O God, thy Sea is so great and my boat so small

October 15, Grand Harbor Marina. Well, we are now on The Tombigbee Waterway which is in the state Mississippi, and next we will enter Alabama. We have moved on from the great state of Tennessee and The Tennessee River, which we loved. The Tennessee River was magnificent, exceeding our expectations for sure. Minimal commercial traffic, wide open channels as the river passes through half a dozen lakes, the largest being Kentucky Lake. It was a peaceful and most enjoyable section of the Inland rivers, by far the least stressful and most pleasant. So here is our week in review.

 

 

Monday October 11, 2022, Travel Day #71, Paducah KY to Green Turtle Bay Resort ‘Cumberland River: Total Distance Traveled: 42 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 5.0 Hours: 1 Lock. We had made the long trip from Little Diversion to Paducah (96 Miles) and we enjoyed two great nights enjoying this lovely town. I asked our Uber driver what the town was famous for, and she said  “We are a Tugboat and Captains town.” That was an awesome response. I thought that was very cool.

The town is focused on the river it is its main asset and they capitalize on it, very smart. There were several tug companies headquartered on the river and they have lots of servers that support the tug industry so it is a very positive economic boost to the community. At any rate we arrived in town late Saturday and just hung around the boat and ate dinner on the boat (after Docktails, we had eight looper boats on the dock that night) and crashed early. Sunday, we did our normal boat chores killing spiders (my job) and Meredith (cleaning up behind me). I kill, she cooks!

Then we walked into town for lunch and watched the Patriots game at a sports bar, little bit of Americana! After the game we got an Uber to Kroger’s to do our shopping for the week. Once we finished that task it was back to the boat put everything away. Then I worked on my final picture’s edits on last week’s post and Meredith went to The National Quit Museum, which was fascinating. She took some great pictures that I will post.

 These are all quilts made over many years and the detail was amazing (I hear)

They had a special exhibit of quilted jackets 

Meredith she had the hardest time not touching the jackets , but that was frowned upon

 

Paducah had built this amazing transient dock with Federal money (smart move) that we stayed on. The infrastructure is the most robust dock that I have ever been on (only the Feds could sign off on this design). I know we have all seen the pictures on TV and some of you I am sure have lived through them, but the flooding in the Spring on these rivers (this is on the Ohio River) is mind blowing. Bottom line to be on the river and look up thirty-five feet from the dock to the top of the riverbank and try to understand it floods that high. Additional one hundred yards in from the riverbank toward town, which town is two hundred yards away, they have built a 20-foot-high concrete retaining wall to keep the water from Main Street. The wall runs the entire length of downtown maybe a mile. They completed that wall 20 years ago and the rumor is, since doing so, they have only had one tug on Main Street. Therefore, from the dock we were on for the night, (and the river is ten feet below normal pool) but compared to Spring flood level the river can be thirty-five feet to the riverbank and they have another 20-foot buffer after that. You must see it to believe it. Very impactful, again nothing you would comprehend if you just drove through town which I have done before. The perspective that we have had from being ON the rivers is just all new.

Paducah Town Dock, Long way down that ramp, 35' Pilings sticking out of the river

Last wall of defense, 100 yards from the river and Main Street

We went out to dinner at an excellent restaurant called Does, and there were several looper enjoying the same located. Meredith and I split a Fred Flintstone steak had some left over for lunch which is always a treat. It was a nice evening off the boat and an early night, and we were back on board by eight.

When we arrived home our friends from Tinn who we had said goodbye to earlier in the day as they are putting Tinn on the hard and returning to Norway for two months then returning after January to return on their loop had left us a key chain with clogs on it. We immediately put on the Port engine key which is the first engine Meredith starts every day. We will think of them every day going forward, it is amazing how impactful a very small gesture can be.

 Our ignition key with Thinn's key chain 

 

 

We left Paducah at 8:15 and headed to Green Turtle Bay which is a popular stopover for Looper We left GTB just behind John and Graham on Aquaholics. We had our last fifteen miles on the Ohio River and then jumped on the Cumberland River for the next thirty-one miles. We traveled about one hundred miles in two days on the Ohio River (plenty) and we would only be on The Cumberland for this one 30-mile stretch. The Ohio was very commercial with a lot of tugs and barges and a strong current. That section I would say was not very pretty and you had your head on a swivel trying to keep an eye out for tugs crossing from one bank to the other, so we were happy when we turned onto the Cumberland. The Cumberland River was wonderful. Very curvy and rural with hardly and industry and was just a very peaceful section that we both enjoyed. We also did not have any commercial traffic, we lucked out in that regard. In talking to the folks that traveled days before us did have barges and tows they did not have the same opinion as to the enjoyment on the Cumberland.

The Cumberland opens into Barkley Lake and at Barkley Lock and Dam which raised us up 37 Feet. We were traveling with Aquaholics and Sundance (from South Freeport Maine) who joined us as we turned onto the Cumberland River. We were able to pull right into the lock and 30 minutes later floated out and Green Turtle Bay was two miles away. It was a wonderful day, and we were happy to arrive at GTB. In fact, we enjoyed the place so much we moved our schedule around so we could spend two nights there. I think there were 20 Loopers in GTB both nights. You know what that means!

Green Turtle Bay did not disappoint. We did not do much on Monday afternoon as we arrived late however Tuesday we spent the day doing laundry, boat cleaning and, I had a chance to get the anchors cleaned up and washed down, just doing “boat stuff.” We took a golf cart into the town of Grand Rivers and walked around. Small village with a few stores and one famous restaurant Patti’s. There was not much to see. We came back to the resort and cruised all around Green Turtle Bay Resort to check it out. Amazingly we found a tiki bar that we could not refuse. Came back to the boat and prepared ourselves for Docktails and there were at least 20 Loopers at GTB. We hung for an hour and took the golf car back to Patti’s for dinner which turned out to be a disappointing meal, but we had a joined another couple from Sunset Dreams and made the most of it.

Last Barge on The Ohio River

Olmstead Lock

Cumberland River 

Barkley Lock 

Jackie A. I found your Marina

 

Wednesday October 12, Travel Day #72, Green Turtle Bay Resort to Kenlake State Park Hardkin KY: Total Distance Traveled: 20 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 3 Hours: 0 Locks.

We only had a short day but decided to leave just after 8 and get settled in before noon which we easily did. We left GTB which is on Barkley Lake and took a manmade canal (The Barkley Canal) to begin our adventure on the Tennessee River. It is a narrow channel and as soon as I turned into it there was a barge coming out and I hailed the tow captain, when I asked him what side that he wanted me on he said ”neither I want you out of my way , stand down Her Idea”, Aye Aye sir, standing down! 

 

The Tennessee is 650 miles long, but we will only travel on it for 190 miles. We will be traveling upstream so we converted back to Red Right Returning meaning all red markers will be on starboard, (yes, we flipped the stick!). Our ride that morning on the Tennessee River was beautiful and had very few barges. The riverbank is very pretty with trees that are just starting to turn colors, we are probable two weeks early, but it is genuinely nice to see seasons’ change. The past two weeks we have had no rain, and this was another perfect 70-degree day with wall-to-wall sun. I will let the pictures do the talking.

We got tied up early and had lunch. I worked on the Blog for a few hours, (this thing really is a LOT more than I thought it would be!) and later in the afternoon took the courtesy car to Murry KY, where Murry State University is located and just spent the afternoon hanging around, cruised around the campus and town. Genuinely nice town. I think I have mentioned this before but the 6 years that we drove from Maine to Colorado we would try and have lunch or spend the night in college towns. They always have great restaurants and bars and usually have cool things going on and it breaks the ride up. Plus, the average age is much younger than the folks at the Marriott! We went to Walmart and picked up some items and back to the boat for dinner and an early evening. I cannot believe I am easing into this” early to bed before 10 and up at 6:30”, I am a changed man!

This is the barge that told me stand down. Full of army vehicles  

Dredge working on the Tennessee River

Dredge's spoils

what a beautiful river 

Look how low the water is !!

 Many Houses on the river bank look like this, planning on Spring runoff.

 Here is a better solution 

Beautiful Home

I would love to see how this guy is going to get this out of here!

Thursday October 13, 2022, Travel Day #73, Kenlake State Park Hardkin KY to Pebble Isle Marina, New Johnsonville TN, Total Distance Traveled: 55 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 7 Hours 0 Lock. We left Kenlake at 8 AM and started our 55-mile cruise on the Tennessee River headed to Pebble Isle and it was bright sunshine again, not a cloud in the sky all day. Once again, we loved the Tennessee River, it is wide and very pretty, all wooded riverbanks and truly little commercial traffic. It was a great ride, and we just enjoyed the sunshine and wide channel which made navigation extremely easy. We are getting spoiled with this river, but we will take it, it’s nice to not have the challenges of the Ohio and Mississippi. We pulled into the marina which was in a very rural spot no town to go to, so we just hung on the boat. This was the first location we did not have internet, so great to have our Kindles and cribbage board. Placed the Webber on the dock and grilled a Pork tenderloin that Meredith made an amazing apple topping for delicious! She hasn’t lost her cooking skills, still top notch.

Patti's

 

Bald Eagles on a sand bar

 

Borrowed the Marina's courtesy car to run into town! Pastor Cox

Friday October 14, 2022, Travel Day #74, Pebble Ile Marina New Johnsonville TN to Clifton Marina Clifton TN: Total Distance Traveled:  64 Miles, Total Time Traveled: 8 Hours 0 locks. We found out last night that at 8 AM the marina restaurant bakes and serves warm cinnamon buns to all the guest who overnight at the marina. Therefore our 8 AM departure was going to be delayed. Sure enough suddenly at 8 AM several folks were walking the dock and headed to the restaurant, so I followed suit. When I arrived, they had two buns all packaged for us and I brought them back to the boat and we were underway at 8:15. I do not usually post pictures of food, but I am going to today, they were wonderful. We left the harbor with six boats, and we sorted ourselves out three going faster and ahead of us and two slow boats behind us. We cruised at 9.5 MPR middle of the pack fast boats at 12-13 MPH ahead and the trawlers at 6-7 MPH behind us. Within a half hour we were separated out and didn’t see another looper all day

We had another long day on the Tennessee, today’s journey was sixty-five miles. We are running against the current and the remainder of the river gets narrower, so the currents go from 1-2 MPH against to you 2-3MPH against you so your losing speed as we travel. Once again, I will let the pictures do the talking but the sun was out, noticeably light winds today less than 8 knots. Very few tugs again in fact most all the boats we saw were bass boats, lots of folks fishing today. We also started to see a lot more house on the river, but the majority over 80% is wilderness, just a peaceful river.

We got to the marina around 3 PM and settled in and went for a walk around. Clifton City Marina is another popular marina for loopers. It is very small and a family business and very welcoming. They have a great restaurant which we had dinner at and had dinner with the other two loopers

 

The Rendezvous that was held at Paris Landing ended yesterday and we are a full day ahead of the gang. I am sure some of the fast boats will catch up to us over the weekend, but we have reservation or will be anchoring out thru the October 24^th when we plan to arrive in Mobile.

 Breakfast

 

Turkey Vultures

 

 Abandoned Dock

Looks like they built this a little to close to the cliff

Saturday October 15,2022, Travel Day #75, Clifton Marina, Clifton TN. to Grand Harbor Marina Mississippi: Total Distance Traveled 55 Miles, Total Time Traveled 7 Hour. We had a pleasant evening at Clifton Marina and departed for Grand Harbor at 8 AM. It was an overcast morning which makes it a lot easier than having to drive into the bright sunrises we had the two mornings before, temperature was 58 degrees head to 70, so a nice day for our 55-mile journey. WE had one lock today and it is the Pickwick Lock and Dam. It has an elevation drop of 55 feet which is a big lock. They actually have three chambers 2 for commercial vessels which are each 1,000 feet long 100 feet wide and a PC chamber that is 600x100, still very large.  Unfortunately, when we arrive they had two full tugs waiting to lock through so that is 4 cycles of the lock, they said it will be over two hours, not cool. Nothing you can do but sit and wait. We had our first rain in over a month and two thunderstorms rolled through while to stayed in place for two and a half hours bucking a 3 knot current. Meredith did an amazing job, and I worked on finishing this post. The Marina we stayed in was 10 mile south of the lock so we had another hours cruise to the harbor. We pulled in at 5:30 and the place had closed at 5 so I had called ahead and got our slip assignment. We are at the fuel dock pretty easy to find, but not sure I should be setting the Webber up and cooking on it. Have to find another location I think.

So that was our week  

 

 Tennessee River Shots

 

 

 

I'm getting nervous about finding anchorages next week, you should not be able to look under the bridge abutments!

Pickwick Lock 57 foot rise. Its all down hill from her our last up lock!

Confirmed Aquaholics behind us

It doesn't real show it, but it was pouring while Meredith worked the lines 

Junction of the Tennessee River, and The Ten Tom: go left 453 miles to Knoxville on the Tennessee or go right and 450 miles on The Tenn-Tom to Mobile AL, we are going right

So, few things going on, my Nebo App is not tracking us, so I need to contact them and get thing straightened out so right now I don’t have the tracks to share which is no big deal I’m sure to most. If something has to be broken this is very livable with, It’s a nice to have!

Second is I am going to use smaller pictures this week to see if they are better to view. If you would provide me some feedback on which size is best, I would appreciate it. I will try three sizes small medium and large. Just let me know if it matters and if so, which size is best. Thanks in advance

 

Please do not forget to put your name in the comments so we know who is commenting, as the majority still come through as Anonymous!

We have 450 Miles to Mobile; it was 1,300 from Chicago so we are making progress. It took us 18 days to do the first 850 miles and we are planning to do the next 450 in 10-12 days, so long days running in   Mississippi and Alabama. We are now in the most remote section of the Loop and will anchor out 3 nights as there are no marines to even stop at. As I mentioned earlier, we have not had internet in the past two nights so I’m not sure when the next post will be published, but we will keep at it.

Fair winds