Day on the Cruise: 155
From: Anchored on The Ohio River at Cumberland Towhead
To: Green Turtle Bay Resort, Grand Rivers, KY
Statute Miles: 34.2 SM
Time: 5.5 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 3,984.3 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
Tonight we are off the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers and sitting at Green Turtle Bay on Lake Barkley in Kentucky! A huge Milestone!
Last night at docktails all four boat crews gathered our second wind for one last drive to the end zone. It is late in the fourth quarter of this particular game, and we have to score a lock through at Barkley Lock today to get to the end of the game tonight at Green Turtle Bay Marina on Lake Barkley.
GTB is the "Emerald City" that we have been looking for. The "Promised Land". The end of the obnoxious great river section of the loop. One more day of pushing. We have now traveled six long days in a row. We are tired. Our tempers are short. We have had our fill with locks and towboats and fishermen. Can we make it?
Wake up call call again at 5:30. It is all we can do to pull ourselves out of bed. One more run today! We run the generator for 45 minutes to charge the batteries and make coffee. A quick call to Barkley Lock yields no information that is helpful. Yes they have tows up there. No they can't tell us what the wait is. Come up to the Lock and then they will deal. Ok, by damn, we are coming!
Anchors up at 7:00. I am leading again because we are going up the Cumberland River to Barkley and I have the AIS. It is a narrow winding river and not good for passing tows. A good precursor of things to come on the Alabama Rivers.
Just minutes after leaving Cumberland Towhead, we pass two huge mooring cells and are cruising into the Cumberland River. Challenges are identified ahead on the AIS. Three tows in front of us very quickly. Yes this river is narrow and it is very winding. We see the "Lexington" ahead of us and he is in a curve. I call him on channel 13 on the VHF and ask for a pass and he asks that we wait until he is out of the curve. He is pushing hard around the bend with maybe 15 barges in front of him. His wheel wash to the outside of the curve is huge! We want the inside of the curve to avoid his wheel wash. He comes back to me and agrees on a two whistle pass which gives us the inside. I tell him we will see him "on the two" and all four boats get past him just before we get to another curve. Whew!
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| Easing up on the Lexington |
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| Seeing the Lexington on "the two" |
The other two tows ahead are fleeting tow boats working barge strings on the left descending bank below a big quarry or "Rock Pile" as the towboat captains call them. We pass on the green line away from these boats and all is good.
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| One of the "Rock Piles" we passed on the Cumberland |
Up ahead we are watching another upbound tow on the AIS. No luck today, he is also in a series of curves. He is the Killian L. Huger, pushing 15 barges in three strings. I call him on 13 and announce that we are four recreational vessels upbound passing the Quarry and request a pass. I want the one so as to be on the inside of the curve. He complies and even gets off the gas and slows to a crawl so we can pass. All four of us get by him. What a nice gesture! This Captain is a prince! Thank you sir!
Boogety, Boogety, Boogety. We are upbound on the Cumberland headin' to Barkley. Here comes a downbound tow at Dycusburg Bend. Another series of narrow curves in the River. He is the Edwin L. Kennedy, an Ingram Barge Company Towboat with 14 barges on. He has come through Barkley this morning. I want the inside. I call and ask for a one whistle pass and he agrees. I don't see him with my eyes until he is coming around the curve. He wants the four of us hard on the left descending bank. We are not far enough over. He gets anxious and "elevates his demeanor" on the VHF. We get farther over and suddenly we are past one another and all is right with the world again.
The Kennedy will be the last Tow we encounter on the obnoxious great rivers of the Loop. Good riddance. We are headin' to Barkley. Up ahead we saw a bald eagle swoop down across the river in front of our boat. What a beautiful bird with the white head. He went up in a tree on the right descending bank, then watched as we cruised by before going to another tree. The first bald eagle on our trip!
Here comes the I-24 bridge. Under the bridge and we make the call to the Lock just a mile and a half upstream. "This is Motor vessel Blue Moon. We are four recreation vessels upbound requesting a lock through."
And we hold our collective breaths. Blue Moon. Always Five O'Clock. Entree'. Reunion. The AIS shows two big downbound tows waiting on top of the Lock to come down. We also see on the Lock Website that a recreational vessel is on top of the lock waiting to come down. The L. R. Chapman with 15 barges has been "cut up" and is in the second stage of locking up. He is just coming out of the lock on top and has to remake his tow then get out of the way.
Barkley tells us to come on up to the Lock Wall. He will get us through in about an hour. Really? As we approach the Lock, I call and tell Barkley that we are at the bottom of the Lock. He wants to make sure we are all on the wall. We get on the wall. Looks very promising.
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| Hanging on the wall at Barkley Lock waiting for the gates to open |
In an hour from our call at the I-24 bridge, the lock gates open and a pleasure craft emerges and runs by us. A loud horn and a flashing green light signals us to enter the huge lock chamber, the highest lift we have done on the trip at 56'. We are in the Lock at 11:55. Unbelievable timing. I had mentally prepared for a 6 hour wait and an approach to GTB at O dark thirty. The Lock Gods are with us today!
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| In the Lock at Barkley looking at the upper gate doors |
We quickly rise up to Lake Barkley. The upper doors open and spill the four of us out onto a beautiful sight. My thrusters are not working consistently and my stern bangs the Lock wall several times. We maneuver around the front of the waiting downbound tow. He hasn't given us a lot of room to maneuver, but we get around him and start looking for GTB. Lake Barkley is a beautiful sight. The next Lock is 200 miles up the Tennessee River. It could be a light year away for all I care.
We have been warned about not cutting corners to get into Green Turtle Bay. Fail to follow the entrance channel and you will soon be in rocks. Crunch! We find the marked channel into the resort and motor in. They are expecting the four of us. We have made it! We have conquered the obnoxious great rivers of the Loop. Ah, a pump out! A shower! Fuel! Other Loopers! And at 12:35 PM we are tied up at the GTB dock. Victory!
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| Welcome to Green Turtle Bay! |
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| Commonwealth Yacht Club at GTB |
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| Green Turtle Bay |
Docktails tonight was fun. There are a bunch of Loopers here. Loopers that we met months and weeks and days ago. And we all crowded into a pavilion to start sharing our stories while we imbibed. The great rivers are behind us!
We are all heading to the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama on October 14. But we will take different routes to get there. Some will visit Nashville. Some will stay here and tour the area. Some, I imagine will go to Chattanooga and then back to Joe Wheeler. Some will take a break and head home as we will do before we head to the Rendezvous in Blue Moon.
Our little Flotilla headed to Patti's in Grand Rivers for dinner tonight. We had a table for eight at this great regional restaurant that is a "destination" spot. Some had the 2" pork chop. Most of us had the famous pies. It was a wonderful meal.
No 5:30 wakeup call tomorrow. No pulling up an anchor. No locks tomorrow! We will pick up our rental car and get ready for a brief respite from this cruising life.
Thanks for Reading!
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