Days 126-128

Paducah City Dock - Green Turtle Bay, KY

• Start 7:00 AM
• End 1:30 PM
• Underway 6:00 Hours
• Distance 39 miles
• Total Mil6s on Trip 2343
• Av Speed 5.3 knots
• Locks 1
• Weather Sunny, 77 Degrees, Wind 4Kn SSE

We pulled off the docks at Paducah right at 7am, we have 39 miles to go all of it against the current. The big unknown is what the current was going to be like when we reached the Cumberland River. This time of year, they lower the water level on Kentucky Lake, and it drains into the Cumberland where we are traveling. Depending on how much water they are releasing some of the slower boats are only able to travel at 1 or 2 knots. Thankfully the current was no worse than the Ohio, and Mark & Karen (Kay Dee) were able to maintain about 6 knots.

The Cumberland River is lined with rock quarries, and barges hauling rock down river. The barges are loaded by conveyor belts, gigantic dump trucks or cranes. It was pretty interesting to watch.

We also timed the one lock we had to travel through (Barkley Lock & Dam) perfectly. Roger & Chris (Betty Gail) called the lock when we about an hour away to let them know our ETA. The lockmaster had the lock open and waiting for us. I do not know why, but at this lock the Asian Carp go crazy. They are bad enough that they are bubblers at both ends of the lock to deter the carp from entering the lock. I uploaded a video of them jumping. One of the problems is, the carp jump onto the gates of the locks and get stuck in the gate and die. You can imagine the smell.

Green Turtle Bay Marina is located in Grand Rivers KY and is a destination resort. Grand Rivers has a year round population of about 350 people, but host over one million visitors a year. Right outside of the marina is Patti's 1880 village. A small tourist attraction (Trap??) with several great restaurants and shops. It is the only place you can visit from the marina without a car.

We did borrow the courtesy car a couple of times to go shopping. While on one of the trips it started raining heavily, and with it came a rainbow. We drove right through the end of the rainbow, but did not find the pot of gold. I did get a great picture of it.

Tomorrow we start our side trip to Nashville. It will take us four days to get there, Our first stop will anchor behind Dover Island.