Skylarking

We left Birdsong Marina around 7am. We had to get to about fifty miles today, and there isn’t anywhere in between to stop that made sense. We figured if we get an early start, we could make it. We knew what we were getting into, our struggle against the current will make fifty miles will take a long time.

When we left it was a crisp morning, clear skies, and no rain. We had to follow the route we brought in, out. Thankfully our GPS shows our track from the previous days, so we could follow that same route out. I forgot to mention that on the way in we ‘nudged’ the bottom following the guide boat, which gave us both a minor heart attack. I had marked that on our GPS as “AVOID”, so on our way out I avoided that area and followed the charts we have, then continued to follow our route regardless of where the buoys were. Once out into the main channel we turned south and headed toward Clifton, Tennessee.

We were working our way to the next marina and our speed now was under five knots, so we knew we were in for a long day, but the Browns were playing later so I knew that would be fun to watch. How wrong I was about the Browns. We took turns captaining the boat down the river and enjoyed the ride. Music was playing through the speaker and we just went with the flow. At this point there was nothing else we could do but roll with it. We dodged barges and other boats passing us on their way south. Almost all were polite and contacted us via VHF and arranged a ‘slow pass’ on whichever side they were coming up on. We would slow down a bit, to allow them to slow down and not give so much wake off of their boat so we weren’t rocked violently. As we were approaching the marina we saw a couple of other boats coming up behind us. We were the first to enter the harbor and I made contact on the radio. They told us to pull up to the fuel dock, as that is where they were having us dock for the night. The other boats behind us also made contact and they were also directed to the fuel dock. There was a couple of people on the dock waiting for us to assist with lines. We docked without incident and watched them help the others behind us. The marina is not large, and since we were only staying the night, they figured we would all be good here instead of spreading out around the marina. They have a restaurant on site as well, and once everyone was secured, we all made our way there to eat. The woman running the docks was also the server, the manager and cook! Her husband and mother were helping as well, but she was doing it all. Of course Frank started barking as soon as we left him on the boat, and she told us he was welcome to join us on the patio. Lauren and I shared a fried seafood platter and a salad as Frank chilled out under the table. After dinner, we took him for a walk and soon retired for the night.

Tomorrow we are heading to an anchorage not far from a lock we will have to go through. The anchorage is Diamond Island, and the trip will be another forty miles, so again we will get an early start to make it there in daylight.

We were going from mile 66 to mile 103.5. Almost 38 miles at five knots. Eight hours was planned for the trip, so we left our dock by 7am. The weather forecast was for rain starting around noon, and carrying on the next two days. By leaving this early, there was no one at the office to settle up with. We departed and turned south into the current and carried on. By 10am, I had called the marina and payed up over the phone. We also called Birdsong Marina to ensure there was space for us. Earlier in the week I had called them looking for information about if they could help with the prop. The owner who was on the phone was quite talkative, a second generation owner who has had it for sixty years. He had offered to contact a diver to go down and pull it, but we declined due to the fact we wanted to see the bottom completely to assess any other damages, if there were any. We were making our way and the speed was barely five knots, and dropping to four and a half at times. After taking turns piloting, we finally were close to the marina. I was instructed to call when we were close and they would send someone out to show us the way in. “The water level is the lowest I’ve ever seen!” exclaimed the owner on the phone during our conversation. “Yep, I know.” was my reply. We had to pass through a lock on the way and that was thankfully uneventful. Lauren now does the whole operation as I sit on the flybridge at the helm. All I have to do is get her close to the floating bollard and she does the rest. Once clear of the lock I made the phone call. We were close, and they were sending a boat out to show us the way. At this point the rain had started falling steadily, and we were driving with the enclosure sealed up, except for a small area we could see through. We followed the guide boat on a winding path through the bay, looking at buoys that no longer help guide anyone, but set them up for grounding. We came to the dock and were directed to a covered slip. Sweet! The dock has a roof over it, so the rain would stay off of the boat except for some spray. People also like these for the shade they provide in the summer. Once settled in, we hooked up our power and it din’t work. Oh jeez, really? We did everything we could to get power, including moving to a new slip, but apparently our boat and their power pedestals are not compatible. This isn’t too bad, as we can run the generator for our power when we need it, but it does use diesel and is loud and not very pleasant to listen to, but it is necessary when we do not have shore power. At least we were tied up for the upcoming storm. I was taken by golf cart to the office to check in, and I inquired about a courtesy car. The manager gave me the keys and the maintenance man took me to the car. I returned to the boat with the car, and Lauren and I went for a ride to get some items we needed at Walmart Superstore. The closest store was thirty minutes away, so we had the car until after dark. I had not been told what to do with the car once done, so we parked it and unloaded by the dock and kept the keys. I figured to take it back in the morning.

Day 2: We woke up to a surprisingly not raining day. We had been forecast for a storm, but it was a bit behind. There was another boat that came in with us yesterday; a houseboat that is decked out like a pirate ship, and they were departing. I was skeptical of this as they don’t have much room to take waves and the forecast wasn’t good. They left and I hope they had a plan to stop somewhere if it got bad. I took the keys back and was told to keep them in case we wanted to go anywhere today. Turns out we didn’t need it after all.

About mid day, the clouds got dark and the winds picked up. We were securely tied to the dock with many lines on each side, and we were on the end with an unobstructed view of a parking lot with a giant tent over some stuff. The tent had walls, so you couldn’t see inside it. Yet. The wind gusts continued to pick up and we heard reports of tornadoes in the area north of us. Trees were falling and the tent got completely picked up and thrown around. Items were rolling across the parking lot and waves were crashing into the boats at the dock. Mayhem was erupting as we sat securely inside with the animals, watching this unfold, rocking with the boat. The wind and storm lasted about twenty to thirty minutes, and then it was quiet. People were coming out of their homes and trailers surveying the damage and just gawking about. We took Frank for a walk to look too, after I checked all of the boats at our dock and made sure everything was secure. I had to pick up a few things that got blown off of boats, but there was no major damage. We even fished out a briefcase that was floating down the docks with paperwork and an empty money bag in it from 1990’s. Turns out it was junk in the pile that was blown into the bay. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around, having dinner and planning our next stop. We want to get to Clifton Marina, which is a Great Loop sponsor marina, and known as a good, cheap stop, but we will have to leave early to get there during daylight.

So today we would find out how bad the boat would run. Out options again were head back north toward Green Turtle Bay or continue south to Safe Harbor Aqua Yachts in Luka, Mississippi. We started the engine and listened…nothing unusual, no vibrations. We pulled the anchor and turned to head out. At this point I am on the phone calling Green Turtle. They can’t lift us out until next week. Every marina is busy this time of year with taking care of their members and transients moving south. This wasn’t a good option for us in our minds. We could make a reservation for the next stop and get farther south and have a sure lift. We chose to continue on, so south we turned.

I took the helm and throttled forward. There was a small vibration when I got to 1600 RPM, but I figured if we kept it under that we could make progress. Our next stop was planned for about 40 miles. We were headed to another anchorage for the night: Bennets Cove. The river is marked on the charts pretty well, but it is constantly shoaling in and has wildly varying depths. We could be in sixty feet of water one moment, then drop to eighteen feet the next. We have found out the water levels are at least six feet below normal. This means the charts show ten foot, and we see four foot below our keel which hangs down about four and a half feet- this will be very clear to us soon. We passed a few barges coming up river and made our way toward the anchorage. I noticed our speed is dropping at times, and you can see the current flowing against us on the buoys in the river and some debris floating toward us. I had mentioned it is one of the few rivers flowing north, and with all the rain we’ve had recently, the current is really flowing. Against us heading south.

Now were are cruising along around five knots. We actually don’t mind the speed drop so much, but it will make our planned three day trip much longer, and the weather forecast is more rain, possibly severe, and cold coming our way. We got close to the anchorage and the charts are showing crazy depths again, going from forty feet to ten feet in a matter of a few yards. We located our buoy which was where we were going to take a path in to the anchorage, but this takes us out of the river and through some of the lower areas on the charts. I thought we had a good plan, and was following same thought process from maneuvering the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. We were slowly making our way up toward the opening, Lauren and I sitting side by side on the flybridge, eyes scanning the waters and charts at the same time, dreading to hear or feel any sudden movements to the boat or propeller. Then it happened- SCRAPE SCRAPE!! AAAGGHHH! FU%K NO!!! Like the sound of a train scraping across the track is what we heard, as well as a slowing down. I quickly realized this wasn’t the same as rocks, it was sand scraping against the bottom, but still my mind is in overdrive, thinking no way we can get stuck two days in a row! We were watching the charts! And the prop! No way!! There was nothing else to do but give it more throttle and try to push through the hopefully just sand bar. We kept our forward momentum going, but the sound wasn’t completely stopping. Lauren looked at me and said “what was that!” I basically shouted “we’re hitting bottom!”. The next back and forth doesn’t need repeated, but there was a lot of swearing, not at each other but in the moment of “we’re not getting stuck again today!” We turned every which way trying to find a way back to the deep channel. We would go ten yards, hear a scrape and go another direction, all while following charts and sometimes going in a counter intuitive direction. It seems to be deep around shore, and fill in and out as it goes out to the dredged channels. Needless to say it was a pretty intense moment for us until we finally got out to the deep water. Oh- whats this? As we are getting to the channel, a barge is coming down towards us, not giving us much room. There was also a fisherman nearby who probably heard the scraping and was wondering what the hell we were doing? Or maybe that was in my mind. The barge did come down and we held tight to the very edge of the channel, but not daring to go outside a marker. Now we are headed back north to a State Marina we had passed five miles back- Paris Landing. It is also getting to be dusk time and probably won’t make the marina before dark with our slow speed.

We had called the marina as soon as we got back to the channel and free of the barge. They were closing, but told us we could dock there tonight, told us where, and said to pay at the office in the morning. Cool, we are now headed to what we are now feeling like a ‘safe harbor’. Funny how we’ve traversed and heard the horror stories of ‘Shipwreck Alley’, The Great Lakes, The Mississippi and many other rivers, yet here we are on the calm Tennessee River in Kentucky Lake experiencing the most adversities. We made our way back north, now with the current pushing us. Maybe we will make by dark after all. We approached the marina and found our way in, again following the charts and buoys, taking us close to shore along a stretch, then turning up to the harbor. We are a little gun shy now, so not feeling too good about any of the charts, but can only go with what we have. We just have to remember the water levels are five to six feet below charts. Now I understand why so many locals up and down the rivers are not pleased with the Army Corp of Engineers; they can’t keep a normal level with the dams and it fluctuates from flood levels to this. We find the spot and dock just as its getting to be dark. Lauren takes Frank and goes in to the restaurant to check in and get gate codes, and I make sure we are secure and crack open a beer. Whew! This has been an ordeal over the last couple of days, but we’re here. Tomorrow we will head south about forty miles, but it will again be against the current, so we have to plan on leaving very early since we only go five knots. Dinner is made and we retire early for a good night sleep before an expected long day.

The day started out well, we weren’t in a hurry, so we took our time departing. We filled the water tanks and made sure we were ready for possibly a few nights anchoring before we see a marina again. Our plan was to cross the Barkley Canal, which connects the Land Between the Lakes State Park from Kentucky Lake and the Cumberland River. This will allow us to turn south and head down the Tennessee River. Here is a bit of information: Kentucky Dam creates the largest man-made lake in the eastern United States. It backs up the Tennessee River for 184 miles and creates a lake that stretches south across the western tip of Kentucky and nearly the entire width of Tennessee. It is also one of the few rivers that flows north due to the dams. This means we will be fighting the current as we head south. It is also confusing to say the Tennessee River in Kentucky on the Kentucky Lake, then move and still be on the Tennessee River in Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. Something else to note is that everywhere we’ve been so far has had high water levels. Apparently the Army Corp of Engineers control the lakes and rivers as we move south with their dams and locks, and the water levels are very low right now- this will be very important to know soon.

We left the marina and made it through the canal with no issues. We turned south and was looking at anchorages on the GPS. We decided the best would be Pisgah Bay, it has good reviews for holding and land access; it also had a bonus of good cell phone reception. We have been okay with our cell service so far, and while it’s not very important to us, it does make it nice to be able to update a blog, check Facebook or news, or stream a movie if we feel like it. This trip was about six hours, and since we didn’t leave until almost 10:30am, we would arrive around 4:30pm.

We were coming up to the anchorage, and I was looking at the maps to see where we should be going. One of the reviews was “old quarry walls covered with graffiti”. As we were approaching, there was a green buoy in front of me, to the right of the quarry, which I was distracted by looking at all of the graffiti’d rocks around it. There was a rock wall between the quarry and the buoy so I was staying away from the wall and to the right of the buoy. I had throttled back as we made our entrance as I was unfamiliar with the area and don’t want to go charging into somewhere not knowing what is ahead. The maps showed a large bay with good anchoring in a few places and I was looking at the GPS trying to decide which way to go. SCREECH, scraping sounds and sudden loss of forward momentum snapped my head up and my immediate reaction was to simultaneously throttle down and throw it into neutral. OH SHIT!!!!! We just ran aground! On rocks, it sounds like! The sounds made were horrible- I can only describe the most horrific sound before coming to a dead halt as this: a knife scraping against a bottle, a fork on a glass, fingernails on a blackboard…you get the idea. Now we were stuck. I tried throwing it into reverse to try to back off of whatever we hit to no avail. We were stuck. At this point the winds of course had started to pick up and was blowing right on our stern, pushing us more and more up onto the underwater obstruction. I tried timing it with the waves that were rolling beneath the boat. I figured if we get a lift from a wave, I can maybe reverse off of it. Nope. I was full throttle in reverse and not moving at all. Lauren was starting to get the look of ‘WTF!?’ and I was feeling helpless. Nothing I did was helping, so I asked her to call for a tow. We have the BoatUS app on her phone which allows you to request a towboat online. It also will pinpoint your location so they can find you. We went through this and requested the tow, and I went back to trying to get us off. I tried rocking the boat side to side, waiting for the waves, anything I could do, but nothing was working. Lauren was getting afraid I would do harm to the engine revving it so much, so I backed off of that too. There was nothing left to do but wait. To our relief after about a half an hour, the bright red towboat was approaching us. When requesting a tow, I had to put in a tow destination. I had input Green Turtle Bay as a location, but told the driver I just wanted off, then would decide from there. At this point I wasn’t sure what damage had been done, but was sure there was no penetration of the hull and we weren’t sinking or taking on any water. The towboat came along side and tossed me a line which I tied to a cleat on the rear starboard side. He then had to give full throttle to try to come around and pull us off, working his way into the waves and wind. It was not an easy task, and he finally made some headway, trying to pull forty thousand pounds off of the rocks. Inch by inch, we started to heel over, then some more horrible scraping as we were pulled free and backwards. Yay! We were at least free and floating on our own. I explained to the captain we wanted to be let go, so we could anchor here overnight. He was agreeable to this, and set us free. I motored over to the anchorage, being very gentle with the throttle and steering to see if we had any damage. At first, it seemed good. Once I got over 1500 RPM, there was a definite vibration and thumping sound. Hmmm…. We normally travel around 1600 RPM, so a little slower won’t hurt us, but we clearly will have to get this looked at. The possibilities of damage are endless: it could be a propeller, a shaft, rudder damage, broken seals, who knows what else could be wrong….

We had motored over and anchored for the night still reeling from this experience we just had. In boating there is a saying: Those who have run aground, and those that lie about it. We definitely went aground, no lying about that. Once the anchor was dropped, we started looking for a marina that has a travel lift that can haul us out. The travel lift is a large machine used to lift boats. They come in different sizes and we are not that large of a boat, but we are a heavy boat. We need something that can lift at least nineteen ton, which is on the larger side. According to our research we have two options: either head back north toward a marina there, or head south about a hundred miles or more where there is a marina that can handle our tonnage. We had dinner and decided we would call in the morning and see who can fit us in for an emergency lift. This brought our day to an end, after walking Frank and cleaning up. This was the most disturbing day we’ve had so far, but we’re being optimistic about tomorrow.

We left early and were going to stop at Bumpus Marina, because maybe we would meet the Bumpus’s dogs… They are from A Christmas Story and I couldn’t resist… There is a marina called Bumpus and I had contacted them about staying there, but when we were close, we realized we had made great timing and could go farther than we thought today, so we kept going. We looked at the next few marinas and decided on Prizer Point Marina and Resort. There was nothing resort-ish about it, although the grounds were nice. We have found this “and Resort” to mean trailer parks with a mix of campers and trailers, and some campgrounds involved as well.

The trip was uneventful, just cruising along, with Lauren relieving me for a few hours to stretch my legs and get a snack or beverage. We traveled for over 8 hours, and our arrival was around 4:30pm. We called on the way, and were told there was space for us. They took my payment information over the phone and told us our slip number. This meant we didn’t have to check in or waste any time doing office paperwork. We docked next to a giant houseboat, at least eighty feet long, and started talking with a guy who came off of it; turns out he was the owner of the resort and also wants to do The Loop some day, but this keeps him busy during the summer, and he like to ski in the winter, so maybe someday they will do it…

The rest of the night was quiet, we had dinner and planned our next stop. We are now (almost) back to where we started before we deviated to Nashville. The Nashville side trip took us about ten days out of our way, but was well worth it. Tomorrow we plan to anchor out and have scoped out a few options. From here there will be a lot more anchoring as we are again getting to stretch where there are few marinas available and anchoring will be the only option. The weather is also getting colder, so at this point I am ready to be further south in warm weather…

We left in the morning, and headed back toward the lock. The lock was about 22 miles away, then the marina was another 22 miles after that. We approached the lock and was told he would open right up. We only had to wait about 20 minutes before he had us enter and tie up. The lock didn’t take too long, and once out, we went full stream ahead toward Clarksville. On the way down, we had stopped at the cheap municipal dock. This time we were going to stay at the marina in town. The prices weren’t bad a little more than the municipal dock, but we could not get a hold of anyone. This was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and there were a bunch of people out on the water in their boats so I was surprised to learn they are closed on Sundays. We got to the marina and saw the sign on the door. There was an after hours emergency number, but we didn’t feel it was an emergency. The weather forecast was for rain and storms the next day too, so we planned on staying two days. Since no one was there, we found a space to tie up to and connected our power. This marina had no one at it which again surprised me for being such a nice day. I eventually saw one person and approached him about staying here. He said it shouldn’t be a problem, just check in with them tomorrow. I agreed to do that, but I needed one more thing: the gate code to get in and out with Frank. He told me the code, and we were set for the night. Since it was still daylight, we took Frank over to a Dairy Queen across the street and had some treats. We found our way back to the boat and relaxed for awhile before making dinner. The rest of the night was peaceful.

We woke up the next morning and I wandered up to the office to check in. The manager was very nice and said it was fine we stayed there. He told me that the marina gets very quiet after Labor Day, and there usually aren’t many people around. He told us we were fine at our spot and din’t have to move. He gave us the wifi code and the restroom codes as well. It rained on and off the rest of the day. We eventually went back across the street to a auto store for motor oil and shopped at a Dollar store and small grocery for some items we had decided we wanted. That done, we went back to the boat to make sure we were settled in before the big storm came back. It continued with rain and wind throughout the night, but we were safe and secure.

Tomorrow we will be heading for a marina near Green Turtle Bay, which is where we take a cut through to get to Kentucky Lake. We are going with the current so we hope to make about 70 miles in a day, but plan on leaving fairly early to allow more time.

This morning we only planned on going about twenty miles outside of Nashville. Technically we were in East Nashville, which was located right downtown. We were still going to be in Nashville, but pretty far out. We had heard of and passed a few marinas on the way in to Nashville. We decided to go to Commodore Yacht Club because we heard they have free laundry there. The dock prices were good too, as well as the fuel prices.

Before we departed, we took the bikes for one last ride around downtown. We were surprised to see a bunch of people starting to tailgate with huge grills, music and TV’s and just people everywhere around the stadium. We stopped and asked if they were getting ready for tomorrow’s Titans game? They laughed and said no- today was a homecoming, so they set up and celebrate here. It was impressive to see. Anyway, we took the ride around and stopped at a store for more provisions before heading out. Once done and back, we packed up the bikes and away we went.

The trip was fairly uneventful, just cruising at a slower speed to save on fuel, and we got to the dock around 3pm. It was on and off raining, and once there we stopped at the fuel dock and put about 150 gallons of diesel in to top off our tanks. We took care of the paperwork and were directed toward our slip. Lauren took the laundry and started doing that, while I cleaned the boat a bit. Laundry took quite awhile and it continued to rain throughout the night. Frank got some walks in, and we made dinner on the boat. Tomorrow we will have to go back through the Cheatham Lock and Dam, and if that goes smooth, then we will shoot for Clarksville Marina, which is about 46 miles. The lock is the wild card, as if this makes us wait, we will have to have a back up plan so we are not traveling in the dark.

We woke back up around 7am. The wind was still blowing, but the rain had stopped. We took Frank for his morning walk, after feeding the meowing cats begging for breakfast. We finally left the dock around 9am. The rain was gone, and we figured we could deal with the wind in the river. The trip itself was fairly uneventful, except having to stop and do a circle to avoid hitting a buck that was swimming across the river. It was at least four points, if not six, so it wasn’t very old. It looked like a log at first glance, but as we got closer, we could see it was a deer. As we slowed down and turned, it turned toward us, then toward shore, then back toward us, thus the circle to let him figure out what he wanted to do. We went past him as he was heading toward shore again, and we watched him as we went by. There were also a few dozen sheep along the shore as well as an occasional cow and horse. We approached the dock around 2pm.

Upon arrival, we could see one other boat tied up, and some workers on the dock. They were fixing the electrical pedestals on the dock. We had also been warned not to dock ‘under the bridge’ as there is supposedly an underwater hazard, and you do not want to be under the bridge if people toss something off. There is a large pedestrian bridge connecting both banks of Nashville. We were on the Nissan Stadium side, and the ‘strip’ is on the other side. We approached the dock and circled around it before deciding to tie up behind the other boat, closer to the bridge. We wanted to have power and since they were working on the other side it made sense to go behind the other boat. We docked without incident and once tied up, we were ready to explore the town, after walking Frank of course. Before we left, the people from the other boat came over and welcomed us. They are from Canada and doing The Loop, on their way south. They told us the lock was broken coming down to the dock, so anyone could enter. We chatted a bit and prepared to depart. They were going to the ‘Country Music Artist of the Year’ award at the hall nearby and some of their friends came down to meet them. We left on our bikes to start our fun. The city was hopping!

Our first order was taking the elevator to the pedestrian bridge. This opens up on top of the bridge, allowing us to not go all the way to the end to get up it. There is a little bit uphill, then all down hill from here. It also gave us a birds eye view of the boats underneath. What a cool sight! We came to Broadway Avenue, where there are tons of bars and live music in almost all of them. Everything you could think of Country is here. By this point it was close to five o’clock, so we figured it was happy hour somewhere. We went up and down the strip and finally locked our bikes on a side street and decided to walk from here. We ended up going into a Luke Bryan bar, and ended up on Jason Aldean’s rooftop patio. We ordered a beer and a cocktail, and it was $18.00! I inquired about happy hour, and was told they don’t do one. We had one here and decided to try somewhere else. We walked around a bit and ended up on the rooftop patio of Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row. Two beers and a shot of Jim Beam here cost $23.00! That was enough of this! We then went to Tootsies Orchid Lounge and listened to a great live band. After this, we rode our bikes to the Tennessee Brew Works in the Music Row area: “Home to record label offices, radio stations and recording studios, Music Row is at the heart of Nashville’s country music industry. The iconic Historic RCA Studio B, where legends like Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton recorded hits, is open for tours. Various country stars are honored with street names in the area, and in Owen Bradley Park there’s a statue of the influential record producer seated at a grand piano.” This worked up our appetite and we had a snack here while I asked the bartender where to go for a drink without spending a fortune…He was awesome and actually wrote down a bunch of places. One of the places was Robert’s Western World, on the strip. Good to know since we are close to there. After our two for one drinks and listening to some live bluegrass music, we rode to a pizza place: Desanos Pizza. This place came highly recommended, and we found our way there. We devoured a pizza which was quite good (not as Citizen Pie good) and decided we should head back. It was after dark at this point, and Lauren was leading the way with her bright pink flashing wheels. On the way back we stopped for a nightcap at Roberts Western World. Cheap beer we were told. We found our way to the balcony and I ordered two Bud Lights. $11 for two! In my mind I was thinking this is cheap!? I then looked down at a menu and saw they had PBR and Miller High Life for $2.50. Duh! I should look at a menu before ordering. Our seats were close to the edge of the balcony, but there were two people in front of us so we didn’t have a straight view of the band which sounded great! Eventually the people in front of us turned and offered their seats to us as they were about to leave. Great! We chatted for a few moments and then took over the seats overlooking the band. What a great way to end the night! We made our way back and rode all the way down the pedestrian bridge to the other side- who needs an elevator when its all down hill? Frank got his walk and we retired looking forward to another day in Country Music City.

Day 2: We woke up this to a clear Thursday morning, but a little chilly. We spent the morning on the boat and walking Frank around. We were docked pretty close to Nissan Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play so there was lots of areas around to walk him. By afternoon we were back on the bikes and headed to a cluster of buildings that formerly housed Marathon Motor Works in the early 1900’s which makes up the area known as Marathon Village. There was a distillery here with samples and tours, called Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery as well as Corsair Distillery around the corner. There were a bunch of shops and museum artifacts as well, so we spent a bit of time in this area. Eventually we hopped on the bikes and headed back toward downtown. We passed a Publix supermarket and stopped for some snacks to take back to the boat. From here we went to Acme Feed and Seed to sample their happy hour. We found a spot at the bar and ordered sushi and beverages. We finally found a good deal. At this point it was getting dark out, so we headed back to the boat. We ended up staying in the rest of the night and having dinner on board.

Day 3: Friday in Nashville. It really doesn’t matter what day of the week or what time of the day- Nashville is hopping! It is now the bachelor/bachelorette capital from what we’ve heard from many people there. There are buses, limos and even tractors pulling a wagon around with people hanging out of them drinking and partying as they roll around town. The live music starts at 10:30am and the bars are packed. We started with a long bike ride to Nashville Farmers Market which is a huge market with many vendors selling everything from food to clothes. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around and eating lunch from a few different vendors. From here we went to another part of town and stopped fro happy hour which started at 2pm at TailGate Beer. By this point the sun was out and it had warmed up a bit, so we sat in the sunshine on the outdoor patio. As we were sitting around, I received a text from David who had taken a picture of our boat and posted it on Facebooks Great Loop Group , asking who’s boat this is? He and his wife want to do The Loop soon, and he likes watching the transient boats come through since he has a view of the dock from his work place. I had responded and we had planned to meet for dinner or cocktails somewhere. At this point I told him where we were and where we would be later. We agreed to keep in touch and he will let us know when he and his wife is home later. We finished our beverages and went toward a cidery: Diskin Cider is what we were looking for. Michigan got us hooked on good hard ciders. As we were biking along, I spotted another distillery: Nashville Craft Distillery and I was so thirsty I had to stop. Just kidding, we DID stop, but not because I was thirsty. I just wanted to check out another local place. We had a great tasting, which included an absinthe that they make too. Just around the corner was Diskin Cidery which was our destination in the first place, so off we went. We shared some snacks and a tasting flight, and relaxed and enjoyed the ambiance and action going on around us. This place doesn’t open until 4pm, and by 5pm it was packed. Good thing we were there @ 4:20pm. We had spoke to avid and planned on meeting at a pizza shop called Two Boots around 7pm. Since we were biking, it would take us a little bit to get there. We made our way and arrived at Two Boots right on time. We met David and his wife Jennifer, and ordered some pizza. Again, Citizen Pie is the best. The pie was good, and we enjoyed their company for a while. We talked about the trip and what we have found out so far, and heard about their boating adventures as well. Eventually the evening came to an end, and we headed back on the bikes. Nashville is very hilly and the ride back was always good as it was mostly down hill. We made good time and went back to the boat to attend to Frank and prepare for departure. Our trip back up the Cumberland River was the same way in, but we wanted to stop at different places. We looked at the maps and decided on a marina that is not too far away, so we do not have to leave too early. Eventually we have to get back to Kentucky Lake to get the Tennessee River to head south for the winter before it gets too cold!

We woke up a beautiful morning, a bit chilly, but expected to warm up a bit to about seventy degrees. Today we will have to go through a lock, The Cheatham Lock and Dam on the way to Ashland. The lock is about twenty two miles from Clarksville, and the dock is another ten miles after that.

We wound our way down the river, through the twists and turns, snaking our way toward the lock. Again, not much traffic, just keeping a constant sharp eye out. As we got closer to the lock, I was watching the AIS and could see there were two barges going through the lock ahead of us. I also saw we were right behind a third barge, and knew he would be going through as well, so I slowed down a bit. When we were about three miles out, I radioed to the lockmaster and he informed me there were indeed some going through now, and there is a barge in line ahead of us. At this point we caught up to the barge in front of us so I slowed down even more and then came to a stop. We could see the tow had entered the waiting area, so we held back about three hundred yards.

After an hour and half, it was finally our turn. The lock doors opened and we motored in. We tied up on the starboard side, and it was an easy locking. We now have plenty of experience with them, and Lauren does an excellent job of securing the midship and keeping it tight. This keeps the bow or stern from swinging out. We continued on down the river and came to the restaurant dock. We had called prior and was told it was fine to tie up there, there is no charge since they do not have power or electric or facilities. This was fine for us, as we don’t need anything and free is the perfect price. We secured the ship and I went in to check in while Lauren took Frank for a walk. Once this was done, we hung out on the back deck for a bit enjoying the early evening. We decided to eat at the restaurant, so we walked up to the patio. Frank saw us and started barking. And more barking and barking. The staff was pleasant about it, but there were other customers on the patio and it was annoying. We did everything we could to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t. He wanted to be with us I think. By this time we had been served our food, and was taking turns sitting with him to keep him from barking- What we don’t do for our dogs! Dinner finished, we took him for a walk and returned to the boat to settle in for the night. I started the generator to charge the batteries after the patio and guests had cleared out. The forecast calls for rain tonight, so we buttoned everything up and retired for the night.

Around 3am I was awoken by a banging sound on the hull. The dinghy will sometimes rub against the swim platform when a large tug goes by, or if the water is really choppy. I went upstairs and could hear the wind howling and rain beating the boat. I looked out the window and saw one foot waves at least rolling up the river! The dock we were tied to was pitching and groaning…I peered out again and decided I wasn’t going out there! I was confident in the lines holding us as I had tied up knowing we would have some weather. I wasn’t expecting this, but I don’t do it half way any time. I checked on Frank and he was on the couch, looking at me like “I’m not going out there!?”. He just put his head down and went back to sleep. Lauren poked her head upstairs and saw the waves and we went down and listened for a bit, but fell asleep soon after to the sound of the dinghy pounding into the rear occasionally. At least I knew it was still there.

Nashville is now only thirty two miles away. We will have a straight shot, no locks, nothing to slow us down. We were planning on leaving early, but want to make sure the rain at least has stopped before we depart. The forecast says it will stop raining by around 8am, so we are looking at a 9am departure.

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…