Green Turtle Bay

Today is Friday and we have truly enjoyed our leisure time here.   We are at slip #1 which is right next to the gas dock and shower / laundry building.  Lots of activity to watch.  We have the courtesy car reserved for 4:00 pm today to go into Paducha to run some errands.  The plus side of getting the car so late is that instead of  having the car for only 2 hours we don't have to return it until morning.  So we will most likely have dinner in down town Paducha.

We spent the better part of Monday giving the boat a thorough cleaning and Mary got  caught up on all the laundry.  There was a very large Looper get together later that evening, it seems that the only ones here at the marina are Loopers.  It was nice to meet the other Loopers, some we have met before and others for the first time.

There is a large ships store, that also has a clothing section,  we have left a few dollars at both sections.  While Mary had her toes done at the spa, John changed the Racor fuel filter and was able to stop a small leak by the rudder.  He also tightened the packing on the rudder post and propeller shaft.

The Yacht Club.

Views of Green Turtle Harbor

Tuesday evening we went out to Patti's Settlement, a restaurant  know for their 2 inch pork chops.  John said it was very good.  We all enjoyed their home made pie as well.   Definitely need to get on the bikes a little more than we have been doing.  It's just so hilly around these parts.

We thought Kate and Izzy would like the color of the tractor.

Farmer Mary.

We gave the dinghy a good cleaning and have taken it out for a few trips around the marina.  Yesterday we took it through the canal and into Kentucky Lake.

Sail boat now used as a flower pot

Sunset at Green Turtle

Saturday we have tickets to Badgett Playhouse to see a variety show, we have heard good reviews . Hope its good.   We'll let you know.

" Y' all have a nice weekend "

Mary and John

Lake Barkley

We left Cumberland Tow Head early Sunday morning in the rain along with Southern Belle.  Rain was predicted for all day, but after three nights at anchor we were anxious to get to a dock.  Shortly after entering the Cumberland river there was a down bound tow.  We radioed him and he said a one whistle pass would be fine for him but that there was a much larger tow "up river a way's".  The other tow radioed us and asked that we hold up where we were until he cleared the tight bends.  The cumberland river was narrow with many bends.  These were the only tows we met up with all day.

This was the most interesting thing we saw from the Cumberland River until we reached the Barkley Lock.  We thought the grandsons would enjoy the big yellow dump truck dumping his load of gravel into the barge.

We had left the anchorage at first light before anyone on the five other boats were awake.  About 8 miles from Barkley Lock as we approached Dooms point and received a radio call from our friend Kerm on Southern Belle that they had lost their engine.  We were about a mile ahead and by the time we got back to them they had their anchor down and they were secure.  As Kerm was working on the problem the 5 other boats at last night's anchorage passed us.  Kerm was able to re-prime the fuel system and got the engine restarted.   We were on our way shortly after the other boats passed us and we were able to lock through with them.

The Barkley Lock is a 57 foot lift, the associated Barkley dam on the Cumberland river created Lake Barkley.  About a mile west of here is the Kentucky lock and dam on the Tennessee river which created Kentucky Lake.  This area is known as the Land Between the Lakes, parts of which are a National Recreation area.

We arrived at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, Kentucky and were secured in our slip  by 1:45pm.  We will be staying here for a week while we finalize our plans from here to the AGLCA rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama later next month.

After a wet rainy day it's good to be tied to a dock.
John & Mary

Cumberland Tow Head

We left Hoppies after breakfast at about 7 am with the thought that we would stay the  night tied to the Kaskaskia Lock for the night. We  reached it about 10:30 and thought that it was too early to stop for the day so kept on going. We  ended spending the night at a very nice anchorage called Little Diversion.  Southern Belle and Passport were able to raft to two larger boats that already had there anchors down, so it was and easy anchor thanks to Gull Wing and Superior Lady.  After a nice happy hour aboard Superior Lady we were ready for dinner and bed. 

We had set the alarm early ,we had wanted to get an early start but as we were doing our morning routines the fog rolled in. There was a total of 12 boats in this area and at one point we could only see the two closest to us ,and could not see the entrance at all. At around 10 am the fog began to clear and there was a mass exodus out into the Mississippi. Weather has not been great the past several days with clouds, rain and fog.

We experienced a lot of turbulence along the Mississippi.   Many whirlpools that the picture did not do justice 

This day was to be a shorter day cruising, but as it turned out that was not to happen. We planned to anchor at a placed mentioned by Fern our guru from Hoppies as being a good place called Boston Bar. When we arrived , we found  as little as 2 foot below the keel and with the possibility of water dropping over night, we decided to go on.  We ended up spending the night in the Ohio river rafted with six others for the night.

Aboard Passport with Chris & Kerm from Southern Belle.

Once we had gotten all the anchor’s set and all the others had joined us, we were surprised by a canoe with two young men who pulled up to ask if they were close to an area that they could set up their tent. They were on a trip from Ohio down to the Gulf of Mexico by canoe!!  After chatting with them for awhile it was decided that they would stay with us on the bench seats of our fly bridge.  The reason for their trip was to raise money for an orphanage in Africa.  Their web site is Sugar2salt.com.

In the morning they said that they had slept very well, but then again that was compared to the thermarest that they were used to sleeping on. After breakfast of raisin toast and several goodie bags from the others at anchor they departed on their journey.  It was truly nice to meet up with them.  Their moms and dads should be very proud of them, they were both very nice young men.

Ben, Mary, John & Jon

All packed and ready to paddle

And they were Off.

An old fort at Paducah.

We did not have to go through Lock 53 as the wickets were down but we did have a bit of a wait at Lock 52. It was not a easy lock as there was a lot of turbulence.  So we were happy to be done with that.

A Small paddle wheeler pleasure craft

Our anchorage today is at Cumberland Tow Head with the same group of boats that we were with last night.  It is the end of our trip on the Ohio River and the start of the Cumberland River. Tomorrow we will continue on the Cumberland to Lake Barkley lock and then to Green Turtle Bay Marina, where we plan so spend a week.

All Rafted together.

Another view of the "Raft" from our bridge.

Sun setting at our anchorage.

Hope every one sleeps well,

Mary and John

Kimmswick, Mo

We got an early start this morning.  After Mary decided to go up to take a shower at 5:45, three other boats and John talked to the Mel Price Lock and were told that if we could all get there by 6:30 we could lock through.  Well, when Mary returned from her shower in record time we were number three of the four boats under way for the lock and made it without any problems.  We were also able to get through the next lock in the same fashion.  We dropped a total of 35 feet today.

Southern Belle

We really enjoyed traveling through St. Louis, Eric grew up in  Bellivile, Il which is a suburb of St. Louis and he and Christy lived in St. Louis for a couple of years after they were married.  We thought Eric would especially like these pics of St. Louis from the mighty Mississippi.

We docked at Hoppies before noon.  Hoppies is the last marina (not really a marina) for the next 238 miles. while not a really a marina it is an experience that all Loopers will always remember.  

Fern's daily briefing.

The town of Kimmswick is the second oldest town i the sate with 44 original building listed on National Registry of Historical Places.  We had Lunch with Kerm & Chris from Southern Belle at the Blue Owl, it was quite good and very crowded.  We then walked around the town and found a couple of items that will be sent to the grand daughters.

Fern, the harbor mistress, holds a daily briefing session at 4:30pm every day, that is well attended by all Loopers.  She had quite a bit of useful information on what we will experience in the days to come.  The session was well attended and quite informative, many notes were taken.  After our afternoon briefing by Fern we made plans with Kerm and Chris for tomorrow's leg of or trip.

Most likely we will be out of cell coverage and not be able to update the blog until we arrive at Green Turtle Marina in Kentucky in several days.

Until then,
John & Mary