More of Kentucky Lake

Day 38   - October 14

946 miles

We spent 3 nights at Kenlake Marina - a small marina on Kentucky Lake that is within the Kenlake State Park.  It was a quiet 3 days - no repairs and no cleaning the boat.  You have to be thankful for the little things . . . 

Our tie up on the finger dock at Kenlake was like trying to parallel park a car (see picture below).  Not an easy task when we don’t have side thrusters, but Mike got to polish up on his driving skills and put the boat right into place.  I just throw ropes to the dock hands.

Two couples that keep their houseboats at this marina invited us to join them for dinner (chili), but I had already prepared ours.  But the invite led to them taking a tour of True North and I got to see the inside of one of the houseboats.  Wow - a true floating condo.  The kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms are all full-sized.  Plus a slide from the top deck!

The marina has a restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch.  A popular place as we got one of the last tables on Sunday morning.

There was a Kodak moment on Monday morning before we left.  Mike is an early riser, and when he looked out the back window, there was a blue heron perched on our dinghy, with the sun rising behind it, and steam coming off the water.  That is how he described it to me as I wasn’t up yet.  Unfortunately, a verbal image is all there is as HE DIDN’T TAKE A PICTURE. He obviously is no Todd Reed!  (a local reference.  For those that aren’t from Ludington, I’d say he’s no Ansel Adams!)

We left Kenlake later Monday morning for a short ride to Paris Landing Marina.  Another marina within a state park, but it put us in Tennessee.

While traveling on Kentucky Lake, I spend lots of time looking through the binoculars at the numerous coves.  They are all calling me to come in, drop an anchor and jump in.  But I am not the one driving or the one concerned with water depth in those pretty coves.

Another quiet two days, with our main entertainment watching the lineup of fishing boats launching from the nearby boat ramp in the mornings and the flotilla of those same boats coming back in around dusk.  There were always a few scragglers, visible only from the green and red glows of their nav lights in the darkness.

Paris Landing had a golf course, but our clubs won’t catch up to us until we get to Florida.  The marina office had a long beam in the water that marked water depths.  The current level was a good 2 ft. below the mark that indicated the summer depth.  That makes for interesting shoreline views but the this winter pool level is a concern when you draft 5 to 5.5 ft like we do.

Observation: the farther south we get, the thicker the southern accents. And I’m ok with being called “ma’am” every time I ask a question.  “Yes, ma’am.”  “No, ma’am.”

We left Paris Landing on Wednesday morning at 10.  The wind had picked up and there was a chop on the lake - little whitecaps even.  We passed 2 barges, the first we have seen on Kentucky Lake.  Thirty-one miles later we pulled up to the fuel dock at Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, Tennessee at 12:45.  The marina is about 1500 yards down a channel off the lake.  At first glance from the lake, it looked like there was no way we would be able to get back to the marina.  But the channel was well-marked with buoys that put us on a curvy path back to a beautiful cove.  We will be here 3 nights while we wait for Greg and Karen to get back onboard on Friday night.

There are two good reasons for coming to Pebble Isle.  They have the lowest diesel price on Kentucky Lake and homemade cinnamon rolls given free every morning to the transient boaters!  Other Loop boaters mentioned the rolls, so Thursday morning I followed the delicious smell down the dock to the little restaurant behind the office, got two in a to go box and took them back to the boat where we enjoyed every bite.  A real treat.

Another nice thing about this marina is their courtesy car.  We were able to make a trip into Camden to stock up on groceries.  New Johnsonville is so small there is no grocery store.

We also washed the boat Thursday afternoon, because, well, it had been a whole 9 days since the last cleaning.  With temps only in the low 60’s and cloudy skies, the chore was less taxing than usual.

You can imagine my delight when I discovered New Johnsonville had a visitor center, Civil War museum and an orientation film!  If you have followed our meanderings since 2013 when we traveled in our RV, you understand what a wonderful surprise this discovery was, especially for such a small town. If you are new to the blog because of the boat trip, I’ll explain by saying we stopped at every visitor center and watched every orientation film while traveling across the U.S.  I always came away richer for the experience, and possibly even a little more knowledgeable.

So with an interest in history and the Civil War that was fueled by my brother Tim's love for all things regarding the Civil War, I borrowed the courtesy car once more on Friday afternoon and spent about an hour at the visitor center/museum.  It was built 4 years ago and does an impressive job of telling the story of the role of Johnsonville in the Civil War.  I had never heard of this battle, but found out through the film and displays that it was one of the last hurrahs for the Confederate army.  With its strategic location on the Tennessee river, Johnsonville became a major supply depot for the Union armies in Nashville.  Hoping to cut off that supply and cripple Sherman’s army, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest planned a brilliant attack on the depot at Johnsonville.  It was successful, and rather than have the supplies fall into Confederate hands, the Union commander of the depot set fire to the entire complex.  Millions of dollars of supplies were destroyed. The battle was a victory for the South, but the intended result was not as the Union army relied on other supply lines and Sherman continued his march to the sea.

After the war, the town of Johnsonville grew along the river.  But frequent flooding of the Tennessee river dwindled the population to less than 300 in the early 1940’s.  That town ceased to exist as the creation of Kentucky Lake covered the area.  Our marina is next to the state park that sits on the site of the original Johnsonville, although most of it is under water.  New Johnsonville is on a higher elevation.

There is a Civil War reenactment this weekend that I would love to go to but the river is waiting . . . 

The parallel parking dock at Kenlake

Something built a nest

At dock at Paris Landing

The Paris Landing marina

The railroad bridge to nowhere

One can only guess . . . 

The channel into Pebble Isle 

Our view at back of boat at Pebble Isle

Another view

Visitor Center

Museum 

Kentucky Lake

Day 32 - Saturday, October 8
888 miles to Kenlake Marina

It has been 20 days since my last post, mainly because 18 of them were spent at the same spot - Green Turtle Bay Marina on Lake Barkley in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.  True North did finally move yesterday, and that, along with Hurricane Matthew prompted an update.  To reassure all, we are far enough inland (Tennessee River) that we are well out of harm's way from the hurricane.  On Thursday, we did talk to a couple who are on the Loop and their boat is in Beaufort, SC.  Their boat was being pulled out of the water as a precaution and they rented a car to drive inland.  Knowing there are always Loopers this time of year at Green Turtle Bay, they chose to stay here for a few days.

Our time at GTB was full of activity.  So much for the relaxation part.  I have come to the conclusion that the laid-back, read a book, watch the scenery part of the trip is when we are actually moving!  When we are tied at a dock, the cleaning and maintenance and repairs seem never ending.
We installed a 12-volt charger on the flybridge dashboard to charge our iPhones and iPads up top. Mike uses electronic navigation charts on his iPad while we are traveling so the device is often fired up for 10 to 12 hours at a time.  Greg and Karen replaced the shower pump.  Mike changed the generator oil.  And to take off the "Mississippi Mustache" True North grew while traveling on that river, we used the dinghy to circle the outside of the boat, hand scrubbing away the brown grime.  We had many people stop on the dock to comment on how much they liked the boat and how white it was.  Although Mike and Greg have different personalities (as I've mentioned before), they both subscribe to the motto "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

Fortunately, some of our activity was fun.  We took advantage of having Karen's car and made a day trip on the 21st into Paducah (30 miles) with fellow Loopers Dan and Jenny from Gypsy Spirit.  The girls went to the National Quilt Museum and the guys went to the airport to pick up our rental car.  The museum was filled with true works of art.   Most interesting was a section of miniatures.  The hand work on such a small scale was amazing.  They do not allow any pictures of the quilts, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Family friends, originally from Ludington and now living in Paducah, provided much of the enjoyment.  While Mike and I were back in Michigan, Tom and Toni Greene treated Greg and Karen to a train ride on the P and L line.  (Paducah-Louisville).
Then it was Greg and Karen's turn to return to Ludington.  But the other Greg and Karen joined us for a long weekend.  Sister Karen and brother-in-law Greg sampled boat life from Sept. 29-Oct. 3.  The dark cloud during their visit literally was a dark cloud.  After temps in the low 90's, the clouds and rain moved in for that weekend making the 70 degrees seem even colder.  Even in the rain, you have to eat so we made another trip to Patti's.
The sun returned on that Sunday and the Greene's again showed us their southern hospitality.  Tom is a private pilot and took Mike and Greg up for a ride.  Toni took Karen and I downtown Paducah to see the murals on the Flood Wall.  I learned a bit of trivia looking at the murals.  One was of Alben Barkley, a Kentucky native who was Vice-President under Harry Truman.  The Barkley Lock and Dam that we went through is named for him.

On Monday we said good-bye to the Wessendorf's, cleaned the boat inside and out to get ready for our next visitors - Emma and Bernetta made the drive down from Louisville on Tuesday.  Wednesday was a girls day, shopping and a stop at a small winery.  Bernetta had never been to Patti's, so Emma treated all of us to another pork chop dinner that night.

The Louisville Two left on Thursday, so we readied the boat to leave on Friday.  Thursday night, the marina had a Looper-Q, a free BBQ dinner for all the Loopers.

After 18 nights docked at Green Turtle Bay Marina, Mike and I took True North out of the harbor, through the Barkley Canal into Kentucky Lake on Friday morning.  This was a big deal for us as we have never traveled on the boat with only the two of us.  Just like putting up a live Christmas tree can test a marriage, so can leaving and entering a dock on a boat.  I'm happy to report the 42nd anniversary we celebrated on the 28th will not be our last!  You have to be thankful for the little things . . .

We considered the Barkley Canal a no wake zone, but the Bass fishing boats that zipped past us did not.  There were so many of them in the canal and on Kentucky Lake, we decided either A) nobody in Kentucky works on Friday, or B) there is a fishing tournament.  We found out later it is the latter.

Kentucky Lake is a boaters paradise.  Pontoon boats or houseboats are the perfect mode of transportation to explore the abundance of coves and inlets.  The lake is the largest artificial lake by surface area east of the Mississippi- 184 miles long.  It was created in 1944 when the Tennessee River was dammed. (I just asked Mike to suggest another word for boat, as I feel like I repeat it too much.  He said, "A hole in the water which we pour money into."  Which is the exact saying on a sign my sister-in-law gave me last year!)  Lake Barkley parallels Kentucky Lake.  It had a similar birth - the 1966 impounding of the Cumberland River by the Barkley Dam.  The area between the two lakes is appropriately called The Land Between the Lakes.  While resorts and marinas line the west shore of Kentucky Lake and the east shore of Lake Barkley, their other shorelines -the land between the lakes - remains natural with little commercial development except for campgrounds and hiking and biking trails.
We took a slow ride 20 miles down Kentucky Lake to Kenlake State Park and the marina here, where we plan to stay several days.  We are in no hurry as we have a week to get to the end of the lake - New Johnsonville, Tennessee, where Greg and Karen will join back up with us on the 15th and we will then continue the adventure.

The turtles are green - with slime!

Not True North, but an example of a Mississippi Mustache

View from train ride

Karen W at Flood Wall Murals

On the river side of the murals

Enlarge this picture so you can read about the devastating floods in Paducah

and the reason for the Flood Wall

Downtown Paducah.  Notice the 1937 flood water mark

Tom, Mike and Greg W 

View of Green Turtle Bay Marina from the air.  

There is more at Patti's than just a restaurant.  It is an entire complex of shops,

attractions and an outdoor wedding venue

Purple Toad Winery

Emma, Bernetta and Becky on a dinghy ride

Emma in the captain's seat

This is how to enjoy Kentucky Lake!

Bass boats fishing on Kentucky Lake

Beautiful Kentucky Lake

Cumberland River to Green Turtle Bay Marina

Day 14 - Tuesday, September 20
765 miles to Cumberland River and Green Turtle Bay Marina

The last post mentioned two possible anchorages on the Ohio river for us on Sunday night.  We chose Bean Branch.  This was not a side channel to tuck in to - we just pulled over parallel to the shore in a wide part of the river.  We were far enough away from the center of the river that the occasional passing tow (much fewer than on the Mississippi) caused no rocking for us.  We had just dropped our anchor when Dan and Jenny from Gypsy Spirit came over the radio asking if we and Scott and Brenda from Kali Nichta wanted to come aboard for drinks.  The 3 boats had been traveling together all day, but other than radio communication about passing tows, we hadn't formally met.  Dan was kind enough to be the taxi as he came to both boats to pick us up in his dinghy.  Upon introductions, we learned Gypsy Spirit started the Loop a week before we did out of White Lake.  We are practically neighbors as White Lake is in Whitehall, MI - only about 40 miles from Ludington.  Small world! Kali Nichta is in the home stretch as she left Port Charlotte, FL last April.
In Looper terminology, we aren't sure what you call drinks on a boat, but we enjoyed the company and conversation.  (can't be a docktail - no dock!)

We watched a beautiful sunrise over the calm waters of the Ohio river on Monday morning.  No fog, just a light mist rising near the shoreline.  Got an early start - 7 am local time.  Gypsy Spirit took the lead, with True North next and Kali Nichta right behind.  We arrived at our first lock - Lock 52 at 9.  There were 2 tows in the lock, which caused a 2 hour wait for us.  And yet another different lock experience.  Since we were traveling upstream on the Ohio, we went 8 ft. UP in this lock.  A worker lowered a hook and I looped our rope on it.  He pulled the hook up and wrapped our rope around a cleat at the top of the lock.  It was then just a matter of bringing in the slack as we rose. We exited the lock at 11:45.

Past Paducah, KY, we took a right turn on to the Cumberland River at 1:45.  This stretch was more narrow and beautiful.  At 7 mph, Captains Greg and Mike were taking Miss Daisy (me) for a nice Sunday drive (on a Monday).  We often commented on how gorgeous most of this trip so far would be when the leaves turn their vibrant colors.  We did have a monarch butterfly perch for a few minutes inside the flybridge.

My nephew was traveling in Kentucky and he crossed over the Cumberland River on I-24 a half hour before we passed under it.  Small world!

We had one more lock to get through - the Barkley Lock. If we had another 2 hour wait, we would be pushing dark again coming into Green Turtle Bay Marina.  We were communicating with a passing tow and the lock master heard us.  He radioed "True North, are you at the I-24 bridge?"  We said we were.  He said he had a lock open with one other boat in it and he would hold it for us.  (the lock was still a little bit ahead)  All 3 of us traveling together slid right into the Barkley Lock for a rise of 53 ft.  Sometimes you have to be thankful for the little things . . .

Our 4th crew member Karen had left Ludington Monday morning to meet up with us at Green Turtle Bay Marina.  She arrived before we did so backtracked a little to try to catch us on the river.  She  told us that when we came out of the lock, she would be in a gazebo on our left side.  We saw no Karen.  A bit of a communication snafu.  She did not know we had taken the Cumberland River to Green Turtle.  The other route is to take the Tennessee River off the Ohio to Kentucky Lake to Green Turtle.  We came into Lake Barkley.

All's well that ends well as by the time we got to our slip, she had driven the short distance and was waiting for us.  A welcome sight indeed!  Getting to this point was another milestone for us.  This Kentucky/Barkley Lakes region is a very popular resort area so we had picked it out before leaving Ludington as our place with enough to do and see to spend about 3 weeks.  Mike and I will travel back to Michigan on Saturday, returning on the 29th.  Then Greg and Karen head back to Ludington for a family wedding, work and appointments.  We will all be back on True North about Oct. 14 or 15 to continue the journey.

Pretty much every Looper stops at Green Turtle Bay Marina.  It is one of the first chances for fuel after Hoppies.  It also has a marine service division and marine store.  The manager of the service department said the Loopers keep him very busy this time of year.  Several boats were waiting for parts to be delivered and installed.  Our parts - new props - were delivered by Karen in the back of her minivan.  It was a matter of when they could be installed.  We were told a day or two.

So we spent the better part of Tuesday cleaning the boat inside and out, from bow to stern.  We then took her to the fuel dock for a pump out.  (it was closed when we arrived the night before). We didn't get fuel as we didn't want the extra weight in the boat when it was pulled for repairs.  We had just got back to our slip, all tied up, when the service manager came to say they could pull the boat right then and put on the replacement props.  So we untied and drove it across the marina to the haul out slip.  Karen drove the van right up to it .  The workers took the old props off (one was damaged when we hit the rock in Joliet), took the replacements out of the van, put them on, and put the old ones back in the van for us.  We just stood and watched.  The whole process took a little over an hour.

We were invited to join 8 other Loopers for dinner at Patti's on Tuesday night.  Patti's is a famous local restaurant that many people told us was a "must do".  Its claim to fame is a 2" pork chop and mile high meringue desserts.  We had both!  (that "when in Rome" theory) Possibly the best pork chop I've ever had.  There are other stores around Patti's that will warrant another visit in the day time.

There very well could be a 3 week break from the blog posts.  Unless we see/do/find something or someplace interesting and noteworthy.  A trip to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah is on the agenda, along with dinghy rides and just plain relaxing.  No news is good news in this case.

The Cumberland River

We had a tow captain ask us to hug the red buoy as close as we could on a tight bend.

How do you think we did?

Marking the water level on a bridge support

Approaching the Barkley Lock

I tried to get a picture that would show how far we had to lock up.

This is Gypsy Spirit following us into the lock.

Green Turtle Bay Marina

True North out of the water

Replacing the props

Patti's Restaurant

Greg and Karen and dessert

A unique way to bake and serve bread 

It's Fall Y'all!

On The Hook

Day 12 - Sunday, Sept. 18
703 miles to Little Diversion Channel

"On the hook" is boat-speak for anchoring out instead of being at a dock in a marina.  (or on the Mississippi, being tied up to old barges!)  Last night was our first anchorage and tonight will be our second.  So far we have continued to have internet coverage so I've decided to keep up with the posts.  If I didn't write for 3 days, the next one would be so long, nobody would read it.  Including my mother-in-law, and she has two sons on board!

 Although we were at Hoppies with 2 other Looper boats, there were no docktails as it rained the 2 days we were there.  The rain also prevented us from going into the, what we were told, cute little town of Kimmswick.  The amount of debris that floated by us while at Hoppies was incredible.  Fern told us to say hello to the debris because we would be seeing in farther down the river.  The Kali Nichta was one of the boats tied up with us and they asked if they could travel with us to Green Turtle Bay, our next marina.  The Kali has smaller fuel tanks and Scott (the captain) is a little concerned about having enough fuel.

We left on Saturday morning at 8:30 local time. Appropriate for college football day, a football floated past us as we pulled away from the barges known as Hoppies Marina.  Kali Nichta asked us to take the lead.  We wondered where the debris that we saw for 2 days went because this stretch of the river was not as bad as we expected it to be.

The current on the Mississippi is fascinating to us.  More tows pushing more barges (the biggest we passed so far was a tow with 35 barges tied to it!) are creating actual waves like we see on Lake Michigan. The wake from tows on the Illinois was hardly noticeable for us.  The river also has random swirling whirlpools that make steering the boat harder .  It is a full-time job dodging debris, tows, and whirlpools and dealing with the current.

In the spirit of football Saturday, lunch was a tailgate menu - brats and chips.
At one point we saw the most amazing line of geese flying south, more than I have ever seen together.   They all landed on a little side tributary.  Maybe that was their "anchorage" for the night.

With as many times as I go up and down the flybridge ladder, I should have a Fitbit to see how many steps one can take in a space 16 ft by 53 ft!

Much the of the logs we saw floating past Hoppies seemed to have settled right in front of our anchorage spot.  Fighting the current and the debris, we tucked into Little Diversion Channel at 5:30.  There was one boat already anchored  - Jet Stream.  We were tied up with Jet Stream the first night at Hoppies and we watched it leave on Friday, going sideways trying to get through the current to get back in the middle of the river.  We pulled in the calm, narrow channel and Kali Nichta did the same.  We dropped both our bow anchor and got the extra one we are carrying out to drop off the back.  I get a front row seat to the back and forth between Mike and Greg at times like this - i.e. the best way to anchor.  I think it is just a brother thing, an unwritten code that brothers really aren't suppose to agree on anything.
Mike:  "I'm afraid we are going to drift backwards."
Greg: "Tell Scott (on the boat behind us) to throw out a bumper then."

About an hour later, a fourth Looper boat joined us in the channel for the night - Gypsy Spirit.

We have been at anchor in the North Channel of Canada or Lake Michigan before.  After a hot day of traveling, we often jump in the water to cool off.  With the brackish colored water, the debris and the jumping Asian carp, none of us had any desire to jump in!

The plan was to leave Sunday morning at 8 am for the 81 mile trip to our next anchorage on the Ohio River.  Dense fog delayed our start until a little after 9.  Jet Stream and Gypsy Spirit left about 15 minutes before us. We never saw Jet Stream but did catch up and pass Gypsy Spirit before reaching our turn up the Ohio.  Watching Kali Nichta leave the channel in front of us was like watching tubers white water rafting - between the current, its wake and a whirlpool.

The debris for these last 48 miles on the Mississippi was the thickest so far.  At times it was literally picking the smallest one to possibly hit.  The river became very curvy, with lots of bends.  Barge traffic was heavier.  Butterflies flirted with our open windows, but none flew in.
Our lingo with the tows has shortened to : "Miss Allie, this is southbound PC True North.  One or two, cap?"

At 1:55 we hit another milestone moment.  We said goodbye to the mighty Mississippi river and  turned left to head east up the Ohio river.  We will not be on the Mississippi again while on the Loop.
The Ohio river starts at mile 0 in Pittsburg and ends at mile 981 when it connects with the Mississippi.  We are now going upstream against the current, which became quite evident as our blazing speed of 12 to 13 mph dropped to 7.5.  True North tried to keep the 10 mph we were doing (the current bumped it up to 12), but a vibration because of our prop issue prevented it.  We had a tug in front of us and we were all ready to radio it to ask permission to pass it.  But we didn't need to as we couldn't catch it!  So for this afternoon,we are REALLY meandering.   The Ohio has very little debris and the color is a more pleasing blue/green.  The Mississippi was dirty brown.

Our destination today is Little Chain Bar Anchorage or Bean Branch Anchorage, 32 miles up the Ohio.  Added to the 48 miles to get to the Ohio river, it will be another long travel day.

This guy stopped for gas at Hoppies. He is doing the Loop on a jet ski!

He does it in 500 mile segments.

We thought we would see lots more of these paddleboat

Mississippi scenery

An example of the current against this stationary buoy

Game day captain!

Our traveling companion - the Kali Nichta

Scott and Brenda Knight

Looking off the back of the boat on anchor in Little Diversion Channel

Notice the barge and tow going past

The rivers meet:

The Mississippi on the left - the Ohio on the right