Days 131

Clarksville, TN - Harpeth River Anchorage

Start 10:15 AM
End 2:00PM
Underway 3:20 Hours
Distance 23 miles
Total Mil6s on Trip 2432
Av Speed 6.9 knots
Locks 1
Weather Cloudy, 77 Degrees, Wind 6Kn ENE

We had a slow easy start for today. Nick & Ginger (Ginger Gale) wanted to do laundry before we left, and we needed to top off the water tank. After Harpeth River we will be going to Nashville Municipal Docks. They have electric, but no water and no services. It will be six nights before we are back on a dock with water. Nothing To Plunder carries 140 gallons of water, so we will be conserving water as much as we can. For comparison the average person in the USA uses between 80 and 120 gallons of water a day. We typically fill the water every 3 days.

The ride from Clarksville to Harpeth River was beautiful. Most of the Cumberland river is through tree lined valleys and bluffs. The is one lock between Clarksville and Harpeth River, the Cheetam Lock. The current leading up to the lock was very strong and slowed us down from 8 knots to 6 knots. The lockmaster is very friendly and responsive to pleasure boaters. When we called him, he already knew we approaching, and had prepared the lock. There was rain on and off during the ride, and when it came time to anchor, and tie Ginger Gale off of us, it poured. (Angel and I have figured out, if it is going to rain on us, it happens when we are docking or anchoring. Also on most of the docks, there is a cleat right were we get off our boat.) The rain stopped shortly after we were settled in.

Harpeth River was one of the nicest places we have ever anchored. We were surround by trees and bluffs, the anchor set immediately, and there was just enough current to hold us in place. There was one other boat anchored with us, but there was room for several more.

Because of the forecast called for rain, we elected to have spaghetti for dinner rather than grill something. Soggy steaks do not taste so good. Nick & Ginger joined us for dinner and a birthday cake made out of Oreo Cookies for Nick's birthday. When you live on a boat you get really creative. We stacked the Oreo's to look like a cake, and drilled a hole (Yes with a drill bit) in the top cookie, and melted wax to the hold the candle in place.

After dinner Nick & Ginger taught us how to play the card game Eucher. We had fun, but we are still not sure how to play.

Our next stop is Nashville, We will be there until Saturday. While we were underway, we heard from Mark & Karen (Kay Dee). The mechanical issue with the boat turned out to be a bad gauge. And the were going to skip anchoring out at Harpeth River, and do a long day and join us in Nashville as scheduled.