Closing Out 2017 Boating Season

Our 2017 journey/adventure on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers has come to an end solely because freezing temperatures have now arrived in Middle Tennessee.  The good news is, we will continue our journey beginning spring 2018 and we can hardly wait.  The summer/fall of 2017 ranks as one of the best and most memorable seasons in our 39 years of marital bliss!!  We had SOOOOO much fun -- laughing uncontrollably, enjoying each other's company and smiling every nautical mile....and that's a lot of smiling since we cruised a little more than 1,000 miles between August 18th and November 3rd.

During our travels, we visited 10 different  marinas -- several we enjoyed so much we visited more than once!!  We also ate some incredible food but best of all was all the fun and amazing people we met along the way.  We exchanged probably 100 boat cards (these are like business cards with your name, your boat name, phone numbers, etc) so you could contact them again.

We decided to "winter" Cloud Nine at Kenlake Marina in Aurora, KY.  We love the marina, great covered slip, HD cable with over 100 channels, and wifi all included.  The marina is tucked into the Kenlake State Park with numerous walking trails, a lodge, restaurant, cabins and lots of deer, many different types of birds including wild geese, Grey Herons, While Pelicans, Eagles and migrating bird sanctuaries.  Kenlake is about 20 miles from the northern tip of the Tennessee River and the river/Kentucky Lake is so wide and beautiful there, right in the middle of Land Between The Lakes.  We will have lots of exploring to do in the area next spring/early summer.

On November 3, we took Cloud Nine from Pebble Isle Marina to Kenlake Marina.  It was NOT a pretty day -- it was windy and rainy.....2 criteria we try to avoid (luckily we bought new windshield wipers the day before we left -- but we needed to get "her" home so we could get her settled in, and get her washed and waxed for the end of the season.  She was actually winterized today.

Here are some beautiful pictures from our last 54-mile journey from Pebble Isle Marina to Kenlake Marina.  The fall colors on the trees were absolutely gorgeous, unfortunately the rain, fog and wind didn't allow the pictures to give justice to their beauty:

Tree-lined Color leaving Pebble Isle Marina

Our first Time to Have to Use Our Windshield Wipers!!

Leaving Pebble Isle Heading North on Tennessee River

Fog, Clouds, Wind and Rain on Tennessee River

Beautiful Tree Colors on Tennessee River 

Weather Conditions Forced us to Travel Slow.  Finally a Break in

the Weather So We Could Get a "Sweet" Wake For a Few Miles!

Final Barge in Tow We See On 2017 Journey

Home at Kenlake Marina -- Beautiful Colors

Cloud Nine Happy to be Under Cover and HOME at Kenlake

If you didn't get the "gist" of our blog this year, let me reiterate we had the most incredible experience ever.  It exceeded our expectations in EVERY way.  To the family and friends that have followed our Blog, thank you -- we hope it gave you a small sense of amazing adventure.

To the new friends we met along our journey, thank you for sharing your adventures, expertise and thoughts with us.  We learned so much from you in the past 3 months.  We met many folks that were taking the Great Loop -- we wish you safe travels, great fun and creating memories of a lifetime.  Maybe our paths will cross again.

Happy Holidays to each of you.  To my Captain, thanks for all you did to ensure our adventure was everything we hoped it would be -- it was AWESOME.

While this boating season has come to an end -- what we learned this year and the river-boating confidence we gained from the Solar Eclipse to Pickwick Lake, we can't wait to start our 2018 adventures next Spring.

Pickwick Lake back to Pebble Isle

I'm a little behind updating our travels, but we've been really busy deciding what to do for the "winter" months.  Do we go South -- do we stay close to home this year and venture out farther next year -- decisions, decisions, decisions.

Our plan for this year was to travel the entire length of the Tennessee River -- which would take us to Knoxville, TN.  We were on track to accomplish that -- except we learned one of the locks in Alabama, Wilson Lock, was closing October 16 through December 23 for some much-needed maintenance.  It would be closed from 6AM thru 6PM daily -- this means it would be open from 6PM to 6AM but we don't travel in the "dark" so we made the ultimate decision to NOT complete our Tennessee River travels this year, but to pick back up on our adventure next spring.

We enjoyed our 4 days at Grand Harbor Marina -- we stayed an extra day because of a lot of rain and windy conditions.  Luckily we were in a covered slip so we didn't have to deal with the rain too much.  The sunsets were absolutely breath-taking.

Another Gorgeous Sunset at Grand Harbor Marina

One thing we have NEVER seen in all our 20+ years of boating was seeing a plethora of catfish swimming behind our swim platform as our boat was parked at the marina.  We could have had a catfish feast -- if, 1) we had a net to catch these catfish and, 2) one of us had the desire to clean the fish.  We didn't have a net and for sure neither of us wanted to clean these fish!!  These fish were huge and I was feeding hot dog buns to them!!  That's just crazy!!

Catfish swimming behind our boat at the marina

We left Grand Harbor in Counce, TN on Tuesday, October 24 and went about 56 miles back to Clifton TN marina.  It was quite windy, but we needed to giddy-up and get back North toward Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN.  Winds were blowing at about 15 mph.  Our first stop was to travel through Pickwick Lock.  We were hoping the wind would die down inside the Lock, but NOOOO that didn't happen; however, we made it just fine thru the lock, got tied up to the bollard luckily we were the only boat in the Lock!!  The 15 mph head wind didn't help our travel speed!

Approaching Pickwick Lock/Dam

Inside Pickwick Lock -- they are opening the doors after our 70 foot drop.  

Off we go!

Our trip back from Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN to Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN was mostly un-eventful; however; we kept watching the weather on our phones as big storms were all around us.  We only ran into a misty-rain a couple of times.  The temperature was pretty cool though.

We saw houses built out of a lot of different materials, but this one "takes the cake".  It is built out of Stacked Shipping containers -- made into a 4-story home.  This house was between Savannah and Clifton, TN.  That's crazy-unique - huh.......

House built out of "shipping containers"  

We made it to Clifton Marina, one of our favorite stops, about 3:30 that afternoon.  We were the 4th boat to arrive that day so we were "tucked" into the marina in one of the last slips available.  We assumed it would be a quiet night, but all the other transient boaters and the Marina owner were ready to socialize by hanging out inside the marina, have a burger and several cocktails.  As the evening went on, the stories got bigger and the laughter got louder -- it was such a fun night.  One of the boats had traveled from St. Louis -- they had 2 captains on board and they were headed to Ft. Myers, FL for the winter.....ahhhh if I could have been a stow-away for a few months!!  The couple had purchased their boat in Missouri and hired 2 captains to show them how to drive the boat and get them to south Florida.  We had a hoot, to say the least, with the group that evening....and yes that bottle of Makers Mark in the middle of the table was "full" at the start of the evening!!

Marking Memories at Clifton Marina

The next morning, we completed our last leg of the trip from Clifton Marina to Pebble Isle Marina.  It was chilly -- the shorts and tank tops are now obsolete for our daily attire and we are in sweat shirts and long pants at least until mid-afternoon.  We were just cruising along (pun intended!) minding our own business, and our daughter calls and asks where we are.....I respond, well we are in the middle of the Tennessee River approaching the I-40 interstate bridge.  She says -- well I'm on my way home from Memphis and I'm about to cross the Tennessee River at I-40.....OMG -- how incredible is that for the timing of meeting her as she is driving over the bridge at the same time we are driving under that same bridge!!!!!!!

Our daughter parked on the Interstate Bridge taking our picture!!

Our daughter, Michelle, meets us at Cuba Landing Marina near I-40

After some hugs, facetime with her children/our grandsons, and a quick conversation, we needed to get going as we still had about 25 miles to go and it was going to be dark within the next 2-1/2 hours so we needed to shove off!!  How fun to see her along our adventure -- unplanned and unexpected.

We are approaching New Johnsonville, and one of my all-time favorite bridges is this one -- the cars drive on the top portion of the bridge and the trains cross on the lower section of the bridge.  I just love that bridge.

Unique bridge in New Johnsonville, TN

Once we pass under this bridge, Pebble Isle Marina is not far away -- we arrive at the marina about 5:30PM on Wednesday, October 25.

Ahhh it's always good to get home!!