Day 161-164- September 24-27 Paducah, KY to Green Turtle Resort, Grand Rivers, KY

 


Paducah to Grand Rivers today.


Having made it to Paducah, but still nursing along an ailing engine issue, why wait?  I slipped the lines at about 0625 to make my way about 18 miles up the Ohio River, where I could join the Cumberland River for 20 miles and get into Kentucky Lake. 
In Kentucky Lake was a marina with full yard services.

moo


Smart little guys, they found a way to the river.


Big operations. 

This is a screen shot of the Google Satellite Maps of this quarry.

The Cumberland was about 28 miles of lovely countryside interspersed with yawning gravel pits and a lot of barges waiting to move big chunks of Kentucky to someplace else.



Spotted one tiny waterfall.


This is what some of it looked like before the quarries took over.


These guys thought bigger rocks are better.


Small, medium and large aggregate here.



Check out this video to see the massiveness of everything!


Three cranes on this barge.


Layers and layers with turning leaves on the trees.


The Kentucky Lock was the only lock of the day, but a 57 foot lift. There was an alternative route via the Tennessee River, a lot shorter, but the lock was under repair and not available.


Caught this Great Blue Heron just as he was taking off.


These folks have their own little lighthouse.

   DAY 162

September 25
Grand Rivers, Kentucky is the home of Green Turtle Resort and Marina,
our home for about a week.

Patti's 1880 Settlement in Grand Rivers. 
One courageous woman transformed her love for cooking and family into an award-winning business that serves over one million dollars in pork chops every year–all in the town of approximately 350 people. Click on the link to learn more.
The next 3 photos are taken at Patti's. At Christmas they have over 800,000 lights decorating their grounds.





These guys spelled it the right way.


Hay bale art.


Crape Myrtle


The entry to Green Turtle Resort

   DAY 163

September 26

Ten bolts.  Ten bolts is all it takes to swap out the seawater pump on the engine.  I thought a lot about doing it myself.  After all, its only ten bolts and I had a spare pump on board. 
Get on with it, you wimp.

Well, first, I realized that I did not have new gaskets and O-rings (note to self) but when the gents arrived the next day, little did I know what a production this is!

Instead of looking at the pump, they were measuring across the hatch.  Measuring for a strong back to attach a come-along so they could lift the engine and remove a motor mount to access the bloody pump!




Kudos to Reed and his helper.  They got the job done with no muss or fuss, not a single swear word and were gone in a few hours for a very reasonable price. 
We are back in business!!

Spotted another looper wearing the Fleet of 2024 shirt.

He kindly stood still for me to get a picture.

The America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association used to be about 150 boats a year. It has doubled and now at least tripled over the past few years.


The evening brought in the clouds and later the rain.
The top picture was looking to the East, the bottom picture to the West.

During the night it started raining.

 DAY 164

September 27
Tropical Depression Helene arrived today.  
It has rained ALL day and will continue for about more 3 days.


I am exhausted from the water pump job.  Grady is standing watch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul comments in this font
Cheryl comments in this font

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Almost READY

Thanks for stopping by to check on our progress on the Great Loop. This is Cheryl writing today. Grady, the gray house/boat cat is now on board and getting adjusted to the new sites, smells and sounds. The plan is to depart the dock on Wednesday morning! Seems like we have been planning for a while and are almost ready to go. Tonight will be the first night sleeping on board. So far the boat is very well equipped and comfortable. Paul has done an excellent job of seeing that it is ready. For those who want more information on the Great Loop click on this to go to the FAQ section of the official site AGCLA. Check back for the next blog after we are underway. Let the fun begin!!
Read more

Year End Summary

Image
  Wow! Amazing! Incredible! Life changing, maybe not. Life changing is a comment that several people have made about this trip. But, we have learned that they had never lived on a boat before. They had hardly ever planned a route, anchored, docked, slept at anchor, handled lines, encountered weather and done all the things that Paul and I took for granted because we had both done many times in the past.  For this we are both thankful for the history we brought into this trip.  Paul's knowledge and past experience and research made the trip safe, fun and easy. Was it a once in a lifetime trip, YES! We met a lot of very friendly folks. Ate a lot of really good food. Laughed our way around the miles.  Saw so many sights we have to look back on this blog to remember them all. Any way about it we are part of a very small group of people to do this trip. I will be eternally grateful to Paul for inviting me to join him on the Loop. It was a simple question.  "Do you wa...
Read more

Days 184-186- October 17, 18, & 19 Iuka, MS to Midway Marina, Fulton, MS to Columbus, MS

Image
Tennessee River, Tenn-Tom Waterway, Tombigbee River A 525-mile long river that flows through the states of Mississippi and Alabama. The name Tombigbee, comes from the Choctaw word for "coffin makers," referring to tribesmen who prepared the dead.  Welcome to fall on the rivers!  Chilly nights and relatively warm water means fog, fog fog.  The treetops could be in sunshine, but that first 40 feet above the water reminds me of Maine. Tippy toe slow, radar on, autopilot driving on a route.   As the first hour or so passes, the sun does the job. That bird ever so kindly flew across the sun as I took the photo. Yay, it is burning off. Well, maybe not quite yet! Ok, now it's gone for the day. ...and then, one more patch of it. These structures show you where a river or a creek  enters the waterway from a higher elevation.  The 'teeth' break up the flow of water so it doesn't cause a problem in the channel.  All the ones we saw were dry, but spring ...
Read more