We're in Chattanooga, after a beautiful but misty cruise through "The Gorge", which has steep mountains and headlands all the way down to the river and lakes. There was no wind so the water was frequently like glass.






Before we left Hales Bar above the Nickajack lock, we visited the now defunct hydro-electric plant from the previous old lock and dam. Evidently, when the dam was built in the 1920s it leaked through the bottom of the dam. A temporary fix lasted for years, but they built the Nickajack lock to replce it and blew up the old dam.

The old hydro-electric plant is now empty and used for boat storage inside the huge concrete building.











On our way through The Gorge", the Fall colors were showing nicely even though it was misty, with overhanging mist above the mountains lining the waterway.









The brightest colors seemed to be small trees along the banks in some places.












After we arrived in Chattanooga, the Groves shuttled cars again and we drove them to visit the Groves Tennessee mountaintop summer home. It's in a really beautiful area called Mont Eagle, near Chattanooga. This is a nearby lookout over the valley below.




We said a fond farewell to the Groves on Friday. We'll be staying in Chattanooga for over a week, doing the tourist thing. Our dock is right downtown at the Aquarium, which we'll go see on Monday instead of going with the weekend crowds...... nice to be retired so we can do that. There are also lots of other places we want to go around here like the Jack Daniels Distillery, Watts Bar Lake homes, a 3D I-MAX theater, the Bluff Arts District, and a couple of wineries and Civil war battlefields.