It really wasn’t that bad…..

Ok, so it seems maybe I was a little too graphic as to some of our conversations on Mississippi.

Yes, we did have a couple of times where it was stressful and we had some difference of opinions. (We are both A type personalities) But nothing was so bad that we were really contemplating anything bad about each other.

Mike was talking to his brother on the phone and was joking about me being the “rear admiral” and it seemed like a fun way to vent the week away by adding it to the post. But, I guess some people thought it was worse than it was….😳. Whoops on my part.

So, yes, the Mississippi and part of the Ohio were not the most fun and quite congested. Plus, we had our own issues with AIS and then driving from downstairs due to the cold.

But, there were some cool things, too.

• Again, the people we have met are great and I continue to be amazed how everyone bands together if you are all on the same caravan. Be it for a day, or 3 days. It’s all about getting everyone in your current group safely to the next destination.

• The current was giving all boats a big boost. We had sailboats doing 10 plus knots down the river. That was pretty cool.

• The anchorage was so peaceful. Who would have thought you could have that off of the river.

• The Arch- that was just too cool.

• Etc.

Photo:

Ill show it again.

Plus, after all of this , we were rewarded with Barkly Lake, Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River, both of which were absolutely beautiful.

Rest assured all is good with us. After a week of going from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, we were just exhausted. We couldn’t spend more than a night anywhere as they were worried about the next group of boats coming down having place to land for the night…. So, there was some venting that was supposed to be fun.

OK, enough of that, This will be brief as we are headed to Muscle Shoals soon.

On last night at Green Turtle Bay, we went to the infamous Patti’s. It was fun and eclectic, although Mike hit the nail on the head. It was Cracker Barrel on steroids. The food was good and we had a great time with our boating buddies.

Photos:

Mike’s 2 inch pork chop. No he didn’t get through it. There was a time….😜

They served the bread in a flower pot. 🪷

Our boating friends 😀

The rest are Christmas decorations.

From there, we had two easy days from Green Turtle Bay down the Tennessee River.

The first day we went through Kentucky lake and ended out at Pebble Island Marina. No Locks! Yay!!!!!

The lake is beautiful and full of secluded anchorages that even I would love. But, we were on a mission to get to Aqua Yachts by Thursday to get the boat serviced. No side trips.

The marina was great and very rural though. We had a great night and ate in for a change of pace. All good.

Photos:

• A ”Pointers House” on Lake Barkley

• A Tug

• An old Grain shed

• Lots of pictures of the lake

• The dogs chilling out

• Pictures of the marina. It was just beautiful. They had a nice RV park looking down on the lake nestled in all of the trees and a state park 1/2 a mile away. Very peaceful. Felt a little like VT.

Wednesday we moved on to Clifton Marina via the Tennessee River. It was also quite lovely, but the real things to look at were all the houses on the cliffs.

Again, no Locks!! A nice break before we start the next leg of the rivers.

Clifton had a lively bar where we went for dinner and listened to some surprisingly great music. We conversed with some other loopers and were in bed before 10:00 PM.

Photos:

• Clifton wasn’t nearly as pretty as Pebble Island and their RV park was a parking lot.

• The bar was great though and the people super friendly

• Feeling rural, and then there you are, going under I-40

• Trees in the water…

• The rest are of houses. Interesting things about architecture, cliffs, etc…

Thursday, we trekked to Aqua Yachts via the Tennessee and landed uneventfully by 4:00. We had one lock though and learned that with all the boaters in the area, they definitely hold the locks.

We waited an hour in the lock on boats behind us before they closed it up. I get it, we would appreciate it if that were us, but it could make for very long days again.

We had another quiet night hanging out on the boat and cooking in. A nice break for our livers. ::)

We reunite with our friends on Sunday here at Aqua Yachts and am looking forward to seeing them as well as enjoying a seafood boil that one of our friends is putting on.

Photos:

• I haven’t talked much about covered marinas. They are all through the Midwest. We aren’t big fans of them. Starlink doesn’t work. You never know what the weather outside is and then you have the fire fear.

• I am totally amazed though at what it allows for year round renters though. Again, we are seeing entire kitchens and living rooms under cover. It truly turns it into a summer retreat for these guys.

• It was raining last night and I couldn’t find the trash. Figured I would dispose on our morning walk. Some critter got on board and feasted.. 😳😬

At this moment, we are getting maintance done on the boat and then we will drive to Muscle Shoals until Sunday.

We could have boated there, but it would have cost us a few days, and a big boaters convention is just breaking up over there. We decided this side trip was best done by car.

I will report back on that hopefully on Sunday. Monday, we start our Trek down the Tenn Tom. There is a whole lot of history in this canal, but it will indeed be long days again. Lots of locks the first few days….

We are however 2/3 of the way down the rivers. This will be our last set of rivers. The system will run for 450 miles before emptying out in Mobile.

Have a good weekend all, thanks for reading and again, I apologize if the last post was a bit much.