October 26, 2009

Tuesday morning dawned clear and--you guessed it, cold.  I won’t be whining about the weather forever, but will mention that this week there was one day of warm sunshine!  We loved it.  Actually, the crisp sunny fall is exhilerating, as well.   And it was a  very good week in the Music City.

For me, Nashville was the Apple City.  In my efffort to learn to effectively use the iMac laptop I spent 6 hours of one on one time at the Apple Store.  A rental car came in very handy--made possible the trips to the Mall as well as to meet up with family and friends.

So Tuesday we spent the day bustling about locating things and from 9-10 a.m. and from 1-4 p.m. I was poring over my keyboard with Jarrett (and his brain) at my side.  What was fun about that was that others were at the same table, and we’d in turn hoot “You can do THAT?  And it is that easy???The Apple guys spend two weeks in the home office--Cupertino, CA-- learning, not the machines, but how to work with adults in a meaningful way.   Lots of laughter was involved, and I’m hoping my notes will be decipherable!  

At 5 p.m. we boarded the shuttle heading for the Grand Ole Opry.  Even if you have a car a bus ride is the best for this trip!  Well, maybe.   Plan A was that we’d catch the early shuttle so we’d have time to wander about and do our tourist thing.  Turns out 5 p.m. just meant we were the first to be picked up, and we got to ride for an hour and a half--from hotel to hotel to hotel.  The last hotel stop was 5 minutes from the boat--our car was in the parking garage.. Sigh.

The bus was crowded with Sweet Adeline singers---there are 8000 of them in Nashville  this week.  Our busmates were mostly from Montana.  We hoped they’d burst into song, but, no such luck....

In 1974 the Opry (the longest continuously runnning radio show in America) moved from down town Nashville--the Ryman Auditorium--(located  5 minutes from our boat dock) out of town to a huge complex with the Opryland Hotel and massive theater for the show, and of, course, a Mall next door.  Hey, it’s America.   The plan was to retain the flavor of the Ryman, and they did it well with tabernacle seating (pews) a circular floor plan and wide deep stage.  The center circle of floor on the stage was literally lifted from the Ryman, so all new Opry singers could stand on the exact piece of wood where Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash and all the great (and not so great) country singers have stood. 

A 21st Century Minnie Pearl (with hat but no price tag) greeted us with a lusty “Howdy”, and the show began promptly at 7--as it’s a radio broadcast, timing is important.  When the curtain went up, the first person we saw was Kenny Reis--lead fiddler for the Time Jumpers!  He was accompanying  Jimmy C. Newman, the first performer of the evening.  We felt right at home!

Other 15 minute segments were performed by Opry standards June Shepard, Bill Anderson and Little Jimmy Dickens, all well into their 70’s or more.  Membership in the Opry is by invitation only.  According to Wikipedia, the obligation to appear onstage in Nashville 26 times/year that is implicit in membership, has been relaxed in recent years.  Each show is a combination of members and guests--one guest said he had been there 84 times.  Wonder if the invitation to join will ever come....The final performer on Tuesday evening was guest Darryl Worley, who currently has a Top Ten Hit--"Seems like life to me".  He also sang his latest, which he hopes will follow to the Top Ten--"the Best of both worlds".

All in all, it was a hoot! Actually, a literal hoot--Li’l Jimmy Dickens finished his set with a song from Hee Haw!! Remember that one?

Wednesday morning at 8 I was back at the Apple Store, and after my session we grocery shopped at the Whole Food Store (for produce) and Harris Teeter (for everything else)   While I got my not so curly locks curled at the Hair Beauty place, Fred lugged bags of groceries from the parking lot, through the train station, and down the long ramp to the short ramp to the dock to the boat at the base of the bridge.  Multiple trips.  He gets a gold star!

We spent the afternoon with Fred’s cousin Ann Soderquist, who’d just flown in from a trip to Chicago and picked her dogs up from the kennel.  We met at  the Parthenon.  In Nashville, not Athens.  Due to the large number of institutions of higher learning consolidated in Nashville, the city is called the Athens of America.  So when Tennessee celebrated 100 years of statehood, an exact replica of the Parthenon (except it has a roof) was built as the centerpiece of the event.   We found the history of the Greco-Persian conflicts to be sadly familiar---when will they ever learn??? In any case the statue of Athena (added in 1970) and plaster replicas of the Parthenon Marbles, the remains of the sculptures that adorned the pediments that were mutilated (used for target practice, actuallly) around 430 BC were amazing to see.

Back to Apple at 7, and from there we dashed across town to meet Mike Borum for dinner.  Had such a good time we closed the restaurant--and brought home a coconut custard pie. They “were just going to throw it away....”  It was dee-lish.

Friday was a great day.  I stayed hame and puttered, practiced Mac-ing, rescued a land turtle from the solid mass of debris that had tucked itself in between the boat and dock (I put two large grocery bags of bottles etc. into the trash! As soon as the turtle was safely out of rest of the heap, all the debris swooshed away downstream), Fred an Mike returned the car, (ask Fred about that interesting trip sometime...) visited all the boat stores and then toured Chromatics, Mike’s photo lab company.  At six we went off to meet Crystal and Merwin, friends of Mike’s from their Virgin Island sailing days.  Had a great dinner in a floating restaurant near the Hermitage, home of that famous Tennesseean, Andrew Jackson.

Saturday we were underway, the southbound vessel heading north (remember the current thing) at a dizzying 9.4 knots!  We were in Clarksville by 5 and had the dock to ourselves--well, except for the townsfolk who come there for a walk. Sunday we spent the beautiful sunny morning in the engine room, doing diagnostics on the Generator--the real culprit in the ‘water on the engine room floor’ saga.  Port engine has been getting the rap, and it is nearly innocent.  Generator seal to be repaired at the earliest convenience.

Sunday afternoon we hied us hence to Bumpus Mills--we love that place!   Arrived with enough daylight left to scrub and power wash YA’s decks, and to visit with the fishermen who came in to clean theri catch.  Rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a yummy dinner--butternut squash ssoup and shrimp scampi.   MMMMMmmmmmmm.

Today we’re returning to Green Turtle Bay, and the end of the Cumberland trip.  Net week we’ll visit from the Tennessee River!  Until then, be well, laugh a lot, and dance from time to time.

Fred and Linda

October 19, 2009

Heidy ho!  Green Turtle Bay Marina was our home for the week, so for this week’s epistle, no traveling took place between Tuesday and Saturday!  What did we do instead?  Stayed warm--the weather has been the biggest conversation topic around here.  Not NY temperatures, but clearly not ‘southern’ weather!  

I was waiting in vain for a warm day to spruce up YOUNG AMERICA’s outsides.  It is amazing how dirty a boat can get when all it does is pass through water.   Well, ok, it sits at a dock or an anchorage also, but YA needed a shower.  By Friday, I decided there would be no warm day before Saturday, so I put on mittens and did some scrubbing.   Very rewarding work, I must say.

Our mail arrived and with it came many hours of paperwork for Fred.  While he worked on that, I baked bread, read, went to the Post Office in the courtesy van provided by the marina, read, and played with the Mac laptop that has come to live with us.  Will be learning a lot about it in the future, for now I’m just playing.  And isn’t it amazing how many hours can be gobbled up by checking out the things on the internet?

Here at  GTB we have a wifi connection--not available at every marina--so internet access is very good.  When there is no wi-fi, we rely on our Verizon aircard--actually a third line on our cell phone service, but it offers broadband connectinons, not dial-up.  Has worked well and as long as Verizon (or it’s cooperating partners) has towers around, we’re set!

One project we completed this week was the hanging of blinds on the 3 windshield windows.   Dealing with curtains, rods, brackets, etc. makes my teeth itch,  so I’m very happy that Fred was willing to do the necessary climbing, measuring, drilling and clipping into place.  I do a fine job of handing up the necessary tool--not unlike OR nursing--‘drill’ or ‘screwdriver’--says he, and I slap it into the palm.  What a team! The result is good, and we tested it out by watching a movie in our newly darken-able ‘theater’.  Great success!

Friday evening we joined Pat and Diane of SHARPIE’S DREAM for dinner at the yacht club’s dining room in the Marina.  Had a great meal and good company.  We’ll miss them as they head off for the TN river while we explore the Cumberland.

Another pleasant visit we enjoyed was with Fred and Joan Myers.  They’ve traversed the rivers of this area--the Tennessee, Tombigbee, and Cumberland--many, many times and have generously compiled informative guide books. Great for us cruisers to use as we navigate these inland waterways.  Joan and I chatted away while the two Freds spent nearly an hour reviewing the many important things there are to talk about in YA’s engine room.   That place is like a man-magnet!

Saturday morning we topped off the fuel tanks (still $2.74/gal. for diesel) and headed up the Cumberland.  I learned that no matter what compass direction we are travelling---and this river has gone all four directions--sometimes in the same hour-- we are considered to be Northbound on the Cumbie (we’re on a very familiar basis now) because our nose is pointing into the current  The river empties into the Ohio--behind us--so we are heading for it’s origins, against the current, and therefore when we hail another vessel, we are the Northbound pleasure craft....Our destination is Nashville, TN, which most definitely is NOT north of Paducah, KY, but we’re the Northbound vessel.  Who’d a thunk it. 

The current may have been against us, but the wind was pushing us, and  that combination made for some very choppy water.  We rode along through 1-2‘ waves with white caps topping them almost all day.

Along the shore we passed the KY State Penitentiary (the Castle on the Cumberland) whick holds the dubious honor of performing the most legal executions (seven) in the United States in a single day--Friday, July 13, 1928.  

Our ‘home’ for the evening was at Bumpus Mills, TN.  The couple who own the marina had just settled down for dinner when we arrived around 4:30, but they came out to help us tie up, and soon we, too were having an early meal and early to bed.  

Fishing boats greeted us in the morning---a steady stream of them launching off the ramp on our port side.  The fog was so thick the boats disappeared in a heartbeat.  Don’t know if it was just the normal weather conditions or the escaping [delicious] odors from my very onion and even more garlic omelet that burned away the fog, but by 9:40 we could see the opposite shore, and so were off.  Saw very little wildlife as we passed through the  Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge.  We also passed the site of Fort Donalson, where Gen. U.S. Grant scored the first major Union victory in the Civil War.  13,000 Confederate troops surrendered to Grant, although Grant’s Union fleet on the Cumberland  was badly damaged.

Clarksville, TN was our next destination.  Several years ago Fred was father of the groom here when Geoff and his wife Amy were wed. Amy and Geoff were in the Army, stationed at nearby Ft. Campbell.  On that trip, Fred says he stood by the river and thought that someday he’d like to come into Clarksville on his own boat.  Done.  

We arrived and tied up at the municipal wall right after a fleet of C-Dorry boats--tough looking tugboat-like motorboats.  Nine crewmembers from the four nearly identical boats met up in Clarksville, and after a tour of YA, they invited us to have dinner with them at O’Charley’s.  A fun evening.  In the morning they all agreed that they were happy we were the most upstream boat.  The amount of debris that tucked in next to YA’s bow was disgusting!   Logs, boards, a soccer ball, smaller ball and more empty bottles, cups and yes other unmentionable  types of garbage--all piled up between our bow and the wall.  After much deliberation about how to escpe without dragging the stuff along the side of the boat, Fred realized that the bow thruster was the answer!  Two whooshes from that puppy and YA was far enough from shore for the gunk to slide on by.

We slid on, as well, through beautiful countryside--sometimes rocky bluffs, other times gentle rolling hills or green lawns. .  At the end of Barkley Lake, we rejoined the C-Dorries in the 29’ high lock, and we all entered Cheatham Lake. 

Forty two, slogging into the wind miles later (top speed 6.2 kn--often 5.6 or so) we began the progression of bridges that mark Nashville’s downtown.  It is truly amazing that the tugboat pilots can safely move barges through this stretch.  The river makes an S curve and 6 bridges cross it within a mile and a half.  At the fourth, at 6:45 p.m. and pretty much in the dark, we tied up at the Municipal Pier.  Shortly thereafter, fellow Mirage boater Mike Borum, a Nashville native,  picked us up and whisked us off to the Station Inn where we were treated to pizza and to country music by the Time Jumpers.  The group was amazing, and has been nominated for Emmy and Grammy awards. In addition to their own compositions, they ‘jump back in time’ for numbers like “I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter”,  “All of me” and “You don’t know me”.  Loved it! 

So here we are, and it won’t be long before Monday rolls around again.  Maybe this time, I’ll be able to post the blog in a timely fashion!

Till then, be well and keep smiling!

Fred and Linda

October 12, 2009

Columbus Day, 2009! We share Chris’ excitement of exploring new places by boat. OK, so our travel is not the same as 1492, but it is still just fine to celebrate this day on the water! Here is a good rule--which was reinforced for us last Monday night. Don’t go to sleep with the hatch over your bed open when the forecast is for rain. Sure does wake you up in a hurry! Didn’t keep us awake, though. Last Tuesday it rained--with thunder and lightning--all morning. By 11 the storm blew by, and we were once again pushed south by the currents of the Mississippi. At one point we passed (that is to say, overtook) a tug pushing 30 barges--he was doing 8.3 kn.--we were smoking at 10.7! (10.7 kn = 11.77 mph! WHIPLASH!!) Around mile 30 in the Big River, we slowed to chat with a guy in a wee canoe! He was paddling like mad to keep his little boat straight with the currents and wakes. He told us his name is Neal and he’s a journalist. From July to December he is conoe-ing from Minneapolis to New Orleans to write about good news in America. Hooray for him! To read about his adventure, google Mississippi River Canoe CNN We anchored for the night again, this time near Cairo, IL, just before the turn (left) into the Ohio River. SHARPIE’S DREAM once again rafted with us and Knute performed admirably. We slept soundly, knowing that a new adventure awaited in the a.m. The Ohio is a tributary which empties into the Mississippi, so when we made the turn, we were heading upstream. The Great Loop recommends this route rather than following the Lower Mississippi to New Orleans. That 900+ miles is even more commercial than what we’d just traversed, and docking and fuel for pleasure crafts are rare. So up the Ohio we went, toward Paducah, KY, and the confluence of the Tennessee River. There are 3 locks on this 60 mile stretch of the Ohio. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, Locks #52 and 53 are the busiest locks in the entire Inland Waterway system. Barge traffic from the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers passes through this section on the way to or from the Mississippi. Tidbit of info: 0ver 96 million tons of cargo move along the rivers annually. One 15 barge tow (3X5) would require 870 tractor trailers to transport the same amount of cargo. Most of the tows we passed were bigger than 3X5--the biggest was 7X7! The waterway is extremely valuable, efficient, and unfortunately, in need of much repair and upgrading. Locks 52 and 53 on the Ohio are antiquated ‘wicket’ style locks. A wicket is a wooden fence fastened to the bottom of the river. When the water is high, (as it was when we crossed #53) the wickets are lowered to the river bed and boats simply ride over them. It is swirly and turbulent as you pass over the ‘fence’ but the lockmaster said there were 19 feet of water between YA and the wicket. Not so a few miles further east at #52. There, the wickets were up to dam the river and keep the pool levels high enough for the deep vessels to pass, so we locked through. Olmstead Lock and dam is under construction in this area, and will replace both 52 and 53 when it is completed. Our tax dollars at work! (The federal tax on diesel fuel helps pay for maintenance and upgrades.) Once we reached Paducah anchoring was the only option. No marinas and the barge usually docked and available for ‘transients’ like us to tie to had been mysteriously removed. No one seemed able to explain this, but we found a quiet spot that was secure. Next morning we were in the Tennessee River (again flowing upstream against us) and after a 2 hour wait while a tow split it’s load of barges to fit them in the lock chamber, we locked through at the Kentucky Lock and Dam. First time we've been in a lock with a tug and barge. This wasn't part of the 'split' load, it was a single barge waiting, like us, for a turn to enter the lock. Stopped at a state park marina for 2 nights, and agian found indoor things to do as it rained and rained and rained. The bass fishermen didn’t mind and the water was crowded with boats having a tournament. On Saturday we made a short run across Kentucky Lake, through Barkley Canal to Barkley Lake and up to Green Turtle Bay Marina. This is the ‘reward’ marina’ after all the rivers and locks, and it is very comfortable. Somehow I missed Monday this week. I just looked at the day clock, and it is Wed. as I finish writing this. Guess I’m doing a pretty good job of relaxing! We’ve taken the courtesy cars into Paducah a couple of times--visited the National Quilt Museum where we saw an amazing array of ‘art quilts’ using every medium imaginable--from wooden quilts to nylon screening with sugar packets to a WWII exhibit that actually contained quilts such as grandma used to make! Fascinating. From there we went to the Discovery Center where a simulator allowed us to crash a small barge tow, (we have utmost respect for those tug boat captains) and a real time video of the river outside showed today’s traffic. We attempted to back up a few days to watch YA go by, but the backer-upper stuck at one day. Such is life. We’ll be here at GTB until the weekend, and will let you know next week what the plan beomes then......... Be well......Fred and Linda

October 5, 2009

Greetings from Huckleberry Finn-land. Before we exited the Illinois River we had some fun times. For instance, we used the self serv pump out at Spring Brook. Just insert your token (purchased in the office for $10) and the machine works for, we think, 5 minutes to empty your holding tank. Not fun, you say? You are not a cruiser! We met up with another split tow (a 'tow' refers to the fleet of barges tied together and pushed by a single tugboat). This time the lockmaster told us to tie up to a huge round 'cell' in the river to wait for the first (3X3 or 9 barges) to come up in the lock. We did—had lunch and watched, and an hour or so later were told to sneak in behind the tow and ride the lock down. Would have sworn there was no room, but sure enough we had feet to spare as we entered the lock. At the bottom we again sneaked by--the other 6 barges and the tug were ready to lock up. Our stop that nite was in Henry, IL, at Henry's Marina. 'Skinny' water going in—that means our depth sounder beeps as if to ask if we really want to be in this particular shallow spot. We did, we docked, and Becca in Henry's restaurant and bar was most happy to fix us up with dinner. Evidently this entrance (it is very nearly under a bridge) is a point of local interest. When we left in the a.m., a black pickup truck stopped, backed off the road and watched us maneuver our way around the bridge in the shallow water. Maybe we looked too big to fit in that spot! Journeying down the Illinois River through Peoria brought us back into the Industrial Revolution. Busy-ness everywhere and lots of cranes, trucks, barges and other heavy equipment. We turned into Tall Timbers Marina for the night and were treated to 'Bob's backhoe and dumptruck show'. Bob bought the Marina after a flood had ravaged it. He's re-built the docks beautifully, and was in the process of draining a spring-fed pool. Had a wee road, just wide enough to back the dumptrucks down, and he and his friend took turns filling dumptrucks and hauling away the dirt. We walked about the town before returning to visit with Bob for awhile, and had an early night. Fred wants the baby backhoe. We were up and out early in the a.m., and the weather was not our best friend. It rained, and the wind opposed the current in the river, which makes for messy traveling. In this case the waves were actually worse than the Atlantic Ocean or Lake Michigan! All day we ran the windshield wipers as the spray flew over the bow. At one point we were cuaght between a Coast Guard Buoy Tender and a big ol' barge, but everyone found enough river to carry on. Despite the wind, rain and traffic, we covered 89 miles and anchored behind Willow Island. We were watchint the Constant Gardener, a John LeCarre shoot-em-uip video, and at a particularly tense moment, the boat was flooded with light! I jumped out of my skin. Turns out it was the huge spotlight of our tug-friend Joyce Hale. We've passed her 3-4 times as she goes back and forth on the river. She was just checking us out to be sure we didn't plan to pull out in front of her. We certainly didn't! Totally traumatized, I shut off the movie and went to bed. Fred wants to own her spotlight! Friday we left the Illinois and at 11 a.m. entered the Mighty Mississippi! Took the Chain of Rocks Canal and locked through the Chain of Rocks Lock—our most difficult so far. The floating bollard just didn't work well with the boat, and we had two cleats involved.... crazy. First stop—Alton , IL where our high expectations were dashed by the lack of awareness of the employees we reached by radio and phone. “you'll see it when you get there” and “Starboard—does that mean the right side?” just weren't the most helpful conversational gambits. It took a bit of doing, but eventually we were tied up and secure. To add insult to injury, they were out of diesel fuel, and didn't get the shipment that was expected by morning. One more strike against them, and our plans for the next day had to be changed. Well, as we've often said, “what good is a plan if you can't change it?” After a much shorter run than we'd intended, Fern welcomed us at Hoppie's Marina and happily put 200 gal. of diesel in our tank. ($2.75/gallon and we happily paid, as there are no more fuel stops for a couple of hundred miles.) After we walked into the delightful village of Kennswick and did some Christmas shopping--after listening to the curbside trio and before having a milk shake (delicious!), Fern held forth on the fuel dock. There were 6 boats tied to the barges that constituted the marina, and we all got a 2 hour course called Rivers 101B—complete with listings of anchorages, scary spots, and instructions about how to deal with tugboats and barges. It was fun and informative. Fern and Hoppie are the second generation at this location. When Hoppie was a boy, he, his dad and brother lit kerosene channel markers along the shore every day to help with navigation. Now the markers have gone from kerosene to batteries to solar fuel, but Fern and Hoppie have retained the willingness and ability to take care of folks. Happily, their daughter and son-in-law are now working with them. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Sunday morning we found ourselves encased in a cocoon of fog that didn't burn off till 9:30. We headed downstream and by 4 were at the Koskiosko Lock and Dam. The wall there is available for overnighting, and soon we were joined by Pat and Diane from Canada; a very nice couple whose mast is laying on the deck of their sailboat. They are anxious to get sailing in the Carribbean. More fog on Monday, and this time a 10 a.m. departure—the earliest we could see as far as the west bank of the Mississippi. We covered 68 miles with the current boosting us along—at one point we got to 11 knots—that's a whopping 12 miles per hour! We passed all manner of tows—one with no less than 49 barges attached—7X7! Another tug was pushing 2 tugs that were pushing a mess of cranes and pipes for who knows what purpose. Fascinating, and with avoiding the tugboats and barges, keeping up with the current and being sure to miss all the floating logs, navigating the Mississippi is exciting. We're anchored tonight in a little creek off the river and SHARPIE'S DREAM, Pat and Diane's sailboat, is rafted to us. We had a great dinner and you know what? It's bedtime. Hope you've been able to stay awake through all these words. We're enjoying ourselves thoroughly, and hope the vicarious trip brings you a bit of pleasure,too! Be well............. Linda and Fred