Day 103
Monday, September 1, 2008
7:30 AM CDT
Location: Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, KY.
(Click here to go to Google Maps and see where we are today)
Weather: 78* with 70% humidity; light wind...predicted to be 95 and sunny today. HOT
Based on my timeframe the last couple of days, I slept in this morning...getting up at 6 am. Even then it was getting hot and humid and you can feel it is going to be very warm today. I have already put up our sun screens (they are white mesh material made of a soft type of canvas that we put over the windows and isinglass to keep the sun out of the helm) on the boat and turned on the A/C in the helm area, and the other 3 in the cabin as well. I’m sure the A/C in the helm will have trouble keeping up today with this kind of heat...but it will keep the humidity out and feel very good compared to outside. This is important, because when we’re on the boat (and not sleeping) we spend about 90% of our time out in the helm (see the pictures of Deb and I in our “positions”).
Yesterday...we had a nice comfortable day of cruising. We left our anchorage just off the Tennessee River and went about 1 mile to get back on the Ohio. We traveled up the Ohio about 12 miles to join the Cumberland River and then went up the Cumberland 31 miles to the Barkley Lock (the picture will give you an idea of the size of this lock). Barkley Lock is one of the biggest we will be in on the entire trip. We went up 64 feet in less than 10 minutes. It is amazing to think about the amount of water they put in that chamber that fast. After exiting the Barkley lock we only went 1 mile to GTB (Green Turtle Bay Marina) our home for a few days. (Note; If you click on our location it will take you to Google Maps and you can get a good picture of where we are. To the right of the blue marker is Lake Barkley; to the left is Kentucky Lake; just above it is the Cumberland River; and above and to the left is the Tennessee River) Upon arrival we stopped at the fuel dock and got fuel (the first since Alton, IL) and also pumped out our holding tanks. I put 235 gallon of fuel on. 105 gallons in the starboard tank and 130 gallons in the port tank. I put more in the port tank because this is the side the generator pulls from and I calculated that is about how much we have used since we left Michigan. Once in our slip we did not get much done the rest of the day...it was so hot and neither Deb or I had the energy to do much. So Deb went to the pool and I sat in the air conditioned helm and watched the NASCAR race. After a dinner of pork chops on the boat grill we were both in bed by 9 pm.
Today...not really sure. We both agree that we need to clean and organize the boat because we have not done anything as we have been cruising the last several days. But it is Labor Day and we should honor this holiday by taking it easy. The good news is we will be here several days and so there is plenty of time to do any chores necessary. We also plan to do a lot of exploring on the dinghy while we are here...so we’ll see what happens.
I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
This is Barkley lock at it's lower stage. It took less than 10 minutes for them to fill this and lift us 64 feet.
The first time you enter a lock like this it can be kind of intimidating
You can see them closing the lock doors beind us. In these locks you wrap a line around a floating bollard and then back to the boat. As the water rises the bollard rises also and the line holds you against the lock wall.
This is the entrance to Green Turtle
Here is a shot of GTB Marina...HQ is on the far right side of this picture
This is what I call the helm area and what I mean when I say I am looking out the back of the boat. This picture was taken when we anchored just off the Mississippi River...which you can see in the backround. This is where I sit and watch TV; write the logs; and of course this is where we enjoy cocktail hour.
This is a shot looking at Deb from where I am sitting on the shot above. Deb spends most of here time here reading each morning and late afternoon. The TV you see is where we watch most of the TV on the boat.
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