Since we had been awake on and off throughout the night, we decided to get a really early start. We awoke around 6:15am and prepared for departure by 7am. We pulled anchor and were on our way by 7:15am. We had decided we would make the long trip to Paducah, about 85 nautical miles.
The other boats anchored with us had decided on the same. We all wanted to get there, and it looked like a good travel day. The rain had stopped and it was warming up nicely. Everyone passed us on the way out, and we had about forty miles on the Mississippi until we got to the turn off, then another forty five on the Ohio River. The trip itself was fairly uneventful, just watching for barges and debris, while navigating inside the channel markers. Lots of wildlife around, and we enjoyed the trip. Lauren was at the helm and said she saw a fresh water dolphin! I did not see it, and didn’t believe it, until she googled it and there are indeed fresh water dolphins around!
Around noon we took the turn off to the Ohio River. We were now doing about five knots. I increased the throttle a bit, so we were at least doing 5.5 to 6 knots. The others were well ahead of us and we could no longer see them. Such is the life in the slow lane. We wound our way around the river and took turns driving. This gave me a much needed break to stretch my legs, get a beverage, and just relax for a bit. Lauren is awesome about giving me breaks, and she does a great job keeping us on track and in the channel. We wound our way forward for another five hours. We were coming close and it was nice to know we were soon going to be secured to a dock with power, and were planning on staying here for a few days.
We approached the dock and saw there were six other boats tied up. The ones we had left with this morning were here, as well as a few others that we had met at other stops along the way. The boat ‘Heartbeat’ was here, and they were about to ‘cross their wake’ at the next marina, so they were super excited! They have their gold burgee ready, which will replace the white one we all fly signalling we are on the journey. The gold one signifies you have completed the journey. We hope to have the gold one in about ten months or so… Our approach was easy, seeing as there were no less than a dozen people there ready to grab a line and assist with docking. There’s nothing like an audience while trying to dock! We docked like we know what we’re doing and secured the ship. We were greeted with hugs and welcomes by all and eventually everyone dispersed to their boats and other chores that needed to be tended to.
Now that we were secure and Frank had his walk, we were thawing some shrimp to make a nice dinner. We were relaxing on the aft deck, enjoying each others company while watching the sun get lower in the sky. I was retrieving some beverages and Lauren was coming in to start dinner, when we noticed a couple of shrimp tails on the couch. WTF?! Apparently the cats had helped themselves to some shrimp and dined on the couch while we were relaxing out back. The cats were not very forthcoming with details, but we do have the evidence. Dinner was made and we enjoyed a quiet evening, another day of successful travel. Tomorrow we will explore town and see what Kentucky has to offer here.
Day two: We had a nice morning with good weather. It was getting hot again, and it was nice to have warm weather. Lauren went on a bike ride to explore, while I did an oil change. Maintenance is a big deal, and we have to make sure we’re on top of it. We have learned, and are still learning how to do it ourselves. Now that this was completed, we hung out for a bit, then decided to go our for a bike ride and see more of the town. Lauren had read about a brewery in an old Coca-Cola factory, which we started for until I realized it was 3 miles away! Ummm…we passed a distillery and another local brewery on the way, and I vetoed the long ride for turning around and staying within a mile. We visited the Moonshine Company distillery and had free samples, then went on to the brewery. The bartender was awesome, giving us lots of information about bourbons. They are about to open a place with the largest bourbon collection in the state of Kentucky, and will soon after hold one of the largest collections in the country. We tried a couple we had never heard of and partook in some bar trivia. We came in a respectable place, but but no lower than fifth. Afterwards we made our way back to the boat and had dinner. Another night coming to a close, we retired for the night.
Day three: We spent the morning cleaning the boat and preparing for tomorrows departure. We walked up to the Quilt Museum (which Lauren visited the first day) and waited for a taxi we called. We waited and waited. About an hour or so later, it finally showed up. We wanted to get some grocery shopping done as we didn’t know when we would have another chance in the next week. We were dropped off at a Kroger, and shopping we went! We stocked up on the necessities and called a Lyft for the ride back. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait as long for them as we did for the cab. Now that we were stocked up, we lounged around the boat for the rest of the evening and made dinner. Tomorrow we will be heading for Green Turtle Bay. It is about fifty miles from Paducah going against the current the whole way, so it will probably take us about nine hours or so…Here’s to an early start!