Happy Happy docked in the shadows of the Chattanooga Aquarium
After much (but not enough) preparations, many work trips up to the boat with handy and willing friends, 4 SUV loads of supplies, provisions (40 days of canned/dry goods, 60 lbs of dog food!, etc.) and a looming deadline to get to the Great Loop Fall Rendezvous in Rogersville, AL by Oct 14th, we finally and frantically cast off from our marina home for the last year on Watts Bar Reservoir on the Tennessee River on October 6th. JT graciously came in from Athens to shuttle us up to the boat and save us a further complication of how to get the Exploder back to Atlanta but even with this we ended up renting a one way rental van from Enterprise to get all the critters and last load of clothes and fresh food transported. A special treat was a visit from Terry's brother and sister-IN-LAW, Mike and CONNIE JO on a return RV trip to Knoxville to be in the neighborhood and spend our last day "marina bound" before casting off.
All of this while the remnants of tropical storm Joaquin pounded the southeast coast and brought record rains and flooding inland. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which manages the Tennessee River system from Knoxville to Lake Pickwick near Mississippi (our river route for the next 500+ miles and months of travel) were impacted as they are managed to provide flood protection and so as we "locked thru" various dams in the next few days we were given a healthy boost of speed on the downstream channel as floodwaters were released over the dam/spillways.
At last we we're on our way!