NM Today: 28
NM Total: 2174
Locks Today: 0
Locks Total: 82
We agreed with Ariel and Time Out to be ready to leave at 8:00 this morning. The weather had other ideas. We woke to pea soup and decided that it would not be prudent to venture out into the river until some of the fog cleared.
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| Too Foggy to See the River! |
The fog played with us for about a half hour - looking like it was breaking up and then rolling back in heavier than ever. Then, suddenly, it cleared like magic and we were on our way.
We bought a Tennessee River Cruise Guide at Pebble Isle, and today as we traveled on the Tennessee River, I followed along landmark by landmark. It made the trip a lot more interesting. As we passed Lady Finger Bluff I read that legend has it that a pioneer woman jumped from the cliff's edge to avoid being captured by attacking Indians.
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| Lady Finger Bluff |
Although not in the guide book, Clark became very excited at the first sight of houses along the river. It has been so long since we have seen one! What we quickly noticed is that almost every house is raised - a sure sign of a flood zone! Besides the houses we started to see lots of mobile / motor homes. Our recent stays at marinas have been at locations with covered slips. Like boat slips, the motor homes along this stretch of river also reside under cover. Without the artificial shade created by a covered structure, it is just too hot here in summer months.
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| Signs of Civilization along the river |
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| Look alike, raised houses along the river |
The guide book pointed out that the scenery from here until the start of the Tennessee River consists of rock ledges along the river's edge made up mostly of gray limestone and shale. Cedar trees and Cypress are prevalent in the area. Due to the shallow and dry soil, cedar trees have no competition from other trees for clinging to the edges of the rocks.
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| Shale and Limestone Ledges along the river |
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| Anatomically Correct Mermaid swimming along the river |
We arrived at Clifton Marina in Clifton, Tennessee at 1300 hours. We were the first to arrive of the 8 boats with reservations for the night. The marina only advertises room for 7 transient boaters, so we are packed in here tonight. After getting settled and helping Ariel and Time Out tie up when they docked shortly after us, we eventually made our way into town for a look around.
Mike from Time Out reserved the courtesy car for all three boats to get provisions. The marina claimed that the vehicle seated 6 which we thought would be perfect. When we left to walk up to the car, there were 6 people plus the dog Lucy from Ariel. I believe we all envisioned a van and not the 5-seater car that we found in the parking lot. Mike joked that the woman at the marina told him to remember the trunk for additional seating. Perhaps she was serious?! Corinne and Robert decided to walk Lucy into town.
Mike and Gail from Time Out climbed into the back seat. As soon as we got in the car we immediately felt the heat. The first thing we noticed when we started the car was the noise coming from the air conditioning. I thought the car would blow up with the sounds coming out of the thing. We turned it off and opened the front windows but discovered that the back windows would not open. Ventilation to remove the heat in the car was severely limited, so we started to make our way out of the parking lot to get a breeze going from the two front windows.
By the time we had driven the short distance to the exit for the marina, Clark noticed that the "low coolant" idiot light was on. He wanted to stop and check the radiator immediately, but we convinced him to drive the 5 blocks into town first. Mike pointed out that a bottle of coolant was sitting on the floor of the back seat, so we figured low coolant was a known issue.
Ironically, when we got into town we pulled over to the side into the parking lot of an abandoned business that used to be a service station. Mike pulled off the radiator cap and discovered that it was full of fluid. So, like the last courtesy car Clark and I borrowed, the idiot lights are not to be believed. Even though Mike had reserved the car, he and Gail only planned on hitching a ride into Clifton itself and then letting us take the car to get provisions. After checking the coolant level, Mike and Gail took off to go explore town.
I needed a few groceries - minimal really, and Clark was looking for a hard-to-find part for the propane tank connection. We found out that the nearest stores for full provisioning were at least 20 miles away, and the only store claiming to sell the propane tank part was further than that.
I was convinced that if we tried to drive this wreck of a car 40 miles to buy groceries and parts, we would be very regretful later. Either we would pass out in the heat or it would break down and leave us stranded in some remote part of Tennessee. Since my only serious need was milk, we decided to have a look around Clifton and forget the trip to Savannah for supplies.
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| Downtown Clifton, TN |
We managed to buy the milk I wanted as well as two rib-eye steaks and a bag of ginger snaps - all things on my short list for groceries at the Clifton General Store. Since I was cranky about the time spent in the heat and dealing with the car, Clark bought me an ice cream cone to brighten my day! After our shopping spree at the General Store, we drove the jalopy back to the marina, with Corinne and Gail in the backseat, to put our perishables in our refrigerators on our boats. We left Mike and Robert to walk back with Lucy the dog.
After we returned the courtesy car and stowed our groceries, Clark and I took out our bicycles to ride back into town for exercise and explore more than the General Store. Sadly the area is depressed and the town reflects that. The hopping-est place in downtown turned out to be the general store which provides basic groceries, contains a butcher shop and also serves ice cream. We saw several stores with "interesting" hours of operation such as a bar open only Friday and Saturday nights, a craft-type store open only on Saturdays, and a drug store that had different hours every day of the week and closed at 4:00 on Wednesday (we were there at 4:02). I got the distinct feeling that many of the shop owners had a "real" day job elsewhere and operated their own businesses on nights or weekends only. On the edge of town we found the Dollar General Store which had the most cars of anywhere in town. We didn't go in.
The view of the river from the highway going through town was impressive. A memorial to service men and women who died for our country sits along the river's edge.
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| View of River from the Clifton Memorial Site for deceased military personnel |
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| Elaborate Tree House with Wrapped Porch, a slide exit on one side and a trampoline on the other |
A dedication stone in town boasts of the Clifton Restoration Project from 1995 to 2001 and lists the names of the mayor and other key town reps participating in the restoration project. I don't know what happened at that time, but clearly, in 2015 the town is not doing well. The grocery store burned down four years ago and has not been rebuilt. Many vacant buildings show signs of now closed businesses, and the Jack Nicholas 18-hole golf course near town also closed a few years back and shows no signs of reopening. Truly sad!
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