We were promptly awaken by the cats at 7am. They now have a habit of waking us up for their breakfast, starting their meowing at 6:30am…like we’re going to forget to feed them. Looking out the window was very surreal- there was a heavy, thick fog all around, and you could not see anything past the boat. We had no idea if we had moved, where land was or if anything was around us. Very creepy. Since there was nothing we could do, we went back to bed for a bit. We got up around 8:30am and the fog was starting to lift a little. There was still a lot of fog, but we could now see land and we were exactly where we were when we anchored. We could also start to make out the closest boat to us, and knew they weren’t leaving anytime soon either. I loaded Frank into the dinghy for a morning walk and we explored the other direction. We came back and Lauren had coffee ready and the fog was lifting even more. We could see the far boats had left, and the only ones left were us and one other boat. As we prepared to pull the anchor, I could see the other boat doing the same. We both pulled our anchors, and we headed south while they turned north. Clarksville here we come.
Another non exciting trip, just the usual barge traffic and watching for debris with Lauren taking over some of the way. The Cumberland River had been pleasant- not too much debris or other boats. We do come across the occasional small fishing boat, and we slow down while passing them as not to wake them too bad. We were in contact with the city, which is who you have to make the dock reservations through. The dock is free for the day, but $25 for overnight. There is electric, but no water. There is also no security gate so anyone can come down to the docks. Frank does a great job as a watch dog, alerting us to anyone close by the boat with a bark or two. The dock is parallel to the channel, so we do get rocked a little when barges pass by, but it wasn’t too bad. The distance was only twenty five miles, so the trip only took us about four hours.
Once docked and secured, we took the bikes into town. The town itself is on a hill, and we made our way up it. We had to walk the bikes about half way up- no way we could peddle up a steep hill like that even in first gear! We explored a few places and whiled away our time biking around checking things out. We had to make a side trip to get some tobacco supplies, but otherwise wasn’t in need of anything else. We made our way back to the boat and had dinner, looking into our next stop on the way: a restaurant called Riverview Restaurant in Ashland, Tennessee that offers overnight docking for guests. Their docks were also destroyed during spring floods, so there is no longer fuel (we don’t need fuel) and there is no longer working electricity or water. This will be the last stop before we get to Nashville, Tennessee. This whole trip to Nashville is about a week and a half out of our way but we have time to kill and nowhere to be.
The night ended quietly, with Frank getting plenty of time on land, and our plans ready for tomorrows journey…