Up and Down the Cumberland – on and off the boat

Up and Down the Cumberland – on and off the boat

Ever been shopping in an antique mall being careful to notice everything only to turn around and walk back the same aisle seeing all the things missed on the way up? (OK, the same principle works in Home Depot or Publix supermarkets.) This river trip seems about the same – we are going up and back but so far we notice more that we missed than recognize where we have already been. (Might this be a good justification for doing the loop in reverse?) Perhaps it is just the truism that cruising is about the journey not the sights or even destinations.  Whatever, we have been up the Cumberland into Old Hickory Lake where the lock master moved us through smoothly and swiftly both going up river and coming back down.  We hung out in Sharps Knob for a weekend of relaxation – ok Julia relaxed and Steve scrubbed the bottom and investigated any damages caused by our encounter with the cast net.  Sadly, he found one of the very essential props on our bow thruster had lost its prop wings.  The good news is each side has more than one prop and it can be replaced – the new one is on order. Just more exercise for our ace repairman/captain.

We include some of our photos of the river journey.  Sections are isolated and WILD while others are heavily populated – surprisingly these stretches are not always in close proximity to towns. Houses, in fact, seem to cluster on bluffs – smart folks who live along this river know that it can flood as it did a few years ago submerging downtown Nashville and the Opry Land complex just up river. While we did not see the dramatic levee walls of the Ohio and Mississippi,  retaining rock was commonplace. Mostly we noticed that this river winds and winds and winds – in places we traveled 10 miles to loop back less than a mile from where we started. All the curves, and cliffs made the travel here interesting and required at least one of us paid attention to steering the boat – at least a little more closely than was required on the wide rivers and open lakes.  Still multitasking on a boat is much safer than in a car, walking or on a bike!

 

Our last week has been mostly off the boat.  We left her and the cats in the Clarksville Marina under the watchful eye of Ric the Harbor Master and Timeka the ace cat sitter. In spite of some exciting weather during our absence all was peaceful on our return. Our few days in Oregon for the wedding of Steve’s nephew, Toby, to lovely Emma flew by faster than our mysterious extended 8 ½ hour layover in Minneapolis. We enjoyed the brief time with family including Paul and Amanda as well as a stop to see Steve’s Uncle John. The return flight mercifully went smoothly and swiftly.

 Visiting with Uncle John

 One of many wonderful meals in Kathy and Howard's kitchen

Before turning in the rental car, we visited all the big box stores to stock up on essentials – like chocolates found only at Sam’s Club! We know we are getting close to home now that Region's Bank and Publix are available again.  From here we have a few more days on Lake Barkley and then we head to the Tennessee River.