GOLDFIELD BRANCH EMBAYMENT IN AL TO GOAT ISLAND, AL

Sunday, September 21st, 2014

Day 48
Miles Traveled: 67
Total Miles Traveled: 1232




  We passed by one of the Tennessee Valley Authority's nuclear power plants called Browns Ferry.  In 1974, when it first started operating, it was the world's largest nuclear generating plant.  The stack, part of its cooling system, stands 660 feet high.  Atop this structure is a tassel shaped device.  Its purpose is to offer lightening protection for the instruments that monitor stack emissions.  Dan thinks it is used to communicate with aliens - he sure does have an imagination.  What do you think? 

Browns Ferry nuclear plant stack

Atop the stack

  We encountered our first lift bridge.  As we approached, a train was just going across the bridge.  Once the train was through, the bridge tender lifted the center span so that we could pass beneath.

Train crossing the bridge - not enough room for us below

Bridge lifted - now there's room

  We saw some beautiful scenery as well.  The landscape changed throughout the day, from a large body of water with hills to a narrow channel with flat land and no homes or industry on either side to rolling hills and higher bluffs.  One of the highest bluffs we've seen so far is Painted Bluff which is 350 feet high with yellow and brown rock. 

Beautiful hills

Painted Bluff

  We found a nice anchorage behind Goat Island just downriver from Guntersville Dam.  The island got its name because a farmer kept a herd of goats before the Civil War. We, however, did not see any goats. Dan's convinced the aliens got them all.