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- Although this is a great trip for anyone, if you are military and want to get
some family together during one of your leave periods, this will work. We
paid for most of it ourselves, however, if everyone chips in to cover their
share of transportation and a share of the rentals, this trip can be quite
affordable...
Our travel for our trip to Dale Hollow Lake was similar to our Lake Powell trip
(If you haven't read about that trip, just click on the "Lake Powell" nav bar
above). We departed from Munich Germany and flew into Atlanta Georgia.
We usually fly on Delta airlines as their rates are some of the lowest and
they have always been dependable for us. Again, I did all of the flight itinerary
arrangements, reservations, and ticket purchase via Internet.
In Atlanta we rented a car (reservations and payment also completed on the
Internet) and drove to Panama City, Florida where one of our kids (with wife
and 2 grandchildren) lived. After we picked them up, we drove to Dale Hollow
Lake that is located in northeastern Tennessee with part of it extending into
southern Kentucky. Dale Hollow Lake has over 600 miles of coastline
maintained by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The entire area is forested and
beautiful.
Our trip was in September and the temperatures were very comfortable.
There was a slight chill in the mornings but warmed up nicely, very quickly.
We rented the Wolf River Cliff Hanger Cabin for one week and a 16 X 78 foot
houseboat for another week. The rates were all reasonable and the people
were very nice, nearly making you feel like family. Once again, all
coordinations, reservations, and down payments were made over the
Internet (in Germany, by the way).
There is a picture of the cabin to the left. It slept up to 23 so the 15 of us
were quite comfortable. What a beautiful cabin! I could spend hours talking
about the cabin alone! We also rented a pontoon boat to do a little local
exploration and to do some fishing while we stayed in the cabin. Since there
were family coming from Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, and us from Florida (via
Germany), we decided to go with the cabin for the first week in case anyone
experienced any delays in their journeys. Once in the houseboat, we were
gone from the marina until we returned a week later. All of the coordinations
and rentals were handled through Eastport Marina and Resort http://www.
eastport.info/ and the proprietors/operators there were so helpful and nice.
All of my questions were answered promptly during the process through
email.
The houseboat was one of their top of the line and largest ones, and was
quite luxurious. It had 6 Queen size bed-bedrooms, and a queen size pull out
couch that was in the living room in front of the big screen satellite TV. Then
there were the two sets of bunk beds in the rear of the boat. Plenty of
outdoor tables and chairs in the front and on the upper deck by the jacuzzi
(see picture at top left). Near the rear tube slide was a few putt putt golf
greens to keep the kids busy for a while.
As with the Lake Powell trip, we needed fishing gear and tackle, so we made
a run to a Wal-Mart and for around $300.00 we bought enough rods, reels,
tackle, and other gear to outfit at least 6 people at one time. That included
the small, functional, rods for the little ones and a few toy ones for those that
were just too little to actually fish. We spent somewhere around $500.00 for
food, replenishing the most perishable items, and always had plenty to eat
(including the catfish you see on the home page!).
This vacation was a little complicated but if you do some research, make a
plan, and start budgeting when you need to, it is well worth it.
