Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee

These wonderful southern plantations!  This one was particularly beautiful!

This is what the banks look like along this part of the TN river.  According to the river guide the soil is sand mixed with clay and you could see areas where the bank is sliding into the river.

There is so much civil war history in this part of the USA.  The picture at the right is the Cherry Mansion that was built in 1830.  It was built by slave labor with bricks made on the riverbank.  General Ulysses Grant was eating breakfast here in 1862 when he heard distant artillery fire as Confederate forces attacked his army at Shiloh.  Tomorrow we are going to visit the Shiloh National Military Park.

Tonight we are staying at Grand Harbor Marina at the junction of the Tennessee Tombigbee river and the Tennessee.  WOW...what a beautiful marina. 

This dock has a light under it and when we came back from a walk tonight, the light was on and there are tons of BIG fish under the boat.  Reminds me of Mimi’s dock bar in Grand Cayman!

That is all for tonight.  After tomorrow I will be much more knowledgeable about the Civil War.  Amazing how much I don’t remember.

Good night!  Pat

Clifton, Tennessee

We have some time before we have to be at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama for the AGLCA Rendezvous the end of October, so we have decided to make a run to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Tennessee River is one of the finest inland cruising areas I have ever seen. (However, I have a feeling I’ll be saying that again about somewhere else!) Clean water, spectacular scenery, and very nice people. The land varies from prairies to sheer rock cliffs.

 It is sparsely populated along the river.  We go for miles without seeing a house, road or any signs of civilization.

Our run to Chattanooga will be a “side trip”, off the Loop. Normally we would follow the Tennessee south to the Tennessee / Mississippi border, near Pickwick, and pick up the Tennessee / Tombigbee Waterway which would take us south to Mobile Bay, and the Gulf. We will continue to follow the Tennessee, which at the Tennessee / Mississippi border turns south east through Mississippi, then north east and up to Chattanooga, back in Tennessee. We then turn around and head back to Pickwick. The entire round trip side trip is about 500 miles.

Last night's anchorage behind Kelly's Island gave us a perfect sunrise with a little fog rolling over the water. 

A leisurely breakfast and a short run brought us to the city of Clifton by noon, where we are staying at a very nice marina.

Clifton has a lot of civil war history. It was near here where Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest  defeated General Sherman's March to the Sea.

Clifton is also the home of author T. S. Stribling, who received a Pulitzer Prize in 1933 for his book The Store. It is said that Stribling’s writings outsold Faulkner and Hemingway.

This is a photo of Stribling’s house. It is now a library on the main floor, and the second floor has displays of Stribling’s original writings and artifacts.  

Downtown has many original 1800’s buildings which are in good shape. We did a two mile walk through the small city, and were waved at and greeted by most everyone we met. 

Just as we got back to the marina, a 75’ Hatteras pulled in. I don’t think he had a foot to spare when he spun it around. We helped them tie up and plug in.

Still waiting to be invited over for cocktails!

Good Night -

Captn Ken

Pictures speak louder than words!

Tennessee River

Today we left Green Turtle Marina and headed onto the Tennessee River!  What a beautiful day!  Rather than lots of words I will post pictures that say it all!  The entire day the river was like glass!

 

This is a picture of an abandoned dock where grain used to be loaded onto barges.  Once they closed the railroad, this abandoned dock was left because it was built so strong, they couldn’t tear it down.

We ended the day anchored in a bay!  It was a long day, traveling 60 miles!

We waited until the sun went behind the trees to cook out and enjoy this beautiful sunset and full moon!!!!!

Good night moon!  Pat

Good night moon!

Our time at Green Turtle marina -

We have been enjoying our time on land this week.  We have had beautiful weather, sunny days and cool nights. 

Grand Rivers, KY is a golf cart friendly town so we have driven a golf cart from the marina into town.  Our friends from Galena had friends come to visit them here at the marina.  They have a van so we all headed to Patti’s Settlement in Grand Rivers last night for their world famous 2 inch pork chop - very good but we have enough for another meal.  There are about 10 gift shops on the property plus miniature golf and about 4 restaurants.

We took a trip into Paducah today.  The picture above is taken on the two block long mural wall along the river.  It is a beautiful site to see!  5 local volunteer artists painted it.  We also visited the National Quilt Museum.  What beautiful works of art, yet none as beautiful as the quilts my sister Judy makes. 

Ken and I went for a dinghy ride yesterday afternoon into Lake Barkley.  The lake was relatively calm when we headed out but the wind came up and we both got soaked on our way back to the marina.  

 

This marina is called Green Turtle Bay.  If you look at the picture to your left, all those dots are turtle heads. 

The picture below shows the turtles.  If you stand at the end of the dock, they come up to you as if you are going to feed them.

Must be how they decided to name the marina - Green Turtle.

Tomorrow is an in water boat show here which will be fun to wander through.  Sunday we take off down the Tennessee River beginning the next leg of our adventure.

That’s all for now - Pat

Oh Captain, my Captain!

Happy Labor Day to all that are having the day off today!  We arrived last night in Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand River, KY.  This is where we will be for the next week! 

We had a couple of questionable mechanical issues with the boat and as always the Captain was able to diagnose and solve the problems.  These were electrical and battery issues.  If only everyone could have a Captain as good as Ken!

Thought it would be fun for you to see our first new looper friends.  They are Marc and Michele from Galena, IL.  It has been great traveling with them for the last week.

This is the last lock we went through.  It is the Barkley lock just before you enter Lake Barkley.  It is a 57 foot lift.  It is HUGE!  And...................it was raining so I put on my rain suit and looped the line around the bollard and up we went.   

Those that know me know how much I love sunsets so indulge me as I will post many during the trip!  This one was at one of our anchor outs in the last few days.  So beautiful!!! 

Today we are grateful for much cooler weather - only 70 degrees.  What a relief!

Tomorrow we are going to tour the great city of Paducah, KY and restock the boat.

Good night to all!  Pat

More hot days!

Marc had a chance to check his new iPhone “Anchor Watch” app last night. He had it set for 80 feet, and it went off in the middle of the night. We had not dragged, but were swinging pretty good with the combination of wind, current, and wakes from the numerous tows going past.

This mornings sunrise was as pretty as last nights sunset.

When we were at Hoppies, Fern was telling us about a gentleman who had been by the day before. He was in a small house boat, and was using a small outboard “kicker” to steer  with while he drifted down the river.

He figured the fuel consumption would be better than running the big engine, and he wasn’t in any hurry. Fern said he was going to meet up with his father in Cape Girardeau.  We passed him the next day near the Kaskaskia River, and again near our anchorage Friday night. He must travel 24/7!

The other day we told you about bend weir dykes.  Well - we now call them “Washing Machines”. That's what the water looks like - all swirls like a washing machine, and if you’re not careful, they will “wash you”! Now - put not one, but TWO tugs pushing a full load of benzine, in a tight corner, right over a washing machine. We waited a while until they were through, but the 5’ rollers were still there! Oh well - the stateroom needed a good cleaning. We had the deck hatch, and the two small side ports in the hull open. It sprayed water through the starboard side port, and all the way to the head! It really wasn’t all that bad. We had the back canvas down, and laid over the bed. 

The river systems always amaze me.  How the Army Corps engineered the lock and dam system is absolutely incredible!  Today, on the Ohio river, we had the opportunity to see a lock and dam being taken apart, and a new lock and dam being installed. The Corps is building a new lock and dam on the Ohio river, below lock 53, to replace locks 52 & 53. The picture to the left is the new lock. We think the metal structures on land are the dam gates. Lock 53 has been virtually eliminated. The lock structure is still there, but the dam is gone. They had green buoys laying on the abandoned lock walls. Lock 52 is still operational, but looks the worse for wear. 

The fourth day today with the temperatures over 100 - DAMN HOT!!  Tonight we are anchored with Marcs Ark at the Cumberland River Towhead. After a long nine hour hot day, we all took a much needed dip.

Tomorrow we have an easy 30 miles to Green Turtle, where we will stay for seven days to kick back, provision, and set out on the next leg of a trip that has so far proven to be every bit as wonderful as we had anticipated.

Wish You All Were Here!

Captn Ken

The parrott got away!

When we were driving away from Hoppies this morning, we realized that the bird had flown the coupe!  There he was perched in the sitting area where Fern holds her boater briefings.  We will send a note to Fern asking her to take good care of our very special birdie!

Bend Weir Dyke

Todays lesson on the river was told to us by Fern last evening.  She talked about “bend weir dykes”.  I had never heard of them but she assured us we would encounter them and we surely did.  These are in the channel, in deep water (like a wing dam under water) and they create an incredible amount of turbulence!  The chart picture at the right shows you what it looks like on the chart and the other picture shows you the turbulence.  None of us listening to Fern had ever experienced such a thing.  Had to take the boat off auto pilot and steer through them.  WHEW!

Ken and Marc

At the end of an 80 mile day in 99 degree heat we ended up at a beautiful anchorage that Ken found on the chart.  He dropped the dinghy and scoped it out for depth and here we are!  Beautiful night albeit still too hot but enjoying the evening on anchor with our new Looper friends, Marc and Michele!  The two captains are having a cold one at the end of a hot day!

Good night - Pat