Oct. 14-20, 2024 – Buchanan to near Linden, TN
Monday – Thursday (Oct. 14-17, 2024) – Buchanan, TN (Paris Landing State Park Marina)
Last Sunday, when we left you, we had just arrived at Paris Landing State Park Marina in Buchanan, TN. We opted to stay here through Thursday because we are in no rush and it is a beautiful setting!
We kept busy during our four days. We spent time hiking the trails of Paris Landing State Park.
We also spent time at the Paris Landing State Park Lodge. We had dinner one night with two other Looper couples and went back two times by ourselves to have a drink and enjoy the views. We also met other Loopers for “docktails” on two nights.
We spent most of Thursday cleaning and winterizing HOMES in preparation for her two-month stay in Iuka, Mississippi starting at the end of the month. Since I cleaned in the engine room, it wasn’t easy to get out and take pictures of Tim winterizing the swim platform shower, the windshield wash down lines and the bar sink in the fly bridge. He also washed the sides of HOMES since we were in a finger dock and both sides were reachable. We also pickled the water maker, which entails adding 4 ounces of stabilizing agent (sodium metabisulphite) in a 5-gallon bucket and then circulating it through the system for 10 minutes.
On Thursday evening, we concluded our time at Paris Landing State Park with a pizza delivery and final walk. After pizza, we walked around the aviary, which had two owls, who were either being rehabilitated or unable to return to the wild. We then walked to a pavilion where a section of the Scott Fitzhugh Bridge sits after being saved when it was replaced in 1993 with the Ned McWherter Bridge, which now takes State Highway 76 over the Tennessee River/ Kentucky Lake. Built between 1927 and 1930, the bridge opened to traffic on September 10, 1930. It was a toll bridge until 1939, costing 50 cents to cross – very expensive in the 1930s. In the late 1930s, the bridge was raised 19 feet, before Kentucky Dam flooded the area in 1944 and made Kentucky Lake.
Dating back to the 1800s, the site of Paris Landing State Park was an important spot for the delivery of goods to serve the region’s early settlements. As such, it was key in the American Civil War. Confederate Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his troops raged terror along this area that we will be traveling in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. He is known for destroying bridges, railway lines and massacring about 300 Union soldiers who were surrendering, most of whom were freed slavers. He surrendered in May 1865 after defeat at the Battle of Selma, AL. Even after the Civil War, he continued his terror, serving as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in the early years of Reconstruction. Unbelievably, schools, streets and buildings have been named after him and only some have been renamed. According to Britannia.com, “[M]any white Southerns continue to admire Forrest for his wartime record, common-man origins, and masculine being.”
Friday, October 18, 2024 – Buchanan, TN (Paris Landing State Park Marina) to Near Camden, TN (Upper Rockport Landing Anchorage)
Today, we were underway 5 hours and 14 minutes, going 40 miles (35 nm), at an average speed of 7.8 MPH (6.8 knots).
With our destination being a secluded anchorage with no shore access, there was no need to rush off. We stopped at the fuel dock for a pump out before heading out of Paris Landing State Park Marina around 11:15 AM. The young guy helping us with our pump out visits family in Toledo, OH often, so we had fun talking about our favorite spots in Toledo, like the Toledo Art Museum, Tony Packo’s and Boyd’s Retro Candy Store. The more we travel, the smaller the world becomes.
On our cruise today, we saw evidence showing where Kentucky Lake swallowed up whole towns in 1944 with the completion of Kentucky Dam. In the 1920s, the Tennessee Valley residents frequently endured floods, so convincing them to relocate was not as hard as you would think. Some even welcomed the hydroelectric dam because it would bring electricity to the rural residents for the first time.
The town of Danville was one of the towns flooded when the dammed up Tennessee River rosed 55 feet. However, the 1914 concrete edifice of Old Danville Grain Elevator remains standing.
Before getting to our anchorage, we passed New Johnsonville – incorporated after the residents relocated from flooded “old” Johnsonville, which was about 3 miles downstream. Johnsonville was named after Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee senator who was chosen to be Abraham Lincoln’s vice president. Johnson was the only senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon his state’s secession. He became our 17th president after Lincoln’s assassination. While remaining loyal to the Union during the war, his post-war Presidential Reconstruction favored the southern states – quickly restoring the seceded states to the Union without protection for newly freed people, as well as pardoning ex-Confederates. This led to his impeachment in 1868 by his own party, but he was acquitted by one vote. He returned to Tennessee a hero after his presidency and was elected to the senate again – the only former president to do so. The unsuccessful Reconstruction allowed pre-war leaders to return to power; slavery to be replaced by “black codes;” and Confederate soldiers, like Nathan Bedford Forrest, to exchange Confederate uniforms for KKK “uniforms.” It took one hundred years and another southern vice-president-turned-president named Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Bill in 1964.
When we pulled into our anchorage around 4:30 PM, we saw that we’d be sharing the anchorage with another Looper boat. Tim had a short conversation with Chug n Tug, who is from Canada. As we enjoyed dinner in this stunning location, we decided to stay here another day.
On Saturday, we had a peaceful day at this anchorage. Tim made cookies and I read. In the afternoon, Tim finally had the time to play with the drone that Nick gave us to use. What a nice day!
Sunday, October 20, 2024 – Near Camden, Tn (Upper Rockport Landing Anchorage) to near Linden, TN (Lady Finger Bluff Anchorage)
Today, we were underway 3 hours and 9 minutes, going 23 miles (20.3 nm), at an average speed of 7.5 MPH (6.5 knots).
Our short journey had us in no rush to leave. A good thing too, because the fresh water pump decided to stop working just as Tim finished his shower. He determined that the switch in the pump went bad, so he made a temporary fix until we can get a new switch. The pump is now hard wired to the main switch, so we have to turn that main switch on and off as needed. A slight inconvenience, but once again, Tim saves the day!
Our short journey took us past the popular, un-scenic Looper anchorage to an unreviewed anchorage in a scenic area with hiking. The anchoring was more challenging than a typical anchorage because this cut is narrow. HOMES takes up the whole spot. Tim put out a stern anchor to keep us straight until the jet skier on shore left and we could get closer to the north shore.
After some dinner and the jet skier leaving, Tim pulled up the stern anchor and launched the dinghy so he could tie a stern line to a rock on shore. He wasn’t satisfied that the stern anchor had set. In the process, the jet ski girl came back and her friend appeared on shore waiting for her. The jet ski was now being towed and she wanted her friend on shore to swim out. The friend was very pleased when Tim offered to take her out in our dinghy.
Tim is now satisfied with our anchoring situation. Tomorrow we will hike the trails up on the bluff. Some fisherman, as well as the jet ski girl, say the hiking trails are worth the climb up the bluff.
Here is where we’ll leave you this week. Next week, we’ll continue our slow journey down the Tennessee River toward Iuka, Mississippi where we’ll leave HOMES for the holidays.
See you next Sunday!
Thanks for reading.