Serendipity Sojourn: UP the Rivers (and down a bit)

The Ohio and Cumberland Rivers (and Nashville)

Wednesday, September 29^th

Quiet night, woke up to a light fog. The anchorage was about ½ mile from the construction site for a new dam and lock. It has been under construction for about 20 years now. Funding (or rather lack of it) keeps stopping work.

Very few tow boats compared to the Mississippi. No wind and the river is flat calm today. The first lock and dam we came to we just passed over the dam since the water is so high the lock can be bypassed. The Dam (a wicket dam) is designed to be lowered so boats can pass over when the water level is high enough.

The Ohio is almost a mile wide here. Wider than the Mississippi where we were.

We called Lock 52 (the next lock) and were told that we might have a 4 hr. wait. When we arrived the estimate was about 2 hrs. There were 18 tows Northbound and 15 tows Southbound waiting for the lock. We dropped anchor and got ready to have lunch while we were waiting. Twenty minutes after the anchor went down the lockmaster called and told us that as soon as the next southbound tug cleared we could go on in. What a break to catch the lock between stages.

Ship Stuff

The tows can not pass each other near the lock since there is not enough room. While they are waiting they push the front of the tow on to the river bank and hold it there. When the Southbound tow comes out of the lock it needs to travel past a number of Northbound tows waiting on the riverbank. The Northbound tows need to wait for the Southbound tow to pass before they can pull out and enter the lock. The tugs waiting along the riverbank are stretched out for about a mile. In order to expedite the locking process they can cycle up, and another Southbound tug can enter the lock and lock down before a Northbound tug could clear the bank and enter the lock. Therefore they stage 6 Southbound Tugs and then 6 Northbound tugs. In between stages there is a wait for the last tug to clear the waiting tugs. The lockmaster was able to slip the three of us through without holding up the next tug. We could not lock up between Southbound tugs (even though the lock went up empty) because the next Southbound tug had pulled up right at the lock door to expedite the process. It takes quite a while to maneuver a 12 to 24 barge tow into position. They only have about a foot of clearance on each side of a three wide tow in the lock..

End Ship Stuff


The Gang comes to the Beach L-R Brenda, Dave, Sue (standing), Joe, Carole

We took a look at the town dock in Paducah, Ky and did not like the look so we are heading on closer to the Cumberland River for an Anchorage.

We anchored behind Towhead Island. While I was walking Annie, Joe from Quixote got cabin fever and launched their dinghy, so he and Sue picked up Dave and Brenda (The Old Grouch), and Carole and joined me for a walk on the island. Lots of deer, raccoon, and Heron Tracks in the sand. Of course Annie had to jump in the river and then roll in the sand. By the time I got her back to the boat she had sand everywhere. The inside of the dinghy looked like a sandbox. Out came the hose and Annie and the boat got a good rinsing. Gotta love the fresh water!

Thursday, September 30^th

Great Blue Heron sitting on a snag in front of us at dawn this morning.

Heron on a snag in the Morning

After the fog lifted we moved on to the Cumberland River and were treated to another change of scenery. Narrow and winding – lots of vegetation, fewer barges, and rock cliffs on one side and sand beaches on the other.


Beach full of Black Vultures

Lots of Black Vultures and a few ducks we have not been able to identify yet.
Several rock quarries and rock crushers along the banks, and we are starting to see more tugs moving barges around the facilities.


One of many stone quarries

Seven turtles on a log.

We are seeing a lot of turtles sunning themselves on the stumps and rocks in the river.

On through the Barkley Lock and in to 'Green Turtle Bay Marina. There are about a dozen loopers here. It seems that this is one of several nodes on the loop where almost all of the loopers stop. It is a nice marina, nice people, good facility with an indoor pool and spa.

I spent the afternoon cleaning the hull. In the evening 10 of us went to Patti's for dinner. I think Patti's owns the town. There is Patti's this and Patti's that – every other building has their name on it. The restaurant is famous for their 2” thick pork chops and mile high pies for dessert. The decor and atmosphere reminded me of Zabers (for those who remember it). Christmas decorations and lights and tinsel stringers in one room. Plastic strings of pine boughs in another. Santa Claus dolls in the store part (where we had to wait since we had a ½ hour wait on a Thursday night).

Friday, October 1^st

Mail came today- still 2 more packages to come. If I can get the water pump today we may be able to leave on Sunday. I promised Carole two full days here. While waiting for the water pump Q's End rented a golf cart and everyone went to town. The town is Grand Rivers, KY but should really be called Patti's, KY. After running all over the one street to find a hardware store we went about 4 miles down the road and ½ mile on a divided highway in the golf cart to find the place. We tried to eat a hot dog place, but were told that they only served lunch by appointment. Patti's was eat if we wanted to eat, so that's where we ate. They make a big todo over anniversaries and birthdays. The staff gets the entire room to sing after making an announcement. While we there this time they announced that a young man had something to say to his girlfriend – and he then proceeded to propose to her in front of the room.

Cocktails at the indoor pool at 6:30 only to find out we had only ½ hr . Before the pool closed. It worked out O.K. Later Carole wanted Pizza for dinner only to find out that no one delivered here. Linda (on Q's End) remembered that the Yacht Club at the Marina had Pizza on the menu so we all headed there. Surprise! It was not a Pizza but Pizza in a dish. This is another dry county so we bring our own (last night a t Patti's also) and they charged us $5.00 to open our own bottle. Patti's did not charge, nor would they touch the bottle. They would loan you a corkscrew however.

The water pump arrived in the late morning and when I opened the package it was the wrong pump.It was my mistake and it will be costly. All along I thought the engine (as I was told) was a Volvo TAMD40 and parts previously were the right parts. The engine is a TMD40 – oh well lesson learned.

Several phone calls later and the right pump was on its way and the wrong pump was on its way back.

I did manage to rewire my hour meter so that it shows actual engine hours and not just how long the switch was on.

Saturday, October 2^nd

Three couples took the courtesy van to Paducah. Stopped at some stores in the morning and made a very important stop at a large liquor store where we all stocked up. It might be hard getting the groceries in the van, but we got the important stuff.

The waterfront area is well done. The 12' high flood walls have murals painted on the landside. Several Art galleries/museums, a street art show, buildings with hand painted tiles for the front wall and the restaurant where we had lunch had art on the walls . All in all a pleasant town.

We went grocery shopping on the way home and just managed to squeeze everything in the van.

We were all too tired for a social hour tonight..

Sunday, October 3^rd

My dinghy davit kit arrived yesterday and I also found out that my pump had arrived, but I did not get it until 10 o'clock this morning. I spent the day on maintenance & repairs. While I was installing the new water pump I found that the hose going to the water heater had gotten well past its replacement timer. Although it was not leaking, it was so bad I was afraid to touch it for fear that antifreeze would leak all over the bilge. I replaced the hose while doing the water pump. I started the engine and all is fine.

Since I was already working down there I changed the oil in the generator and also changed the engine fuel filters. A good afternoon's work.

Carole was off visiting the National Quilt Museum which allowed me to leave the hatches open without worrying about her falling in to the engine room.

We also had the local canvas shop repair the seams on some of our canvas top. He did a good job and quite reasonable.

The cocktail hour was bittersweet. The group we have been traveling with, some since the Georgian Bay are heading in different directions. Joe and Sue on Quixote are selling their boat and heading home. They did the part they wanted to see and are ready to move on. The Old Grouch is going to Chattanooga, Windsong is going to poke around the Tennessee River, as is Lazy Dolphin, and Q's End and us are going up the Cumberland River to Nashville. We will meet up with some of them at the rendezvous in Alabama, but we are all on different agendas after that.

It was another cold night – temperature dropped to 38 degrees – a good thing the heater works!

Monday, October 4^th
Headed out on a cold, clear, calm morning. The Cumberland River is actually a lake (Lake Barclay) for many miles. The lake was created by the building of Barclay Dam. We are looking at a large expanse of water that is mostly 10-15 ft. deep. The channel is the old riverbed and is 60' deep and wanders a lot. We have to keep a sharp eye on the charts and the channel markers. Many of the sandbars are covered with flocks of White Pelicans – hundreds of them. Another of the shallows had 60-80 Common Egrets feeding and of course the ubiquitous Great Blue Herons.

Lots of Pelicans

Close up of lots of Pelicans

Pelicans landing

Common Egrets feeding

And if you want to see how many pelicans look at this video


Cliffs along the river

Some of the banks are rock walls which was the old riverbank. Our original plan was to go about 45 miles today, but we decided to do a long push so tomorrow we can arrive early and spend some time in Clarkesville. The anchorage behind Dover Island was supposed to be 20 ft. deep at normal pool (this is a reference level set by the Corps of Engineers). The river is now 4' below normal pool. When we arrived at Dover Island we could not find anything less than 30' deep. At the upper end of the island it is supposed to shoal to 12ft. The shallowest water we could find was 15 ft. and this would be 19' at normal pool. We finally anchored almost past the island close to the river in 15 ft. of water.

We barbecued some chicken and watched a DVD before hitting the sack.

Tuesday, October 5^th

Sea smoke in the morning.

Woke up to heavy fog and the thermometer in the 30's. I would have gone back to bed, bed Annie needs to go to shore in the morning. Cold, wet and sandy when I get back to the boat and I can not go back to bed. Cleaned up the dinghy and stowed it back on the transom. By the time I had coffee and checked the email the fog was lifting. We got underway at 9:30 to a beautiful sunny morning with only a little sea smoke on the water.


Tied up in Clarkesville

An easy run to Clarkesville, TN. A nice city dock with power – no water or bathrooms, but it is free. The Parks and Recs liaison came down to the dock to meet us and give us maps and town information. It is Wilma Rudoph's home town and there was a statue of her near the docks. The walk in to town was uphill all of the way, so we had to stop at the Wild Horse Brewery to quench our thirst before continuing on our explorations. We are back in Yuengling country! Have not been able to get it since leaving NY state. We went back there later for dinner and had a pretty good meal.

Wednesday, October 6^th


Mornng fog in Clarkesville

Tow half down the Tug is still up at the top in the lock.

More fog this morning. Since it was not as cold last night the fog lifted early. I am glad we did not try to get all the way to Nashville today. At Cheatham Lock we had a 2 hour wait for a tow to lock down. It was a 3x5 tow and only the barges got in and locked down the first time. They then had to float all of the barges out of the lock on an almost non-existent current – it took forever. They then closed and refilled the lock and brought the tug down. Finally the tug had to reattach the tow before heading off downstream. Fifteen minutes later we were out of the lock and on our way.

All together and heading out

We anchored behind Gower Island for the night. It was very narrow so we dropped an stern anchor to keep from swinging in to the bushes on shore. The slow cooker had been going all day and we had a great stew for dinner.

Thursday, October 7^th

So much for my stern anchor holding. We woke up to find the boat turned completely around. The wind died during the night and they must have opened the next dam some because the current turned the boat around, although we did not get close to the bushes. So the anchor must have done some good as it got close to the shallow water.

On to Nashville. The docks here are rougher than Clarkesville and they charge for them. There are no bathrooms or showers at the dock. The upside is that they are right downtown. We walked up Broadway, across 2^nd, up Commerce to 5^th, back to Broadway and down to 1^st. We were never more than 20 steps from a bar/saloon and there was country music or Blues playing in every one of them!


Boats at the dock looking at downtown Nashville The floodwaters were 1/2 way up the first floor of those buildings

We started to walk to a restaurant that was recommended and declared it too far, so we got a cab to take us to a German Restaurant across the river. Tom and Linda(Q's End) and Carole liked it. I thought it was fair at best, but then I am not a fan of German food.

Friday, October 8^th

There are several free bus routes around the downtown area. They are designed to discourage tourists and commuters from driving a lot. Carole and I used it to get a feel for the area. Since it was mainly a commuter route we took we had to determine what it was we were seeing on our own. It did take us to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum which was our intended destination. We just took the long way around to get there.

We spent most of the day there. We did take a lunch break at Jack's BBQ. The line was out the door and inside it ran the length of the building and the counter was on the way back to the front. We chose our food and the plates were made up as we walked by. The pulled Pork Sandwiches were really good.

Back to the Country Music Hall of Fame for the second half of the self guided tour. The museum is very well organized. The displays guided us through the early development of Country Music by using artifacts, old film, and music clips. Not being real Country fans the tour was really informative and we learned a lot and I now have some appreciation for the music.


At least Carole had a western hat!

In the evening we took a cab to the Grand Old Opry. Tom had gotten us tickets since this was the 85^th Anniversary weekend we thought we would need them. We tried to get Saturday Tickets (Dolly Parton was going to be there) but is was standing room only. We had never thought about the fact that it is a live radio show, and that there would be commercials between most performances. We saw a number of performers (most of which I had never heard of) each doing two numbers. Krystal Gale and Connie Smith were two of them. And there was a surprise visitor, Charles Osgood of CBS Sunday Morning showed up. He played some piano and sang several old favorites. I think he really was a surprise because when he started to play the house musicians took several bars to pick it up. It was a really good show.

The sound board - 100 inputs across the board


Being greeted by Minnie Pearl

We had planned to go out for Catfish after the show. I had been talking to the Sound man I had inquired about the soundboard he was using (we were seated one row up from it) and we wound up talking about boating. He offered to take us out through the stage door and give us a ride to the restaurant. Meanwhile Carole talked to several of the Ushers/guides during the intermission. They called the restaurant for us and we learned that they stopped serving before the show ended. They put their heads together and could not come up with anywhere else to eat after the show. It seems that since the flood last May many of the places near the river had not been able to reopen. Opreyland had just opened two weeks ago.


Joe's Crab Shack

We went back to town and found a great place. Joe's Crab Shack. Tom and Linda had lunch there and raved about it so we all went back there. Besides having Snow, Dungeness, and King Crab at reasonable prices they have draft beers two for one, including Yeungling. $3.75 for two. It was a late night, but well spent.

Saturday, October 9^th

Late start and we used the Blue Line Bus to go to the farm market – it is also the German Festival today. As we went through the farm market we realized that we could shop there on the way home after the German festival. We also learned that a highly recommended restaurant was around the corner. We went to the festival and had a beer, the lines to get a German Sausage were really long and we thought that possibly the restaurant might be a good option. Great choice! The sign at he front of Monel's said that they did not serve lunch on Saturday. A walk around to the door showed up a paper sign that said: “due to the German Festival we are serving lunch today”. Service is family style. Starting with a cucumber and coleslaw salads. White beans, potato salad and sauerkraut were served along with Bratwurst, pulled pork and skillet fried chicken. Banana pudding for dessert. All very, very good. Amazingly the total cost per person was $14.00. We pigged out and will have a very light dinner.

We walked back to the Farm Market which is open every day. Vendors are mostly there every day. Lots of Organic produce and meats. The meat is all packaged and frozen. There was a dairy farm that used glass bottles that people brought back for reuse. When the milk supply for the day was gone they left.


Black Crowned Night heron

We took the bus back to the boat and there was a Black Crowned Night Heron on a snag in front of Q's End.

The Batman Building

I wandered around town for a while. I wanted to take some pictures of the AT&T building, known locally as the Batman Building. The flood last May wiped out a lot of the area. The flood really was devastating. We were docked about 40' below the street level and the flood waters were 6' deep in the street and in the buildings! There were pictures showing the water in the street. I walked up on the walking bridge across the river to take some pictures and the black Crowned Night Heron was still on the log.

The streets here are crowded and noisy. Every saloon is packed. We looked in to several places to eat and the Country Music was too loud. We went to Joe's Crabhouse for a lite dinner.

We have a long day tomorrow so early to bed.

Sunday, October 10^th

Looks like another cool morning and hot afternoon. The last three afternoons have been in the mid 80's.

It is very calm on the river. We are still seeing lots of Great Blue Herons. Except for the flocks of Starlings and Pelicans these are the most common bird we see. The countryside seems to change back and forth from farmland and fields to rock face and hills. Sometimes houses and sometimes commercial (usually rock quarries). The remnants of the flood also show. Lots of broken branches and limbs on the shore and trash in the trees. On one stretch there were hundreds of plastic bags in the trees. We also saw a plastic flower pot 20' up in a tree. The leaves are starting to change color and the hills are dotted with splashes of yellow and Orange in the green.

What amazing luck again (not)! We arrive at Cheatham lock just as a tow that fills the lock is entering. Only one tow a day and we manage to find it going both ways. Not only do we have to wait, but we will have to catch up to him to pass it after we get out.

It only took 1 1/2 hrs. to get through the lock and then two more hours to catch up and pass the tow. In an another hour we reached Clarkesville.

I plugged in to shore power only to find it dead. A phone call brought out someone to check it out, but he needed to call an electrician. We went out to dinner and when we got back found a note saying my plug was bad. I was thinking “it worked this morning” and I had tested the receptacle with my meter before I called. I now know that the prongs on my meter are not long enough. It took about an hour to make a temporary safe repair. We have power and air conditioning tonight.

Monday, October 11^th

Slept in this morning. We did not get underway until almost 9:00. Warm and clear and the trees are getting more colorful.

I got a call from Leigh and while telling him of the electric plug story he found one in his pile of parts and will get it sent out today. OOPS! It is Columbus Day and the Post Office is closed.


Dry Creek Anchorage

The River is widening as we more in to the lake portion. We are seeing more and more Common Egrets in the shallows. There are some groups of 50 or more in an area, and there are still lots of Great Blue Herons.
We pulled in to Dry Creek to anchor for the night. It is a little shallow in the entrance, but we anchored in 15' of water. We took the dinghy to shore and hiked on the rocks and in to the woods. Carole did not want to climb the bank in to the woods, so Annie and I did while Carole wandered around on the rocks taking pictures.

Carole grilled some chicken and did not burn it. She has been frustrated with our BBQ because it flares up really easily. She has been getting at it and tonight was really great.

Watched a DVD and turned in early.

Serendipity at anchor in Dry Creek - Carole looking on


Cumberland River Cliffs

Tuesday, October 12^th

Overcast and cool this morning. We planned a really short day of 15 miles today, but a call to the State Park Marina changed our mind. It seems that with the lake at winter pool level there is very little water there. It is enough for us to go in but we were told that the channel is really narrow and we might find bottom or a stump where it is not expected. Since we have reservations at Green Turtle Bay for the night we decided to go on. Also tonight Liz and Tony on Two Turtles are there and we can spend some time with them.

The lake has really opened up and we are seeing lots more Pelicans in addition to the Common Egrets.

Pool Levels are a way to keep the boating traffic informed on water depth. Although there are no tides the water level fluctuates with rain upriver and the hydroelectric power demands. The Corps of Engineers (COE) uses and altitude reading that they call “normal pool”. For Barklay Lake it is 359.0 ft. They also have gauges many places where you can sometimes read the current pool level. I say “sometimes” because the gauges are quite often unreadable. We can call the locks or check on line also to learn the current pool level. In the fall the normal pool is lowered to make room for the winter and spring rains to fill the lakes without flooding the nearby countryside., It works occasionally. Lake Barklay is no 4 ½ ft. below normal pool.

We continued on to Green Turtle Bay Marina t meet up with Tony and Liz. Seems that they got hooked on “Small Beers” and at every Social Hour, Tony brought out the makings. “Small Beers” are made in small shot glass sized glasses. You pour it 2/3rds full of “43” Brandy and then add whipping cream on top. Let it sit for a few seconds, the cream comes to the top and it looks like a little glass of beer. It is really tasty. We all had a round then someone brought out a can of Mocha/rum flavored whipping cream and was making them with a Mocha twist. I stuck with one – not taking any chances. Ate a spaghetti dinner on Two Turtles with Tony and Liz.

Some of the more interesting views along the river.