The morning sun rose over the hills on the eastern banks of the Tennessee River offering us yet another splendid awakening!
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| We will surely meet some of you |
Time lapse video of sunrise from Clifton Marina
We hung out on the aft deck, Renee covered in her blankets to ward off the chilly morning air. The marina staff had said the gas pumps would not open until 9am and we wanted to top off our tanks because their price was as reasonable as anywhere. Also, Renee is still working on calibrating the readings on the Simrad for our fuel flow sensors that we installed. Having an accurate gauge on the fuel consumption will become important to us later this summer when the second leg of our journey this year will have us traveling up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, against the currents.
The marina staff showed up an hour early and after topping off tanks we were headed north for a relaxing, perfectly calm cruise. Water was like glass. The forecast called for cooler temps but more sun. In reality it remained pretty cloudy all day which is much easier on the eyes and skin. We’ll take it! For the first 40 miles of todays trek it was still largely a true river. After that the waters spread and opened up into a much more lake like appearance as we got closer to the ‘Land Between The Lakes’ region. Also, where there were houses lining the banks for the first 35 miles now we entered remote territory where we cruised for miles and miles without seeing a home or structure. It is a very pristine and beautiful landscape.
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| Many, many home on stilts along the banks for the first several hours today |
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| This one was pretty |
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| Baby butt smooth waters almost the entire day today |
Shortly after entering into the Kentucky Lake region....beautiful area!
The long cruising day called for a mid day stop off for both Riva and us. At 3:30 pm we pulled into Pebble Isle Marina for an hour or so We took a short walk into the state park and then went to their restaurant, The Blue Heron, for a late lunch/early dinner. The food and atmosphere were good and this made for a nice break.
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| Interesting boat at the entrance to Pebble Isle Wish there was a sign or something with the history of this vessel |
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| Erik hadn't realized that they don't take walk ins and he had not made an appointment for Renee |
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| Lunchtime visitors while we dined on the patio at the Blue Heron; bluegill, turtles and the occasional gar/pike looking thing?? |
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| Leaving Pebble Isle we had a jet skier playing in our wake so we sped up a bit for him to give him a ride |
Back on the water we scoped out several options for anchorages for the night that would have good dog access and that would get us reasonably close to our final destination of Sunset Harbor Hill tomorrow. Continuing on for another 25 miles and until just about 30 minutes before sunset to Leatherwood Cove is what we eventually chose.
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| remnants of a 5 story grain elevator that sat along the banks of the Tennessee River prior to the dam creating Kentucky Lake with only the top 2 stories now above the water |
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| Erik's red neck Go "not so" Pro |
Time lapse of the last 25 mins of our cruise and coming into anchorage
Immediately after setting our anchor we were greeted by TJ and Jessica who came out from a nearby marina to say hello. They tied off their dinghy to us and came aboard for a nice visit. They are Loopers, currently stationary due to high fuel prices. They had been watching us on Nebo and we’re excited to meet other Loopers. They are a younger couple from the U.P area of Michigan. TJ is retired from the the military (Navy) and Jessica is a nurse who quit her job last year when they departed and is home schooling their 8 yr old son who is aboard with them. They had laid up here on the Tennessee River late last fall with intentions of continuing on south but have paused for now.
After settling into the anchorage and making our evening coffee we ventured into shore (the marina) in Trudge to let Riva do her business and visit with the folks at the docks. The marina was rowdy! The bar had a group of people drunk as skunks and jammin to hillbilly rap. The party moved down to the docks where we briefly visited with the partying bunch. It was not long however before we had enough of a contact buzz from all of the lefty cigarettes and were now having trouble comprehending the drunken Tennessee dialect. 😂 A short trudge back to Happy Destiny, and to our sanity, made us grateful for the gift of sobriety that we have! TGCHHO
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| Trip stats for the day; our longest day of this leg 85.7 miles |
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