The Sterling Lady
on
America's Great Loop
for the Second time!
9/24/09 Tis another gloomy day, here in looper land. We call this the year without a summer.
Around 10 the sun did come out, revealing how muddy the water was in this section of the Cumberland River.
Did see some unusual Cumberland River wild life. This cow and....
What at first glance appeared to be a huge alligator...guess I am missing Florida a bit.
In places the river is tree lined, and has bluffs
Because of the recent rains, there was a lot of debris in the river. I luckiy made it here so far, without banging my newly rebuilt propeller.
The City of Clarksville provides free docking, with electric (no water though). They do ask that you reserve a space, and when you do ,they are very informative, and also let the cops know there are boats there. Very secure spot.
Jo and "Punk" arrived on Carrlyn Ann about 20 minutes after the Sterling Lady.
Because the river was on the rise, there was an extreme amount of debris and trash floating down stream, even a syringe! The free docks are on the outside of a curve in the river, so alot of the debris is pushed along the side of the dock and will lodge between the boat and the dock. ekk!
You can see here, how the docks are located on the outside of the curve, a collection spot for debris, and a concern for the huge barges coming around the bend downstream.
I could buy this business and wouldn't even have to change the name. Crappy idear though.
We will spend 2 days here, as Nashville, our goal on this side trip, is close enough that we would arrive on a weekend, and the downtown marina is full till Sunday. Anybody know what this lodge is about??
9/26/09 6 am, and this is the load of debris, I freed from between the dock and the boat. All of that floating debris you see here, was wedged in between the Lady and the dock.
Did I mention it's another cloudy day????
More grey skys,when will this end???.
The river is very senic, If only the sun would come out.
Our timing on the dam was perfect, got right in. Then it dumped rain, and somehow, my cell phone , in my pocket , got wet and died.
Then, suddenly, the rain stoped, the gates opened and the sun came out....for five minutes. Looks like we are blocked in , but we arn't.
The river bluff is made of some kind of dark rock.
Today's home is the Riverview Cafe Docks. Fuel is expensive,but dockage is cheap. 50 cents a foot.
So with my brand new sparkly clean tennies from Wall Mart ($12) I took my happy feet to the town of the city of Ashland Park. Wow, absolutely nothing there. One bar, one hardware, three banks, 4 lawyers. What's with small towns and banks and lawyers??
The local tour boat.
There have been tires, needles, cans, basketballs, all kinds of trash floating down this river, however, the rubber ducky wins "best of show" the prize!!
9/27/09 Woke up this AM to pea soup fog, and the river rose last mite, about 4 feet, resulting in.....
Lots and lots and lots of logs. So many, making the river virtually impassable. So here we will stay ,,,,,again.
The town of Ashland City, doesn't even have a bar. so to make the best of the day, we decided to do laundry, one of my LEAST favorite things to do on Earth.
Going to the laundry, you will meet a special class of people,,, much the same as you would meet on a Greyhound bus.
So as a special treat to the Admiral, while the clothes were washing, I took her to the only open store, the Shell Station, and let her have whatever she wanted.
We ended the day @ the only bar in town, on the Sterling Lady ,with Dan and Saunie, from the "Moby Duck" a 25 ft trailerable cruiser.
9/28/09 During the night this House Boat came in. Just a bit lacking of freeboard.
The good new, we are moving again. The Bad news, we are headed back.
The currents from the flooded river were reported as 5 knots, and lots of debris west of us, so we are headed back downstream.
Luckily, the debris was alot thinner down river, and with the currents, at times we were doing as much as 13 mph!
Locked right though with no delays.
It's a pretty river, but it hasn't been kind to us. It was a quick 30 miles back to Clarksville.
Dinner was half price drinks and happy hour food at Charlies
Stephen and Sharon arrived on "Stevedore" a Krogen trawler.
Spent the evening in my underwear, pushing log jams off the bow. Did I mention it's 50 degrees out here!!
9/30/09 Did a 70 mile day from Clarksville, to Lake Barkley Marina, and the next morning went the 19 miles back to Buzzards Point Marina, where I rented the space for 3 nites.
Road Trip!!
10/2/09 Rented a $50 a day car from Enterprise, and we are off 110 miles to Music City!!!!
Leaving Kentucky, in Tennessee they have my favorite restaurants. Had to stop there on the way for lunch.
Nashville, dead ahead.
Our first stop, the free city dock, which before the flooding , was our original goal.Steve and Sharron from "SteveDore" were there.
The speed limit signs on the Opry Road were unusual, and Opry was not open, so we did the museum.
Drove by the Raven, the original Grand Ol Opry. and then it was happy hourz time,,,again.
Did healthy??happy hour foods, and some drinks for dinner. Yes it was expensive, but then , it's Nashville.
When Pigs Fly----->
<------Nashville is alot like Key West, Lots of bars... so we went here....
and here....>
stopped in here.....
Had a drink or two here also.
All the bars had great talent, many of which sounded just like Garth Brooks.
So many bars, so little time...
Someone should start up a special "recovery" group for loopers. A combination of A.A. , Weight waters, and marriage counseling.
10/2/09
Before leaving Nashville, we went to Radio Shack, and West Marine.
Life is good.
The Drive back included a stop at the Grocery store.
.They call this the Batman building, can you see why....................>
