The men pulled into the landing’s parking lot in a big, sweeping half circle, piled out of the truck and stepped quickly to their pre-launch tasks. Some loaded gear from the truck bed up and onto the pontoon’s deck. One transferred a jerry can of spare fuel. One moved the charged battery. One went to the boat’s helm and began the process of making sure the motor was ready to crank.
The truck’s driver released the boat’s connections to the trailer, then returned to the wheel and backed the rig smoothly down to the water with no wasted turns or unnecessary motion. When the pontoon floated free, its pilot fired the engine, then backed away through a drifting blue-white haze. Less than a minute later, the crew of four was all aboard. They motored away, ready to begin their day. The welding team responsible for upkeep on the Pickwick Dam looks was clocked in and on the job.
As we waited to launch our own craft, the Boy watched all of this in quiet fascination. Work is always work to one extent or another, he knew, but maybe there was something to the idea of combining a good-paying job with an environment you love after all.
On a clear spring day or a hazy summer afternoon, calling the open skies along the Tennessee River the workplace has a certain appeal.
Under these same skies, a team of biologists operated a survey boat, temporarily stunning fish with electricity. The fish were scooped, weighed, measured and released, ultimately unharmed, but logged for study nonetheless. These field scientists’ careful work is a big part of what keeps the Tennessee River Valley fisheries among the best and most attractive in the freshwater world.
Elsewhere on the same string of lakes, crews operated flotillas of tugs and barges, hauling cargo between Middle America and the sea. In between, the options, and the opportunities seemed endless.
“I bet you could make a paying job out of all sorts of things nobody has thought of yet,” the Boy said, and I agreed he was right, encouraging him tow rite town the best of his ideas for deeper investigation.
“That’s part of what freedom, living in a free country, really means,” I told him. “You’re free to try anything you can think of that’s legal. It doesn’t have to sound like a good idea to me or to anyone else in particular. It really doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you as long as it makes dollars. If it’s something you enjoy, earning that enjoyment is part of the payment too. Maybe it’s the best part of all.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
