Thursday, September 11
UPS got the part for the dinghy engine here
yesterday and the great mechanics at Rock Harbor had it running early afternoon. We took it out for a ride around the harbor and it ran fine. Diana got this interesting picture of the Rock Harbor wall and the slips nearest it.
This morning we got up and got underway. The captain was a little rusty and had a minor problem getting out of the slip. We will need a section of rear rail straightened at some point.
We pulled into the fuel dock and topped off the diesel, we did not fill before we went home in June. We had 302 miles and 3 generator hours on this tank. It took 72.5 gallons. Allowing .5 times 3 for the generator, 302/71 is 4.25 MPG. Much of this tank was leisurely cruising at just 6 and 7 MPH so we did better than the 4 MPG at 8 that is the goal.
After fueling we headed out into the Cumberland and down river. At Ashland City we saw the Braxton Condos we wrote about in the last entry. The Captain didn’t see much of them however, as we had caught our first tow of the day and we were busy passing. It is amazing how long it takes to pass an 1100 foot tow when he is doing 6.5 MPH and you are doing 8.
After getting by him we decided to run hard to the Cheatham lock (about an hour for us) so we could get there in time to lock thru ahead of him, if the lock was available. It was and we waited only about 15 minutes before the gates opened and we had an uneventful (best kind) lockage. He was just arriving as we exited the lock
We then continued another twenty miles to the city of Clarksville’s free town dock where we had a reservation and had stayed before. Although we had been told it might be busy with four other boats on the dock, they never showed and we had a peaceful night with the dock to ourselves.
During the day we saw flags at half mast. It took a moment to remember that it was 9-11, then we gave thanks for the opportunity to continue to live in this great country.
It was a hot day, upper eighties with high humidity. We ran the generator and the air conditioning for the last two hours to keep the deck hands cool. Pikka said meow (thanks dad).
Along the way Diana got this picture of an interesting rock figure along the river bank. It is possible that someone has done some carving, but my guess is that it is natural erosion.
Friday, September 12
Today’s plan was to run to the Barkley State Park Marina, a distance of 68 + miles. This is about the maximum we like to run in a day and we needed to get in before the staff went home. We were up with the sun (not all that early this time of y
ear), had a quick breakfast and were underway by a few minutes after 7:00 A.M.
Here is just one of the beautiful views looking down the river.
Diana (and the captain) continues to enjoy the abundance of water birds along the river. We have seen lots of vultures, egrets, herons (several varieties), osprey, geese and bald eagles to name just the larger birds. Diana is still working on identifying a couple of the smaller species.
Diana is intrigued with getting pictures of the birds in flight. Here are just three of her efforts.
Shortly after noon we past The Donelson National Battlefield. This is at the entrance to an anchorage that we had used in June and we were so busy getting into the anchorage we never got a picture of the cannons.
Today was even hotter than yesterday, mid nineties with more sunshine. Not only the deck hands but the Admiral too was hap
py to have the AC on most of the afternoon.
By four o’clock two very helpful dock hands had guided us into our slip at Lake Barkley State Park Marina. It is a great Marina with almost new docks and lots of space between them. The price is just $.60 per foot.
UPS got the part for the dinghy engine here
yesterday and the great mechanics at Rock Harbor had it running early afternoon. We took it out for a ride around the harbor and it ran fine. Diana got this interesting picture of the Rock Harbor wall and the slips nearest it.This morning we got up and got underway. The captain was a little rusty and had a minor problem getting out of the slip. We will need a section of rear rail straightened at some point.
We pulled into the fuel dock and topped off the diesel, we did not fill before we went home in June. We had 302 miles and 3 generator hours on this tank. It took 72.5 gallons. Allowing .5 times 3 for the generator, 302/71 is 4.25 MPG. Much of this tank was leisurely cruising at just 6 and 7 MPH so we did better than the 4 MPG at 8 that is the goal.
After fueling we headed out into the Cumberland and down river. At Ashland City we saw the Braxton Condos we wrote about in the last entry. The Captain didn’t see much of them however, as we had caught our first tow of the day and we were busy passing. It is amazing how long it takes to pass an 1100 foot tow when he is doing 6.5 MPH and you are doing 8.
After getting by him we decided to run hard to the Cheatham lock (about an hour for us) so we could get there in time to lock thru ahead of him, if the lock was available. It was and we waited only about 15 minutes before the gates opened and we had an uneventful (best kind) lockage. He was just arriving as we exited the lock
We then continued another twenty miles to the city of Clarksville’s free town dock where we had a reservation and had stayed before. Although we had been told it might be busy with four other boats on the dock, they never showed and we had a peaceful night with the dock to ourselves.
During the day we saw flags at half mast. It took a moment to remember that it was 9-11, then we gave thanks for the opportunity to continue to live in this great country.
It was a hot day, upper eighties with high humidity. We ran the generator and the air conditioning for the last two hours to keep the deck hands cool. Pikka said meow (thanks dad).
Along the way Diana got this picture of an interesting rock figure along the river bank. It is possible that someone has done some carving, but my guess is that it is natural erosion.
Friday, September 12
Today’s plan was to run to the Barkley State Park Marina, a distance of 68 + miles. This is about the maximum we like to run in a day and we needed to get in before the staff went home. We were up with the sun (not all that early this time of y
ear), had a quick breakfast and were underway by a few minutes after 7:00 A.M. Here is just one of the beautiful views looking down the river.
Diana (and the captain) continues to enjoy the abundance of water birds along the river. We have seen lots of vultures, egrets, herons (several varieties), osprey, geese and bald eagles to name just the larger birds. Diana is still working on identifying a couple of the smaller species.Diana is intrigued with getting pictures of the birds in flight. Here are just three of her efforts.
Shortly after noon we past The Donelson National Battlefield. This is at the entrance to an anchorage that we had used in June and we were so busy getting into the anchorage we never got a picture of the cannons.
Today was even hotter than yesterday, mid nineties with more sunshine. Not only the deck hands but the Admiral too was hap
py to have the AC on most of the afternoon.By four o’clock two very helpful dock hands had guided us into our slip at Lake Barkley State Park Marina. It is a great Marina with almost new docks and lots of space between them. The price is just $.60 per foot.
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