DAY 20 - October 21, 2023

We had beautiful weather today at Clifton, Tennessee. Clifton, named for the cliffs on which it stands, has a population of about 2600. Its claim to fame is that during the Civil War, Confederate General Bedford Forest crossed the river at this point with 2100 troops on a raid of West Tennessee. The raid was a success with the severing of General Ulysses S. Grant's supply line. After the raid his army returned to once again cross the river at Clifton.

Bedford's cross took place in mid December 1862. It was cold and wet, but camp fires were prohibited in order to keep their presence secret. Two flatboats were built, capable of carrying 25 men per crossing. The horses were pushed off a 10 foot high bluff, into the river to make their own way to the opposite bank.

Today the town of Clifton is small, but looks very nice. The town folks were hanging lights on trees, light poles, walls and gates. Denise asked one of the ladies working there what they were doing. She said they were already hanging lights for Christmas and the downtown area looks beautiful when all lit up.

We rode our electric bikes north of town to a Dollar General. In this area of Tennessee the dollar stores serve as mid-week grocery stores. The larger towns/cities are pretty spread out. 

We had good internet and cell phone coverage yesterday while tied up on the end of the dock. But we were told we needed to move to the covered slip next to us in order to make room for a 55 foot boat (ship) coming in later in the day. Once they arrived we had virtually no signal, so this blog was uploaded one day late. We found out later that the four people on the boat are from Scotland. They bought the bought in France, sailed it to Scotland, then had it shipped to Florida so they could travel America's Great Loop. They began the loop in March and plan to finish in Sarasota, Florida by Christmas. That's our boat on the left (with the mast and antenna down and the "Scottish" boat on the right.

We ate dinner on our boat, but later went to the marina bar for drinks. We sat down and chatted with a very nice couple from Clifton. They told us the marina gets some very good bands because they’re located between Memphis and Nashville. We agree, the band Still House exceptional. The second video above is Denise's Old Fashion being smoked. I don't know that does much for the drink, but it looks pretty cool.

DAY 19 - October 20, 2023

 We left Birdsong Marina early this morning to avoid windy conditions which cause waves to build up. We are still traveling south on Kentucky Lake. Actually we could also say we're traveling on the Tennessee River because the lake was created by damming up the river. The shipping channel of the lake is following the route of the original river.

A short time after traveling south, I saw a white line along the edge of the water about a mile away. After checking with the binoculars, we were surprised to see hundreds of White Pelicans. They are native to this area.

Besides the white pelicans, which we don't see near Cincinnati, we've seen some other animals and plants we don't have back home. The photos above are of Bald Cypress trees. They grow naturally around or in water, but can also be planted in yards as specimen plants. 

We saw lots of cliffs and rock formations along our way. The second photo above even has a lighthouse on it.

We ended the day at the Clifton Marina, which is in south western Tennessee. Denise made spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner. Later in the evening we got together with some of the other loopers staying at the marina.

Today we travelled 49.5 miles. We're getting close to Tennessee's southern border and need to slow down because we have more than two weeks before a gathering of loopers in northern Alabama. So tomorrow we'll probably get out our bicycles and explore the little community of Clifton.

Day 18 - October 19, 2023

Someone asked the question of how we can feel safe when anchored. We've spent several nights "on the hook" (anchored) and generally feel pretty safe. When anchoring, we first follow the rule to let out chain and rode (rope) that's 7 times the depth in which we anchor. For example, if we're in 10 feet of water, we let out 70 feet of chain and rode. After the anchor is dropped and the rode fed out, we set the anchor by reversing the boat and pulling under power. When the boat stops moving backward, we can assume the anchor is set. Next, we use an anchor monitor app on one of our phones. We set it for the amount of swing we'll allow. If the boat moves outside this area, an alarm goes off that is loud enough to wake us up and get things back under control. The anchor app records our position throughout the night, as seen in the photo above. The anchor symbol indicates the position of the anchor and the blue dot indicates the position of the boat. The blue line shows how our boat moved over night. The shaded green area is the safe area. If the blue line had drifted outside this area, an alarm would have gone off.

This morning we borrowed one of the marina's courtesy cars and drove ten miles into the city of Camden. They had a Walmart where we re-provisioned, as well bought a few things we learned are needed.

Upon returning from Walmart, Denise laid out everything we bought onto the dining table. Our boat isn't very big, but we somehow managed to get everything put away.

We didn't intend to travel on the lake today, but our two overnight neighbor boats did leave. The winds were pretty intense at times and I even added another line (rope) to make sure we didn't pull away from the dock. Denise did her morning run this afternoon and took this photo of our boat from across the bay. We took our boat flags down due to the wind, but the American flag on the dock was blowing straight out most off the day. Our plan is to travel to our next destination early tomorrow morning in order to avoid similar winds predicted for tomorrow. When the wind blows hard, the wave on the lake make it pretty uncomfortable in our little boat.

DAY 17 - October 18, 2023

We left Paris Landing State Park this morning and headed for 

our next destination about 35 miles south on Kentucky Lake.

We saw some beautiful scenery along the way with people 

fishing either from their boats or from the banks.

We arrived at Birdsong Resort and Marina. Besides the marina, they also have a large campground, cabins and they are home to the only freshwater pearl farm in America. As soon as we arrived one of the dockhands took our picture. Later on they brought us a certificate with our picture and the day of our arrival.

Along with another couple of loopers, we were given an hour long presentation on the pearl industry by Bob, the owner of the resort. He's been here for 63 years and is the most recent owner.

Bob explained that pearls come in different shapes. The shape is determined by the shape of the "seed" placed in the muscle, or several other types of mollusks. In this photo you can see a triangular pearl on the left and in the center is the triangle shaped seed which determined the pearl's shape.

The piece the pearl jewelry is displayed on is actually a large clam shell. 

The pearl farm museum had lots of different kinds of pearl jewelry on display.

Many marinas have courtesy cars for transient boaters to go into town. This evening we joined two other looper couples to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Denise and I are on the far left. Jim and Cindy from the boat Funquest are with me in the back seat. With Denise in the front seat are Dan and Mary from their boat Full Circle.

DAY 16 - October 17, 2023

 We decided to stay another day at Paris Landing State Park Marina. The lady working in the marina office told us we should visit the park aviary while we're here. The birds in the aviary are all raptors, meaning they are birds with beaks and sharp talons. They include hawks, eagles, falcons, owls and vultures.

The first bird we saw was a Great Horned Owl named Oscar. Oscar was brought to the park in 2016 after falling out of a nest. Because he was so young, he imprinted on humans for food, water and safety, meaning he cannot be released into the wild. The talons of a great horned owl can squeeze it's prey with 28 pounds of force.

We next saw a Barred Owl named Precious. Precious is on the left in this photo and is recognizable because she is blind in her left eye. Because of this she can no longer hunt due to the loss of her stereoscopic vision. The call of the barred owl sounds like, "Who cooks for you".

Cleopatra the Red-Tailed Hawk was next. She flew into a power line in 2019 and broke her left wing at the elbow. Red-tailed hawks are the most abundant and widespread hawk throughout North America. They mate for life.

Finally we saw a Kestrel named Hazel. Like Oscar, she fell out of her nest as a chick. A kestrel is a type of falcon. They are built for speed and can dive at 175 miles an hour.

In the afternoon I located a dollar store on Google Maps and noticed a review. It said the aisles are so crowded with "stuff" that it was difficult to get around. However, we needed some food items, so I hopped on my electric bike and headed the 3 1/2 miles down the road to get there. They had everything we needed, but sure enough, you could practically trip over things hanging off the shelves or sitting on the floor. The review I read was from 2018, so apparently things haven't improved in the past five years. The following three photos are from inside the store.

Later in the day Denise and I rode our bikes around and took a couple of photos.

This is the part of the Kentucky Lake we traveled to get to where we are now.

While we were riding we met this fellow on a one wheel electric unicycle called an Inmotion. He is a local and asked/answered a lot of questions about our adventure. 

DAY 14 & 15 - October 15-16, 2023

Yesterday's blog was a brief paragraph indicating we anchored for the night at Panther Bay, which is a remote, secluded bay off of Kentucky Lake. Our cell coverage was very minimal, so we could not upload a regular blog with photos. Therefore, yesterday and today's blog are being uploaded as one entry.

After four very nice days at Green Turtle Bay Marina we departed Sunday morning, 

entering onto Lake Barkley, then followed a canal over to Kentucky Lake.

Kentucky Lake was our first passage over a large body of water. The wind was 

whipping up waves, causing the boat to roll from side to side.

The clouds in the sky didn't do much to calm our nerves.

We were traveling around 7.1 knots (8mph) in 57 feet of water.

As we listened to the Bengals football game, we passed beautiful scenery. The area between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake is well know as the Land Between the Lakes and is inhabited by a wide range of wildlife including armadillos, bison, elk and river otters.

Despite the rough ride, Denise was able to make a taco salad.

After traveling 33.1 miles south on Kentucky lake, we anchored in Panther Bay. It's a beautiful, secluded area. There were only a couple fishermen in the bay, who left by evening, and we were treated to a nearby flock of American White Pelicans.

 After a cool night that got down to 55 degrees in the boat, we ran our generator and electric space heater to get the temperature up to 70 degrees before preparing breakfast. At this point we're not in a hurry to get anywhere quickly, so after breakfast we traveled about six miles south and pulled into Paris Landing Marina, which is also a state park. The cost, including electricity, water hook-up, laundry, showers and restroom is only $22.00 a night, so we may be staying more than one day. 

The first of the large group of looper boats headed south from Chicago, has reached Paducah. When we were there last week, only four boats were tied to the city dock. Based on a photo one of the loopers uploaded today, at least nine boats are tied up, which is pretty much the capacity for that dock.