Day 120
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Our slip at the municipal dock in Clarksville
You can see I look excited to get started...but Deb needed another picture
This was taken from our boat...looking out at the Cheatam Lock. Notice the fisherman trying to fish in that current.
6:45 AM CDT
Location: Harpeth Shoals Marina, Ashland City, TN
Weather: 61* very foggy and calm winds; forecast is for 84* and sunny today
Very foggy this morning...actually the first totally foggy morning since we left Michigan. We have seen some patchy fog...but nothing like this. Might have to wait a while to head out this morning. The river is fairly narrow at this point and the channel is even narrower...I don’t need to be out there until the fog is totally gone.
The 47 mile ride from Clarksville to Ashland City, TN was a very nice ride on a beautiful day. The sun rose to a crystal blue sky and it warmed up to the mid 80’s in no time. We had most of the isinglass open all the way and it was great (the only problem we had at all is I was listening to CNBC market watch on our Sirius radio and going crazy listening to the market take another dive...why do I put myself through that?)
As we get closer to Nashville the river continues to get a little narrower and a little higher banks. We are also seeing more channel markers (to keep us in the deep part of the river) and the channel is much shallower than it has been (15 feet verses 40 to 50 feet down river). About 20 miles up river from Clarksville we had to go through the Cheatam Lock (see the picture of the dam next to the lock). A boat who we met down river (Main Course) had radioed us and ask if he could follow us up to, and in, the lock because they had never taken their boat in a lock before, and were not familiar with the procedure. I told them no problem...follow us. On my chart plotter I could see that there was a tow boat heading up river (remember I have the AIS system installed on my boat...a great tool for traveling the river) and I was trying to calculate how fast we would be catching him and how soon he would make it to the lock. I also was thinking about going fast for a while to pass him and possibly get in the lock before him to save us a wait time of up to 2 hours. After some consideration I decided to not go fast...but I did hear the tow call the lock and give the lock his information and discuss locking through. At that point I called the tow and asked him if we could get in the lock with him...which he said no. So I called the lock master on the phone and told him he had two pleasure craft heading up river and we were just behind the tow and could we go in with him...to which he said no. I was very nice with him (which I always am with lock masters) and told him we would be below the lock and would love a “lift” as soon as he could get to us. About 15 minutes later something interesting happened. When the tow originally called the lock he told him that before entering the lock there would be “crew change” which means that a new crew would be coming on deck and that crew would be taking the tow through the lock. When that happens there is normally a delay (because the barge slows way down...or even stops in some cases...to change crews) and so the lock master called the tow on the radio and asked him if he had changed crews yet...to which the tow said no...and so the lockmaster asked the tow if he could lock through a couple of pleasure craft before he got to the lock and the tow captain said sure...so we passed the tow and went right in. We were in the right place...and did the right thing.
From the lock to our slip for the night was about 10 miles of more beautiful river. Harpeth Shoals Marina is a new (no one lives here yet) beautiful condo complex with a new marina attached. The place is so new they don’t even have a credit card machine yet so we had to pay cash ($1 per foot for the night), but the docks are great (all of them covered) and the area is first class. About 1/2 of the slips are full at this point...but I’m sure they won’t last long, being this close to Nashville. The dock master said they had 136 condos in the complex and only 41 were left to sell. They start closing and people start moving in next week. After settling in at the dock Deb did some reading and book work and I did some cleaning on the boat. We had left over spaghetti for dinner and a nice quite evening.
Today we head up to Nashville and will be staying downtown at the municipal marina...a run of only about 32 miles. We plan to stay 2 nights in Nashville and then head down river.
Well I can see the sun now as it peeks through the fog and it is starting to lift a little bit. Hopefully by the time I get this log sent and start to get the boat ready for cruising it will be burnt off. Looks like it will be another great day.
I hope everyone is doing well...I’ll keep you posted.
BK.
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