7/31/17 Monday - Day 16 - Exploring the lakes

Spent some time this morning talking to Gary at Boat works and Bill at GTB marina.  Getting quotes for work and storage for when we leave.  Then we headed through the Barkley canal to Kentucky Lake.  Stopped at Sunset Harbor Hill to check out the place and talked to the guys in the shop about more of the same.  After walking up the hill, and it was a hill!, we found a cove and dropped anchor. Finally some floating time.  We headed into Kenlake marina to find our slip for the night.  Got plugged in and Erik biked to the store while I napped!  I caught up on blogs and then we watched the sunset.  Cheeseburgerswith a fried egg on them for dinner!

7/30/17 Sunday - Day 15 - Golconda to Green Turtle Bay

Left Golconda fairly early, not many miles ahead but 2 locks.  Smithland lock went pretty smooth. Coming out of the lock there were several tows and barges with big pipes running across the river.  They separated the pipe so we could go through. That was a little strange!  Very shortly after the lock we headed up the Cumberland River.  For the first time this trip we were headed up river against the current.  The Cumberland River was pretty remote in this area but beautiful.  About 30 miles up river we came to Barkley lock and dam.  This lock was a pretty big lift. The lockmaster told us to tie off(I was a little leary about tying as everything I have heard is not to tie in case you get hung up). After a long lift, about 45 feet, we entered Lake Barkley.  Very shortly after the lock we entered Green Turtle Bay. 
Green Turtle Bay is a pretty big marina.  After finding a slip we took a bike ride into town.  On our way back to the boat we met  a wonderful couple, Scott and KC aboard Jet Stream, who are on their third loop(we saw the gold burgee).  Talked to Tic Tacs crew who are in planning phase.  We took a dip in the pool to cool off then made some delicious shish kabobs. Not long after dinner it was showers and bed.

Confluence of Cumberland and Ohio Rivers.  We've now traveled ALMOST THE entire length of the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Smithland Lock.  The only portion we haven't traveled are the last 59 miles to Cairo Illinois (we're told we are not missing anything)

Our route for the day

Our stats for the day

Sunrise at Golconda Marina 

Rocky shores of the Cumberland River

Traveling up stream on the Cumberland towards Barkley Lock (about 30 miles).....big difference between downriver flow on the mighty Ohio and upriver travels on the much narrower Cumberland

Coming up on Barkley Lock

Barkley Lock....zoom to see the sign

Biggest lift off the river trip this far.....45 feet

Nice sunset pic at Green Turtle Bay Marina.  Notice the moon up in the upper right

7/29/17 Saturday - day 14

Left our new Marinette friends at Nu Plaza Yacht Club around 8am.  It was beautiful blue sky, puffy cloud, low humidity day.....yay.   The winds were blowing pretty strong though and made for a bit if a bumpy ride at times.  One 5 mile long and very wide straight away it was white capping and about 2ft waves.....thought we may have made it around to the great lakes 😋. Made a quick stop at Mt Vernon Indiana (cute little town) to give Toby a potty and tummy break.   We forged forward at a good clip and reached John T Myers lock where we only had to wait a few moments to get in and down.  Just outside that lock the confluence of the Wabash River/Ohio River signified that we had made it to Illinois .   The landscape almost immediately changed from what we had been seeing most all of the trip this far.  Right after the Wabash came in there were a bunch of beautiful Sandy beaches.  Then, after just a couple miles the banks began to have large boulders and then cliffs.  Very pretty!   We then came to 'Cave In Rock'  This is a very cool cliff area with a large cave in it at the shoreline.   Unfortunately , there were
no docks or ways for is to access it easily without leaving Toby on the boat.  So, a few pics from the river will have to do. 
We then moved on downriver to Elizabethtown Illinois (aka E town).  Here we had read and heard that they have a floating restaraunt with the BEST Catfish on the Ohio River.

Our slip at Nu Plaza Yacht Club.  Right next to a common area and their brand new floating bath and laundry facility that was very nice....also completely solar powered!

Saying goodbye to our new Marinette friends 

Quite a chop on the water for a 5 mile or so section on this windy day

Coming into port of Mt Vernon Indiana 

Exited John T Myers lock

Mouth of the Wabash River.  We now have Illinois on our left bank

Very large and nice sandbars all along the river here created by the confluence with the Wabash River

The riverbanks very quickly have changed to Rocky in this section

'Cave In Rock' 

Gazeebo up on the rock ledge shore where we docked in Elizabethtown to eat a late lunch at 'The best catfish restaraunt on the river'

Aquaholic almost looks like she could be in New England!

7/28/17 Friday - day 13

39 miles and 1 lock today from Owensboro Kentucky to Evansville Indiana

It was a rather rollie and wavy night of sleep with or slip being right on the main channel and the barge traffic .  We still both slept well and awoke Friday morning to a relaxing day.   We were visited early in the morning by a very interesting character whom we had met last night .  He was not quite all there and talked continuously while never really finishing a story.  It was difficult to escape him but we did manage eventually. 
After a bowl of cereal we shoved off from Owensboro fairly early and headed our towards Evansville Indiana.   We came to our one lock of the day after only about 12 miles.  Upon getting the lockmaster on the radio he said he'd have the lock ready for us and to come on in.  He was a very friendly and conversational guy (we've not found this to be the norm).  This was the cleanest (not a lot of debris to dodge ) and quickest lock through that we've had thus far.  Approaching Evansville the Ohio River does a serious hairpin turn.  There is no good boat access to downtown so we  just cruised through slowly  checking things out.  One interesting thing is  that because of this turn in the river there is a lot of silt build up in the river.  They pump out this silt and put the nice  sand in the top of the turn radius of the river to create a large sand island in the middle of the river.   Only a couple more miles and we we were to Nu Plaza Yacht Club by shortly after noon.   Not many people were around yet so we walked the docks and admired about 8 other Marinette boats.  Sharon Doris, a person on the Marinette FB page had suggested we come here.  
It is a very nice marina with brand new, really nice baths/shower/laundry.   We pumped out, filled up w gas, and just relaxed for a while.   The marina let us borrow their courtesy vehicle to drive into Walmart for provisions.  The vehicle is a 1992 Chevy conversion van.....a real jewel!   The owner and staff were very friendly and also gave us our slip for the night for FREE!  We cooked and ate a nice dinner and then went down and hung out with two couples down at the end of the docks who were both Marinette owners.  Had some good and fun conversations and idea swapping a out our boats.  Another wonderful day.....the temps and humidity had dropped significantly so we came back to the boat and turned off the AC and opened up all the windows allowing for a very comfortable night's sleep. 

Downtown Evansville Indiana 

Navy landing craft/destroyer 

Sand island they create in the horseshoe turn of the river

One of about 9 Marinettes at the Nu Plaza Marina.  This one was a 66 that the guy had converted to twin outboard motors

Graph of the Ohio River elevations as we've traveled down the river through the locks

Shot from the back of our slip at one half of the marjna

7/27/17 Thursday - Day 12

We awoke to the fresh river air.....NOT......the winds were blowing the stench of the paper plant located across the river from our dock for the night into our space.....pew!

We called the lockmasters at Cannelton to inquire when we would be able to lock down.  We were informed that it would be 4 hours or so.  We spent the morning doing some misc small boat maintenance and fueling up.  We shoved off at about 11am when the lock called us and said they were ready for us.   It was a short cruise day for us of only 38 miles to Owensboro KY.   Not much to exciting except nice scenery on this leg.   After arriving at Owensboro Marina (aka 'Red Neck Yacht Club) we got the bikes off the boat and rode into downtown (third largest city in Kentucky).  We saw a gorgeous city park and the Bluegrass Museum (didn't visit it but it was a large building).  We stopped at the grocery on the way back for a few supplies, got back and cooked and ate.   Visited with some of the club members a couple of which were decorating their boats for a boat parade that was to happen tomorrow .   Watched a movie on the firestick.....'47 Meters Down'.   It had a terrible ending.....no recommendation to watch this movie from us.  Bedtime

Uneventful cruise today but with some nice scenery

Getting close to Owensboro we saw this Marinette along the bank.  Gave a toot of the horn to see if anyone peeked their head out but no one was around

The Marina DID live up to their name 😋

Witnessed yet another nice sunset as this cruiser behind us was decorating their boat with lights for a boat parade tomorrow

The downtown waterfront park was very nice.  Tons of grasses and nice landscaping.  It also had a very nice playground and water park area for kids.   We took a brief break from our bikes ride and sat on one of these large swings 

7/26/17 Wednesday - Day 11 Louisville to Rocky Point Marina

Early start.....hahaha they say no schedules for a reason!  Called Cannelton locks about 7:30am hoping to get an early start and make 120 miles today.  Lockmaster said they are doing maintenance and running behind.....about a 6 hour wait, UGH!
After a suggestion on Facebook to go across the the Big 4 bridge and check out Jeffersonville, IN we hopped on our bikes to explore.  The bridge itself has quite a history, but in addition to the lights at night, there was classical music playing through a section of it.  Great views of the river and cities also. 
Jeffersonville has a very nice downtown area, the highlight was Schimpffs candy store.  4 generations of history and we spoke to the owner, Warren Schimpff, as he prepared a hard tack candy making demonstration.  Warren said thier best seller was the cinnamon hard candy so we had to try it. It is amazing! I wanted some of the turtles they were also hand making in the display, but were on bikes and it was pretty hot.  Chocolate would not carry well!
Next we went to the Howard Steamboat Museum.  It is the Howard family mansion, which is amazing in itself, with many of the family's steamboat making history.  Another favorite stop for me!
Back to the boat to call the lock and and see where we stand. So I call the lock, and he says "where are you again?"and I tell him Louisville, he tells me I am a long way from him.....I called the wrong lock!😩 All the waiting was likely unnecessary, after we called McAlpine we were able to lock through almost immediately.  Oh well, the mistake allowed for a great side trip!
There was not much at all in this next  section of river, not even many docks to get Toby off to walk.  With the late start I didn't think we would make the next marina(112 miles) but we did. Unfortunately, the electric didn't work and it was too late and too shallow to try to move.  We had wings at the restaraunt across the street that were really good then turned on some fans and went to bed!

Didn't get a great pic, but if you look closely you can see where there is a they are mining something 

Huge giraffe statue on the bank

Really beautiful lighthouse designed house

Our stats and map for the day

Sunrise in Louisville at their free municipal docks

Momma catching up on blogs in the morning. Toby is having a VERY hard time adjusting as you can see ;-)

A barge passing under the pedestrian bridge between Louisville and Jeffersonville

Fourth generation owner of Schimpff's candy store, Warren Schimpff.  He was actually a chemist and his wife a teacher until duty called to carry on the family business

Warren prepping for a demonstration on making hard candy.  Check out all of the candy molds/dies on the wall

The main candy counter. We sampled the Carmel covered marshmallows.....yummm

The Heard mansion and museum is a beautiful old home

Many rooms displaying history of the Howard steamboats and Ohio River boats in general

Beautiful stained glass in the grand stairway

Gorgeous rooms throughout the home 

Leaving Louisville passing by downtown and the Belle of Louisville