Captain's Log - Day 27

We're back in Tennessee! Sweet Home Alabama is just a little bit less fun now.

The only lock we passed through today was the Nickajack Lock. As we were rising, Simon and I reminisced about the Mississippi River locks. The lock operators would always come by on their little utility scooters and chat with us! Here on the Tennessee River, however, we rarely even see the lock operators ... probably because we're going through way bigger locks, rising over a hundred feet in many instances.

We're getting dangerously close to the end of the trip so I think I'm going to start providing little tidbits of boating advice or boating rules. Pretty bold after only being a boater for 27 days, right? Nevertheless, here goes:

Tidbit #1 - No matter how carefully you coil and stow an anchor line, when you go to throw the anchor, the line will have twisted and wound itself into a knot of gordian proportions. It's also a rule that the more urgently you need to throw the anchor, the more impossible the tangle.

In my continuing quest to arm you with the tools you'll need to someday follow in our wake, I've added a new list - Stuff you're gonna need. I'm trying to stray from the more obvious items that you already know (bug spray, sunscreen, etc.). I'll continue to update it as more comes to mind.

I'm thinking that maybe we should have some t-shirts made to commemorate the trip ... mostly because I don't want a tattoo. I don't do needles!

We're on the hook in Nickajack Lake, next to Raccoon Mountain (where's my raccoon trap when I need it?!). The bullfrogs are making quite a racket - we can hear them over the generator!