6/9/2018- Saturday Grand Rivers Ky to Clarksville Tn

The day started early 4am for me since I’m still on eastern time and used to getting up at 5.  Coffee on the aft deck and a nice sunrise.  Plans were to shove off early for a pretty long haul (90 miles) up the Cumberland River.   Plans for the early departure were thwarted by trouble with the fresh water pump.  After checking the breaker, tracing where things were hot (getting electric) for over an hour, we eventually found that the issue was as simple as a bad ground.  Felt silly, but grateful it was simple and an inexpensive (free) fix!
We departed Green Turtle Bay (Grand Rivers Ky) at 9:15am and made our way south on Lake Barkley which is just a dammed section of the Cumberland River.  Lake Barkley is a very different lake than Kentucky Lake (the lake that runs parallel with Lake Barkely to form "The Land Between The Lakes").  On Lake Barkley you have to watch the channel markers carefully in order to avoid going into the flooded shallows and ruining a prop...or worse!   Midway down Lake Barkley we saw our first bald eagle of the trip perched on his/her nest on a stump in the middle of the lake.  No pic though....Renee wouldn’t let me slow down 🤣
After about 45 miles of twisting and turning through the channels of Lake Barkley the waters turn back into a true river.   Any choppiness or waves went away and it was smooth cruising!  For most of the remainder of the today it was almost solely fishing boats that we encountered (and a couple of barges).  Shortly after we were back on the true Cumberland River portion we saw what we at first thought was a log but then noticed it was swimming.  It turned out to be a raccoon swimming across the river.  Loving the wildlife!
After a quick stop to float, eat lunch, and swim to cool off (it was HOT...over 90 degrees) we continued upriver to our destination for the day/night, Clarksville Tn.  In Clarksville we were fortunate to find a municipal doc that is very nice and has electricity so that we could run our air conditioning....yay!  After docking and getting settled in we took the bikes off of the boat and took a ride along the riverfront through a very nice park and stopped to get ice cream! That’s right, we don’t make stops without getting ice cream 🤭 we found a little shop that was Mexican ice cream. Pretty yummy on a hot day. After the ride we came back to the boat, cooked dinner on the grill and here we sit blogging and watching towns people fish on the dock. We’re both pretty tired and I’m sure it’s going to be an early night. Plans are for Nashville and beyond tomorrow.
Sunrise at GTB...bikes look ready to cruise some river towns!
Aquaholic perched and ready to cruise
One more sunrise pic because....why not

The "Castle" aka the Kentucky State Penitentiary. Historical and wow it’s immense!

Fort Donnelson, civil war battlefield

The cannons are lined up facing the river to hold the union troops back....but they did not succeed

At home for the evening at the Clarksville municipal dock

The end of another wonderful day

6-8-2018 - Friday-pictures

breakfast at French Crust in Cincinnati 

Maverick Chocolates

Home at Green Turtle Bay

Thirsty turtle for live music and a sunset

6/8/2018-Friday -Back to the boat

Day one of the 2018 season and we have arrived safely at our floating home!  Stopped to visit Devin and Yong Yun in Cincinnati for breakfast on the way.  Had a delicious breakfast at French Crust near Findlay Market then sampled some amazing chocolate at Maverick Chocolates.  Arrived around 1pm and got the boat loaded before taking a swim in the pool here at Green Turtle Bay. Realizing we had skipped lunch, we had an early dinner then little nap!   We gave the boat a little bath and filled the water tank.  Our systems are still on eastern time and we got up around 4am so it will probably be an early night.  Feels amazing to be back on the water! 

8/5/17 Saturday - Day 21....our final day!

We all (Renee and I as well as Dad and  Lori) had a good night's sleep with a wonderfully comfortable temps night.  No AC needed just a window :-)
We awoke early (as usual around 6am).  Morning conversations then breakfast of eggs and sausage on the grill.   Renee and I walked the docks and said our farewells (for now) to Scott and KC as well as Byron and Cynthia.  We hope to be able to cross paths with our new Looper friends in the future. 
Dad took his car and headed by road down to Sunset Harbor Hill Marina (where we will be leaving the boat).   We headed out onto the lake/s to meet him down there.   Erik kept a good pace (much to Renee's chagrin) In order to not keep dad waiting to long at the marina.  
After picking dad up and touching base with the marina staff we headed back out to a cove that was only a couple miles up lake to float and swim for a short spell.  The cove we picked was right outside Kenlake Marina where we needed to stop anyhow to pump out our holding tank.  While there at the marina we could not resist having another go at a mocha chip ice cream cone :-)
We then headed back to Sunset Harbor Hill to get settled into our slip and remove stuff from the boat to prepare to head home :-(
It was to sad to leave Aquaholic behind knowing that we will not be able to be aboard for a while.  BUT....we are both very pleased and had a blast on this beginning leg of our Great Loop journey!
Until next time......

Left GTB and heading through the 'pass' to Kentucky Lake

Found a nice cove on Kentucky Lake down by Sunset Harbor Hill and Kenlake Marina to have a final float/swim in before departing for home

Hi Lori and Renee! 

Renee and Toby smiling about River Life

Bringing Aquaholic in to pump out and prepare her for her slip while we travel home

⛵ Off of the boat and headed home with Dad driving.                                                                Boat hair.....don't care!  

8/4/17 Friday - Day 20

Dad and Lori were still with us.   We started our day with breakfast ..... Well, it was coconut cream pie and chocolate cream pie but we called it breakfast! 
We went out and found a cove to float in just down from the marina on lake Barkley pretty early (around 10am).  The water felt a bit cooler today but we determined it was likely just because it was a windy and cooler day.
We came back in to dock at the marina at about 3pm and renee and I went up to check out the spa at GTB.  No massage or manicure for us today......just a dip in the nice indoor pool and checked the place out.
We cooked shish kabobs for an early dinner and then all showered up.  Afterwards we went up to the newly opened 'Thirsty Turtle' where we listened to some live music on a beautiful evening while enjoying a few cold ones.....Coke And Diet Coke for us :-)

We sat after breakfast and watched them take a couple boats out and in on the lifts.  Pretty cool to watch

Our new Looper friend, Byron, took a pic of us all as we were preparing to leave for an evening at 'The Thirsty Turtle'

A beautiful evening for some live music

8/3/17 Thursday - Day 19

A wonderful day spent with family .   We awoke and sat around drinking coffee and chatting.  Made eggs and bacon for breakfast. 
For our boating today we went down through the pass over to Kentucky Lake and boated down to a bay/cove (Nickell Branch) that looked appealing on the maps and Garmin bluecharts.  On the way down, we started seeing black smoke billowing up from what appeared to be in the lake.  It turned out to be a small runabout boat that had caught fire .  We sat and watched for a few minutes as the fire and rescue boats arrived and sprayed it out.  Pretty scary.  We read online that all 3 passengers got off safely :-)
It was a nice relaxing float for a couple of hours, but not quite as quaint and teaming with wildlife as the cove renee and I had floated in a few days ago.  After a time we made our way back North on Kentucky Lake to another smaller cove that was nice also.  It still was not as peaceful as the one from the other day because the wind was blowing pretty good (welcomed given the 89 degree temps).  After a short while we headed back toward GTB marina to get cleaned up and relax prior to a 7pm dinner reservation that we had made at Patti's. 
Patti's was a nice dinner with great atmosphere, their famous 2" pork chops, and a nice walk around their lit up grounds after. 
To top the day/evening off we went back to the boat and enjoyed some chatting as well as indulgence in Patti's 8" high meringue pie!  Renee had a piece of the chocolate and Dad, Lori, and Erik had the coconut.   It was delish!  To boot.....we have half a coconut pie and half if Renee's chocolate piece leftover for tomorrow :-)
We will sleep well.....and full.

Another day begins at GTB

Toby talking about how happy he is to have a visit from Dad and Lori

Yikes!  A boat caught fire in the middle of the lake :-( Fortunately everyone got off safely :-)

Patti's famous 2" pork chop

Lori and Renee preparing for the Patti's experience

We hadn't tried the pie yet (we got a whole coconut one and a piece of chocolate for Renee to go) bit we were pretty sure we'd love it!

Patti's grounds all lit up at night

There's the Pie!  It was delish :-)

8/2/17 Wednesday - day 18

Well.....we all know boats have issues, right?  We had a couple of them late last night.   The water pump that had a small drip leak in it since last year suddenly had a MUCH larger leak and needed immediate replacement .  Fortunately, we had a brand new pump aboard that we simply had not got around to replacing.  Woke this morning and replaced the pump.  Also got the hot water tank up and going.   Spent some time socializing with our Looper friends on the dock (Byron and Cynthia aboard Bright Angel, and Scott and KC aboard Jet Stream). 
We then spent an hour or so cleaning up the boat and stowing some things away in preparation for Dad and Lori to arrive.   They will be spending the next four days aboard with is exploring the lakes and then give us a lift home.  
After they arrived and we visited for a bit, we shoved off of the dock at GTB and headed down Lake Barkley a small stretch to a cove where we floated and swam for a couple of hours. 
We then grilled out dinner and later went for a walk down to the GTB beach.  We saw a heard of 7 deer that were obviously pretty used to people and stayed within 100ft or so of us.   Toby to break his new Walmart retractable leash be had just gotten yesterday by chasing the deer.  They ran off a bit then stopped and looked back at us as if to say " you are a stupid dog if you think you can catch us". 
Ended the evening with good conversation back on the deck and then bed. Good to see family and have them aboard to share a slice of our experiences! With the company aboard we didn't take pictures today......just a shnrise