DAY 20 - October 21, 2023

We had beautiful weather today at Clifton, Tennessee. Clifton, named for the cliffs on which it stands, has a population of about 2600. Its claim to fame is that during the Civil War, Confederate General Bedford Forest crossed the river at this point with 2100 troops on a raid of West Tennessee. The raid was a success with the severing of General Ulysses S. Grant's supply line. After the raid his army returned to once again cross the river at Clifton.

Bedford's cross took place in mid December 1862. It was cold and wet, but camp fires were prohibited in order to keep their presence secret. Two flatboats were built, capable of carrying 25 men per crossing. The horses were pushed off a 10 foot high bluff, into the river to make their own way to the opposite bank.

Today the town of Clifton is small, but looks very nice. The town folks were hanging lights on trees, light poles, walls and gates. Denise asked one of the ladies working there what they were doing. She said they were already hanging lights for Christmas and the downtown area looks beautiful when all lit up.

We rode our electric bikes north of town to a Dollar General. In this area of Tennessee the dollar stores serve as mid-week grocery stores. The larger towns/cities are pretty spread out. 

We had good internet and cell phone coverage yesterday while tied up on the end of the dock. But we were told we needed to move to the covered slip next to us in order to make room for a 55 foot boat (ship) coming in later in the day. Once they arrived we had virtually no signal, so this blog was uploaded one day late. We found out later that the four people on the boat are from Scotland. They bought the bought in France, sailed it to Scotland, then had it shipped to Florida so they could travel America's Great Loop. They began the loop in March and plan to finish in Sarasota, Florida by Christmas. That's our boat on the left (with the mast and antenna down and the "Scottish" boat on the right.

We ate dinner on our boat, but later went to the marina bar for drinks. We sat down and chatted with a very nice couple from Clifton. They told us the marina gets some very good bands because they’re located between Memphis and Nashville. We agree, the band Still House exceptional. The second video above is Denise's Old Fashion being smoked. I don't know that does much for the drink, but it looks pretty cool.