GHEENOE

No, its not some kind of animal. Below this post you can find some pictures of a River Hawk boat. I have been investigating these boats for weeks now and discovered that the River Hawk is a spin off from another canoe called a Gheenoe. The Gheenoe was invented and later manufactured by a man named Gheene from here in Tennessee. To make a long story short; he got tired of upsetting canoes and decided enough is enough and designed his own boats. All kidding aside; these boats are the best of the best for their size. Below is some shots of Gheenoe's. Some are Custom Gheenoe's. Custom Gheenoe is a company founded by the original family to create personalized boats for customers. Some are quite elegant as you can see. By the way; Gheenoe is pronounced like canoe with a "g". Directly below is a standard boat. All that follow are custom boats based on a standard boat.

River Hawk Boat

I really need to get another boat and am having difficulty deciding weather to get a conventional boat or a River Hawk. The lakes are big down here with lots of streams and rivers running into them. A 17 foot Package Jon boat with a sixty horse power engine is ideal. Problem is fuel economy. If I can't afford to operate it; I may as well stay home. The River Hawk is a slick new 15.5' boat that is designed for rivers and lakes. I would probably feel insecure in storms and heavy wake situations. But the manufacturer states it is more stable than a flat bottom Jon boat. That's saying a lot. It will definitely get into places where a normal boat can't go. And the speed is around 30 mph. That's fine. It would certainly be an adventure to go camping with. The engine would "sip" fuel. That is the big issue. Gas absolutely will hit $4.00 and maybe $5.00 a gallon. Sorry, it will. And then there's the Bald Eagles I have been watching for the past couple years. I gotta get down river. I better make a decision. ha. Many of the pictures below are of the King Fisher model. I am most interested in the Pro Caster Model. It's the one flying down the lake. Both models are similar in appearance. At any rate; I need to move on this soon. I'll keep you informed. I miss photographing on the lakes and rivers. Don't forget to click the picture to enlarge it. This thing has get up and go for sure Flies along quite well. The River Hawk can take up to a 20 horse power four cycle marine engine A River Hawk at the Atlanta Boat Show The Kingfisher on the trailer Note the center console. A steering wheel and throttle along with gages can be put there Beautiful nose. Here it is hooked to the trailer. The boat has navigation lights in the hull each side Storage up under the nose deck. Trolling batteries could be kept here Work being accomplished in the factory in Atlanta The boats in the forfront are Kingfishers and the far boat, I believe, is a pro-caster There is a lot of dry storage on the boat. This is one of two huge storage areas This is a great bow picture of the Kingfisher. Lots of room A picture of the Kingfisher in the Atlanta boat show Boat with fishing chairs. I don't need them Good front end "bow" shot of the boat View from the back of the boat. The irregular edges are the chines that "grip" the water and allow the hull to bite into the water and maintain stability Rear deck area of Kingfisher model

JUST A DOG DAY

They stare at me. They look at me with anticipation in their eyes. I can't move anywhere in the room without their total attention. Any move to the door on my part brings clicking of toenails on hardwood floor as they poise for an exit through the door. They love the time at the lake. I walk to the truck and they are sitting beside the truck doors waiting for me. Shade is back by the tailgate waiting. So here we go again. Who's faster? Catch me if you can Collision! Subtle as a bull in a puddle Smooth with finess Solid muscle. Like a horse Shady Lady retrieving Team work Two gorgeous animals as they should be------wild and unrestrained Doing happy laps after a swim A run down the beach Three Amigos Douglas. Golden Elegance Old Sigh. Look at her go. She is acting like a young pup today. Her broken, old body is allowing her a bit of joy. I'll start calling her Thunderbolt if she keeps this up. Catch me if you can. Happy taunts Douglas until the big guy just can't take it anymore. Then Happy leads him on a merry chase. Look at his face. That is a real expression. Their faces "can" change to show emotion. Douglas is showing absolute, total euphoric joy.

FORT SOUTHWEST POINT

Fort Southwest Point was constructed in 1791 and was active until 1811. The fort is built on a hill (now Kingston, TN) with a commanding view of the Clinch River. It was built for the protection of settlers from maurading Cherokee Indians who claimed that the land was theirs by birthright. They felt threatened by the white intrusion and drew blood from the white's when possible. Imagine that! The fort housed the Fourth Regiment of Infantry. There were Dragoons and artillery on the grounds as well. Later, Colonel Jonathon Meigs, Military Agent for the troops in Tennessee, balanced indian affairs with the Federal government from 1801 to 1807 when trade with the Cherokees was moved to the Tellico Block House in the present day Vonore, TN. The final task for the old fort was to house and supply trade goods that would eventually be shipped down river to other posts, thereby expanding the US frontier. Can you imagine having your home and lands infringed upon? Put yourselves in the mocasin's of the Cherokee for just one moment. Just a thought. Anyway, below is the reconstructed fort. It sits exactly on the same spot it was built on.

WHICH BOAT?

The boat below is called The River Hawk. It is very canoeish in looks but it is far from a canoe. It is sixty inches wide at it's widest point (middle). The River Hawk is 15.3' long and will handle a twenty horsepower engine. It's top speed is thirty miles per hour and will run in six inches of water. Well, it can be polled through six inches of water. It is a unique, very usable craft that could access places a larger boat couldn't navigate through. However, the lakes are huge and storms are nasty at times. Then, there are the ocean size ships that create four and five foot wakes. They can be alarming to say the least. I drove to Atlanta, Georga today to see these River Hawks. The boat below is the basic boat. The Atlanta boat show is this weekend and the fully rigged boats were not in this store. I simply do not drive in Atlanta. End of that story. The manufacturer will create any style deck and rigging desired. Sky's the limit. I like it. The River Hawk is a very stable boat and is exciting to see it on plane. Not sure Douglas would approve of such a strange craft. The price of the River Hawk is very close to that of a conventional boat. I put a picture of a G3 below. Don't forget; click on the picture for an enlargement. Below is a G3 seventeen foot center console boat. This probably will be the new magic carpet ride for 2008. Powered by a 60 horsepower Yamaha four cycle engine; it would be silent and sturdy for lake use. This boat is just about the same price as the River Hawk above. The River Hawk is a versitle tool, but the boat below has it all.

ENLIGHTENMENT - Thoughts on Life

Douglas, Happy, Sigh, Shade and I went to the ruins this morning and spent a couple hours of sloth just kicking about the vicinity of the ruins and doing things like pealing bark off tree trunks and looking for moles and shrews. It was simply a lazy morning. I sat on the marble steps that lead up to the now missing front porch of the old house and sat down. Happy graced me with her presence while the two ramblers, Douglas and Shade sought out squirrels and other adventure. Sigh just sat and waited over by two huge trees to our right. Nothing bothers her. She is on her own planet in another world. She's very old and has earned the right to do whatever she feels like. I help her anyway I can. It is very peaceful down at that place and I can think with an uncluttered mind. It's amazing how thoughts pop into my head when I am out of the social atmosphere. I immediately thought about what has happened in my life up until now. Topics relating to my life have been floating in and out of my thought processes a lot lately. Never, until I moved down here from Pennsylvania. I wondered why. And It all came together. I have had relatively good luck with well paying jobs my entire life. Industry management has been my background ever since the seventies when Volkswagen Of America produced cars in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. Even before that, after a return from the Vietnam "conflict", I worked in factories, like most folks, as a line worker. But Volkswagen gave me my first real management break. I grabbed it and held on tight and studied hard. The principles of management apply universally to any industry. So how does all this background apply to this day at the ruins and how does it have any affect on my life now? As I said before I have been fortunate to have fairly good jobs while working in industry. Four years ago I abruptly severed my tenure with a company I had been with for twelve years. I was simply burned out. A plant manager's position proved to be stressful to the point of affecting my personal life. I felt that if I was going to seek another job in Pennsylvania; I may as well move to an area with a better climate. I have taken many motorcycle rides to Tennessee over the last forty years and Tennessee would be my destination. However, my attempts at securing an industrial job in supervision proved difficult. Actually it proved impossible. I am over sixty years old and that has proved to be a hurtle I can not overcome. Age does make an employment difference! That's ok. I have had some great employment experiences while here. TWRA is an experience I would not trade for anything on this planet. My current place of employment, Smoky Mt. Harley Davidson & Buell, is the finest motorcycle dealership, I feel, in the United States. So what's this blog entry all about? Why the constant personal mental harassment? I have been trying to understand why I have turned out the way I have. I used to buy what I wanted when I wanted. I went out to restaurants for dinner, went to social functions, hung out with friends, went to motorcycle rallies, had nice cars and had some really nice girl friends. Now, I can't stand to go to cities, drive four lane roads, deal with any traffic and enjoy the company of dogs. I met the finest lady in the world and ruined that. I can lay back in the leaves and stare at the sky and listen to the lapping water on the shore of the lake and ponder what I'm all about. I would rather be with my dog friends than human friends. I have acquired an intense interest in history and an even more intense concern about the natural world. Man has proven to be a poor steward of the natural things around him and the planet in general. And man will eventually ruin it all. However, I feel richer since I moved to Tennessee than when I made great money in Pennsylvania. Oh, I miss my friends, and my seventy year old cousin in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. But I feel much at peace here; now. Why? I do not own a house. I'm not even sure where I'll be living this summer. I have to leave this warehouse room I am living in now this summer. I do not have near the income I had in Pennsylvania. I used to drive current cars or trucks. I drive a 1991 Ford pickup truck down here. I met a fine lady here in Tennessee and lost her. All my fault. Greedy with my time. The reason, I believe, is that I brought my "can do it all by myself attitude" with me to this new life. I have been a loner all my life, but this new environment I have entered has allowed me to grow my character and desire for change. The realization of this has been too late to save a fine loving relationship. Greedy with my time and a loner mentality quashed a great relationship with a great lady. I always have been a late responder in areas of relationships. It is my tragic loss. I have time to think. I think about history. I think about wildlife. There is time to allow the beauty of the wilderness to permeate the inner fiber of me. Being alone, I camp on islands, capture pictures of wildlife, ride out the storms that appear on the lakes while more sane people scramble for the boat docks. I don't have to drive the newest cars. I don't need the finest clothes. No one cares here. I don't have the income to buy what I want when I want it. I am limited. My efforts to buy and acquire are diverted toward more sensible things that really matter. I have acquired a great respect for dogs. History; nature. I have stood on the spot where the first inhabitants in Tennessee made their start. My feet have touched the sacred ground where the trail of tear's commenced. I can visit ancient properties dating back to pre Tennessee times when Tennessee was a territory inhabited by Cherokee's. My heart breaks each time I see bull dozer's push Tennessee's history into heaps of dirt in preparation for developement. History is important and I do not believe it receives enough emphasis in schools. History is our heritage and It is not sacred here in Tennessee. It is not even held in very high esteem at all. The dollar is the sacred item that is coveted at the expense of all that is natural. I find it amazing that in four short years my interest's have been altered from a success oriented life to that of a laid back, environmentally concerned person who is disgusted with the lack of political involvement involving things natural and historical. Lonesome I am and probably always will be. It's my own doing. I've had my chance to change that and blew it. But I am richer for this Tennessee experience. I believe I have found myself. Not my purpose. But I understand myself better, I believe. It is a evolvement that, I think, a young person can not accomplish. One has to have lived and experienced life in order to arrive at the conclusions I have. By the way; I discovered from an old history buff that the Tuskeegee Plantation, better known as the McGee/Carson house was not burned by hippies in 1986. The park service acquired the property from TVA in 1987 and decided to convert it into a park headquarters. They put the electric power to it before an inspection was completed. It instantly burned. History. The people who live here don't even know that. I wonder what political movement will destroy this beautiful area I call the ruins. The Tuskeegee Plantation; once a beautiful plantation before the Civil War. Then used as a Confederate Headquarters one year into the war. The Union drove out the Confederates after a rather harsh battle and they used it as an outpost for seven months. Blood ran free on that property. Maybe a new Rarity development of some sort will benefit the county by obliterating that old useless ruin's area. Good for jobs. Just doing some mental rambling here. It's something to do.

ELEPHANT SANCTUARY

There is nothing I can write about this place that the web site hasn't covered. This is an amazing habitat, for an amazing animal. Please, thoroughly enjoy this inspiring site. http://www.elephants.com/females.htm Copy and Paste.