Thursday, September 28 - Counce, Tennessee

Up early again this morning and I see "Time Out" leave the marina at 6:45 a.m.!  We left right behind "Rambunctious" at 8:30 and soon "Dog Den" was catching up with us on the river.

As we pull out of the marina, Mr. and Mrs. Eagle greet us farewell!

Today we see many homes along the Tennessee River.  In fact, there are more homes than wilderness.

The limestone ledges are just beautiful, especially when home owners landscape around them.

  Everywhere we look there are very unique styles of homes.

 Occasionally, when we aren't seeing homes, we see the photo on the left, or today, we even see some corn crops!

Breathtaking bend in the river; the Tennessee continues to be a very windy river!

UH OH!!!

Could this be some of the destruction from the effects of Harvey or Irma?

Maybe one of my favorite country singing stars lives here!?

Seriously, almost three flights of stairs to get into your home?  Some of these MUST have an elevator!😲

  A southern plantation with beautiful landscaping and a guest home . . . WOW!

Finally, a restaurant on the water; doesn't anybody eat around here?😋

And, once again, we're heading south even though we're going upstream!

Ah, it's been so long since we've been through a lock, I almost forgot what one looked like!😉  This is the Pickwick Dam in Counce, Tennessee.  Like the Kentucky Dam, it also produces hydroelectric power (and has those little garage doors).

And, like the Kentucky Lock, it's going to be another big lift; 50 feet big! 

SERIOUSLY!!!  Of all the ballards, and this is what I get to look at?!  YUCK!😬

The massive gates begin to close behind us.  It takes 35 minutes to fill up the chamber!

Once again, the water is flowing below the gate in front of us.

And we're finally ready to go!

Goodbye Pickwick Dam, hello Lake Pickwick!  This lake is 26 miles long!

To the left we see more beautiful homes, however these are on some SERIOUS hills/cliffs!  Check out this neighborhood's street and the retaining wall in their backyard . . . WOW!!!

The retaining wall up close!

I'd take any of them, but this is my favorite!💗

After exiting the dam, we need to take a sharp right to enter Pickwick Landing State Park.  We see the lock and dam to our starboard side on our way to the park.

As we pull into Pickwick Landing State Park, we see beauty at every turn!

  Cabins to the left, and marina to the right.  Like Paris Landing State Park, this park has everything, so we are going to stay two nights!  Tomorrow we'll be going on a special adventure.  Tune back in tomorrow evening to find out what it is!😊