October 24-November 7, 2017
With the promise of warm, fresh baked goods, we wake early and walk into downtown Paducah to Kirchhoff’s Bakery before leaving town. We are not disappointed! We shove off and quickly make the turn onto the Ohio River. We were warned about the increased current we would be traveling against, and right away we felt it. Our speed slowed considerably, but we were still making good progress. Suddenly we hear lots of commotion on the VHF…we’ve lost our engine…I have no power…time to wake the Captain, son! That doesn’t sound good, but we can’t tell where this is taking place. Is it behind us or in front of us? We come around a bend in the curvy Cumberland, and quickly see the situation in front of us. A tow boat lost power, and its’ barges started to drift across the river, blocking our path. We hang back to decide our next move. Luckily two other tow boats that were working down the river came to the rescue and were able to push the barges to the side of the river, and we were able to navigate by.
We finally get to the Barkley Lock and Dam, and are eventually locked through this 57 foot lock. Darkness has set in, and we have to navigate to Green Turtle Bay Marina in the dark. Luckily friends guided us to our slip with flashlights, what a help! We meet up with the other Loopers and decompress over dinner and drinks at the yacht club. We plan to spend a few days in Grand Rivers, KY, so we settle in and relax a bit. We make sure we visit Patti’s for dinner, as we have heard about their famous pork chops. We are not disappointed, the food was delicious!
While in Grand Rivers, KY, we’ve reached a milestone. We’re now one month into our trip. Here’s a map to show how far we’ve come!
After a rain delay, we set out on a side trip further down the Cumberland River to Nashville, TN. Many other Loopers rented a car and drove, but we wanted to do it by boat. It was a three day trip there, and we got to see the beautiful fall colors of Kentucky and Tennessee. I must say, it’s not the same as a Michigan fall, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Our first night we had planned to anchor, but with temperatures dipping into the low thirties, I decide to seek out a marina. We find a small marina on the charts and call to make sure we can make it in with our 4.5 draft. We arrive at Bumpus Mills Marina, to find no one is there. We question if the marina is still in business, as there are some quite abandoned looking boats in the marina, but we tie to the fuel dock and hook up to power to get heat for the night. I really hoped we didn’t hear banjos in the night!
After an uneventful night, we leave early the next morning and head for Clarksville, TN. We spend the night in the marina there, and are Nashville bound the next day. We are treated to see deer swim in front of the boat. Such beautiful animals! We finally arrive at our marina, just outside of downtown Nashville. We settle in and decide to walk to a local brewery for dinner. TailGate Beer was delicious, and they had so many pumpkin beers on draft! Have I mentioned I love everything pumpkin yet? J The next day we Uber in to downtown, and walk the streets of Nashville. We did an on and off trolley tour, and get to see the Country Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium, and Music Row. For all of you American Pickers fans, we even got to see Mike’s Nashville store, Antique Archaeology. All of the bars and restaurants on Broadway have live country music.
We leave Nashville the next day, and start the three day trip back to Grand Rivers, KY to meet my parents. They drove down and stayed in a condo at the marina for a few days. It was great to see them and to visit for a while. We got to explore Paducah, the Land Between the Lakes National Park, and many of the small towns in the area. Chad was on a mission for some country ham, and he found some in Cadiz, KY. We even managed to find a winery! We took my parents back to Patti’s for an early birthday dinner celebration for my mom. We all left extremely full! Despite the rain, we checked out their beautiful Christmas light display.
As my parents headed back to Michigan, Chad and I headed south to Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River.