Meandering Magees: Pickwick Lake

Day 41 - October 17, 2016

1067 miles to Pickwick Lake

True North is back to a full crew. Hooray! Greg and Karen arrived at Pebble Isle Marina about 11pm last Friday night. A big “thank-you” to Karen’s sister and brother-in-law, Sandy and Dale who drove them from Michigan to meet back up with us.

On Saturday, after we got our last free cinnamon roll, we left Pebble Isle at 10:45. Kentucky Lake narrowed into the Tennessee River, whose banks were lined with slate/rock, just like what you see when driving through the state in a car. We saw more homes in this stretch, most of them raised off the ground on stilts or solid foundations. Some of the houses high up on the hillsides looked precariously close to the edge of the embankments. We passed lots of campgrounds where the trailers were parked under roofs for protection from the summer heat.

We took the recommendation of Captain’s Choice and anchored out at Double Island anchorage. Just before entering it at 4:30, we hit 1000 miles on our odometer. I’m sure that is not what you call it on a boat - odometer - but whatever the name, we did it! Only 5,000+ miles to go! We celebrated the occasion by grilling steaks in this beautiful, peaceful part of the river.

We pulled up our anchor and were off on Sunday morning at 9:45. The Tennessee had many curves and bends. When we chose “Meandering Magees” for our blog name back in 2013 while traveling in the motorhome, it was more because of the alliteration. But we are TRULY meandering with this Loop trip, with our speed still at 10 mph (we find we like the slow pace), and the twists and turns of the inland rivers.

True North arrived at the Pickwick Lock and Dam at 3:30. It was Karen’s first experience in a lock, and our first one since back on September 19th. We had passed a barge about a mile before the lock and we were sure the lock master would take the tow first and then us. But the barge had become stuck and the lock master released some water to try to raise the river level a bit to help the barge get loose. This was going to take a while so we were allowed into the lock with a waiting sailboat, and were locked up 55 ft.. (as unlikely as it seems at first glance, we were traveling upstream on the Tennessee river.) We came out of the lock at 5 pm into Pickwick Lake. The sailboat in the lock with us had lost his navigational chart and since we were both going to the same marina, we slowed our pace and the John B followed us into Grand Harbor Marina. We were tied up by 6.

Pickwick Lake is another major checkpoint for us as it is where we turn off the Tennessee and begin the next leg - the Tenn-Tom Waterway. (more on that in the next post)

The Grand Harbor is a large marina with a condo development right next to it, like our home marina of Harbor View. They had a courtesy car, which we took on Monday to visit the Shiloh battlefield. The car was actually a Ford Transit with “Grand Harbor Marina” and “Follow Me to Freddy T’s” emblazoned in large letters all around the white van. The harbormaster, when handing over the keys, jokingly said, “It’s got our name all over it so don’t go robbing any banks or liquor stores.” Greg said, “ You don’t have to worry about a bank, but we can’t make any promises on the liquor store!”

We spent three hours at Shiloh National Military Park. With the courtesy car from the marina came an audio CD tour of the battlefield, which saved us from having to purchase it in the gift shop. Our first stop was the visitor center where we arrived just in time to catch the 11am showing of an excellent film depicting the events of April 6 and 7, 1962. Visiting any battlefield of any war is a somber and sobering time and Shiloh was no exception.

Some refer to this battle as Pittsburg Landing, the physical area on the Tennessee River where General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces disembarked. But a little farther inland, among the forest and farms and orchards stood Shiloh Meeting House, the small log Methodist church that gave the battlefield its name.

Following the audio CD and our map, we drove 13 miles through those forests and farms and orchards, stopping at major points where the action took place while the narrator described what happened at that location. We got out of the car at certain spots to read a marker or take pictures. Monuments dot the landscape indicating regiments and battalions and infantry from the different states, with the majority of the soldiers coming from Ohio, Tennessee (North) and Mississippi (South). Some of these monuments are small - no bigger than a headstone - while others are large, beautiful, ornate granite symbols of respect and honor for those who fought at Shiloh.

On the grounds of the Shiloh National Park is Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark. We saw well preserved mounds that date back 800 years.

23,746 soldiers (both Confederate and Union) were killed, wounded or listed as missing after the men under the command of Grant and Don Carlos Buell defeated the Confederate army led by Albert Johnston (who was killed in the battle) and P.G.T. Beauregard. The North and the South had been fighting for a little over one year when the Battle of Shiloh took place. Union commanders thought a victory in the Mississippi Valley would bring a quick end to the war. Sadly, it did not; the war between the states was fought for 3 more years.

“After Shiloh, the South never smiled again.”

We drove 7 miles into Savannah, TN, the self-proclaimed “Catfish Capital of the World” where we couldn’t find a single place open that served catfish on this late Monday afternoon!