Nashville

Deer swim

White cliffs around Demopolis, AL

Adventure on short dock Sumter Rec Area

Sumter Rec Area 

Our first bad weather has been this week. We had hail and thunderstorms at Midway Marina (Sunday) and at Columbus Marina we had wind, rain and thunderstorms (Mon, Tues, and Wed.).  However, today (Thur.) we have another beautiful day on our trip. We departed Columbus Marina, MS at 9:50 a.m. (10/28). It was later than planned because we had to wait 1.5 hours for the Stennis lock. We had two commercial tows in front of us. We locked with 3 other boats. We saw more tows today than we saw on our whole trip up-7 carrying coal, fuel, mulch, sand, and scrap metal. We  docked(10/28) at a little short dock at Sumter Recreation Area about 3 miles north of Howell Heflin Lock or about 50 miles north of Demopolis, AL. It helps to only need 11 inches of water to float. However, we do have 3.8 feet here at dockside. This is one of the prettiest anchorages on the Tenn-Tom. The temperature is going down into the 40’s tonight. It was cold last night. Today, (Friday 29) down from our anchorage at Sumter we had 3 deer swim across the Tenn-Tom in front of us. I have never though of deer swimming that big of distance before. We also, passed the white cliffs in the area. We are now docked at Demopolis, AL for a few days. The Coleman’s are going to visit with us a few days. It is going to be great fun. We only have 2 more locks to go. We are looking at Mobile Bay weather and tropical storms as we get closer to home. They both will determine our return home date.

Nashville

Pre -Civil War Church use a stable and blacksmith shop

T S Stribling Home and Museum

Ice Cream Time in Linden, TN with Jimmy and Eunita

Clifton Marina with yacht Door Prize coming in

Tonight we are in Fulton, MS at Midway Marina. Rain and thunderstorms are around but have not happened yet.  We have had a great week. We had a fun stop at Clifton Marina. Thursday our cousins Jimmy and Eunita came over and showed us around the area. What a fun day. We had lunch, ice cream, and happy hour on the dock the other seven boats that came in.. Also, talked- Woodall’s don’t have much to say when they get together. I am sure we solved the entire world’s problems if only someone would ask us. Did you know there was a 1933 Pulitzer Prize winning author T. S. Stribling who lived in Clifton? He won the prize for “The Store”. They have a museum and library in his old home. Also, there is a golf club, pre-Civil War Presbyterian Church and a pretty little town. We drove to Linden, TN for lunch at the Commodore Hotel. So, so food at hotel but the Dairy Bar in Linden had great food. Alabama had a good game Saturday. Tennessee had a good first half. Oh! Well there is always next year. The trip has been going excellent with only a few problems. We got some bad gas along the way and have been cleaning the filters and putting in Star-tron and getting new gas at each stop. Hopefully this will fix the problem. We will need to change the engine gas filters when we get home. The engine is currently losing 500-1000 rpm intermittently at 3200 rpm and then comes back to it original setting.  It starts good and runs ok at low rpm. It worked great all day yesterday and today until about a mile from Midway Marina tonight. Hopefully tomorrow it will run good and we will get all the way to Columbus Marina.

Nashville

Houseboat- just looking for a lot???

Just out for a little roughing it!!!

Adventure and friends!

Well here we are at Paris Landing State Park Marina on the Tennessee River. Bye, Bye Cumberland River. We had a great time at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, KY. If you can not have a good time there you must be dead. They have condos, a health spa, boat rentals, golf and a great little town. We went to the playhouse twice and saw Smoke on the Mountain and a Varity show. The same cast did both productions. They were both good but the Varity show was better. The Varity show had music from the 60’s, Motown, disco, gospel, and more. We, also, ate at Patti’s twice. Both meals were great. When we left home we were sure we would lose weight on the boat trip. Wrong. We have eaten our way across the south. Tonight is a buffet at the park lodge with, roast beef, catfish, pork loin and fried chicken with dressing, vegetables, salad bar, rolls, hushpuppies, assorted desserts and ice cream. All you can eat $8.95. No weight loss tonight. The weather has been great in the 70’s during the day and upper 40’s at night with no rain. Leaves are starting to become orange and red however; there is still a lot of green. Green Turtle is the land of big boats and I mean big like hotels. We have a few pictures.  Jo Ann had a good football weekend Alabama won. Tennessee took the week off to rest up for the game this Saturday. Tomorrow we go to Pebble Isle Marina and then to Clifton City Marina, TN. Our Friday and Saturday stop will be at Aqua Marina in Iuka, MS for the game of the year Tennessee vs. Alabama. One of us will be a winner or a loser. 

Nashville

Leaves changing- coming in to Prizer marina

Pelicans on the Cumberland River going south

Campground by Prizer Marina

We are now at Prizer Point Marina and Resort at Cadiz, KY. It has a KOA campground as part of the marina. There are swimming pools, miniature golf, and other activities. We have been here since Thursday Oct 7 so we could see football (not a good day) and it is cheaper to stay here than our next marina. We plan to leave Wed. Oct 13 for Green Turtle Bay Marina at Grand Rivers, KY. We have reservations at the Bagdett Playhouse to see Smokey on the Mountain Homecoming- Friday and a Variety! Music, Memories & More- Saturday. We do hope the shows are good. Green Turtle is a resort with restaurants, condos, golf, health club, indoor pool and more. Things are going great. The leaves are changing; Canadian Geese and White Pelicans are everywhere. Coming to Prizer we saw over 1000 Pelicans in the river migrating south. The groups looked like large islands of white. We usually have 3or 4 in our canal each year but not a 1000. The geese go by honking; you may not see them but you can sure hear them. What great sights and sounds.

Nashville

Poston Block- 1841- note furniture and undertaking- you could get both. 

Customs house and Museum built 1898

Montgomery County Courthouse built 1878 &1900 after fire

Black Horse Pub -- 1996

Roxy Theatre 1912

We have had a great day in Clarksville, TN. Got up slow and had breakfast and then walked over to Black Horse Pub for lunch. They make their own beer. We had a great lunch. After lunch we went on a walking tour of the city. Clarksville, TN is a city with many old and unique buildings and is located on hills overlooking the river. What a workout we had- up and down – up and down. We also, found a live theatre (Roxy Regional Theatre) with a new production each month. As happens many times they had just finished one play and will not start another until after we leave. Looks like a great place to go. Tomorrow we leave for the Prizer Point Marina and Resort at Cadiz, KY (mm 55.0). We are planning to stay there a few days and then move to Green Turtle Bay at Grand Rivers, KY (mm 31.7). Green Turtle is where Patti’s 1880’s Restaurant and a Variety Playhouse are located and we plan to attend.  Of course each marina we stay at on the weekend must be able to show the Alabama and Tennessee games. It is part of cruise planning.

Nashville

Cousin Richard

Cousin Teresa

Cousins Jim, Will, Richard, Carl

We have left Nashville at 09:35 am and expect to be home in November. It depends on our stops and how long we stay. We are now at Rock Harbor Marina on the west side of Nashville. Tomorrow we will be going to Clarksville, TN and staying 2 nights. The temperature has really changed. Coming to Nashville we were completely soaked in our t-shirts. However, today our shirts were dry and temperature was in the 70’s. What a wonderful change. Tonight we are looking for frost in Nashville and Clarksville will be going down to freezing. The leaves are starting to change. We can see a difference from when we came up. We want to thank our cousins for a wonderful time in Nashville and helping with our trip. The food, fellowship, and hospitality were great. We do hope each of them will come and visit us so we can try and be as gracious to them as they were to us. The Castle family (Richard and Cathy) housed, fed, and transported us for many days. The Galbreath family (Teresa and Jim) made us great boating baskets which had everything you could think of from snacks to writing materials to beauty/health items and also provided dinner. Cousin Bill Bryant took us to dinner and on our weekly Wal-Mart run. Thanks to each of you for making our trip very special. We are looking forward to our trip home. We will stopping in Grand River, KY for a play and variety show and of course Patti’s Restaurant, Clarksville, TN for a city tour, Columbus, MS for a city tour and our camera which we left in their car. Also, we will be stopping at the fresh water pearl dealer at Birdsong Marina in TN.  It was a little windy today but Adventure did not care. It was a great trip.