Friday, October 16, 2009

Last night when we came into the anchorage, we noticed a small white cross on the bank with the name “David.” We don’t know the story, but it was nice to have “David” watching over us all night. It was a very comfortable place to anchor and since we were out of the main channel, we had no problems from debris washing downriver on top of us during the night.

As the sun was rising and trying to peek through the clouds and fog, we pulled anchor and continued upriver. Early in the morning we came by Lady Finger Bluff, a prominent landmark formed when the river carved a path out of the limestone found in abundance in this area. The river narrows here appreciably causing a noticeable increase in the current. With a light northwest wind behind us, we let the headsail out and received a little “boost” whenever we were traveling with the wind. Because the river was very winding, there were several times we had to either bring the sail in or live with the occasional backwinding.

The fall colors continued to “wow” us, although it was not yet peak leaf watching season yet. We were also beginning to see more homes along the river and definite possibilities for residential areas we’d like to check into more closely if we ever decided to purchase property and relocate.

We traveled 53 miles upstream and found a spot on the inside bend of the river at mile 181.85 where we were protected from the wind and the current and had a view of a few very nice homes across the way. Before setting the anchor, we turned on the computer and detected a couple of unsecured wireless signals. We maneuvered to get the strongest signal possible and dropped the hook in about 30 feet of water where we let out all of our 80 feet of chain and 100 feet of line for the night.

Maureen enjoyed borrowing the wireless signal and getting several entries posted to the blog. The signal was very strong and she had no difficulty uploading photos. We would not have been able to accomplish this without the booster antenna we had purchased and installed back in July.

The beef stroganoff we made in the oven for dinner tonight was fantastic!