Sept 30, New Johnsonville, TN

Another beautiful day on the water. Sky is clear and temperature is cool (mid 60's) and we put on long pants and sweatshirts today. We move about 30 miles south (upstream) on the Tennessee river through mostly rural countryside. The river is about a mile wide here as we are still in the Kentucky Lake area of the Tennessee. No barges today. Two dozen bass boats, some fishing and some going 50 mph plus. Water was flat calm. Beautiful cruising.

Fishing in the early light as we leave Paris Landing State park Marina.

Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River is a pretty place.

Ferry goes in front of us. Not many bridges over the river.
Abandoned railroad bridge with part removed.

Abandoned loading dock.

Tonight we have stopped at the Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, Tennessee. Nice marina, nice people and a restaurant. Internet not good. There are a few loopers here including Roy and Elvie Short aboard ROY EL, who have completed the loop and are spending the whole summer on the Tennessee River. (monthly rate here is $250). Their home port is Bay Pointe Marina in Panama City, Florida. Roy sprays a solution of Behr Deck Cleaner on my boat hull and it removes the brown stain from the river without scrubbing. Elvie send a computer file that has a guide to the Tennessee River to Chattanooga. Thanks Roy and Elvie.

Approaching Pebble Isle Marina.

Other loopers here are Ray and Patsy Whitney on PATSY RAY, from Pt St Joe, who recommends Pt St Joe and Bay Pointe Marina in Panama City and tell us how to access the bargain rates that they offer. Thanks Ray. Also met Ron and Marji Cyr on MEANDER, a Grand Banks that wintered last year in Winter Harbor, NY (where we were). They had their boat painted with ALGRIP there over the winter and it looks great!

MEANDER got new Allgrip paint last winter.
Looks great.

We borrow the loaner car to go into New Johnsonville to see what's there. We learn that the Old Johnsonville is under Kentucky Lake! And we find New Johnsonville consists of a small strip center with a grocery, hardware and four other shops. That's all.

The marina has a nice restaurant and gives away a delicious sweet roll for breakfast. Several loopers are staying here for a week or more. Very friendly and economical spot with a loaner car.

Sept 29, Oak Hill, TN

A beautiful day on the water today as the rains followed by the cold front have passed through, the air temperature is 65 and the sky is clear. It feels like a bit of fall in the air.

Kentucky Lake.

We pass the tug and barges on the 'one whistle' side.

We moved 25 miles south on the Tennessee River. We are still in the wide spot on the river created by the TVA Dam, the Kentucky Lake. We passed one tug with barges today and other than a few small fishing boats the river is empty of boat traffic. We have left Kentucky behind and entered Tennessee. The countryside continues to be rural with very few homes on the west shore and none on the east.

Paris Landing State Park Marina.

Tonight we are docked at Paris Landing State Park Marina and Resort near Oak Hill, Tennessee. This is operated as a state park and has all the facilities including internet. However internet is not working very well. No other 'loopers' here. We take the Ranger Van to the lodge for dinner.

Sept 28, Aurora, KY

We moved 20 miles south on Kentucky Lake, a large lake which is a wide spot in the Tennessee River. Wind warnings were flying and the west wind was blowing 20-25 so Kentucky Lake was a little choppy. We hugged the small boat channel on the west side of the lake and had a smooth ride.

Kentucky Lake is the lake formed when the large TVA Kenlake Dam was built to control the flooding of the Tennessee River and provide electric power. Kentucky Lake has become a large and beautiful recreation area with several State Parks, marinas, campgrounds and lots of homes along the west shore. The east shore is all Between the Lakes Park and contains a herd of buffalo and Elk. We looked but didn't see any.

Kenlake State Park Marina.

Tonight we are staying at the Kenlake State Park Marina, on the west side of Kentucky Lake, near Aurora, Kentucky. We have 50 amp and very good high speed internet and the rate is $.65/foot. A real bargain for a nice marina. This is a friendly place with several boaters from Florida spending the whole summer here. They are all heading south soon.

Parrot wall hanging in the restaurant.
Good pattern for a flag?

In spite of it's name, this is a privately owned marina and not part of the state park.

Sept 26-27, Grand Rivers, KY

Back from our trip to Nashville in time to watch University of Florida play University of Kentucky on ESPN on the boat. Florida wins 41-7 and quarterback Tim Tebow has a concussion and goes to the hospital. Kentucky newspaper headline the next day states 'Kentucky knocks out Florida quarterback'. Bummer!

We are happy to be back in the marina at Green Turtle Bay. There are lots of 'loopers' here and we get a chance to meet several and exchange stories and experiences. We expect to see many of these boaters again as we all plan to be in the same waters as we are now heading south to Florida for the winter.

This is Maurice, doing the 'loop' in a 21' tug, QUOTIDIAN.
We have seen him several times before on the rivers and are glad to have a chance to meet him. Maurice's home port is St Petersburg.

We take in a 'Variety' show at the local Badgett Playhouse in Grand Rivers, KY. Lots of familiar tunes. Five musicians and four other singers who also dance. Theater is nice and show is very good. 'Greater Tuna' starts next week. We've seen that show and love it. We met 'loopers' Brad and Patti Salvage on the SALVAGE CREW at the playhouse and give them a ride to the marina. Their home port is Guntersville so their loop adventure is almost over. They told us of their adventures in Green Turtle, Bahamas, and we loved hearing about their fun times discovering the Abaco's. Neat folks.

Rental car allows us to do some errands in Paducah and we go back to Patti's 1880 Settlement restaurant for another 2" pork chop before we leave Grand rivers and Green Turtle Bay. This has been a very nice stop. We are well rested.

Sept 25, Nashville, TN

Today we called Enterprise (because they pick you up and take you to their office) and they came from Paducah (25 miles) and picked us up at the marina. We rented a car and drove to Nashville. We had planned to go to Nashville in the boat, up the Cumberland River, but because it has been raining all week the rivers are swollen, the current is running a reported 5 knots and there is debris in the water, we decided to rent a car instead. It would have been a 150 mile trip upstream (with two overnights before Nashville) and dockage was planned downtown at the city floating dock where they have room for five boats. The location is right downtown at the foot of Broadway.

Union Station Hotel

Lobby Union Station Hotel

Ceiling Union Station Hotel

It rained again today. We arrived in Nashville and are staying at the Union Station Hotel, downtown. The first thing we do is visit the city dock.

'Loopers' EARLY OUT and SEASEA in Nashville.

There are two 'looper' boats here, EARLY OUT and SEASEA, who have braved the river conditions. Security guard tells me water levels have risen three feet earlier today and then dropped back to normal. The current and water level are fluctuating based on discharges from the upstream dams. We can see a lot of debris in the water. Several other boats in Nashville have posted on the AGLCA site that the current is still 5 knots and because of all the debris, they are not moving until conditions improve.

We are glad we are not having to worry about the boat and head off to see the sights.

Ryman Hall.
First home of the Grand Ole Opry.

Nashville is the home of the Grand Ole Opry and country music. We see Ryman Hall where country music got it's start, and then tour the Country Music Hall of Fame, which tells the history of the industry and has displays, gold records, costumes and personal and professional histories of many of the performers.

Country Music Hall of Fame.

Elvis Gold Cadillac.

Gold Records.
Each gold record signifies 500,000 copies sold.

Hank Williams costume.

Hall of Fame costumes.
Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris.

Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Tammy Wynett.

Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill,
Alison Krauss, Faith Hill.

We walk Broadway and Second Street where there are lots of bars and restaurants each featuring live entertainment. Nashville is a magnet for aspiring country singers so we can walk along Broadway and listen to group after group who are all trying to 'make it' in Nashville. Good entertainment.

Downtown Nashville.

Sign featuring guitar playing singers.
Says they are 'Honkytonk Heroes'.

Hundreds of guitars for sale in every configuration and price range.

Former American National Bank building.
Now a tatoo parlor.

Cadillac Bar is typical of Broadway.
Elevated stage for entertainers.

Most are 'too loud' for us. We're ready to stick some pieces of paper napkins in our ears. We keep going and find a spot with good music, not too loud. We persevere. Lots of activity in downtown Nashville.

We visit the Frick Museum (surrealist photographs) downtown and then head out to the suburbs to the large Gaylord Opryland Hotel complex and take a ride on the GENERAL JACKSON, a riverboat with a popular show/cruise. Very enjoyable.

Approaching downtown on the Cumberland River aboard the
GENERAL JACKSON

Floating debris in the river because of the heavy rains and high water.

The GENERAL JACKSON midday show, Tim Watson's 'Fiddlin Around', has been a long running show in Nashville. One of Ken Horner's favorites. We agree.

Tim Watson (left) on stage.
Tim says he's getting too old to do the splits anymore.
But he sure can play that fiddle!

The Gaylord Opryland Hotel looks to be the new center for tourism in the Nashville area surpassing the downtown area. Interesting.

Sept 20-24, Grand Rivers, KY

We got underway early again this morning as we plan another 100 miles today, seven miles down the Mississippi, 58 miles up the Ohio with two locks and 35 up the Cumberland with one lock.

We go seven more miles downstream on the Mississippi River with the current (about 3 knots) and then turn east into the OhioRiver. Now we are going against the current (about 1.5 knots). There are at least a dozen large sets of barges with tugs tied up along the river bank here. They must prefer the Ohio River as a staging area because there is less current running.

Large number of barges with one tug.

Large number tugs with large number of barges waiting to be broken up.

We go upriver on the Ohio, against the current, past Cairo (pronounced Kay-ROW), Illinois. This town located at the intersection of four big rivers. Just 40 miles upstream, the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers join the Ohio and then the Ohio joins the Mississippi at Cairo. Linda drives through Cairo and reports that it is a sad looking, almost vacant, downtown.

Harrah's Casino on the riverfront in Cairo.

Barges and tug waiting for the lock.

Big tug with two barges waiting for lock #53. He will go through after us.
We waited three and a half hours to get through lock #53.

This is lock #53 on the Ohio River.
We went up all by ourselves with no tie offs.
This old lock operated very slowly. It took 30 minutes to lock us through.

We pass by the flood wall at Paducah.
Town is visible behind the wall.

At Paducah we called the Kenlake Lock and they were not busy with any commercial barges and told us there were none waiting. So we left the Ohio River and went up the Tennessee River straight into the Kenlake Lock and locked through immediately. Very unusual. Saved us 25 miles and more than two hours. Kenlake is a big lock and usually has a very long wait for recreational boats to go through because commercial has priority. Some boaters have reported waiting 12 hours.

Large number of tugs.

Large number of tugs in floating dry docks.

Kenlake lock is the biggest on the 'loop'. We will rise 57 feet.
The water fills the lock from the center of the floor. And it rushes in so fast, it pins the boat to the wall and the front fender cannot stand the pressure. We work hard to keep the boat off the wall.
Not a safe situation.

Ken Horner has piloted KOKOMO II for the last two days.
He looks pretty good considering the long days of cruising.
As a professional Boat Captain, he gave us instructions about passing the barges on the 'one whistle' or 'two whistle' side.

Barkley Canal.

Approaching Green Turtle Bay Marina.
This is a welcome sight after a long two days on the rivers.
Green Turtle Bay is a favorite of the 'loopers'. Many stay here a week or more.

Green Turtle Bay Marina gas dock. Line up of 'looper' boats behind.
'Loopers' met every evening in the gazebo at the top of the hill to get acquainted and exchange information. Everyone brought a snack.

We took Ken's car and drove back to Paducah, Kentucky, to take a look at the town.

Window display in Paducah.

Riverfront Old Town Paducah.

Paducah flood wall is decorated with historical murals.

Artist touching up a panel.

Early days.

Riverboats.

Modern times.

Paduca is the home to the National Quilt Museum, rated a GEM by AAA. We take a look and find it to have some extraordinary quilts and wall hangings. And some quilt wall hangings made of wood!

Banners for National Quilt Museum.

This is a wall hanging and one our favorites. All made of painted cloth and stitched to add texture to the faces and figures.
Outstanding.

This is a wooden wall hanging, not fabric. Another of our favorites.
There are several quilts made of solid wood that have been painted and have the texture of fabric.
Unique.

The town of Grand Rivers, Kentucky, is the closest to our marina. There are a few nice shops, several restaurants, a grocery store and even a theater with live performances. Coming in October is 'Greater Tuna' one of our favorites but we will be gone 'down the waterway'. Grand Rivers is located between Kenlake on the Tennessee River and Lake Barkley on the Cumberland River. Both lakes were created by TVA dams in the 1950's and 1960's. Several towns are now completely submerged and the people displaced and relocated. This area is known as 'tween the waters'.

Downtown Grand Rivers, Kentucky.
Pretty small town.

The locals tell us about 'Patti's 1180's Settlement' restaurant in Grand Rivers and we become big fans in just one evening.

Patti's front door.

The food is outstanding. (we had the house specialty which is a 2" center cut pork chop) Dinner was declicious. This is a large restaurant in rural Kentucky that is in a dry county, so no liquor. Rated by some as the best restaurant in Kentucky! We can agree.

Water wheel at the entrance to the gardens and shops.

There is also a large garden area with several large shops selling high end merchandise, putt-putt golf, model boat sailing, a small zoo with peacocks, ostriches, llamas and goats, free evening outdoor movies, a wedding chapel, gazebo's for private parties outdoors, winding paths and a waterwheel. I'm sure we didn't take in everything.

Interesting garden benches.
Butterflies,

Dragonflies.

?

Hanging baskets on a custom pole.

Very interesting wind sculptures are located all around the garden. Shiny. Made of polished aluminum or stainless steel?

Linda and Ken.

And some rustic wooden chairs and bird houses for sale. Pretty eclectic mix. The surroundings are interesting but it is the food what brings everyone back.







All in a town of 350 people.

Ken Horner leaves us to visit daughter Bethany at Michigan State and then return home. Thanks for all the help piloting KOKOMO II on the mighty Mississippi!