November 3, 2008: Pickwick Lake

There seems to be a pattern of early morning mists and

fog, repeated again today. As we were setting off this morning, we saw 4 little wild goats on the shore line of Swallows Bluff Island. We guess they live there happily with plenty of water, grazing and no predators.

Our target of today was to visit the famous Shiloh Military National Park The Shiloh battle field is where 65,000 Union and 44,000 Confederate soldiers fought in April of 1862 ending with 24,000 dead, wounded or missing.

The banks along this part of the Tennessee were very steep and covered with rip rap. So we found a place near the Pittsburg Landing where there were old metal steps running down to the little beach. We anchored there very near the shore to be out of the channel, packed a picnic lunch, loaded our bicycles into our dinghy and scooted to shore. Tom carried the bicycles up the wobbly steps. Our path took us up to the parking lot of a catfish restaurant, but unfortunately, they were closed on Monday.

We rode the 2.5 miles to the park visitor center and saw the historical film about how the unknown Ulysses S Grant was successful on the battlefield here. This was such a sad time in our nation’s history.

It was a gorgeous fall afternoon andg we saw lots of other cyclists in the park. Our chicken salad sandwiches were great as we sat on the bench in front of the visitor's center. Then we rode by the battle cannons and the many markers of where the different battalions were encamped on Sunday night, April 6, 1862. That night the nearly defeated Grant received Buell’s army from ship transports at Pittsburg Landing as major fresh reinforcements, prior to his attack on the morning of April 7.

We are nearing the Alabama state line and passed an amazing water front estate complete with huge boat house and carefully manicured lawns. This afternoon we saw more stone banks which were sedimentary rock in layers, but the layers had been pushed up so they were not parallel to the water. We had been reading about a huge earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri early in 1812, which was the largest ever experienced in the US. We suspect this rock formation was caused by the earthquake pushing the rock up from below.

This afternoon we reached the Pickwick Lock and Dam. This is a huge TVA hydroelectric plant fed by the fast

current of the Tennessee River here. Just as we entered the smaller of the two parallel locks a huge log truck passed over the high bridge on highway 128 crossing the river above us. The lock filled and we rode up the 52 feet rise to Pickwick Lake. The sky was turning pink as we pulled away from the dam, and we are anchored out tonight in a creek just south of the lock.