November 2016 – Page 2 – Nancy and Rick Unplugged

New Johnsonville, TN to Perryville, TN

Before leaving Pebble Isle Marina we accepted an invitation to join the staff for homemade cinnamon buns. If you know me well, you know that I rarely eat sweets. This time I decided to make an exception, I wanted to join in the conversation and, at the same time, not offend the host. We were on the river for several hours with me standing up, sitting down, moving here, and moving there before I realized I was having a “sugar high.” How do you say, never again?

Sunday was a beautiful day to cruise the river. We left Kentucky Lake behind us and continued on the Tennessee. We passed our first two river barges, cruised by a Tennessee National Wildlife Park, and entered Perryville Marina with the lowest water level we ever hope to see be beneath Andiamo. Our depth-gage showed a mere 0.5 feet of water below our keel and we were inside the entrance channel, a traumatic experience for the captain who was sure that we would run aground. The day ended with a glass of wine and a full moon, life is good.

blackbirds

blueheron crowconvention

whitepelicantakingoff

Civil War History (April 12, 1861 – May 9, 1865)

While at Pebble Isle Marina we visited Johnsonville State Historic Park which commemorates the site of the Johnsonville Depot, the Battle of Johnsonville and the historic town site of Johnsonville that existed from 1864-1944. Johnsonville, the location of a Union supply depot, was attacked on November 4th, 1864 by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The attack destroyed 14 transports, 20 barges, four gunboats and more than $6 million worth of supplies meant for Union General William T. Sherman’s army in Georgia. Although this battle was a win for the Confederate army it did not stop General Sherman’s march to the sea.

Paris Landing to Pebble Isle Marina

Paris Landing State Park was wonderful. Approximately 1000 acres for people to engage in water sports, golfing, hiking, eating, or just basking in the sun.

parislandingturtles — The turtles preferred basking in the sun.

They tell me that whether you want to fish for bass, catfish, crappie, bluegill, redear, or sauger, Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake are the places to be. If the number of fishing boats that Rick and I have seen is any proof of this, locals must be telling the truth. Rick and I have seen literally hundreds of these boats.

fishingboat1 — Fishing boat at Paris Landing Marina.

fishingboat2 — This fisherman told us that the two poles on either side of the motor have jacks that extend down to eight feet in order to hold the boat in place while fishing.

After always cruising on oceans, where we primarily used Latitude and Longitude, we are learning the importance of “Mile Markers.” I guess that is why the rivers are more like highways. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The mouth of the Tennessee River begins at Paducah, KY (mm 0.0).

The Danville-Faxon Ferry crossing is located just north of mile marker 78.2. This means it is approximately 78 miles upstream from Paducah, KY. Rick and I entered the river at mile 25.4.

abandoned-louisville-and-nashville-railroad-bridge — Mile 78.2, Abandoned Louisville & N Railroad Bridge

abandoned-grainery — Mile 78.2, Abandoned Grainery

Tonight we are at Pebble Isle Marina (Mile 96.1) in New Johnsonville, TN.

pebbleislemarina

Our LBL Anchorages

Tuesday morning and we are ready to leave GTB behind us.

gbtmleaving — Fueled up and ready for our next adventure.

aglca-flag — Our new AGLCA burgee (flag identifying us as loopers).

Tuesday evening we entered the beautiful, peaceful, enchanting Sugar Bay for our first anchorage on the Loop. As we enter the bay we are met by an eagle, then blue heron, and as we drop the anchor a white pelican flows by.

whitepelican — American White Pelican. These birds, one of the largest in North America, are amazing in flight.

morningatsugarbay — Morning at Sugar Bay

As we leave Sugar Bay we see a UFO taking off from Kentucky Lake.

ufo — UFO on Kentucky Lake (No, it is not edited – any guesses as to what it is?)

Wednesday, we said good-bye to Kentucky and hello to Tennessee where we spent our second night at a beautiful anchorage. We enjoyed a star filled evening and awoke with Andiamo encased in dense fog that took several hours to melt away.

foggymorning3 — Foggy morning at Dry Fork Bay

foggymorning2 — Foggy morning at Dry Fork Bay

foggymorning1 — Foggy morning at Dry Fork Bay

Tonight we are at Paris Landing State Park Marina, can you tell that we are traveling a little out of season? Since the office staff left at 4:00 pm, we have not seen anyone in the marina.

Saying Goodbye to Green Turtle Bay

We are excited to be starting the Tennesse River portion of our adventure. Before we leave, I have a few fun facts from GTB that I would like to share.

turtles-3 — The bay is named after the thousand of green turtles that live here.

gbtmalgaecontrol — The marina uses electricity to control the algae in this area.

gtbmmidgescontrol — The little container that is next to our boat is used to control midges, these insects are similar in appearance to mosquitos, but they do not bite. The marina fills hundreds of these containers with larvicide each year at a cost of $40,000 per year.

partydock — The covered dock next to the boat ramp is definitely the “Party Dock” for GTBM. These boat owners live here in the summer. They have their boats, tiki bars, grills, patio furniture, and more.

houseboat — On the party dock, Rick was invited to tour a boat similar to this one, only much bigger. Deck, living room, kitchen, 4 bedrooms, and 3 1/2 baths, not to mention the slide on the back. The cost of the one he toured – $800,oo0. A little different than living on our little tug.

1dance-8 — Our goodbye gift, a prancing blue heron at sunrise.

2dance-5 3dance-7

Exploring the LBL National Recreation Area

If all goes well, this will be our last full day at Green Turtle Bay Marina. Sunday, with our to-do list almost complete, we explored the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. We visited Woodlands Nature Station, did some hiking, and explored a possible anchorage for Tuesday night.

woodpecker — We watched this little guy fly between an acorn tree and his “winter storage shed” for several minutes.

The squirrel was also preparing for winter.

One of the rescued owls at the nature station.

fort-d-eagle — Bald Eagle at Fort Donelson

Returning to GTBM we had dinner with Susan and David, (Veritas) at the Commonwealth Yacht Club. The food was good and David shared information on marinas and anchorages between Chicago and Mobile, which will undoubtedly be very useful in the future.

Civil War History

To protect Tennessee, and its crucial rail system from the union, the Confederacy built Forts Heiman and Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. Their labors were not rewarded, on February 6, 1862, Fort Henry fell to the Union and ten days later Fort Donelson. These battles, the first to use ironclad gunboats during the Civil War, marked the first significant Union victories and established General Ulysses S. Grant as a major figure of the war.

fd2 — Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River

AIS Day

Our week stay at GTBM has turned into a two-week stay. It seems that every time we marked off an item from our “to do” list we add two more. Of course, part of the issue is that it is beautiful here, the weather is perfect, and we can’t go below the 35th parallel until November 15 unless we want to pay more insurance because of hurricane season, so we are in no hurry to leave, the sunrises are incredible.

gtbmsunrise Today has been Automatic Identification System (AIS) day. Rick and I (I was more like the sous-chef) installed our AIS. This sounds simple, however not so much, we had to remove the port side front seat, remove the refrigerator, and in general move everything around.
About halfway through Rick said, “So sorry I started this, the AIS is just not worth it,” I know that once it is over he will be so happy. Below are a few pictures from the process.

ais1

ais2 — So, this is what is behind the refrigerator.

ais3