December 2, 2015

We have been enjoying sleeping in and making breakfast.  Janis tried out the microwave/over to make biscuits.  They came out great!  We had rented a car to see a few sites around Demopolis.  We checked out the river below the dam and found a beautiful area for having a picnic.  The river seems to be running quite a bit.  We also saw a few of the older homes all of which are now registered with the Historical Association.

December 3, 2015

We have decided to stay in Demopolis until Sunday AM.  We plan on attending the “Christmas on the River” Events here.  This includes the Alabama State Championship BBQ Cook off on Friday. On Saturday there is a Christmas parade downtown as well as a Craft Fair on the city square.  Then in the evening there is a Nautical Parade where pontoon boats with no engines are pulled or pushed for a couple miles on the river past judges at the Demopolis Civic Center.  Afterwards there is a fireworks display.  This is the largest event of the year in these parts so we thought we should stay for this event.

Today finds us still in Demopolus. We have been waiting for a better weather window in Mobile bay and decided to wait it out a little longer. We rented a car and booked a few more days here. now the window has opened and doesn’t match up. ahh there will be another. meanwhile there are a bunch of  goin’ s on here. Alabama bbq cook of championship, xmas boat parade, a fair in the square! So Janis will take her case to stay to a higher court!

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November 20, 2015 Kentucky Dam Marina

We pushed off at 6:45 AM CST.   Tom helped us off and took a few photos as we left.  It did not take Boner as long to come up to the fly bridge as the last time he was on the boat in September.   It is a near perfect beautiful sunny day.  At bit chilly but manageable. Our target was Cuba Landing but we docked a bit short at Pebble Isle Marina with an arrival at 2:43 PM.  It is a nice marina and very friendly people.

November 21, 2015 Pebble Isle Marina

We pushed off at 7:15 AM – our batteries were low for some reason – we will keep an eye on the charger when we dock tonight.  The Tennessee River is narrower today.  The country side is very pretty we began to see a number of houses along the river on stilts.  We passed two on coming barges, it is easier to manage since we have our new AIS (auto id system) which maps commercial traffic movements.  We can see the barges coming 5 miles out on the map.  So if we need to hail them for passing instructions we can do that knowing their name. We were watching the weather also because a front was coming through.  No rain until about 1:30 PM.   We pulled into Clifton Marina about 2:15 PM in the rain.  This marina was newly dug out in 2003 and the current owners have had this since 2009. Everyone was very nice “Coach” gives the ladies hugs as a welcome not a hand shake.  We had some very good cheeseburgers and a number of beers while we watched college football in the store. Coach coached for Ole Miss. So guess what we were watching!

November 22, 2015 – Clifton Marina

We pushed off at 7:19 AM.  The front that went through brought some very cold air in behind it. It was 30 degrees F.  The batteries were OK this AM – the electric cable and ropes were very cold and stiff.  It took a few extra minutes to get ready to head out because of this.  Today we went through our first lock since Kentucky Dam Marina. We called ahead and the lock master was ready for us so we had no delay.  The winds were up so we had some challenge to get to the west wall of the lock.  Once we cleared, we then went to the entrance to the Tenn. – Tombigbee Waterway.  We stayed at Aqua Yacht Harbor and arrived at 2:35PM.

November 23, 2015 Aqua Harbor

Push off was at 7:20AM because it was foggy at 6:00 AM – We are trying to use the most of the daylight and travel 60 to 50 miles per day for an easy ride.  We entered the “Divide Cut” of the Tenn.-Tombigbee Waterway.  The next 25 miles were very nicely constructed canal with rock on each side and well maintained. The water is narrow but we had no barges until we reached the end of the Cut.  The first lock today was the James Whitten lock this lock has the largest drop at 84 feet! Again we called ahead and the lock was ready for us.  Therefore minimal delay.  In 6 miles we had lock two – Sonny Montgomery lock – We went right in on this one also.  The final lock of the day was John Rankin Lock – they were ready for us and it did not take long to get through the lock.  Janis had planned 1 hour for each lock so we were ahead of schedule when we exited the third lock.  The waterway is narrow but very nice and reminds us of the Ohio River north of Cincinnati.  We reached Midway Marina at 2:35 PM.  They helped us dock and get our electric set up.  Very good and friendly staff.  Now time to relax because tomorrow we will need to go through four locks!

Before dark another Great Loop boat came in “Spirit Journey” Ron and Michelle were very nice. They have a beautiful Kadey Krogen.

November 24, 2015 Midway Marina

We were up at 5:30 AM but had to wait on two barges to go through the Fulton Lock.  We pushed off at 7:45 AM with the Spirit Journey and went into the Fulton Lock with ease as there was no wind against us. SJ transmits an AIS position so barges saw us as well. We traveled steady at 8 knots and the next two locks were within 6 mile of each other.  We timed the locks well and they were ready for us to enter when we arrived.  The last lock was Aberdeen then we had 22 miles to the targeted marina – Columbus Marina – We arrived earlier than expected.

Ron and Michelle joined us for dinner and some Walmart shopping.   Tomorrow we only intend to travel 30 miles with one lock so it should be an easy day.

November 25, 2015 Columbus Marina

We were not in a hurry to push off.  We called Stennis Lock and they gave us 20 minutes to get ready.

The team locked through by 9:35 AM. It is 27 miles to Pirates Marina Cove where we planned to spend Thanksgiving.  No real issues, we had some barge traffic and also needed to wait on a tow boat moving barges around.  We arrived at the marina at 1:00 PM.  Paraiso and Spirit Journey took turns at the fuel dock to fuel up and pump out. The marina is small and reminds us of our marina at Big Bone, KY.  The local guy called it ‘a rustic patina’.  Now time to relax and prepare dinner.  We will sleep in tomorrow and enjoy the holiday.

November 26 Pirates Marina Cove

no travel today!

Happy turkey day!

Remember kids, watch captain ron, today!

We expect to start again 6AM Friday for a 90 mile trip to DEMOPOLUS, Al. Isn’t that where Superman lives?

Well we are making good time but where are we going? All I know is there is water at every stop. Tomorrow, I’m going for a walk in real grass. Although, I do not like the collar thingy, Marina Cove here we come!

Well you might guess that there is only so much napping a kitty can do on a boat. However, I think I’m pretty good at napping. Last night I was bored and started snooping in all those bags the guys brought on deck. One bag said “To Boner from Aunt Carol”. WELL my eyes spied Mices, I LOVE Mices. I tossed them in the air, batted them down the stairs, chewed them, ripped their ears off, and pretty much drooled over them and myself. This boating stuff is not so bad.

oh yea and Janis bought me a fish on  a stick.
Meow meow meee ooo oooo ooow!

-Boner

It took three trips to Kentucky Dam Marina to fix many small issues. Broken door latches, anchor hardware and lights, hinges, zipper lube job, down sized a giant tool box,  boat cleaning, new lettering, and electronic installs and cables and stocking with food and beer. I think you get the picture. Many thanks to Daryl and Tommy for helping us get everything done. The boat looks great and ready for sailing.

Fixin’ stuff

Leaving KDM at sunrise

We can’t believe it, this is it, we are off and running this morning.

We are now in my favorite part of the river waterway for two days. It’s wide like the Ohio but very little traffic. It’s amazing how you can pass through a place twice and totally see new things and feel like it was all a new experience.

So now it is bye bye KDM and hello to Pebble Isle Marina. This was a 73 mile trip which got us deep into Tennessee. We can feel the cold air nipping on our heals. We motored most all day with the windows up.  The wind was a relentless 10 mph in our face. Combined with our 10mph speed it was cold. Paraiso should be near AL tomorrow and getting closer to the upper 50s lower 60s.

This picture was an abandoned marina from the flooding of Tennessee River valley. It now serves as a bass fishing hole. Rent is cheep but parking sucks!

Sept 29, 2015

Were now in safe harbor in Kentucky Lake. We are fixin’ n polishin’ for the next month. It is time to take care of all the little things like sticky door, dirty ising glass, broken anchor lights, hinges, and on and on. The more we do, the more problem areas we find. But the boat is looking better every day. Larry thought we’d be at the far end of the pier and need the services of the golf carts to restock the boat. We lucked out with a front row seat. The staff is really nice here and we are enjoying the stay.

There were a lot of Loopers queuing up for the AGLCA event at Wheeler SP. We took some time to visit Chasing 80 before they pushed off. Jill and Kevin were very nice and we enjoyed the short visit on their boat. Hopefully we can cross wakes later this fall.

Sunday – September 13, 2015

My owners took me on a longer car ride than usual today.

I was put into the large white vessel that I had been on before. You know the one with the monsters in the belly. The engines began and I took my place on the bed in the front berth. This was a bit boring after a while so I stepped out to investigate the other rooms.

I felt the boat going down like an elevator. Once that stopped, the door to the upper level was opened. I did not want to go up but thought this is where the action is. I bit later I ventured outside. It was not a bad ride up here – the wind was coming in and you can see all around.

We stopped for a few minutes and then there seemed to be some indecision on what to do. We then began to move and it became dark. Something about a bad anchor.

I was put downstairs again and not allowed to go back up. I was just beginning to have fun and now I have to sit down here while the fun is going on up stairs. I climbed on the book shelf and looked out the little round window. WOW Louisville was lit up like a Christmas tree. We finally stopped moving after a long time and the engines quit moaning. We all took a nap.

Monday – September 14, 2015

We woke up early today. A lot of putting things away was happening so I could have more places to nap. About time! Then I was put in to the front berth and had to stay there until the boat doctors on board when away. I was allowed to watch for a few minutes but I had to stay out of the way for the most part. I really want to get into that new big room under the floor. Maybe later I’ll sneak down there and keep you posted.

Now we are just looking at the big city. May have to nap again.

-Boner

Sunday, September 13, 2015

bye bye p99                                                         Hello crab shack

At 2:15 PM we shoved off the Pier 99 docks and our Great Loop Adventure began! Carol gave us crocodile tears as we pulled of the P 99 dock. Some day she will joins us on the loop. Larry and Jeff were also there to send us off. Thanks to everyone who helped us get the boat ready to sail.

Our first stop was for fuel and pump out at Turtle Creek Marina (Mile 529 on the Ohio River).

The Markland Dam lock took a bit longer than expected because when we called in they were dealing with a barge coming up river and we think they forgot about us heading down river. We cleared Markland Dam at 4:19 PM. We chose to cruise at 1300 – 1500 RPM which is about 8 – 10 miles per hour. Our goal was to log enough hours at that speed to get a good est of hourly fuel consumption.

We were just north of Madison IN. at 7:04 PM.

Our next decision was to stay in Madison, find anchoring spot or to keep on with a night cruise to Louisville, KY. Our goal was to get to Louisville by 9:00 AM so we can have our mechanic help us with oil change and over view of the engines. We decided to try to anchor out. There was a nice spot with good water at mile marker 563 near Hanover, IN. However, when we tried to lower the anchor it would not move. Not sure why this happened it work a couple times before without issue. It was 8:04 PM and now was becoming dark. We decided to see if we could find a small dock on the way to Louisville where we could tie up and then get up early and head to Louisville. The small docks we found were very small for us and we did not feel that we could rest easy if we tied up to them. The night was clear and so far no fog so we decided to just go for it and continue on to our destination. We encountered three barges during the trip but no issues getting out of their way and around them. When we came in to Louisville it was beautifully lit. They have an inactive railroad bridge with LED lights that changed colors with frequency. The docks we were looking for were near the city part by the KFC YUM! Center. We found them and eased our way in – only one more problem – entering the water level was very low 2.8 feet but 5 ft in the slip – we stirred up mud. We will have to check our strainers and such and then get this boat in to deep water to clean it out. 1:30 AM we finally got something to eat then crashed out for a few hours. Wish I took some pictures.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Nice sunny day. Waiting for the mechanic to show up – having coffee on the top deck. Life is Good!

10:00 AM Smokey Marine a mobile mechanic arrived to change the engine oil and filter and to also look at our generator because it appears that we may have a clog in the water intake. There was one fuel filter that was on order but it had not come in as of the AM but it did come in the afternoon so we were able to get all the work done. The generator had a walnut size restriction in the water intake. It took a while to fine the clog but they finally used a large screw driver to “poke” it out. All was done about 2:30 PM – we got some advice from Smokey who knows this part of the river. He suggested that we just wait until AM and then push off. The head of the Waterfront Park Docks was there when we finished and Smokey Marine knew him and cleared us for one more night. So all is good now – HAPPY HOUR! We intend to relax and walk up to downtown Louisville for dinner. Tomorrow is a 112 mile trek so we will begin early in the AM.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Paraiso pushed off at 7:36 AM. The first challenge was the McAlpine Locks. We had to wait for two barges to go through. It was a very busy day for the lockmaster. There were two southbound and four northbound barges that he was working with. You just cannot assume you can hurry through a lock. We finally cleared the lock by 9:35 AM (Eastern). It was an 11 hour boat ride, but it was beautiful weather – not a cloud in the sky. The country side was very nice and there were a number of places we could anchor out at but we need to get to Lake Barkley area so we can be back at Boone’s Landing Marina for the weekend. We made a decision not to travel on Monday evening to Brandenburg – when we went by the Brandenburg dock was small but could have held us. We landed at our destination – Rocky Point Marina at 7:05 PM (Central). Paraiso arrived just a sunset, all was good.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

We had a good breakfast at the small restaurant at Rocky Point and had a nice conversation with a local couple. We refueled taking on 155 gallons. We have changed time zones so now we are in central time and the sun sets at 6:50 PM (too early). Cannelton Locks were first up and we got right through. We cruised at 1500 – 1700 RPM. We cleared the Newburg Lock at 3:26 PM and then headed to Inland Marina where we would stay for the night. The Tiki Bar was open and had $2.00 beers – can’t beat that!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Another long day – we pushed off at 7:30 AM. Inland Marina is in Evansville IN. There is a lot of industry just south, but once out of Evansville the river is pretty again. We cleared John T. Meyers Lock at 12:36 PM Central time. This marked the half way point for our cruise today. We cruised at 1800 – 2000 RPM. The river was wide and had a nice countryside view. We saw the land change a bit and become less hilly and sandier soil. We passed a ferry and it reminded me of Anderson Ferry near Cincinnati. There was a point of interest we saw from the boat “Cave in Rock”. You can see the cave and the walkway for people to go into the cave. We arrived at Golconda Marina. They had a nice covered slip for us to use. The water depth was only 3 foot so we were stirring up some mud. We grilled out and rinsed the boat off. Tomorrow we will be reaching Kentucky Dam Marina.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Golconda Marina had showers and laundry. We decided to take showers since the water pressure is stronger than what is on the boat. We had breakfast and then pushed off at 9:35 AM – a bit of a late start but we only have 55 miles to go today. We got behind two barges first thing. We were able to take a “short cut” round an Island and get in front of them. The Lock Master had a lock ready for us and we were able to clear Smithland Lock at 11:40 AM (Central). A barge was coming out of the other lock at the same time. It is a bit intimidating due to the size, but there was plenty of room and they went slower than us so we could get around them. There was also a lot of small islands and manmade dikes in this area of the river. We had to stay on the sail line and make a sharp left to head up the Cumberland River. We left the Ohio River at mile marker 906. We followed a barge into the Cumberland River. It was slow going. The barge allowed us to pass them on mile 3. It was tight because the river is about 1/3 the width of the Ohio River. The Cumberland River has a number of rock quarries and barge loading areas the first 10-14 miles but then it becomes more rural and is beautiful countryside. As we were traveling we got “buzzed” by a 4 prop cargo plane. It reminded us of our son –in-law who is a Load Master for the US Air Force. We were going against the current at 2000 RPM only 9-10 miles/hour versus 12 miles / hour with the current on the Ohio River. We reached out destination at 4:00 PM (Central). It was windy and we were glad that we had four persons helping us get into the slip. We confirmed that our boat needs 17.6 feet to clear a bridge, because the slip opening was 17.3 and our anchor light was bend down as we entered.   It is fixable.

Once we got settled we retrieved the rental car and began our 4.5 hour drive back to our Marina. We will continue our adventure