August 8, 2008
Herons hate me ...
sunrise_paddle.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
Anyone who knows me knows my interests become obsessions pretty quickly. Enter my latest obsession: paddling.
I've been going out in the canoe one or two mornings a week, slipping out of the cove before sunrise and exploring the Tennessee River as day breaks. This morning I saw my first truly transcendental sunrise after a series of cloudy, brooding paddles. This photo barely does it justice. I had to stop and drift for a while just to drink it in.
As I paddle, I leave a trail of croaking, pissed off herons in my wake. Often they're dead asleep on a dock or a rock as I approach and I get incredibly close before they awaken and take indignant flight. Other times the warily watch my approach and move on only when it's clear there is no alternative.
This morning I cut immediately over to the south shore at Parks Bend after exiting Duck Cove and paddled downstream about 2.5 miles to Sequoyah Heights. There's a red buoy there that I set as my goal, and when hit it, I crossed to the north shore and passed the osprey nest on Coulter Shoal daymark as I headed back upstream. An osprey chick and one of the adults were in the nest, taking off and flying around for a bit while I passed.
I'm going to start uploading my paddling pictures to a Flickr photoset called, appropriately enough, Paddling Pics.
Posted by Bob Benz at 9:48 AM | Comments (1)
June 14, 2008
Rocky Top flashback
ut_vs_uk.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
Wes the Kentucky boy poses as we float past Neyland Stadium on the Tennessee River heading toward Knoxville.
Wes paused to reflect on his playing days at the University of Kentucky, when he got to hear Rocky Top more times than he cares to remember while playing Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.
What started as a Sunday morning boat ride turned into an effort to get to Knoxville from our house west of Choto Marina. It took about an hour, but we got there and even took Gilligan along for the ride (he's visible in the lower right of this photo).
We kept going after we passed downtown Knoxville and went up past Island Home airport and continued up the Holston River a ways before heading back. All told, it was a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour ...
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2008
Sunrise on Lake Loudon
A blue heron soars over Lake Loudon during a sunrise boat ride this morning. We took the boat out last night and this morning and are getting much more confident driving and maneuvering it. This morning, we even took Gilligan along for the ride, and he did quite well.
I thought the heron was a neat omen given my recent obsessions with them.
Last night, we saw Dave cruising around in his plane. It was pretty cool to watch him land it on Lake Loudon and then pull it up to his lakefront house.
I've created a Flickr set where I'm uploading all of the boat photos ...
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2008
Smooth sailing ...
I was starting to wonder if I'd done something to offend Poseidon, something so heinous that I'd never get our boat in the water.
Today, the Greek deity smiled upon us with sunny skies and let us bring our boat home.
We bought the 2003 21-foot Sea Ray bowrider more than a month ago, but it sat over at Choto Marina while we ran a gantlet before getting it into the water.
First, it took weeks to get a lift put in our dock. The guy who eventually did the job hurt his back, which accounted for much of the delay. While he was putting it in, we had problems with the electrical setup that required the electrician to return to replace a faulty GFI.
Then we had a lift. All we needed was to get the boat over here. The weather fended us off for more than a week, throwing wind and rain at us every time we planned to meet the boat salesman for our first lesson.
But today it all came together. Salesman Justin showed us the basics of operating it and we took it out for a spin, even stopping by Tom and Jenny's a few coves over from ours to show off our new toy.
We still haven't tried putting the dogs aboard yet. That should be interesting. But this summer should be a blast. Give a shout if you're in the neighborhood and we'll take it out. With any luck, it won't turn into the Poseidon Adventure ...
More photos here.
Posted by Bob Benz at 5:32 PM | Comments (2)