The last week or so it has been quite cool and pants/jackets have been necessary. Happily, the weather changed today and we are back in shorts and enjoying 80 degree temperatures. Research told us that if the Great Loop is done correctly, we should never have to put on a pair of pants. Not true!!! We've been in pants for a week and are thrilled the weather finally warmed back up today. Our dream of living in warm weather year round is slowly but surely becoming a reality.
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| Tennessee River view from downtown Clifton, TN |
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| Tennessee River view from downtown Clifton, TN |
The landscape has been changing as we continue to move south, becoming more beautiful day by day. Below is a picture we took Wednesday morning in the Barkley Canal as we transitioned from Barkley Lake to Kentucky Lake. The trees are just starting to change and only the slightest color can be detected. We have traveled the last 150 miles or so down Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River without seeing a single barge, tug or tow! It has been wonderfully relaxing to just sit back on such a wide river and enjoy the scenery. So far, the Tennessee River has been much wider than the Mississippi and much more picturesque.
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| Landscape passing through Barkley Canal |
On Wednesday a large group of looper boats all left Green Turtle Bay and moved to Paris Landing State Park. Upon our arrival, word came down the dock to bring a dish to pass and the meat you want to grill up to the marina office at 6:00 p.m. Finally, our first looper potluck!!!! We've been hearing about looper potluck's since before Mackinaw, but hadn't been in the right place at the right time yet to participate in one. It reminded us of the impromptu meals at Harbor Club North where all our friends gathered to grill and eat together. Hello to all at Harbor Club - we miss you. After taking inventory of available ingredients on the boat, Hilary prepared homemade Au-gratin potatoes and headed off for a run while they were baking in the oven. During the run, she came across a cabin on a corner with a sign over the front door that said "JAIL". You just never know what you'll see when you head out the door.
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| Building Hilary saw on her run |
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| Horse and buggy at the same location |
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| Louisville & Nashville RR Bridge - span removed |
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| Abandoned dock |
A couple folks have commented that Hilary is the one taking the pictures and thus is never in the pictures so Bert took a picture so all can see Hilary is still alive and well. Hilary has an even shorter haircut courtesy of the spa back at Green Turtle Bay. Nomie is still standing watch over us on the bridge as we travel south.
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| Hilary and Nomie |
The next marina we stayed at, Cuba Landing, was very small. Below is a picture looking towards the river from the bridge and looking from the aft deck towards the marina office which was much smaller than Took the Plunge. The reason we selected this marina is because it was the closest one to the Loretta Lynn Ranch. For those that don't know, Coal Miner's Daughter is a movie favorite so seeing the ranch was a trip highlight. Arrangements were made with the Harbor Master, Tony, to transport us the 16 miles to and from the Ranch. It was a very nice day spent touring the ranch. We didn't realize it is it's own town with a United States post office: Hurricane Mills, TN. We toured Loretta's childhood home, the Plantation Home where she and Doo lived until the late 80's, a recreation of the coal mine her daddy worked in and also her museum. All of it was very interesting.
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| View of the Cuba Landing Bay and Tennessee River from the dock |
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| Cuba Landing marina office directly behind (and below) the boat |
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| Loretta Lynn's Butcher Holler childhood home |
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| Tour Bus |
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| Hurricane Mills, TN Post Office |
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| Bert with a mouthful of fried baloney sandwich |
Saturday morning, it was time to move again onto Clifton, TN. Turner and CJ are getting pretty comfortable with traveling and Turner decided to come up on the bridge for the first time. The trip from Cuba Landing to Clifton is probably one of the most scenic we've seen so far. The river is beautiful in this part of the country.
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| Turner enjoying the view from the bridge |
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| View of the landscape - getting rocky! |
Now that we are at Clifton Marina, we have joined back up with many other looper boats, a least a dozen are here. Ten boats all arranged transport to a local restaurant last night. It took four trips in the courtesy car to get us all 20 of us there, but only three trips on the way back. We had nine people in a Buick Century last night to get the six miles back from the restaurant last night! We looked like a clown car. Today there is a forecast for high winds and severe thunderstorms so all boats are staying here again tonight. There is a grill and patio area at this marina directly in front of Took the Plunge. The patio has a big screen TV and we expect it to be the gathering place for everyone this afternoon and this evening.
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| Took the Plunge and patio area at Clifton Marina |
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| View #2 |
All marinas we stay at now are floating marinas to handle river flooding. This particular marina has the highest flood poles we've seen so far on the trip. Bert estimates they are at least 30', most marina's the poles have been about 20'. They are the big blue pole in the pictures above. It is hard to image that every year in the spring the river rises that much, but each marina has high water markers to track the rise and fall during the year. Even the ramp from land down to the marina has floats on it here.
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