1-15 September 2005
Nashville, TN to Fulton, MS
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | ||||||
| 9/1 | Nashville, TN | We're in Nashville. Junie, my cousin, arrived today for a visit. She took us to dinner at a local hot spot. We are back now, sitting at the city docks listening to a rock concert at the city park, 300 feet away, and across the river we're listening to the Titans play the Green Bay Packers in a pre season football game at the local stadium. | ||||||
| 9/2 | Nashville, TN | Beautiful day in Nashville. Brenda and Ginger arrived and after a relaxing afternoon we headed downtown to experience some country music. We sampled several bars and met Wanda, a 70 year old ex-waitress at Tootsies, who claimed to be the inspiration for Johnny Paycheck's song, Take This Job and Shove It. Roger Miller is rumored to have written Dang Me at Tootsies, pictured at left below. | ||||||
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| 9/3 | Harpeth Island | Junie packed and then transported us to a local hotel where we had a great breakfast. Back to the boat by 10 am, we got underway for our trip down the Cumberland. We wanted to stop at Riverview Marina and Restaurant but they were fully booked over the Labor Day weekend so we anchored at Harpeth Island, along with several other boats. It's a pleasant evening with clear skies and temperature in the 70s. | ||||||
| 9/4 | Clarksville Boat Club | Got up and could not see because the fog was so thick. The weather was cool. Ginger and Brenda had to pull out the sweaters before their morning coffee. Underway at 9 am after the fog dissipated and an hour later passed through the Cheatham Lock. We locked through with a 6 barge tow and another pleasure boat, causing Barny to work hard to keep us tied to the lock wall | ||||||
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| 9/5 | Dover Island, TN | We enjoyed the evening at Clarksville Boat Club and were underway from there this morning at 8:30 am. A pleasant trip down the Cumberland with Brenda driving most of the way. | ||||||
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At left a park area along the Cumberland and at right a little cottage in Dover, TN we walked by trying to find Ft Dover, a fort we never got to because it was a 5 mile walk from where we landed in the dinghy. |
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| 9/6 | Barkley Lake State Park | We were on the phone early to find the best price for fuel. We found it at Barkley Lake State Park, at $2.89. Better than the $3.00 per gallon we found elsewhere. Beautiful scenery and absolutely flat river run we stopped for fuel and decided to stay for the evening. The marina at the State Park is the best we've seen on the trip, covered slips and full amenities for less than 30 dollars. | ||||||
| 9/7 | Green Turtle Bay Marina | Underway at 9 am for Green Turtle Bay Marina, a place we've seen before. A full service marina where Brenda and Ginger leave for home. Barny has arranged a rental car to take them to Nashville. I'll stay here and do some maintenance necessary for the rest of the trip. | ||||||
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| 9/8 | Green Turtle Bay Marina, KY | Enjoyed a walk in town and a nice lunch, then Barny took Brenda and Ginger to Nashville in a rental car. We enjoyed their visit and had great weather for the week. I worked on a shorted electrical connector and other minor maintenance tasks. A quiet day. | ||||||
| 9/9 | Cypress Creek, TN | We returned the rental car and viewed some of the shops in Grand Rivers, KY and got underway for our first day down the Tennessee River that starts with a trip through Kentucky Lake. Barny relaxed during my turn at the wheel, and we viewed some great sights along the Lake -- sandy beaches, white cliffs, and lots of green on the hills. Mid afternoon we crossed back into Tennessee and anchored in Cypress Creek. During a dinghy ride up the Creek we found several marinas and a nice place to have catfish and fried chicken. | ||||||
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At right a boat with the name, "Navy Pay." Kentucky Lake must have at least one retired Navy person. |
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| 9/10 | Birdsong Creek, TN | Up early to heavy fog and we could not see across the creek. We waited until 11 am to get underway for a trip that was pretty but hazy and hot. We passed mile 97 on the Tennessee quickly as both Barny and I are Navy folks and it was at Pilot Knob (mile 97 on Kentucky Lake) that General Forrest of the Confederate Army beat General Sherman's Naval Force, the only time in history a land army beat a naval force. Forrest, with 10 cannon and 3,000 men destroyed 33 Union vessels. Passing that point quickly we then enjoyed the abandoned dock and pier in the lake, beautiful cliffs with imposing homes, and finally anchored in Birdsong Creek, a peaceful spot off the sailing lanes of Kentucky Lake. | ||||||
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| 9/11 | Kelly's Island, TN | Soupy fog welcomed us as we got up this morning. Finally, it cleared at 10 am and we were underway for the last part of Kentucky Lake. Early afternoon we entered the Tennessee River. Some may call it the poor man's 1,000 islands of the St Lawrence seaway; others may say the 1,000 islands are the poor man's Tennessee River. The river is beautiful and wanders around islands and steep hills and exposes folds of yellow rock tinged with orange. This is part of the Highland Rim, a large elevated and somewhat circular area that once covered most of central Tennessee. The 1,000 islands are similar except the waterway there wanders around rocky islands. On the Tennessee there are miles of sandy beaches on the shore and surrounding most of the islands. We saw many boats with bows beached ashore and families happily playing on the sandy shores. We are anchored tonight behind Kelly's Island, protected from winds and tows traveling the area. Just ahead of the boat we took the dinghy easily ashore on a sandy beach. Our only problem was forgetting to bring the wine ashore so we could sit and enjoy the sunset. | ||||||
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| 9/14 |
No fog but we took time to dinghy to a nearby marina and have breakfast.
Finally underway at 10 AM we started the trip down the Tenn-Tom. This
first 25 mile stretch is called the cut. It was simply 25 miles of
canal lined with rock that makes the whole Tenn Tom possible, but not
particularly scenic. We finally entered a lake above Jamie Whitten
Lock that will lower us 85 feet of the 414 feet we'll be lowered by locks
before we reach Mobile AL. We're anchored just above the lock and will
do three locks tomorrow prior to stopping at Midway Marina tomorrow evening.
We sit tonight with 3,800 miles completed on the trip of 149 days, 111 underway and 38 in port. We anchored 55 nights, tied up to 26 free docks, and paid for a marina 68 days. We've averaged 26 miles a day at just over 8 mph. It's a great trip. |
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| 9/15 | Midway Marina, Midway | Underway for our trip through three locks on the Tenn Tom to Midway, The first is a drop of 84 feet, the largest locking of the trip for us. The next two locks were a mere 30+ feet. We arrived in Fulton at Midway marina early afternoon and are now arranging for Barny to travel to Arizona for a week while I do a little maintenance on the boat. After he returns I'll travel to Virginia for a week. We'll continue the trip to Mobile AL on 30 September. | ||||||
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The 84 foot Jamie Whitten lock at left, and doors opening on one of the 30 foot locks after Whitten. |
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