9/30/18 Sunday: We thought we might leave by 9:00, but I had nothing packed. So I was up about 8:00, we packed and were pulling away from the marina in our rental car by 10:00. Our first stop was the Huddle House. It’s very much like a Waffle House. I had a layered pile of heart attack: hashbrowns, bacon, patty sausage, egg, cheese, more hashbrowns, topped with sausage country gravy – with a biscuit. We in the South now, y’all!
Month: September 2018
Day 201: Barbeque on the River in Paducah
9/29/18 Saturday: Our only agenda today was to get our rental car for the next week, and go the the Barbeque on the River event in Paducah. This is a huge event, with over 100 food vendors – over 30 of them smoking up some great BBQ! Add to that, it’s Saturday, so the Farmer’s market would be joining in the fun too. There will be all sorts of things to see, eat, smell, buy, and even some live bands to listen to! Woo-Hoo! Party time! The weather was forecasted to be clear and in the mid 70’s – perfect! The Enterprise Rental Car guy came to pick us up around 9:30. That they even came to pick us up was surprising, since it was nearly a 20 mile journey from Paducah to the Marina to get us. Most Enterprise locations have a five mile radius for client pick-up. As we left the marina, I spied this cute little Pink Tractor place. I think it was a women’s clothing store. Read more
Days 199,200! Chillin’ at Green Turtle Bay
9/27/18 Thursday: This was a very rainy, wet, soggy doggy day! I did some laundry, but all-in-all, it was a very lazy day.
Days 197,198: We made it out of the busy, fast rivers!
9/25/18 Tuesday: Today would be either a 20 mile day if we take the Tennessee River (the red route), or a 45 mile day if we take the Cumberland River (the blue route). Why would we choose to go farther? Because generally, it takes less time. What?! Our destination is Green Turtle Bay Resort & Marina. To get there via the Tennessee River, we need to go through the Kentucky Lock & Dam, which is very commercial, and notorious for delays. To get there via the Cumberland River, we need to go through the Barkley Lock & Dam, which is more pleasure craft friendly and generally has few in the queue. However, Barkley has been ‘broken down’ a couple of times in the last week, where boaters had to tie up and eventually go through the lock in the dark. YIKES!
Day 196: What is in Paducah?
9/24/18 Monday: It was a really rainy and warm morning, so we hung out inside for the morning, staying dry and cool. Finally around 3:00, I thought there might be a break in the rain, so I said that I wanted to go see town. Kenny said he’d tag along. When we came up the walkway from the dock, this is what we saw. Yes, a parking lot. But also a very large wall. This city is fortified against the river! There is this huge flood wall that runs all along the river.
The City of Paducah operates and maintains the concrete and earthen levee system that extends 12.25 miles (9.25 miles of earthen levee and 3.0 miles of concrete). The concrete wall in downtown Paducah is 14 feet in height. The system includes 12 pump stations and several pipe gates, pipes, and 47 vehicular openings. The floodwall was constructed between August 1939 and July 1949. The floodwall provides a level of protection equal to the record 1937 flood plus three feet. Read more
Day 195: Paddling upstream to Kentucky
9/23/18 Sunday: It was not a very restful night. We both weren’t completely happy with the way we were anchored – we like to have more scope out, but couldn’t do that in this narrow channel with how deep the water is. And we knew we had to get going at the crack of dawn. I hate that…. when you know you have to hop out early, so you end up waking up a zillion times, even though the alarm is set. 🙄 I finally got up about 6:00, and got ready to pull the anchor. Kenny checked the AIS and discovered that there were two tows that were headed upriver near our little channel, so we wouldn’t be able to leave until they were past us. It was still dark out. Really dark. We could see that all the other boats had light on inside, so everybody was up and getting ready, but we had to wait….for daylight, and for tows. So we fixed some coffee and waited. Pretty soon, we could hear the tows. They sound a lot like a train rumbling as it comes closer. And then we saw the lights on the front barges going upstream at the channel opening. And then – a big bright spotlight shining in at all of us! Read more
Day 194: Rain – and a fuzzy to stay warm?
9/22/18 Saturday: We slept well last night in our secure spot on the lock wall. At about 8:45am, we cast off our lines and led the parade of boats back out onto the Mississippi River. Gemini II joined us, as we all had the same destination in mind for today. It rained off and on all night. Just a light rain, so the hatch over our bed was open a bit most of the night and we didn’t even get wet. But when you add the speed of traveling 13-14mph to that, the rain comes in and gets you wet when you drive from the flybridge. We started out driving up there for awhile. We didn’t see much debris in the water today – YAY! And no disappearing marker buoys that we know of. And we didn’t see any tows. We were cold and getting wet. COLD?! Yep, believe it or not. We went from sweat buckets to wearing fuzzies – just like that! So we moved downstairs. The visibility isn’t as good down there, so it isn’t Captain’s preference. But I love it when we drive from inside, because I can do all sorts of stuff in comfort without climbing up and down the ladder – and still keep Captain company. 😁 Read more
Day 193: Flyin down the ‘sippi
9/21/18 Friday: Remember that I told you that the water level had dropped here in the marina? We left our slip and the marina very, very slowly, but not so slow that the mud could grab us and not let us go! Doug from Misty Pearl yelled out “Don’t Stop – Keep going!” We churned up some mud, but got out just fine. Whew! You can see where the water line was just a few days ago. We heard from other southbound boats that were headed here that the marina called them and told them not to come due to the shallow water issue.
Day 192: Laying low in Alton
9/20/18 Thursday: Yesterday afternoon after we got back from the city, we saw a few familiar boats come in. Unfortunately, Misty Pearl drafts 5 feet, and after getting fuel, she got stuck in the muddy bottom of the marina on the way to her slip! WHAT!? We have not paid much attention, but the water level has dropped significantly since we got here a few days ago. Fortunately, with the help of a man in a dinghy, they were able to get her swung around and finally tied up to a dock. But the bad news is that the water level is still dropping. They are going to be literally stuck here for awhile until the Army Corp of Engineers decides to hold some more water behind the Mel Price dam, just 2 miles downstream of the marina. Apparently this marina suffers from the ‘draining bathtub effect’. It is so close to the dam that the water level drops more than upstream, just like the water closest to the swirling drain is the shallowest in the bathtub. Wow- we did not expect this! Some of the docks are starting to lift up out of the water. Not good! Read more
Day 191: St Louis – the Gateway to the West
9/19/18 Wednesday: Today I had on our agenda to go to St Louis. We had a relaxed morning, with French toast for breakfast. Around noon, we took off for an adventure in the city. I planned a driving route that would take us right to a reasonably priced parking lot from which we could easily walk to the Gateway Arch. It worked perfectly.
