Good Morning, Cruisers!!  Got your woolens on?  It is a bit brisk this morning.  Only 51°F in the shade.  Well, it will be cloudy all day.  No sun.  Only shade.  It is expected to warm up to a high of 61°F sometime during the day.  You would think Fall is here?!?!  We have to remind ourselves…it is October already!!  Wow!  Just so you don’t forget, it is 83 days till Christmas.  Another wowza on that note!!

Leaving Green Turtle Bay Marina

As you can see the cloudy skies.  You can’t feel the cold air on my chest and between my ears as I am bringing in the lines and fenders after departing from the marina.  We should have a couple of days of grey.

Entering Barkley Lake

Barkley Canal joins Barkley Lake and the Kentucky Lake.  You can actually see the Kentucky Lock and Dam at the canal junction.  Two locks controlling the water depth in two lakes joined together.  Fascinating.

Going through the Barkley Canal into the Kentucky Lake

River language.  Just a side note that we find amusing.

We will be going south in Kentucky Lake but going upstream.  Kentucky Lake becomes the Tennessee River near the most southern point of the lake.  We don’t go downstream until we get on the Tennessee-TenTom waterway.

The other river language we have had to learn is what side of the river you may be interested in.  When going downstream, as in the Mississippi, the Right Descending Bank (RDB) is clearly on your right side.  The Left Descending Bank (LDB) of the river is clearly on your left side.  Make sense?  When we went upstream on the Illinois, Ohio, the Cumberland and now the Tennessee River, the RDB is now on our left side.  We are going upstream.  Everything is backwards to us.  You have to keep thinking…are we going upstream or downstream and what side is what??

We saw a couple of barges and tows today.  The river is quite wide and we had no issues with passing them on the 1’s or 2’s.  Don’t get me started on that!!  Another river / barge language we had to learn.  Rather than asking the tow if we can pass on their starboard or on their port, the tows use numbers.  Captain, you can pass me on the 1.  I then would have to look up what that means.  Skipper Bob book is the best explanation we have found.

“See you on the 1 (whistle) means passing him on his starboard and our port. ”  As if you were passing someone on the inside lane.  “See you on the 2 means you are passing him on his port and our starboard”.  As if we are passing him on the outside lane in traffic.  That makes perfect sense.   Assuming you are overtaking him and we are both going in the same direction.  IF we are passing one another going in opposite directions the 1’s and 2’s are different.  River speak!!

Eggners Ferry Highway Fixed Bridge is under construction, re-burbishment or building new lanes.  Lots of cranes, work barges, and a few folks working in the wind.

57 feet tall. Looks like new lanes being put in?

Crossing into the state of Tennessee!!

The trees are just beginning to show color.  In our grey skies today, they are subdued.  But definitely beginning to show.  Are the trees turning in your neck of the woods?

Out of the muddy Mississippi into the clear waters of Kentucky Lake

The wind is gusting and it is time to stop for the day.  The wind is coming from the north in our direction so it has been a flat ride.  Until we made the turn toward the marina then the wind and waves hit us broadside.  We were in the marina in just a few minutes so our unpleasantness didn’t last very long.  An easy day, actually.  Only about 41 miles.  We are stopping at Paris Landing State Park and Marina in Paris, Tennessee.

River is beginning to show white caps – Rowdy water!

Coast Guard Tows across the marina inlet

When we called the marina on the VHF radio, a pleasant young voice greeted us.  Yep.  We have a spot in the marina.  We had to call her back to clarify.  What spot?  She said, take anyone we wanted!!  So, we did.  We were able to wrangle our lines around the cleats and get ourselves docked.  No help was available.  Whew.

Did you see the picture?  Always Home is the only trawler on our dock!!

All alone at the end of the dock

View from our flybridge to the Marina office

It must be after Labor Day!!  Maybe they are busier on the weekends?!

The wind has picked up from 10 mph and gusting to 20mph.  The clouds are threatening but no rain is in the forecast.  As we look out toward the Kentucky Lake, the lake water is churning past pretty quickly.  In the picture below, the lake water looks brown.  yikes!  We are hoping the weather front will pass during the night.  The lines are squeaking as the wind pushes us around in our slip.  We are safe and secure.  A cool night and great sleeping under our comforter is ahead.  Time to shutdown and wish everyone a good night’s rest!

As we get ready for our night’s rest, we want to Congratulate our friends for “crossing their wake”… Sea Horse, Bama Dream and Aunt Aggie.  Great Folks fulfilling their dreams of cruising America’s Great Loop.