, a re-creation of several buildings depicting life in 1819, the year Alabama joined the union. That summer 44 men, dressed in the woolen clothes of the day, spent 30 hot days together in a small building that had formally been a carpentry shop. In that short time they managed to draft the state’s first constitution which was needed before statehood could be approved. Makes you wonder how much could be accomplished in Washington DC if we turned off the air conditioning. 

Our tour was conducted by a guide dressed in period clothes who showed us the buildings and told us a little about life in that era. The building where the constitution was written had been returned to a carpenter shop. Among the tools was a large wheel used to turn a lathe. Anna got to spin the wheel. It didn’t take long for her to realize the stress this put on one’s back. We appreciated what this meant for an apprentice carpenter who would spin this wheel for 10-12 hours per day.

Then just around the corner from Constitution Square we were on to Harrison Brothers Hardware established in 1879. This is Alabama’s oldest operating hardware store and is managed by the Historic Foundation. The store had a lot of nostalgic items, but I found it mostly disappointing from a hardware store perspective.

Next we toured a residential area with over 60 homes mostly constructed prior to the civil war. Several had been used as headquarters for the union army during the battle of Huntsville. All were very well preserved and we couldn’t help but consider the financial commitment the present owners would have to make to keep such old stately homes. Later that evening we were so lucky we found a Sonic. When Anna has her Sonic ice all is good, and the chocolate malts weren’t bad either.

 

The second day at Ditto we rode our bikes for the first time on the cruise. Huntsville area has over 30 miles of greenway dedicated to just bike trails. After biking for what seems like about 8 hours I saw a park bench and asked Anna, the pro rider, to pull over so I could rest my backside. When I brought my trusty purple steed to a halt and attempted to stand up I found that both of my legs were rubber! So with a valiant effort I laid the steed over very softly and in my best 7^th grade tumbling move I rolled on to the trail and into the grass; only getting a slight road rash on the left knee. I bounced up pretty spry for an old guy. We rested and continued biking for another 8 hours. Once back on the boat the tumbling move has found my back and ever since I have been in some form of biker’s remorse. The bikes have not been off the boat since. 

Upon leaving Ditto we had two remaining locks to master, one at Guntersville, and the final one at Nickajack, before we could get to Chattanooga. We slid into the lock at Guntersville like old pros. Anna dropped the loop on the pin, I tied our secondary line onto the loop and we rode her up to Guntersville Lake.

Guntersville Lake is known for the Hydrilla, a water plant we had seen to a lesser extent downriver. It’s great for the fishermen but potentially hard on our two inboard props and sea strainers, of which the Pig has about eight. We boated this day for about 50 miles and stayed at Goose Pond Marina. It was a nice marina but it was also Hydrilla Heaven. It’s so bad in this area the TVA has special mowers to cut paths through the Hydrilla fields to keep the channels open.

The working part of the Hydrilla mower

This is propelled by paddlewheels so it won't get stuck in the Hydrilla

 

While at Goose Pond I met John. He had built his own boat, a 50’ steel hull that really was professionally done. It seems he had worked in the ship yards in the gulf of Alabama. While talking to John he told me of a free dock just pass the Nickajack Lock. The next morning we decided to make the free docks rather than anchor as originally planned. This was a few more miles than the anchorage but the weather was great so we just moseyed on up the river.



Anna with her trusty loop

 

ready for another lock

Once at the Nickajack Lock we hailed the lockmaster that we were waiting for a ride up. He opened the gates and again we slid in like pros. When we had our choice of floating pins to tie to, we had generally taken something in the middle of the lock, thinking this gave us plenty of room to maneuver. This time the lockmaster suggested we use the front pin saying it was a smoother ride. He was right. We barely had to us our boat hooks on the way up. In some of the locks it had been a tough job to keep the boat off the wall so we’ll remember this front position trick.

Out in Nickajack Lake we found the free docks just behind the federal moorings and docked the boat in about 19’ of water. There was no power or water at this dock; just a dock and a park. Anna went for a walk and I finalized the boating stuff. Though it had been warm during the day it cooled off nicely in the evening and we had no trouble sleeping with a breeze blowing through the hatches.

Beautiful Tennessee river

The next morning we found our 19’ of water had become 15’6” and it was still falling, so we vamoosed out of there and headed up river on our last 38 miles to Ross Landing, which is the original name of Chattanooga. When we called for reservations we learned there was a Beer Festival going on at the landing the same time we’re there. How lucky is that?! We will spend three days in Chattanooga. On Tuesday we’ll start our trek back to Ditto Marina which should take us until Friday or Saturday. We’ll leave our boat at Ditto Marina while we return home for a few days.

Marina Ratings:

Goose Pond

Free dock

Ross Landing Bluff Docks

 

See you on the water,