October 14 Though October 17 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)
I finally got my Mavic drone out for the the first time in awhile. We have it on board for taking boat selfies when we don't have a buddy boat. Well, it took awhile, software would not load on my phone, batteries had to be charged, had to remember which lever did what and had to get good at launching and retrieving from a moving boat. After a lot of frustration and a few close calls, I have the hang of it now and am looking forward to lots of great images.
No, no one fell overboard on our way back from the rendezvous, but we did do some practicing on recovering fenders that I threw over the side. Christine got her turn at the helm and we worked on procedures to rescue one of us if they fell off of the boat, including marking the location, throwing a flotation device, calling a Mayday and getting the boat turned around to pick that person up.
Nikki Kozak, one of our good friends that we met while they were on their loop a few years ago said that we could not miss the Badgett Playhouse in Grand Rivers, so we took the evening to see a show, which turned out to be opening night for a Dolly Parton tribute, which was excellent and the prices were really reasonable. The singer really had Dolly Parton's mannerisms and voice down, although Chris and I are still arguing if they were real of fake, and you KNOW what we mean.
After returning to Green Turtle bay for an overnight, we headed out for our week long and 270 mile round trip to Nashville. First thing in the on Saturday morning we headed out for our anchorage for the night at Dover Island.
The trip down was really interesting, we passed several barges carrying hundreds of military vehicles. We also saw lots of signs of how shallow the river has gotten. currently the river is over 5 feet below what is considered the normal height. We passed multiple anchorages listed as great locations that were actually inaccessible because the river had dropped so low they were totally dry. We had a great anchorage at Dover Island with 20 - 30 feet of water and room for 12 boats.
On Sunday morning we left Dover Island for Clarksville marina. It was a shorter run today so we took our time. Yes, we eat well during our runs. Christine takes good care of me and I always look forward to lunch time. Clarksville was a great marina and we ate at a GREAT Mexican restaurant which was only a 5 minute walk from the marina. We stayed at a covered slip next to an "interesting" boat and crew that looked like it had not been cleaned for several years and was, covered in cobwebs. The boat, not the crew, although the crew looked pretty sketchy too.
Monday morning it was an early wake up call, we left at first light, which was 6:45 am. Christine was thrilled. Well, not really, but we had a 65 mile run a 1.5 mph current we would fight the entire way, one big lock and limited daylight. We felt pretty good about ourselves, and figured we should be in Nashville by early afternoon, then we got the dreaded news, the lock was having mechanical issues AND there was a double barge that needed to lock down before we could get in.
Well, after 5 hours at the lock fighting the current and other boats, we finally got in and on our way. There were 8 other boats that locked through with us and Encore and Patriot were the only 2 boats that made Nashville that night. We made it with 15 minutes of daylight to spare. We were also reminded of the hazards of low water, one of the boats in our group hit their propeller on some rocks in the shallow water while waiting for the lock and would need to find a diver to inspect and possibly replace their prop before they continued on.
We were also reminded of why we have AIS on Patriot. AIS is basically a transponder that transmits our information and receives information from other vessels. All commercial vessels are required to carry AIS and as we approached Nashville we had been watching a large barge which was around a blind corner and if we had not had AIS, would have been a TOTAL surprise and a very bad one at that. We were able to talk with the barge, the Evey T. We hailed them by name and they were able to tell us how to safely pass them after they came around the corner.
Finally, after pushing Patriot and Encore pretty hard during the last stretch, we arrived at Nashville and were rewarded with a beautiful city skyline sunset and some excellent BBQ. We tied up at the Nashville City docks and had a great view of downtown Nashville where we will stay for the next 3 nights.
During our time in Nashville, we ate lots of great BBQ, listened to live music, and visited the Country Music Hall of fame, but more on that next time.
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