Tuesday, July 21st,
On our way to Nashville this past Saturday we spoke with Tommy Williams, our friend the towboat captain. He indicated he was bringing the Enterprise Star to Nashville on Monday. A group of 80 teachers and other educators and staff from Ingram were going to tour the towboat. The teachers were attending a conference on energy conservation and its incorporation into the classroom curriculum. Tommy asked if Tom and I were available to come and answer any questions the visitors might have from the prospective of an educator who traveled on the river. I was thrilled with the opportunity to once again step on the deck of the Enterprise Star and proud that Captain Tommy had asked us. The educators,came through in groups of twenty. Tom and I met them in the galley and answered questions. We met educators from many states and Japan, had an opportunity to meet employees of Ingram Barge Company, get in a short visit with our friend Tommy and reconnect with Lisa R. who arranged for our four day stay on the Enterprise last summer. It was a great morning! We left Nashville about 12:30 this afternoon. We traveled to Riverview marina, which was a 48 mile day. The marina is a long dock with electricity and a restaurant. A very good restaurant! We were told in Nashville that Cheathum Lock which we must pass through is closed for repair. It was supposed to open tonight. I just called the lockmaster. It seems it will be closed for two days! Not good, since I am supposed to be picking up a rental in Paducah on Thursday to head for home. A new challenge to solve!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20th
You may detect a twang in my voice oh I mean words, from all of the country music! We arrived in Nashville on Saturday and have been busy enjoying the city. It has been a good break after two very long days of travel to get here. We miscalculated how long it would take us to get to Clarksville and ended up spending the last hour driving in the dark! Not fun! There are so many floaters in the Cumberland that I was a nervous wreck, not counting the fact that it was pitch black and the river was not straight! Thank goodness we had the computer program to navigate by and the bugs weren't bad like they were when this happened two summers ago on our way to Green Turtle Bay. We arrived at the Clarksville city dock about 9:30 with a huge sigh of relief reminding ourselves that we said we would not travel in the dark ever again the last time this happened. The consensus was that we needed to do a better job of calculating our time! By then Peanut had both front and back legs crossed and almost didn't make it to the nearest grassy area. We felt bad for her, almost 10 hours on the water is a long time! A very nice couple helped us tie up. They were new to boating and anxious to talk when they found out we had been through a lock.
We left Clarksville at 9:00 We had one lock to tackle. When we arrived at the lock we found we had an hour and forty five minute wait because they had to break down a tow to get it in the lock. We had no place to tie up soooooo, we floated around for nearly two hours. By the time the tow was through there were 10 other boats waiting to get in the lock, thankfully we all fit! Once we were through the river widened for a while and was busy with "go fast boats" skiers and tubes. All out for a beautiful day on the water. Soon we were back to wilderness and quiet. We had not seen this part of the river but it was hard to enjoy the scenery because of all the logs, sticks and other stuff in the water. We had to do a lot of weaving around it all. At one point I thought to myself, if we were on a highway we would be pulled over for erratic driving! I did enjoy watching all the birds though. The river had no rip rap along this section and the erosion was clearly visible and disconcerting. Large trees had fallen in all along the banks, and the high banks had begun to fall in as well, much of it from the wake of the boats I am sure. As we neared Nashville the land quickly changed from forest to farm and then to hills. As we approached the city the skyline reminded me of Chicago as you neared the harbor. We arrived about 7:00pm. A long day, yes but the beautiful scenery, sunshine and the peacefulness of the surroundings made it an enjoyable one. I have added some new pictures below.
You may detect a twang in my voice oh I mean words, from all of the country music! We arrived in Nashville on Saturday and have been busy enjoying the city. It has been a good break after two very long days of travel to get here. We miscalculated how long it would take us to get to Clarksville and ended up spending the last hour driving in the dark! Not fun! There are so many floaters in the Cumberland that I was a nervous wreck, not counting the fact that it was pitch black and the river was not straight! Thank goodness we had the computer program to navigate by and the bugs weren't bad like they were when this happened two summers ago on our way to Green Turtle Bay. We arrived at the Clarksville city dock about 9:30 with a huge sigh of relief reminding ourselves that we said we would not travel in the dark ever again the last time this happened. The consensus was that we needed to do a better job of calculating our time! By then Peanut had both front and back legs crossed and almost didn't make it to the nearest grassy area. We felt bad for her, almost 10 hours on the water is a long time! A very nice couple helped us tie up. They were new to boating and anxious to talk when they found out we had been through a lock.
We left Clarksville at 9:00 We had one lock to tackle. When we arrived at the lock we found we had an hour and forty five minute wait because they had to break down a tow to get it in the lock. We had no place to tie up soooooo, we floated around for nearly two hours. By the time the tow was through there were 10 other boats waiting to get in the lock, thankfully we all fit! Once we were through the river widened for a while and was busy with "go fast boats" skiers and tubes. All out for a beautiful day on the water. Soon we were back to wilderness and quiet. We had not seen this part of the river but it was hard to enjoy the scenery because of all the logs, sticks and other stuff in the water. We had to do a lot of weaving around it all. At one point I thought to myself, if we were on a highway we would be pulled over for erratic driving! I did enjoy watching all the birds though. The river had no rip rap along this section and the erosion was clearly visible and disconcerting. Large trees had fallen in all along the banks, and the high banks had begun to fall in as well, much of it from the wake of the boats I am sure. As we neared Nashville the land quickly changed from forest to farm and then to hills. As we approached the city the skyline reminded me of Chicago as you neared the harbor. We arrived about 7:00pm. A long day, yes but the beautiful scenery, sunshine and the peacefulness of the surroundings made it an enjoyable one. I have added some new pictures below.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
July 16th
We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday night at Green Turtle Bay. Sunday was spent organizing for the arrival of Tom's daughter Natalie and her boyfriend Devin who were to arrive at GTB on Monday afternoon. Sunday was a good day to organize as it was overcast and rainy. Monday was cloudy but warm. We took Nat and Devin to Patties restaurant in Grand Rivers Monday evening for the famous two inch pork chop. Sorry, about the sideways picture of the pork chop, I can't figure out how to turn it. Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day! We headed for the quarry so the kids could swim and kayak. As we approached the quarry we had to cross the path of a large tow. You can imagine our excitement when we realized the towboat pushing the barges we just passed was the Enterprise Star, the towboat we rode on last summer. We hailed them on the radio, turned around and ran along with them, at a safe distance of course, for a few minutes to visit via radio. After a day of play we headed for Kentucky Dam Marina where we spent Tuesday night. The marina is at the edge of Kentucky Dam State Park so we took advantage of their buffet dinner and did some more fishing. Yesterday morning Devin and Tom got up early to try and catch fish. You see, Nat was outfishing them 4-1! It seems that those fancy lures still can't out do a good ol night crawler on a hook! After a great catfish lunch at The Moors resteruant we took Nat and Devin back to their car at Green Turtle Bay marina then headed back to our boat. A really powerful storm blew in late in the evening. The winds were strong blowing lawn chairs from the house boats around us into the water. The lightning and accompanying thunder lasted about 45 minutes, making me very nervous. At one point a lightning strike looked more like an explosion and the thunder was immediate. I screamed and grabbed Tom's neck. Not sure how choking him was going to help! This morning we woke up to fog, so we worked around the boat until mid morning. The forecast called for more thunderstorms and the cloud cover was thick and low. Being the nervous Nelly that I am about boating in a storm we agreed to cut our day short and come to Buzzard Rock marina, only a 12 mile trip. We took it slow as visibility still was not the best. At one point we approached a tow, followed him until the channel widened a little and then began passing with his permission. Just about the time we passed him we lost an engine! Thank goodness we have two! As the tow passed us again,heaven knows what he was thinking, I drove on one engine, while Tom crawled down in the engine room. All seemed fine so he tried the engine again and it started. We didn't have much farther to go to arrive here at Buzzard Rock. It never did storm again. Be sure to check out a few pictures I posted below.
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