JUly 26 Finally on the River

Apologies to those of you trying to follow us along but we have had no internet connection for the last two days. In spite of a Verizon wireless air card, two wireless ipads and wifi at the marina we could not connect to the internet. Some places on the Tennessee are pretty remote. I think some areas still use smoke signals to communicate! We finally got in the water Thursday morning at Lee Spry Marine. It took about two hours to get to Pickwick dam from Spry’s boatyard and good fortune smiled upon us there and we had no delays getting through Pickwick lock. Below the dam there was an estimated 1.5 mph current in the river which gave us a good boost. That coupled with a clean and freshly painted bottom on the boat gave us about 10.5 mph which for us was “flying.” Ron Cowan was under the weather with vertigo and decided to postpone joining us till he felt better. David Quinn left with us from Yellow Creek and was great crew. David is an old sailor and used to captain a 90 foot sailboat out of Florida. David is obsessive about some things and I could not get him to stop working and cleaning the boat. It was and still is pretty dirty having been in the yard for a week and as usual we had stuff stacked everywhere to be put away. We made Clifton,Tennessee the first night and spent the night in the Marina. First days run was about 60 miles. Left Clifton yesterday morning and put another 50 miles behind us and got into Pebble Isle Marina at New Johnsonville about 5pm. I had talked to Ron and Nansue earlier in the day and he was feeling better so they met us there. Since we had a vehicle we took advantage of it and went out to eat in a little town called Camden which also had a Walmart where we picked up a few grocery items. The weather the last two days had been absolutely glorious. Probably didn’t even need the air conditionings but we ran it anyway.
Coming into Pebble Isle yesterday, the 15 kw generator overheated and shut down, so we fired up the big generator to make our grand entrance to the marina. We fired up the calliope and played a few songs for the boating crowd. As usual there was a plethora onlookers on the dock to see the show and help us tie up. This morning we moved the boat over to the fuel dock and took on about 500 gallons of diesel fuel. Ron Cowan and Carol filled diesel tanks while I laid in the bilge changing out the impeller on the generator. It was due an oil change so we accomplished that also at the same time. We had the little generator up and running about the time we were finished taking on diesel. David Quinn departed taking Rons truck back to Florence. Got out of Pebble Isle around noon and ran on down the river another 50 miles to Kenlake State Park Marina. We were on Kentucky Lake most of the day which is very wide with a marked channel you have to follow. Probably 5 miles wide or more in places so there was not a lot to look at or see Coming into the marina this afternoon we had the same problem with the starboard engine that we had with the generator. It overheated so I shut it down and let is rest for a few minutes and then fired it us just as we were docking. The wind was pushing us off the dock and I needed both engines to get along side the pier. Haven’t looked at the engine yet pretty sure its an impeller so will get to play in the bilge again in the morning pulling the water pump off and changing out the impeller. Met Barbara the owner of the marina and she drove us to a local restaurant where we bought her dinner for her effort.
Tomorrow will be a short day…about a 30 mile run down the Tennessee River to about mile 25 where we go through the Barkley Canal and cross over to the Cumberland River. The canal is only a mile or so long and then will be on the Cumberland. From there its only a few miles down the Cumberland to Green Turtle Bay marina where we will spend the night. We should have mail waiting for us….parts for the new chart plotter and my new glasses. Monday we head down the Cumberland and it’s only about 25 miles to the Ohio. We should have internet tomorrow so will post some pictures then.

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