Trip Diary for July, 2005

Friday, July 1:  A 7 AM call to the Old Hickory lockmaster confirmed no commercial traffic was expected before 10 AM; we planned departure from Creekwood Marina accordingly and arrived at 9:50 AM for an immediate lockage.  Having stayed only 34 miles upstream of Nashville City Dock we arrived before 1 PM.  This would have been a great place to stay over the 4th, but that required making reservations at opening time on January 2 (there is space for only 5 cruising size boats).  Daughter and son-in-law Sandy and Klaus Leitem stopped by at 5 PM along their way from Indiana to visit her sister's family in Memphis.  We shared dinner in the nearby Hard Rock Cafe.

Saturday-Monday, July 2-4: We left City Dock at 7:30 AM to return to Rock Harbor Marina west of Nashville in time to rent a car before the office closed at noon.  Following a "gourmet lunch" at McDonalds, we visited the Parthenon, the only full scale reproduction of the original, complete with reproductions of statue ruins as well as scholarly postulated recreations of the original pediments.  Most impressive was the 42 ft. centerpiece statue, the goddess Athena. The Tennessee capitol, while closed for the weekend, is sited on a very high hill and provided an impressive stop. Sunday began with worship at the large McKendree United Methodist Church in downtown Nashville; we enjoyed an excellent sermon from the newly install minister, Rev. Halliburton, and were pleased at the exceptionally friendly reception by members. Lunch followed at the Old Spaghetti Factory on 2nd Ave., one of our favorite and very economical chains.  Next it was on to Belle Meade museum, the world famous mid-1800's stud farm and mansion only 3 mi. from our marina. Old Hickory Mall was next on our list (at least on Lola's and Carolyn's).  For the 4th, we decided to drive 45 mi. to Clarksville, TN to visit a picturesque and architecturally famous city that, while right on the Cumberland, offers no place for pleasure boats to tie for a visit.  It certainly lived up to its billing and would have been even better had the museum not been closed for the holiday.  We experienced a brief, but intense thunderstorm as we returned to find electricity out.  We could not open the electric gate to our section of the marina, so we joined the Rock Harbor Yacht Club's holiday party for hamburgers and drinks.

Tuesday, July 5: After a lengthy rental return because of the holiday weekend and a pumpout, we ended our most enjoyable stay at Rock Harbor Marina and Nashville.  Departed at 10:45 AM and headed for Cheatham lock 27 mi. downstream.  A "locking status" call to the lockmaster at 11:30 determined "the pump is down, I have no idea when it will be back in operation and 3-4 boats are now waiting."  With that bit of news we slowed even further (to 7 mph) and arrived at 2 PM.  By then operations were restored and we had only a 15 min. wait before entering. Our 18th lock, but the last one for a couple of months!  Weather today was cooler than the past 2 weeks; mostly sunny with a high of 88 and 10-15 mph breeze.  We made Clarksville Boat Club at 4:45 PM; the only facility was a dock with electricity.  Carolyn and Lola fixed an excellent pork roast dinner.  Miles traveled to date: 1253.

Wednesday, July 6: A 7 AM castoff allowed us to reach Eddy Creek Marina, 86 miles downriver, by 5:30 PM.  The weather was especially pleasant all morning because skies were overcast, there was no wind and temperatures by noon had reached only 78 degrees; by late afternoon the sky cleared and temperatures reached 91, but the humidity was lower than recent days.  It was interesting to observe things we had missed (or forgotten?) on our upstream travels.  As usual, birds are the most commonly visible wildlife.  We again spotted an eagle along one of the wildlife refuges near Cumberland City, but a usable picture would have required a good telephoto lens and tripod.

Friday-Tuesday, July 7-12: After refueling, we made the short 20 mi. to Kentucky Dam Marina (KDM), the largest marina on the lakes.  Because we had been mostly running on one engine at "hull speed", i.e. around 8 mph, and often benefited from river currents to net 9-11 mph, we averaged 2.9 mpg.  We used these days to visit interesting locations around "the land between the lakes," clean the boat after 7 weeks of 4-8 persons living aboard, load the Spillman's van with maps and books we will not need for the future part of the trip, and generally prepared everything to return home for a month.  Two days were spent in the historic river town of Paducah, KY.  In addition to its spectacular riverfront murals that capture 4-rivers' (Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland) history in more than 2 dozen images, we enjoyed its terrific museums: the American Quilters and the River History.  Of course, we also had to verify rumors about great local restaurants. The trip up and down the Cumberland was certainly a worthwhile addition to our "great loop".  Fred Myers' advice to plan 3-4 weeks was right on target as was the essential information provided by his excellent river guide, The Cumberland River.   Miles traveled on this first segment of our trip: 1340.

Suspended loop travel, July 13-31: We returned home to have wheels and a base from which to attend our 50th high school class reunion, the ASAE annual meeting in Tampa, Lola's Longaberger convention in Columbus, OH, and the wedding of our oldest grandchild.  The plan was to return to KDM on August 14 and resume our water saga.

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