LOCK 52 Anchorage to GRAND RIVERS, KY (Green Turtle Bay Resort) / Friday, September 9 to Wednesday, September

Admiral's Log:     6:50 am, 9/9/16
                         Air Temp:   73     Water Temp:   80
                        Winds:   calm
                        Speed:   10 mph

Our speed has slowed dramatically now that we are going against the current. We bypassed the Tennessee River and headed up the Cumberland. The Tennessee Route is shorter in mileage but you can get hung up with barge traffic and we were ready to get a break from that! So we went up the Cumberland; a much prettier more peaceful river. 

Tennessee is off to the right. We are still on the Ohio at left.

The Cumberland River a nice change from the commercial Ohio and Mississippi.

The blue dot is us at the start of the Cumberland River off to the right.

You can barely see his white head, but never gets old spotting eagles!

We saw several eagles flying and in nests. We only had one easy lock; the Barkley Lock which rose us 57' to Kentucky Lake in only 10 minutes! The Barkley Lock and Dam along with the Kentucky Dam form the "Land Between the Lakes" National Recreation Area. These dams stop the flow of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, forming Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. 

Our 57 foot rise in the Barclay Dam

Dam fish, ha ha, could not resist.

We arrived at Green Turtle Bay a little after noon. Green Turtle is a great place to decompress for a few days after the locks and long running days. It has a spa, condos and golf cart rentals to town. Most all Loopers come there this time of year, so it's kind of old home week. We met several new Loopers and saw quite a few we had not seen since the Rendezvous in May. We are staying 6 nights.

We visited the Ship's Store and bought the obligatory T-shirts and both had Pedicures. Your feet take a beating on a boat for so long. 

Barb and Joe our good friends from Lexington drove over 3 hours to stay with us for a couple of days. We went to the Catfish Kitchen for dinner. They had the best hushpuppies and white beans! The catfish was ok, but better than we'd had in a long time. We came back to the boat and watched the University of Louisville vs. Syracuse football game. Barb and Joe are huge U of L fans. 

Dinner with Barb and Joe at Catfish Kitchen

The 6 boats we left at lock 52 arrived at 4 pm and Liquid Assets and Have Another Day arrived at 8:30. A long day for them, especially with 2 young girls.

Saturday, the four of us went in Joe and Barb's car to the big city of Paducah for something to do. We visited the National Quilt Museum, mainly so I could send my two sisters-in-laws a photos. Lisa, especially is a really good quilter. I told them they needed to take a road trip here, I know they would enjoy. Then we went to the Locomotive Museum, where Mike got to play in a simulator. 

Stained Glass Quilt, gorgeous!

The artist is from Tampa, coincidentally.

This is made of wood, amazing!

Not only is he a Boat Captain, he is also a Train Engineer

Doing my impression of Ernestine, snort snort...(you have to be over 50 to get it) haha.

After lunch at a cute Mexican Restaurant, we drove to the Purple Toad Winery. Mike and Barb did a tasting and bought a couple of bottles, but agreed most of the wines were too sweet for them. 

When we got back to the boat we walked over to tour the traveling  reproduction ships of the Nina and Pinta. They travel the US route we Loopers do. 

We had dinner at Mr. Bill's an extension of Patti's Settlement Restaurant. It is a well know eating establishment; known for their 2" pork chops. None of us got them, but what we had was ok. It's one of those gotta go tourist stops. They cram in as many people as they can and get them out as fast as they can. The decor was over the top with silk flowers everywhere! Been there, done that, kind of place. We went back to the boat and watched Auburn win, War Eagle! 

Patti and Bill also own the Pink Tractor, can you believe it?

Decor is a bit busy for my taste.

Sunday,  We joined Liquid Assets for their "Crossing their Wake" celebration with an emotional champagne toast and the raising of the Gold Burgee; meaning you finished the Loop. I'm sure it will be bitter sweet for us as well. We said good bye to Barb and Joe, for now.

We had lunch with Jim and Mandy, soon to be Loopers on Shell Belle. We had met them at the Fall Rendezvous and hoped to travel with them this year. But their daughter's wedding changed that. They are now starting mid October and we plan to see them when they pass St. Pete Beach. I did a little laundry, and we watched some football until Mel and Ann of Morningstar II came for dinner. They are leaving tomorrow and plan to put the hammer down and head for home and "cross their wake".  Home right now is Guntersville Yacht and Country Club. So we will see them when we visit Mike's family for Thanksgiving.

Monday, Mike and I had a good breakfast at the Resort Grill. Then we mostly vegged all day. I worked on the Blog, we read and walked around the docks visiting. Then we arranged a pretty big Docktails for 6pm. Four or five other boats arrived just in time. I think we had nearly 15 boats represented. Of course we had leftovers for dinner, which always happens after a big Docktails.

                            

Tuesday, Jim of Shell Belle picked up a few things from the store for us. Mike worked on our hose pressure issue and I continued work on the Blog. We both had delicious massages at the spa for an hour. We were happy to see Rafe of Cat Daddy, Gabby and John of Crazy Love had arrived. We had not seen them in a while. Then we melted on the couch before cleaning up to have dinner with Jim and Mandy at the Yacht Club.

Wednesday, I got last minute laundry done and finally got my haircut! More Loopers had arrived, including the 2 couples from Snow Goose.

  We took the courtesy car to Walmart and dinner with Chica. We ate at the Four Pigs in Benton, a pretty good Bar B Q restaurant. They are a sweet older couple we will miss and we are not sure when we will see them again. But they plan to stop and see us when they get to our area as well.  I love that we live on the inner coastal. We can see our friends again and it's always nice to know someone that can take you to the store or help in anyway. We all needed some help along this adventure at one time or another.

Mike and I, Sandy and Al of Chica and Bill and Mary Lou of Ocean Commotion, from Connecticut.