mvalwayshome

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.

Good Morning Green Turtles!

( I remember the Teenage Mutant Turtles – weren’t they green?)

When we arrived to check in at the marina, they offered 5 nights – get 2 more nights free!  DONE!  We decided to take them up on their offer and will stay the entire week.  Glorious downtime after the hectic River & Lock passage.

Sunrise at Green Turtle Bay Marina

There were several large groups of Loopers all coming into the marina within a few days of each other.  Space was premium.  We were put on the end of Pier 5.  A good 1/2 mile from the office, other loopers, and the end of the pier.  It is a long pier with covered docking for some very nice large house boats.  Quiet place.  They even have cable TV, so we could catch up on DWTS ( Dancing with the Stars).  😉

Pier 5 boat owners have created their own little space near their boats.  Porches, sort of.  With patio furniture, TVs, BBQs, and all sorts casual living things.  Rugs, Lights, Fans. oh my!

This is a dry county in KY. But not here!

Porches on Pier 5

They don’t call this marina Green Turtle for no reason at all.  I finally found a small group of the them.  As I approached the end of the dock, they came swimming over.  Yes.  People do feed them.  Turtle food that you can buy in the Marina office.   At first, I thought the little bumps in the water were twigs.  Nope.  Noses!!

Turtle Noses peaking out of the water

Next to Pier 6 is a fish egg station?  Those bulbous objects I was told are fish egg sacks.  These artificial stands are placed in the water to help the fish lay eggs in quiet places around the lakes and rivers.

Fish egg sacks

A Looper vessel that came into the marina for a couple of days.  Looks like a truck camper on a floating bed.  They say they are looping.  I don’t know how they are going to get across the Gulf of Mexico in this little thing.  Interesting.  I am told several Loopers have spotted the folks in canoes and kayaks along Lake Michigan.  They are Looping.  We didn’t chance upon them.  Maybe on the rivers.

This week was busy with boat chores.  We used the courtesy vehicle twice to go to the liquor store and Walmart with other Loopers.  We had dinner at the local highly acclaimed Patty’s with their 2 inch Pork chops.  Tender and Delicious.  We attended a Green Turtle Bay Crab/Shrimp Boil hosted by the Green Turtle Bay Yacht Club.  All you can eat!!  Yes, we did!

We also were attendees at the Green Turtle Bay Looper-Q.  Like a BBQ for Loopers and other transients at the marina.  Excellent pulled pork and peach (or apple) cobbler.  We waited for wind and rain to pass us by.  We congratulated a Looper (SeaHorse whom we traveled with ) completing their Loop and turning their white burgee into a Gold burgee.  We caught up with Loopers we haven’t seen in several weeks.  Looper gossip and sharing of tales along the waterway.  A busy week!

Sunset at Green Turtle Bay Marina

We are ready to head up the Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River.  We are still going up river against the current.

Good Morning Campers!

Or at least it feels like camping.  On water.  They call it “anchoring”.  Or “Gunkholing”.  Looking for a place to pull over, lower your anchor and stay awhile.  We had a great night.  Quiet and peaceful.  A great place to stop just before the Cumberland River and onward to Barkley Lock and Dam.

Sunrise in Cumberland Toehead Anchorage

We continued up the Ohio until the Cumberland River to go over to Kentucky Lake via the Barkley Lock.  This is an extra 25 miles but we read the Barkley Lock is easier to get through than the Kentucky Lock.  Along the way, the scenery is trees or gravel pits.

All sizes of rocks and gravel

Fishermen trying their luck

We had a stowaway for just a few minutes.  We have seen butterflies cross our bow this past week especially in the afternoon.  Yes, they are headed south as well.  We were happy to give it a rest from its weary travels.

Blue skies and green trees

Rock formations have changed from round to flat. That’s not sand.

Approaching Barkely Lock and Dam

We were lucky!  There was a boat in the lock already.  One of our travel Loopers went ahead and let them know 2 more Loopers were on their way.  When we rounded the corner, the doors were open and we just cruised right in.  Great timing!!  Thanks for waiting.

Doors open and we were going in!

Looking back out of the Barkley Lock toward the Cumberland River

Floating bollards made this ride up pretty easy.

Going UP 57 feet !! It looks like it!

Doors closed behind us

Leaving Barkley Lock – 20 minutes later

Barkley Lake as we came out of the lock

Around the corner and there is our destination.  Green Turtle Bay Marina.  A welcome sight after the long days on the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers.

Entering Green Turtle Bay Marina

Good morning!  Up early this morning to try to get through Lock 52 in a timely manner.  We plan either a very long day to get from Bean Branch Creek to Green Turtle Bay Marina or two short days all depending on the lockage.  Our plan B would be to get to Cumberland ToeHead anchorage and make the last leg of our Ohio River travels to Cumberland River the following day.  We shall see when we get to Lock 52.

We were a bit concerned about our anchorage getting rocked by the passing barges.  I didn’t really feel much wave action from them at all.  The barges didn’t start coming by until early morning.  One in particular had a strobe antenna array that looked like a lightning bolt.  Everyone definitely saw him!  I guess that is the point of night-time barging.

Early light at the power plant across the way

Leaving Bean Branch Creek anchorage

Sunrise on the Ohio River

Approaching Lock 52 – Blue skies, muddy water, great day on the water!

There were 5 Loopers in line to go through Lock 52 today.  As before, we Pleasure Craft were told stand by and he would get back to us.  The LockMaster told us we needed two 50 foot lines, bumpers ( yes he said bumpers ) on the port side, and have life vests on all occupants.  I run around and get the “bumpers” or in nautical terms “Fenders” ready and deployed.  I find our extra long lines we bought just for this purpose.  I am geared up with my safety equipment standing at the ready on the bow.  Then….we wait.  As I am minding the time, I start looking at the suds floating by the boat.  Hmmmm that one looks like a duck.  That suds looks like a flower.  A way to handle the stress of “wait over there and we will call you soon”.   Several of us pulled over to the side of the river and dropped our anchor again not knowing how long it was going to take.

How many things do you see in the suds?

Two hours of waiting and finally we could go into the chamber!!  Yea!!  We were instructed to go into the lock one at a time.  Fill from the back to the front.  That was a first time for me.  We normally fill from the front to the back.  The Lock 52 Attendents carefully threw a line down to us with a hook on the end.  We looped our long line on it.  They pulled up our line and wound it around a fixed bollard or rail then tossed our line back to us.

Entering Lock 52

We waited for another 20 minutes after the doors were closed before they started letting the water in. We figured the lock master had to walk from our location a half mile to the controls.  We were going up 12 feet.  This is a large lock and the first in which we had turbulent water.  The normal bouncing off the walls, to and fro kind of fill.  Interesting.

BamaDream and 3 others Loopers behind us

Out of Lock 52.  The last lock on the Ohio River!!  It only took 3 hours to get through this lock.  Some folks have had to wait quite a bit longer.  Remember, pleasure crafts have the lowest priorities.  We are pleased as punch that we made it on such a beautiful day!

Leaving Lock 52 – on the Ohio River

Illinois side of the Ohio River

Kentucky side of the Ohio River

With our almost 3 hour delay getting through Lock 52, we opted for another night on the hook and make a leisurely cruise to Green Turtle Bay tomorrow.  There are three Loopers in this anchorage. A very calm cool night is forecasted.  Perfect weather!

Approaching the Cumberland Toehead Anchorage

Evening at anchorage….

Sunset at Cumberland ToeHead Anchorage

Good Morning Mississippi River Cruisers!!  A cool calm day greats us today.  We have an exciting day in store for us.  We are going to finish the Upper Mississippi River and enter the Ohio.  Doesn’t that sound like a day for Loopers?  56°F starts our day.

Looking from the Little Diversion Canal looking into the Mississippi

Leaving the Little Diversion Canal

First thing this morning we are greeted by the “Queen of Mississippi” going north.  Isn’t it beautiful!  No early morning risers drinking coffee from their verandas to wave at us.  Shame.  I was all ready with a hearty and smiling wave.

Approaching the end of the Mississippi River

Making the turn into the Ohio River

We lost our push from the Mississippi and are going north against the southern flow of the Ohio River.  We estimate we are losing 1-2 knots going north.

Into the Ohio River

Kentucky side of the Ohio River

Illinois side of the Ohio RIver

The Olmstead Lock and Dam are under construction.  It will replace Lock 53 and Lock 52 in the near future.  Lock 52 is having work done on it as well.  There is a bottle neck at Lock 53 and 52.  Normally, there are 2 chambers that encompass these locks.  A large chamber for the commercial traffic and a smaller chamber for smaller tows and pleasure crafts.  Unfortunately, we have picked a time when the largest chambers are not working and all boat traffic must go through the smaller chamber.  Large tows must take apart their barges if they can’t fit in the smaller chamber.  Then go back and get the rest of their payload.  A very slow process.  We hope to only wait a short time for a lockage through the Olmstead and Lock 53 today.

Approaching the Olmstead Lock

How did that tree get on top of that tall bollard?

Constructing parts of the dam on land then float it out?

Busy area with construction vessels, tows, and barges

There are 4 pleasure craft – Loopers – here on the side of the Ohio River.  The Lock Master told us to hang back and wait till he calls us.  After an hour, Fryedaze, called to remind the Lock Master we were still out on the water waiting.  It’ll be another hour.  OK.  So we all put our anchors down and waited.  What else could we do?  Again, Fryedaze called via VHF radio and the Lock Master suddenly remembered we were waiting.  It’ll be soon.

We can go in!! After waiting only 2 hours

Olmstead Lock Sign

Beautiful setting as we transit between Olmstead and Lock 53

It is getting later in the afternoon before we finally enter Lock 53.  Skipper Bob mentioned port side tie.  Well, that just can’t happen.  You see?  There is no wall.  In fact, there is no walkway for the lock attendants to walk on top of those round bolsters.  We were told to raft up on the starboard side.  We deployed all of our fenders to be ready on either side.  No problem!

Into Lock 53. Port side tie is impossible

Fryedaze supplied the 30 foot lines to the lock attendants to tie themselves carefully to the rusty metal round bolsters.  I don’t know what else to call them.  BamaDream also supplied lines and Bucket List rafted to them.  What a process.  Especially, since we were only going up 2.5 feet!!  We all could have just hovered in the middle for that short rise.  Alas, the lock attendants in their concern for our pleasure crafts thought a careful 45 minutes to tie up and go up safely 2.5 feet was important.

Starboard side of Lock 53 – Round bolsters

It was so late in the day, we decided to go to Bean Branch Creek Anchorage identified in Active Captain for the night.  It is almost 6pm by the time we anchored.  This is a wide spot in the road, essentially.  Off channel and near the shore line across from a power plant.  Safely anchored, night fell quickly, and off to bed soon thereafter.

Approaching Bean Branch Creek Anchorage

After sundown, the night sky is lit up by the power plant.