Cumberland and Tennessee River Cruise

Our first real "road trip" with Buddy was a great success. We ended up spending over seven days on both rivers, traveling about 200 KM. We started with launch at Green Turtle Bay, a real nice spot, having dinner at the GTB Yacht Club with the owners whom we had met in the Keys the last winter. We spent a night there before heading to Duncan Bay the next day for a night on the hook.  We passed a number of barges throughout the trip. While on the hook we went ashore for a hike on "Land Between the Lakes" noting, among other things we are not used to seeing, this Cyprus. Next morning it was  cool and we awoke to a bit of a fog...

From Duncan Bay we were advised to head south to for a stop at "Fat Daddy's", a "real fun place". So here we are for lunch 35 KM later... Summer's over I guess... 

There was one other lonely fisherman there..

Unfortunately, the first big cold front of fall followed us south, with frost warnings the next three nights. We choose to find some Marinas where we could attached our umbilical cord (ie: electric heat). Here we are at Paris Landing State Park.

From there we decided to head back North and cruise the Cumberland River for a while. We ended up at Kuttawa Harbor. We were assigned a slip "in the shade of the shed". Wanting the warmth of the sun, we took our chairs to the sunny side for Cocktail hour. BTW, except for "Fat Daddy's" and the Green Turtle Bay Yacht Club, everywhere we went it was "dry"...

Over half of Kuttawa (including "Downtown") was submerged when Lake Barkley was created but there are a few historic homes on higher ground.

I was impressed with how the large houseboats were tied to the dock. That clothesline works great!!

From there we headed south to Lake Barley State Park for the night. We specifically asked for an "open" slip in the sun. After being told that was a strange request, we ended up in one of four open large houseboat slips for transients at the marina.

As you can see, the preferred slips are covered... There was a not so timid mink messing about on shore...

The next day we first headed south to the Tennessee border where the Cumberland River narrows. We wanted to go the Clarksville but the winter flood delayed the opening of the new marina (we were still in need of our umbilical cord). So we stopped in an off channel pool for lunch and to read for a couple hours. The Pelicans were prevalent...

We then headed back north stopping in Eddy Creek for the night, passing one of Kentucky's Penal Colonies..

Retracing our course, we headed to Sugar Bay on Kentucky Lake for a night on the hook. We had a great spot for sunset...









Finally, for our last night on the Lake, I took Cathie to Kentucky's most romantic spot (according to Cosmopolitann Magazine anyway - per the Grand Rivers, KY brochure).

We took a dock at Lighthouse Landing Marina, a sailboat harbor... Being sailors, we were in familiar and comfortable surroundings. If you look closely at the photo on the left, you'll find Buddy.The total bill for pumpout, dock for the night and haulout in the morning was.... $18.75. Great Place...

More photos can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sanderpjwi/KentuckyLake#