It was quite an adventurous day that began at 6 a.m., ended at 6p.m., and we only traveled 18 miles, but we made it to Joe Wheeler State Park and the AGLCA Rendevous! This is a fall gathering of Loopers that goes for 4 days, with all kinds of seminars, including ones which tell us what to expect for the next part of our trip all the way to the Carolinas. Pulling into the marina at sunset nearly brought tears to my eyes as we were helped into our slip by half a dozen fellow loopers, and the realization that we had achieved one of our goals.

We had to travel through two locks today, including one that is the tallest lift east of the Rockies. Unfortunately, there was a double tow in front of us that caused delays of several hours at both locks – twelve hours to go 18 miles! And we have to go through these same two locks on Saturday!

We had a blue heron sitting on the arm that opened and closed the lock gate. The photo on the right was taken after we had already gone part way up -we went up 90 feet!

When we got to the second lock, we were told we had to wait at least two hours or more so we tied up to a cell the tows tie up to – another first for us!

Plots more to tell, but very slow internet connection, so good night for now!

We left Green Turtle Bay Monday morning and headed through a canal from Lake Barkley to Kentucky Lake. Since that time we’ve been in areas with little or no cell phone service and a little bit of internet tonight finally. Unfortunately it goes in and out so this is as much as I can get posted. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be in an area with better service, so keep checking back – i’ve got lots of interesting photos and stories!

 

We’ve spent the past few days at Green Turtle Bay Resort and Marina. Today I was able to get some photos of how it got its name.

         

What does one call a group of turtles?

     

I loved seeing a mama turtle and the babies – it looks like they’re kissing 😊

On the dock by the turtles was this pile of anchors – it looks like an anchor graveyard.

We had breakfast at a cafe overlooking the water – the view from our table

and a sign by the doors to the restrooms

Rich has spent most of the past two days poking around in the engine room and the lazerette which contains the generator, checking on a variety of systems. He found that most of what he wanted to see was in inconvenient spaces so he was twisting and turning like a human pretzel – he called it boat yoga.

This evening 16 looper couples met for dinner and to play a game called left, right, or center. It’s played with 3 dice and is a no brainer kind of game, perfect for a large group. There was plenty of time to talk, eat, and drink!

 

It seems when you’re retired and doing the loop, every day seems like Saturday. Today really is Saturday!

I had a conversation with another looper while doing a load of laundry this morning and she told me we had cable TV available at our slip – what??? We have been here for 3 nights and had no idea we could have had TV. We’ve gotten out of the habit of watching TV, but it was nice to be able to watch part of the IU-Ohio State game this afternoon.

A boat 2 slips down from us crossed their wake (completed the loop) at this marina a couple of days ago, so they invited all the Loopers to celebrate with them tonight as they swapped their white looper burgee for the gold burgee. (The white is flown by Loopers doing the loop for the first time – once you’ve completed the loop you fly a gold burgee.) They’re headed back to Louisville and the real world of work. They started the loop just 5 months after they started dating and they’re still together, so I think that’s a lasting relationship!

There was a looper bonfire on the beach tonight with all the fixings for s’mores. It was dark by the time we got there and the only light was from the fire, so we were identifying people by voices. There were probably 8-10 couples there and no other people on the beach. Someone commented that this is the largest group of Loopers they had  been with since they started in Florida. It’s been nice to meet so many people early in the trip and get their comments on what to expect later in our trip.

I’ve been very good about posting every night, but I realized this morning that I didn’t post anything yesterday – oops! Nothing even remotely exciting happened yesterday. Rich did a lot of poking around trying to find the source of a small leak. Of course once he found what he was looking for, it was in a cramped space that he couldn’t get to without pulling out all kinds of things. Fortunately it leaks into a space under the back deck and only leaks when we’re underway, so we’ll have it taken care of while we’re back in Indiana at Thanksgiving.

I did a lot of planning and making reservations yesterday for our travels next week. We have friends from Lafayette joining us next Friday to cruise with us for a few days, so I wanted to make sure we had places to stay. A couple of places weren’t taking reservations – “we have lots of slips, honey, no need to worry, we’ll have space for you (said in a definite TN/AL accent)”. Hopefully that’s true.

We had a visitor on our middle deck yesterday

We had dinner at the local yacht club here at the marina last night with two other couples. It was an interesting experience – no drink or wine list. The server had a small iPad from which he read us what wines he had and then we had to ask for prices. For those of us who are visual learners, it was very frustrating and confusing.

Today I got up early and got 3 loads of laundry done. Rich cleaned up the outside of the boat and I dusted inside and did dishes – boring (insert big yawn here). We got a shuttle ride from the marina (they use big golf carts) into Grand Rivers to check out the town. We were told by the shuttle driver that the deli cafe in the grocery store had really good sandwiches, so we decided to try it for lunch. We split a Reuben and an Italian sub and the shuttle driver was right – they were really good! We also had to check out the local ice cream stand across the street and try their hurricanes – good but not as good as the flurries at Dairy Daze in Saugatuck or Captain Sundae in Holland. We wandered around the town a bit and were amazed once again how many plaques there were.

This one is to honor the founder of Grand Rivers. He had hoped it would become a major steel-producing city, but that never happened.

     

The walking trail was marked by red bricks on either side of it. If you followed it in the photo on the left you would end up at Lake Barkley.

This one tells the story of Patti’s 1880s Settlement, a reproduction of a small 1880s village. There was a restaurant as part of this that burned last winter – it was on our list of places we should try. That’s the third place in less than a week that we couldn’t get what it was noted for. ☹️

No sunset tonight – too many clouds.

 

 

Once again we were up before sunrise and off the dock by 6:45. I’m sure I’ve seen more sunrises in the past month than I’ve seen in the past year!

We were the first ones off the dock and traveled again with our friends Muffie and Mark on their catamaran Catalyst following close behind. At least 6 other boats followed them out, but all of them were traveling at a much slower speed, so we didn’t see them again until they arrived at the marina about 5 o’clock.

We traveled about 10 miles on up the Ohio River, then turned into the Cumberland River. The Cumberland is very deep and much more narrow than the previous rivers, as well as more hills and rocky banks. There were a number of large gravel operations along one side. The machinery used in these operations is amazing!

   

Catalyst                                                             Heading into the Cumberland River

    

Certainly more picturesque than the previous rivers we’ve been traveling on

     

This was one of the largest gravel operations I’ve ever seen! The tires on this dump truck were probably as tall as I am.

Just before we got to the marina there was a lock, but instead of going down we went up!

We had not been able to get fuel in both tanks yesterday because the hose wouldn’t stretch far enough to fill the port tank. We thought we had more than enough for each engine if we transferred some fuel from the starboard tank to the port tank, but the fuel transfer pump didn’t work properly. We think it transferred fuel the wrong direction, so the port tank ran out of fuel just as we turned into the channel to the marina. Each engine has its own fuel tank, so that meant our port engine stopped running. Rich very skillfully managed to get the boat to the fuel dock on just one engine! After fueling, both engines started right up and we made it into our assigned slip.

We hooked up to shore power, took showers, and met our friends from Catalyst to check out the amenities. A ten minute walk took us to the Thirsty Turtle Tavern where we were able to get a drink that was layered frozen margarita and frozen sangria. Not only was it pretty but it was so tasty we had them half gone before I realized I should have taken a picture of it. We’re here for 5 nights so maybe we’ll get back there and have another and I’ll remember to take a picture. I did get a picture of an inlet off Lake Barkley from the yard beside the tavern.

There was a looper happy hour tonight, but we were so tired from the heat that we decided we couldn’t bear to go outside again  (The temp was 88 and the humidity 58%, with a feels like temp of 94 – my body hasn’t acclimated to that kind of heat and humidity yet!). We think there must be 15-20 looper boats here with at least one or two more coming tomorrow or Friday.

No sunset photos tonight – I was inside and didn’t have enough energy to get out to see it.

When we looked at where we would be docking on this trip, I was thrilled that one stop would be Paducah. I told Rich I had to have one full day here because I was going to the National Quilt Museum. If you’re a quilter, you will understand why this is an important stop!

Yesterday I discovered that the wife of the couple that we had been traveling with was interested in going to the museum also. The museum was only 3 blocks from the boat dock, so by 10:20 this morning we were at the museum. We spent over 2 hours oohing and aahing at phenomenal quilts and telling each other we could never do things that intricate or artistic. Here are just a few of the quilts that amazed us –

This is just a small portion of the quilt, which measures 17” x 19” – note in the description that it has 6580 pieces in it!

After the quilt museum we met our husbands at a deli just two blocks away for great sandwiches. Rich had read some reviews that talked about the Reuben there – it sounded like the reubens we remembered from growing up in Omaha, the home of the Reuben.  Unfortunately they had run out of thousand island dressing so they couldn’t make reubens. How can that be??? There was a bakery connected with it so I had to buy some dark rye bread and bagels – won’t take the place of a Reuben, but still tasty.

The historic district of Paducah is quite interesting – everywhere we turned there was a plaque commemorating some historic site or event. We wandered around for a short time – it was too hot and humid to walk around for very long. Along the riverfront is a long concrete wall with murals depicting the history of the area, beautifully done, with plaques under each describing the event on the mural.

It’s probably hard to read, but the plaque says the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is the nation’s only uranium enrichment facility – who knew this? It’s a global supplier of enriched uranium for electricity production.

As we walked along the riverfront we saw the Queen of Mississippi, a paddlewheeler from American Cruise Lines. It had docked for several hours for the guests to tour the Paducah area and also to take on fuel and water.

   

When we got back to the dock we hung out there for a short time getting fuel and helping some other Loopers just coming in to get their boats docked. Because of the river current it can be tricky to get a boat in so everyone tries to lend a hand. Then it was inside for some air-conditioned comfort! After our giant lunch we realized we weren’t hungry for dinner so the rest of the evening was spent inside just relaxing.

Sunset in Paducah – note the green Holiday Inn sign on the upper left side.

We’ve been traveling for the last three days with another boat. They followed us through the fog yesterday and shared some photos they took.

    

Before the fog got too bad we could see a tow coming toward us – and then it really began to close in. When she took the photo of us in front of them they could still see us. Soon after we were completely hidden.

So we got up early again this morning, pulled up the anchor, and were on our way just before 7 – yes, 7 a.m. – what happened to sleeping late in retirement???

The Mississippi was still filled with debris but there was very little traffic. The current gave us a good push and by 10 we were at the confluence of the Ohio River and the Mississippi. Here it got very interesting. There were several tows seeming to go in all different directions, the current was swift, and there was debris everywhere. We managed to get through all of it and on to the Ohio River. There was considerable traffic for several miles and then suddenly there was none.

We were supposed to go through two locks before Paducah, but we didn’t go through either one of them. They’re constructing a new lock at the first one and because the river is high right now, we went on through – no evidence of a lock!

The photo on the left is obviously new construction, but we weren’t sure if that was an old part of the dam or new.

Because of high water levels, the wickets on the second dam had been lowered and we went right over the dam. That felt very strange knowing that there was a dam underneath us.

Two interesting bridge photos – the one on the left has a tow going under a bridge with semis going over it on the bridge – two ways to transport goods! The one on the right looks like there’s a wall right in front of the bridge – very disconcerting, until you realize it’s just a really cool reflection.

     

When barges are anchored in the river, they collect a lot of debris, which then breaks away when the barges are moved. All of this then travels down the river, making it feel like you’re in a video game trying to avoid all the things being fired at you.

We arrived at the Paducah Transient Boat Dock about 3:15. This dock opened last year and is owned and run by the city. It’s about 300 feet long, with side tie ups, has electric and water, but no bathrooms or showers – good thing we have that on our boat! One side of the dock was already filled, but there was room for us on the other side. As we got closer we saw several people coming to grab lines for us. By the time we got close enough to throw lines to them, there 10 people ready to grab them! Many of them are fellow Loopers, always willing to lend a hand to another looper.

After tidying up the boat and ourselves, we met up with the couple we’ve been traveling with and walked about 4 blocks to downtown old Paducah for dinner. We, along with everyone else looking for a place to eat, discovered there was only one place open on Monday. Fortunately it was large enough to handle a lot of people and the food was quite good.

By the time we had finished dinner the sun had set and we walked back to our boats in the dark. When it gets dark, it’s time to go to sleep.

We left the dock at 7 just after the sun came up. It was important to wait until we could see the water clearly because there were a lot of logs, branches, and twigs in the river.

It was clear when we left, but within 30 minutes we hit a wall of fog so thick you could barely see beyond the bow of the boat. Fortunately there was very little boat traffic and we had radar and AIS (a way of seeing and identifying boats) as well as a great horn to warn any boats that might not show up otherwise. It was an interesting 30 minutes of trying to make sure we didn’t hit any debris or anything else. It cleared up then and we thought it would stay clear, but then it came upon us again. This time it lasted more like 20 minutes. It cleared up and then once it again hit, this time for about 10 minutes. Needless to say, the first couple of hours were ones we don’t care to repeat.

When the fog finally lifted for good, this was what we saw.

Along the river you see all kinds of transportation – trains that run right along the river and a riverboat passenger paddleboat.

     

We pulled into a nice calm channel just off the Mississippi River just before two. There are now 8 boats anchored here! Here’s the view from our back deck. We were able to sit back there for about an hour enjoying a shady late afternoon -until the bugs came out and drove us inside.

Rich grilled pork chops, I made a salad, and then it was time to get ready for another long run tomorrow. We’ve got a routine going now for those days – coffee in insulated mugs, cereal you can eat dry from a baggie while underway, sandwiches and Pringles for lunch, and plenty of water.

And now another sunset, taken from the bow of the boat.