Nashville Trip Part 1

As promised in the last installment this is the report from our trip up the Cumberland River to Nashville. I've decided to break it down to 2 parts to keep you on the edge of your seats (and awake)

We were joined on this leg of the trip by Vickie and Brian, friends from our old marina in Cincinnati. You may remember them as they joined us last fall for the trip down to Green Turtle Bay. It was their "honeymoon cruise".

We had an easy first day planned to help make the next 2 smoother. Only about 30 travel miles Sunday the 26th to Prizer Point Marina. The forecast as of Saturday night was for a high in the 90's with 0% chance of rain. My first mistake of the trip was not checking again before leaving the dock. After a short time we pulled into a bay to spend some time in the water. We got the anchor set in a nice cove and were spending a few minutes being sure we were secure when we heard the first rumble of thunder...oops. We looked behind us to see a line of dark clouds headed our way. A quick check of the radar confirmed we were in for a bit of rain. After waiting awhile we decided to get underway and have our swim break on the other end of the trip. We spent the next few hours in and out of rain but the traffic was light as the other boaters had checked their radar...

The sun came out as we pulled up toward Prizer so we dropped the hook again for that swim. I had been calling the marina for 3 days prior to the trip to get a reservation but no one seemed to be able to give me an answer. This should have been a clue. I called again within sight of the office and was told to pull up to the fuel dock and they would try to find a spot for us. Well, the fuel dock was full of pontoon boats and I had had enough! A quick call to Lake Barkley State Park confirmed they had plenty of room and would be glad to have us. We were underway again for a 5 mile run up river and were tied up in a nice covered slip about 4 o'clock. We wasted no time in breaking out the paddle board and a few beers for some water time.

Vickie is a natural

Brian has an "accident" to cool off.

I even got to spend a bit of time on/in the water. I'm not sure if the board needs more air or less weight...

We had a nice dinner at the marina grill (no beer on Sunday) and returned to the boat for a nightcap. 

With a longer day scheduled for Monday we were away from the dock by 0830 and headed up the lake by 0900. By noon we were crossing the Tennessee border and wide lake Barkley was narrowing into the Cumberland river. With the more narrow river the current on our nose was really slowing us down and I took the engines up to 1800 rpm's just to stay above 7 mph. It was another day in the 90's but no rain in sight and the river was very scenic along the way. The crew enjoyed some time in the sun and tunes on Radio Margaritaville.

Can you guess the tune?

It was a slow but uneventful trip to Clarksville TN and we were tied up to a very nice marina by 5. The staff here is some of the best we have seen.

Clarksville Marina.

 We took a cab into town for dinner at the Black Horse. Dinner was fantastic and well worth the trip if your ever down that way. Back at the boat we were treated to a nice light show from some distant storms. Little did we know we would pay for it tomorrow.

We were underway at 0830 Tuesday for a shorter day, mileage wise, to Nashville with one lock. After about an hour a fishing boat heading down river stopped to tell us there was some debris up ahead, very nice. We had seen some pretty big drift along the way so we weren't too concerned. Well, about an hour later we were greeted by a wall of debris going from bank to bank and lasting about 2 miles. We had to idle along and pick our way through everything from logs to full size trees. Sorry, no pics since all hands were busy on deck. Once through we were about a mile from Cheatham lock which was open and waiting. The storms must have washed out a pretty big creek.

Above the dam the current was still very strong but the drift was less. About an hour from Nashville we hit the tail end of a storm that hit town pretty hard and closed the airport for 2 hours. We had more wind than rain and ran into a tow and barges that had been blown sideways across the river. Had to slow down till he got it under control.

Happy Crew.

Happy Captain.

The city docks in Nashville are right at the foot of Broadway. A great place to explore this fun city. We were tied up about 6 and cracked a few cold ones before heading into town. 

Great Location.

The dock is under a walking bridge and we were told there can be problems with people throwing things on boats but we had no issues. There is a sculpture across the river that looks like a broken roller coaster...not sure what it's supposed to be.

Broadway and the roller coaster.

So there is the first leg of the trip. I have noticed that the track log is now working. It's on the right of the page if you're interested. Stay tuned for the next, less exciting, episode.

They call me Peter Pan.