Yesterday I was trying to multitask and I got confused and used today’s title with yesterday’s blog. So if you think you have already read this, think again. I have corrected the title on the website. Now please enjoy an interesting adventure.
You guessed it. We hauled out of bed at around 0530 and cast off. The storms last night had washed a ton of debris into the river and it seemed most of it was blocking the entrance to the harbor. I grabbed a boat pole and went to the bow pulpit and started pushing the biggest stuff away. I wish I had a picture of that debris field as it was huge, but many good pictures are missed because they happen in an emergency and there is no time to grab a camera. Steve just snuggled up behind us as we cleared a path.
Rain started soon after we got on the river. Running lights and radar are on for safety and we are maintaining normal speed as we have far to go. Sometimes we have to run with the glassine windows down. Makes for poor visibility as they fog up but we use a fan for a defroster and one of us wipes as necessary. Steve is inside with an actual defroster and real windshield wipers.
We plan a stop for Trixie as this is a long day. We have chosen the town of Dover, TN. The guide says they have an old fishing dock next to a boat ramp. It is way to small for Cbay but we will try to make it work for 10 minutes or so.
Again I wish I had a picture of the young man fishing off the boat dock when Cbay wheeled in from the river and headed toward him. I called out that we wanted to dock for 10 minutes for the dog and asked if he could help us. He immediately agreed and began clearing his various rods and tackle boxes away from the edge. Now this was a smaller dock than we had envisioned. It was about 10 feet wide at the end and we were going to tie up a 46 foot boat across the end. How? That’s what the kid wanted to know. Well, I put out two fenders between the mid and stern cleats. This is the flattest part of the boat. We would let the bow run wild across the launch ramp and the swim paltform would do the same off the other end. Sort of like balancing a beer bottle on a pencil eraser.
As Jan eased her into position I threw the kid a line off the mid cleat. Then I ran down the side and grabbed a knotted rope we have there swinging out onto the dock. Only problem was there were no cleats on the end of the dock to tie to. There were two rickety cleats on the sides of the dock that would have to do. I snatched a line I had waiting on the stern cleat and we hauled her in. That is when I noticed two things going wrong. The fenders were too far apart and the boat was going to scrape this old dock and there was a couple backing a bass boat down the ramp that Cbay was blocking. I handed my line to the young man and ran to shove Cbay off enough to move the fender in while shouting at the couple that we only need five minutes to clear the ramp and please be patient. Then we tied the lines off and Jan emerged with Trixie and headed for shore. Meanwhile the couple had paid no attention to me and had backed the trailer into the water and started the bass boat. Couldn’t they see this monster right in front of them? To this minute I have absolutely no idea how they did it but the bass boat got around our bow and the lady driving it eased around to the other side of the dock to pick up the man. They never said boo.
By this time we had gathered quite a crowd of onlookers from the town. I suppose no sane person had ever done this before. Trixie was taking her sweet time on the shore. I apologized to the kid for interrupting his fishing and he said,”No problem. I ain’t caught nothing all day.” I told him he caught a big one now, to which he quickly replied,”Yeah but you won’t let me keep it.” Best line of the day. I am sure he will have a hard time getting anyone at home to believe the tale of the one that got away.
Jan and Trixie returned and we cast off and eased out into the river where Steve had been holding position off our beam to act as a breakwater for any wakes coming in. It worked great and Steve said it looked like the Keystone Cops in there. If we can tie up there we can tie up anywhere.
Our destination was a marina named Prizer Point. It sounded great in the guidebook. But books can be deceiving. I do not like to trash a place on one visit but if there is a more unfriendly marina in America I have never been there. Only the catfish was good and we ate it and went to the boats. There was one little boy who was cute, smart and interested in us. He asked dozens of questions which we gladly answered. More rain that night washed tons of trash off the slanted roof and onto Cbay.
