Continuing On!

WEDNESDAY

Arose at 0530 this morning only to discover that we were fogged in.

JULI-IV was extremely dewy so we tested our sham wows.  They do not work well unless they are wet.  We had met another couple tied up for the evening and told them that we were going to Nashville and planned on staying at the Rock Harbor Marina.  They told us that is where they kept their boat for the past year, it was really outstanding and the owner of the marina, "Arch" was the best.  They had a newer 43 foot Carver Aft Cabin, (which you can barely see in the photo above) so we wondered if we could afford this place. The fog cleared off by 8:30 and we departed upriver onto a sea of glass.

It stayed like this for two hours.

We arrived at the Rock Harbor Marina about 3:00 p.m. and headed to the gas dock to refuel.  A marina man appeared and asked us what we wanted. I told him that we had called earlier in the day to reserve a slip for the night and we needed fuel, ice, and a pump out. The posted gas price on the pump was $4.99 per gallon.  After I saw that, we really had to pump out.  I asked him if his name was "Arch" and he said yes, and added that he was Wynonna's Ex, the good Ex not the bad one and had two children with her.  I thought this was quite a tale as he was pretty nondescript and the marina was not in the best of shape. He went on to add that he had to leave early as he had to go to the hospital to see George Jones, who is ill.  I thought it really is getting deep here.

(More on the marina in a moment.)  We finished fueling, icing and pumping and Joe went in to pay.  Arch had told us that since we were staying the night he would knock off .25 cents per gallon on the fuel. We took on 91 gallons so it was quite excellent. The pump outs (2) he normally charges $25.00 each for, but he forgot to add them to the ticket so he said just forget it.  He provided us his business card which indicated his full name was Arch Kelley III.  Immediately I leapt to the internet to check out his story.  Amazingly enough, it was all true.  Here is a picture of them in their prime.

We had planned on going to a show of the Grand Ole Opry on Wednesday evening but all of a sudden there was no show scheduled, even though a week ago there had been.  Arch told us just to go to the downtown entertainment district next to the Ryman Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ole Opry, and just go door to door listening to all the different music being played live.

The marina was in pretty poor shape, as the major flood on the Cumberland River two years ago had thoroughly ravaged the place, the water had risen 53 feet and pretty much destroyed everything.  They are rebuilding slowly and it will be much better by end of this season.   

On to downtown.

We summoned a cab for the 5 mile trip to downtown and were dropped off at the "Legends" Bar. Across the street was "Rippy's" which featured barbeque and music.  We dined, then it was back across the street to The Ryman Auditorium.

There was a Coming Out show for a new Nissan Vehicle and the lot was full of them. Mr. Ryman was watching over all this.  And Joe was watching him.

After visiting with Mr. Ryman it was off to live, loud music.

Beth and the star singer of one of the groups really hit it off and she was demonstrating to Beth the proper way to hold the microphone.

 

 Some of the nostalgic items on display.

A cab ride back to the marina and we made ready for the departure back down the Cumberland River to Green Turtle Bay Marina for Memorial Day Weekend.

This was what we saw as we departed the marina. There was a tug with barges just emerging from this.  I asked the tug pilot how thick and far this fog went and he said it was near zero visibility for about a half mile.  We turned on navigational lights, set the fog signal to "under way" and slowed down and closely monitored the chart plotter and radar and kept going.  It was nearer to a mile before we came out into the clear.  Quite nerve racking. On one of the islands there was a volleyball net set up on an interesting court.

 If you stepped out of bounds you were really in deep.  This is the place that we had stopped for lunch yesterday, very nice.

We entered the Cheatham Lock and my trusty crew had us secured in a matter of moments,

  but the Sea Ray following us took about 30 minutes to attach themselves to the lock wall.

  We stopped off the river in a backwater near Dover, dined and retired.

Awoke to this view at 0530.

Continued on arriving back at Green Turtle Bay by 2:00 p.m. Checked in and went to the Yacht Club for dinner. You can see why this place is named "Green Turtle Bay"

Thus far on this segment of our journey we have traveled 591 river miles.

Have a safe, happy Memorial Day Weekend.  We will be back home in Kansas Tuesday.

Sunday and More

SUNDAY
Ah, Sunday, the day of rest.  We slept in till 0700, then went up the hill to Dockers Food Emporium and had their tasty breakfast special.  We were short a few items and needed to go to a store, so we borrowed the Marina courtesy van and went in search of what was not sold within 60 miles. One of the interesting stops was back at Metropolis, Illinois, (Remember, Adult home of Superman) where we spent Friday night anchored. I tried to stop them but Beth and Joe insisted on having their photos taken in their fantasy dream.

 What Wonder Woman has to do with Metropolis I do not know, but Beth truly is a "Wonder Woman".  Lest I digress, we found our supplies and returned to the Marina only an hour past our limit.  We then unpacked, washed the boat and performed many other maintenance items.





It was going to rain (A first for this leg of the journey) and it being late on a Sunday afternoon, the marina was pretty well deserted.  We went out and sat on the patio area of the dock we were on and watched the coming storm.  It dumped 4 inches of rain to the east of us.

While we were were relaxing, Morris, the marina security man joined us and provided much information about the area and more importantly, did not hassle us.

MONDAY
We set off Monday at 1100, (Official Marina Check Out Time) and headed up the Cumberland River towards Nashville, Tennessee.  We made it about 20 miles (at 7 mph) and decided to find an anchorage as we had a 20 mph tail wind and it was rolling up our backsides through a 15 mile long straight away and was very uncomfortable.  We located a bay off the main channel and anchored.  As it had been a sweaty day, and the water was warm, I tested my new invention. A bar of Ivory Soap on a rope.  It worked well.

There were several homes near where we anchored and about 9:30 P.M. there were three gunshots.  I kept waiting for impacts on the boat but they were probably shooting marauding raccoons.

TUESDAY

We pulled anchor about 0600 (which, according to Joe, had 100 pounds of mud clinging to it) and headed upriver to Nashville. We passed this interesting domicile, which I would like to place the person or persons that stole my cooler and its contents off Calypso II two weeks ago.  (This is the Kentucky State Penitentiary).

 Stopping for lunch at Buzzard Rock Marina, Joe fell in love with his soul mate.  (Can you tell which one is Joe?)

 The decor was all Buzzard related, menus had covers designed by visiting "children"

  
This is a quiz:  who can tell us the correct number of goslings in this family?
 These restrooms might seem challenging to those from Lake Perry Marina who are confused by the "Inboard" or "Outboard" signs on the store restrooms.

During the afternoons cruise, Joe decided to try out for the acting part for the medical emergency response device "Help me, I have fallen and cannot get up". When this picture was taken, he had been on the fly bridge floor, laughing non-stop for a good 60 seconds. It was a nice comical break for us all.

Beth and I decided he requires more training.

Arrived at the City Dock in Clarksville, Tennessee. ( I know, we should have taken the last train, but Davy Jones has already departed). 

This city, which is the home of Austin Peay University, is truly visionary, thanks in a great part to Mr. Austin Peay. 

Among his other achievements, when the State of Tennessee's financial situation became desperate, Peay decided to run for governor in 1922. Peay stressed tax reform, the completion of the long-delayed state highway system, the lengthening of the public school term and the building of more schools. He called by name the state officials with whose services his administration would dispense. He promised a return to ordered and responsible government, the elimination of deficits through economy and budgeting. (Where is he when we need him?)

The day after his election, Austin Peay went to work, studying state finances and mapping out his program for the legislature. He devised a plan of consolidating the state bureaus and agencies under a few heads, thus eliminating a number of officeholders and at the same time bringing the state employees in groups under a responsible commissioner. The resulting administrative reorganization bill gathered 64 governmental bureaus and re-grouped them under eight heads, after eliminating some of them entirely. It made it possible for the state to live within its income and avoid deficits, by reducing expenditures and creating a state budget system.
The legislature then proceeded to redeem the remainder of the pre-election pledges. The back tax machine, which had long preyed on people of the state, was abolished. The sliding scale law was repealed. The state tax on land was reduced.
Soon a large surplus began to pile up in the treasury, and the state was able to pay off $1 million on the state debt. In cities and towns from the mountains to the river, there was amazed talk among citizens that here was a public official who did exactly what he said he would do. There was a new feeling among state employees. The dead wood had been chopped out, and the state enjoyed prosperity.  Enough about history, which, unfortunately I do not think will repeat itself.

We walked a couple of blocks to downtown, and noticed this old building, obviously when things were less pricy.

Another reason this town does so well is this sign:

 We had a fine dinner at "Edwards Steakhouse", it was fine dining as opposed to eating off our laps on the boat. Tomorrow, it is off to Nashville. 

See you later.

Saturday
I awoke at 0400, with the "dragging anchor" alarm beeping, which, since we were anchored above a string of barges and a railroad bridge, made me leap from my bunk and run to the aft deck, in a state of undress, to determine what had occurred.  Fortunately, 1:  The bow anchor had not lost its bite and 2: There was no one around to observe me.  The alarm had gone off because our aft anchor had drug and we were outside the alarm limits. Unable to sleep, I made the rest of the crew get up and start doing stuff.  We departed at 0615 headed up the Ohio River to Paducah, Kentucky about 6 miles (one hour) upstream.  Joe safely navigated the entry to the Tennessee River at Paducah and we observed what must be the "Party Cove" for Tugboats.

Continued on up the Tennessee River towards Kentucky Lock and Dam (about 31 miles) at 7 mph.

Suddenly, I though we were in Alaska, where they started to build the bridge to nowhere.

Joe slapped me and said we were really in Kentucky, so I got over it.
This went on for about two hours (not the slapping) when it got so hot, hot, hot, that we decided to anchor and swim/wash ourselves.  Anchoring was difficult as the river bottom is mostly flat, hard bedrock. The water in the Tennessee was wonderfully clear. I let Beth and Joe go first, as I am wimpy and afraid of cold water.

Once Joe returned to the boat, to handle stuff in case the anchor came loose, I reluctantly eased into the water for a thorough scrubbing. It was a little warmer than the water in Nassau. But not by much.

Once we finished scrubbing and eating "pink slime" burgers, we departed to Kentucky Lock.  I had called the Lockmaster to determine the status and how much of a wait we might have, he replied that they would start locking through boats in an hour or two and told me to call him again when we were within eyesight of the Lock.

We again anchored for a short wait (12:30 to 5:30) then the lock master told the tug seen ahead of us in the above view to move to the lock wall, but to let the Recreational boat (us) go ahead of him into the lock.  We assumed that we were going to lock through with him, but you know how assumptions are.  We tied up along side of one of his barges and guess what:  We waited another hour.

Captain Joe, prior to moving into the shade.

Suddenly, an hour later, the doors opened and we went into the lock. We had it all to ourselves.

We tied off using our still unperfected locking methods and started up.  It was a 53 foot rise. The lock holds 33 million gallons water which fills and empties with each lockage.  Once the water started coming in fast it became nearly impossible to hold the boat to the lock wall, finally, within 5 feet of reaching the top I directed the crew to release the line and we floated free in the lock.  Floating free in the lock is a misnomer, because the water was coming in directly below us and we shot 110 feet to the other lock wall, I told the crew to brace for impact as we slammed broadside into the wall. Providentially, we had put fenders out on that side so no damage was done.  Finally the doors opened and we exited into Kentucky Lake.

This lake is immense and was filled with Saturday afternoon boating geniuses going every which direction at ultra fast speeds.  We wished we only had giant tugs/barges to contend with.

We went up Kentucky Lake 3 miles, turned left through the mile long Barkley Canal, turned left again into Lake Barkley, another 2 miles North, then into Green Turtle Bay Marina.  A really first class Marina operation that has been raved about by many Loopers through the years.  We had been really concerned about fuel management since we had to travel 230 miles since last refueling and 91 miles of that would be going upriver.  However as stated in yesterdays post, our number crunching proved accurate and we arrived at the marina with 80 gallons still in the tank. Arrived at 7:00 PM, tied up, plugged in, and went to the Commonwealth Yacht Club for dinner. 

We wandered around for ten minutes because the sign said members only.  Joe finally went in to ask what "Members Only" meant and was told that since we were paying tenants of the marina, we were granted temporary membership.  This was great news till she also told us that we were in a dry county and they sold no alcoholic beverages.  This caused several of us to start shaking.  But, laws here allow you to bring your own stuff in and then they will serve it to you.  End of shaking.

Our waitress, Robin, had a super bubbly personality and sat down to visit with us along with her waitress trainee Claire.

Robin is leaving her position at the end of the week to accept another position with the Junior Achievement Organization.  She has had three job offers. (who said there is no work available.  As an interesting aside, everywhere we have been on this journey are many "Now Hiring" signs, I guess the 9% unemployed like getting paid to do nothing.)

 We begged her to take our crew photo, since we were all in uniform.

Once dinner concluded, we called it a night.  See Ya.