Hales Bar

I have cruised on the Tennessee River before.  All of it.  Back in 2008, my young friend Bret and I started at the river's beginning in Knoxville, and followed it to it's end at the Ohio River.  All 652 miles.  We took Bret's old leaky Catalina 25' sailboat, and had a great time.  I guess I talked it up so much that Pam decided we should take TONIC on a similar trip.
I do think that parts of the Tennessee River are as scenic as anywhere east of the Mississippi.  In particular, the "Gorge" area just west of Chattanooga is beautiful.  So that's where we started this trip. 

We launched at Hales Bar Marina.  If you've traveled on I-24 between Nashville and Chattanooga, you've passed right by Hales Bar.  You can see it from the bridge crossing the river.  In that area, it's Nickajack Lake. The marina is located at an abandoned lock and dam.

The sign on the door going into the showers made me wonder where the camers are mounted.  I'm pretty modest and wouldn't want to show off my bare butt to everyone.

From Hales Bar, we headed upstream towards Chattanooga.  I probably took a hundert photos of the hills along the river.