Clifton to Aqua Marina

Way back in May we had a miserable day on the Chesapeake Bay. After that I made a "go/no-go" list which was made up of 5 points -- wind, wave, sun, temp, and tide -- and if two of those were not in my favor the day was a no-go.

I'm happy to say the list got shorter. I no longer care about temperature. It was 43 degrees when we started the day and it was wonderfully comfortable in the fly. The new canvas and strataglass work amazingly well. We ran a small space heater for about 10 minutes. Then the sun did the rest. Both of us were in shorts most of the day due to the heat. Blissfully warm. 

Now my list is:

• Wind (less than 15, preferably less than 10)
• Wave (2 feet or less, unless the period is long, like 8 seconds)
• Sun (I prefer it)
• Tide (Watch when you're coming and going, tide can make for tricky docking)

We did have to come up through Pickwick Lock today, which took about an hour to get through. That was enough to convince Nebo (the software that tracks our voyages) that we were done. I tacked on the rest, which was another hour.

With the exception of a current, which got stronger as we approached the dam slowing us down to a painful crawl, the trip was wonderful. The river is quite lovely.

Blue skies, calm waters, cool scenery

Grumpy Blue Heron on striated rock.

Pebble Isle to Clifton

Rain was predicted today. Thunderstorms possible. Lightning isn't a great thing when you're on the water. In hopes of beating the weather we headed out early, around 7 am. Another longer day, about 52 nm this time to Clifton.

Throughout the day the skies were stirred. Sometimes dark, sometimes cloudy with the occasional sun break. The air was warm, in the mid-70s, largely due to the southern wind which again dampened our progress. We could see the heaviest of the storm to the west of us. While it was coming our way it mostly moved north. And we moved south, hoping to miss the brunt of it.

Just as we were coming into the marina the rain started. Getting into the Clifton marina is a little tricky, since the channel is extremely narrow and shallow. Our depth gauge read 6 ft at one point. 

Due to the weather (everyone trying to beat the rain) 4 boats arrived at the marina at the same time. Given the skinny channel, and the tight space within the small marina, we could only come in one at a time. We came in first. The marina didn't have a radio (?!) so Russ acted as traffic director, telling boats when they could enter and where they were supposed to go. Conveniently, once all four boats were docked, the skies opened and poured down buckets.

A cold front is coming tonight. Tomorrow will be a very cold day.

Interesting banks on the Tennessee River

Lots of cool canyons and walls

Duncan Bay to Pebble Isle

As miles go, it wasn't the longest traveled day we'd experienced. Only 54. In fact, when we had some "tiny beers" with Martha and John, we chatted about the longest day, concluding the run from Atlantic City to New York was our longest yet. That was over 10 hours. Today was only 8.

But it seemed really long. Largely because the wind was coming from the south, and we were heading south. In addition to the current, which isn't much, we fought with the wind. That slowed our pace a bit.

And since the lake is a narrow thing running north and south, we had a bit of a ride throughout most of the day. Nothing major, but 1-2 footers on the nose. A bit bumpy.

Lastly, and probably the most impactful, are the shorter days. It feels like a long day when you're docking as the sun is setting. Oy. Not looking forward to traveling in the winter.

All that said the ride was uneventful. Docking was a little tricky, as the wind came up pushing me away from the dock as I was trying to sidle up next to it. Roaring engines, churned mud. But we got it done.

We do see some odd things. Clearly this was something
before they flooded the land to make the lake in the 1940s.
The maps only said "Water Farm."

Martha also pointed out that Green Turtle Bay was the mid-way point between Chicago and Mobile. WOW.

Green Turtle Bay to Duncan Bay

We're making our way south. We have reservations at Aqua, a marina about 10 miles beyond the Pickwick Lock, for Saturday. That give us 3 days to get there. A cold front is coming Friday which might put a damper on things. No one wants to boat on a cold, rainy day.

On our port side as we head south is a park called The Land Between The Lakes. When we RV'd we stopped there a couple of times. Lovely area, so we thought we'd anchor out near there for the next few days.

We'd been waffling over going to Chattanooga or not while at GTB. We do like Chattanooga, and have been there a number of times. Then we had a looper gathering at one of the restaurants in the resort. 30 boats were there, so the place had over 60 people. It was loud and bustling, and most of them were headed to Chattanooga. Which convinced us not to go. We really like the looper thing, but it's been crowded for a while now. Time to just head south.

Just a wee bit of fog in the morning.

We left GTB late, around 11 am. The day was short, but we wanted to do a little kayaking and dinghy-ing while the day is warm. 

They are getting shorter, those days. Everywhere we go there are reminders that the holidays are quickly approaching. The dogs have 2 of the 3 walks in the dark. Ugh.

A glimpse of the land between the lakes

What's to do in Paducah?

This post is a couple of days old, largely because I got lazy and didn't do it the day we spent in Paducah. It turns out the little town is has a good bit to offer. We enjoyed a great bakery (Kirchhoff's), visited a couple of brewerys, and walked the cute historic downtown. But -- and everyone will tell you -- the thing to do in Paducah is visit the National Quilt Museum.

I'll wait here until your done laughing.

No, really, it was just amazing. I'll let the pictures tell the tale. But if you're ever in Paducah, it's mind-blowing.

Okay, this is stained glass. Of a quilt. And I thought amazing.

A tribute to 9-11. The towers (11) are made up from
tiny squares, one for each who perished.

Yes, a quilt. Below is a bit of detail.

A quilt about quilts.

This one stunned me. I asked how long it took the artist to make.
No one knew, but other (less complicated) works took 2.5 years.
Below is another bit is detail. Hand stitched, by the way.

Paducah to Green Turtle Bay

There are two way to get between these two locations; the Kentucky River and the Cumberland River. The Kentucky River is more more direct (see photo), however it is more traveled with barge traffic. The Cumberland is much longer, but less traffic. Both have locks at the ends before you get to "the lakes." 

Typically loopers take the Cumberland after days of big rivers. In a continuing theme of "locks are messing up the loop" the Barkley lock is closed for repairs from 6 am to 6 pm daily. They will lock you through during the night. Which does not sound like fun, pulling into a marina I don't know in the dark. But the Kentucky River lock is crazy busy, and many loopers have waited 3 to 4 hours to get through.

So we chose Cumberland. We left around 9 am, knowing we were probably going to have to tie up to a cell in the river for several hours before pulling into Green Turtle Bay. As You Wish joined us, and the two of us traveled alone. 

No one uses these cells anymore.

The most difficult part of the travel was the heat. At times our thermometer read 98. We drank lots of water, opened all the windows, and turned on a big fan to keep air moving.  But it was hard to stay cool.

The river also had more current than the Ohio, so our pace was slow. Not a real issue, since there was no rush, but at times we traveled 4 knots. Quite a difference from the 12 knot speed of the Mississippi.

Eventually we got to the cells, which are big round cistern-looking things we could tie up to and wait. Russ called the lock to get permission to tie up and let them know we wanted to lock through. Turns out the repair crew had already finished today. He was locking that boat up now and would turn the lock for us immediately -- just tie up to the wall. We couldn't believe our luck!

The Cumberland River

The doors closed behind us at 4:08, then we rocketed up 57 feet in one of the fasted fills we'd experienced. By 4:18 the front doors opened and we were on our way.

That might be my favorite lock yet.

America Sand Bar to Paducah

Up early today, around 5:30, for a tentative 6:30 departure. Tentative because we needed to check the AIS and see just how many boats were locking through at Olmstead. Russ even gave the lock a quick call. Lock master didn't have anything obviously troublesome so we headed out. We did have to wait an hour while he locked a tow down before locking us up. But we'd heard some folk waited three hoursn here. We felt a bit lucky. Although I do dislike standing still for any length of time. My impatience.

Sunset on the Ohio

As you can see by the map the Ohio wasn't too windy and twisty on this end. Not only was the water calm but you could see for miles. Warm air, sunny skies, all making for a wonderful trip.

The only excitement happened when we passed a tow on the two (the left). No problems with that. But a tow boat crossing the river made a massive dash for us. I waited for a hail, since I would have happily stopped for him, but he slowed down, then jammed across between As You Wish and us. We'd overheard someone on the radio yesterday say, "Never slow down a workin' man." Might be a river rule.

Calm Ohio waters all day

A couple of years ago Paducah put in a little city dock. Nothing major. It only will hold a dozen boats, but it's perfect for loopers. We appreciate it.

Which begs the question of why more cities (I'm looking at you, St. Louis!) don't do something similar.

The tug zipped between As You Wish and us

Paducah City Dock. What more do you need?