A Cultural Divide and Playlists

A day of miles and a day of recharging. Day 4 was epic, but smooth. Contradictory I guess, but here's how it went.
The morning started out dark. I woke up at, what I thought was 5:30. Made my coffee and loaded up. On the water fairly quickly I was feeling real good. No vitamin I (Ibuprofen)and I started to paddle downriver in the dark. Hmmm, a little darker than I expected. I looked at the watch and it didn't say 6:00. It said 5:00. Cool! That just means I can make the miles earlier when its cool and get down earlier too. I didn't know at the time I would put in 40 miles and be out for 13 hrs. The morning was great. Plugged the Zune into my ears and quickly headed across Watts Bar Lake. A big, open lake. Hardly a boat, or house to be seen all morning. Listening to Alan Parsons' Eye in the Sky, Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill, and Slowing it down later with some Cowboy Junkies, the morning turned into noon. I had made 20 miles by lunch and was still feeling good.
Forgot to mention food. No moonpies yet..sorry. Instead, 2 packs of Grits with Bacon and 3 strips of Bacon. I didn't need to cook the bacon. It comes pre-cooked and packaged. No refridge needed, and, it tastes awesome. Definte comfort food.
Lunch was PB&J, gorp and a gatorade that some fisherman threw to me. The kindness of people as I go along this journey reinforces what I believe about most people. No matter where, there are always people willing to help and support.
The afternooon heated up with temps in the low to mid 90's. The pace slowed, but I could see the steam rising from the dam at Watts Bar. Made the dam at around 2:30, locked through and was glad to get out of it. It smelled soooobad. In front of gates, there were about 10 dead carp, bloatet in the sun. Auuurrggh.
Below the dam, life was a little better, but there was nothing around, except the smell. This time, it was the smell of cows. A lot of cows and a lot of cow smell. Finally after 4 miles or so, no more cow smell...just fish smell.
Once past Watts Bar, the cultural tide had turned. Tellico Lake was filled with modest to very nice houses and boat houses. Watts Bar had some weekend retreats and huge, huge spreads with huge houses. Now, nothing. Nothing except catfishermen. I defintely crossed a cultural threshhold.
The miles were still going slow, but i wanted to keep going. Still felt alright. Stopped for lunch below the dam and moved on still seeing nothing.
About 8 miles down I met a couple fishermen at a boat ramp. Asking them if there was anything like a marina down river, they looked at me funny. A marina? Heck no,but there is a Fish Camp about 2 miles down. As I paddled away, I asked over my shoulder if they had food. "Yeah, and BEER TOO!" Alright. I could use one of the those. So, I paddled on.
Well, 4 miles later and still nothing on the horizon. So, I paddle on. Another couple miles and still nothing. A big bend ahead so maybe there? I had just about given up and started loooking fora place to camp. I made a couple phone calls and low and behold, a faded sign about a 1/4 mile away. I steered toward it and saw a boat dock with a Gas sign. I was exhausted and very hungry. Turned off the GPS and saw it had just turned 40 miles. I was done.
Went inside to a 60'era campground office, restaraunt and bar. About 8 locals were at the watering trough and in I walk with laptop and smelly clothes. Ordered a hamburger all the way and a cold beer while I sat down to log in. The computer only had 30 minutes left so all I could do is update the Trip Tracker. But, it was a conversation starter. Before I knew it, Kris Berra, grand Niece of Yogi Berra had given me a 10 dollar donation and started asking questions. Before long, all the friendly locals of Cottonport, TN had asked questions about the project with me writing down the blog address. I could tell they were quite proud of ole Cottonport http://cottonportlanding.com/ .
Overall, a full belly, revived spirit and good conversation. Thank you Cottonport.
Crept out of Cottonport and headed about 1/4 mile down river to find a spot top sleep. Comfortable spot over lookiing the river and gorgeous sunset. I slept ok,but was very sore and tired. Too tired and hot to fall asleep quickly. Finally a very small breeze came up and I drifted off.
Today is an easy day. I'm at the Blue Water Marina about 8 miles below Cottonport resting and recharging me and my electronics. Its about 28 miles to Chickmagua Dam where I'll be meeting Joe Jacobi on friday. I'm ahead of schedule and glad for it.
Signing off for now. Thanks for reading this far and following along. I'm enjoying it.