Where Music Legends were made

 Florence

We decided to take a side trip to Florence, Alabama. So after a morning hike up to the top of the waterfalls we headed up river on the Tennessee river. If we went far enough we could have gone all the way to Knoxville which would be a 700 mile side trip. Florence was a scenic 40 mile cruise with many back lakes and cypress dotted islands.

Pilar decided last minute to come with us and see the sights. We arrived about 1 pm and had our rental car shortly there after. We took a ride into downtown Florence and walked the town. Now were talking a whole 10 blocks at most. We did make it into a vintage soda fountain shop that has been running continuously for the past 75 years. They have maintained the vintage look and in fact I think most of the fixtures and furniture were original.  

Well you can’t just walk into a place like that and not have something. So we settled on a chocolate milkshake. After walking the town we decided that going back to the boats and cooking a meal was too much trouble so we decided on dining at a Thai restaurant. As some of you know Sue and I are Thai food snobs. This guys food is on point. The story was told being that the place was packed on a Monday night.

The next morning we jumped in the car and headed of to a famous civil war site called Shilo. The battle that occurred there was back fairly early in the war but to date was one of the most bloody campaigns ever. Over 23,000 men were killed, wounded or missing in the two day battle. To put it in perspective, the high estimate for D Day was around 19,000. The place had a very solemn feeling to it. You could easily spend an entire day  For lunch we stopped at Harels Catfish Hotel. It’s a place where catfish check in but they don’t check out. Their specialty? Yep catfish. We had the lemon Pepper version and it was great. After we filled our bellies we headed off to Muscle Shoals Recording studio. I am certainly no audio file and really never heard of the place. In fact it would have not been my choice to go there but the group wanted to go.

When we arrived it was this very nondescript building sitting on an off street. Inside was not much more. The recording studio part looked like it was frozen in time from the 60’s. Well the docent fired off with his talk and we were mesmerized. The music royalty that recorded there is a list a mile long. Probably the biggest was The Rolling Stones. Others were Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Paul Simon, Bob Seger and the list goes on.  

The docent was brilliant in his presentation. If you are ever in the area don’t miss it. Dinner was on the boat and we managed to get a little TV time in. Being disconnected from current news has turned out to be a good thing. I have never been a guy that stuck his head in the sand but I must admit I quite like it! My stress level is certainly at a lifetime low. 

The next morning we headed out about 8am for what was supposed to be a 40 mile cruise back to the waterfalls anchorage.

I forgot to calculate in the cruise plan that we would now be heading down river with a nice following current. Well we reached the waterfalls pretty early so we decided to continue on especially as it was such a nice cruising day. We ended up at another beautiful anchorage that was 75 miles down river and just before a lock that we would transit in the morning. We arrived about 5 pm so dark was not to far and when it got dark it was like being blind. The stars just filled the sky. 

How Many S’s in Mississippi?

 Clifton Marina

Sometimes you just get a surprise when you expect the least. We cruised 55 miles from Birdsong leaving at 7:00 am because we had a 1/2 hour of puckering at the helm to wind our way back out of the the creek to reach the river. We did so without an event, read that as we did not destroy our running gear. The day was forecast as a sunny warm day with brisk winds out of the south.

We reached our port of call at 2:30 pm which was this small marina with a very casual country style dockside restaurant. We happened to have the slip right next to the restaurant. The dockhand of the day was a big bellied country boy that I think was paid in beer at the bar for every boat he helped tie up. He was a hoot. Once secured I laced up my running shoes and headed for town on the bike.

Well it turns out there was not much in town. Not a bar, restaurant or significant shop. It was a pretty simple place. As I was riding around a guy who was taking care of a bank’s landscaping yelled, “hey is that bike comfortable to ride?” I said well yes. He then walked over to me and introduced himself as Shawn. He then proceeded to ask if he could take it for a ride.

I of course said, “hell no!” Just kidding. He jumped on and took it for a spin. We then stood in the middle of the road and he proceeded to tell me all about the town and how there was no jobs for the kids. He seemed quite industrious though. He told me about the couple of houses he owned. Before it was all over he said, “well if you are here on a boat you must need a car.” He went on to say he had a whole driveway full of cars and we were welcome to use one of them. Again the total kindness of strangers.

I kindly declined and headed back to the boat with the news from the other Looper boat,  that the restaurant at the marina was the only game in town. Well it was Friday so a few extra beers would make anything taste better. The restaurant readily accommodated the group of 8 and we settled in for the evening. Well as I opened this blog about surprises dinner was just that. We had Gator bites, quail bites and yes fried bologna with BBQ sauce as appetizers. All excellent. Same for dinner. Then a local band hit the small stage and played some good music. The captains also had a discussion about the report that the dams were possibly going to release water to help out the shallow conditions in the Mississippi lowering the pool about 3’. If they did that most of us would be trapped in the marina with no way out. 

Pickwick Lake

Morning came and we surveyed the shore waterline. Good news the level had not changed overnight and by days end we would all be in the reservoir where the water level cannot be lowered. We had another long day ahead of us with 58 miles and one lock towards the end of our cruise. So we pulled out of the marina and headed up river. The one notable thing about the miles we covered was the many hundreds of RVs that were parked on the upper banks.

They were all on a slab with a roof structure over top of them. I mean to tell you there was hundreds of them for well over a hundred miles. I guess it makes sense in that if the river crests the bank you can move your RV to higher ground. Well we made the lock and only had a brief wait. By 5 pm we were within a mile of our intended anchorage when over the radio we were hailed by name. “Hey Next Chapter, you need to come over to this anchorage you won’t be disappointed.”

Well what the heck lets throw caution to the wind. We did a quick “Crazy Ivan” and went over to check it out. Well there was this very narrow entrance to a tiny cove with none other than a water falls on the back wall. So we tiptoed in and made a quick pivot. We approached the far side of the cove and dropped the hook. We then proceeded to back up to the opposite shore where the folks who invited us over were there to help tie a line from our stern to a tree.

The boat we were traveling with then came over and rafted to us. No doubt one of the prettiest anchorages on the Loop. We then joined the others on the stone beach for a shore fire, s’mores and a couple of adult beverages. One of the shore crew was none other than Kim Russo who owns America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association. She is also currently doing her first loop. The shore crew was there by pontoon boat and had to beat dark before they got back to their marina. The crew from Pilar and us enjoyed a shared dinner aboard Next Chapter. We all were serenaded to sleep by the sound of the waterfalls. Early in the morning we listened to a pack of coyotes howling in the woods. 

View from top of the falls

Boating Paradise in Kentucky Paradise

 Paris Landing

After a fun movie night the two boats headed off to Paris Landing State Park. It was a 36 mile cruise thru the beautiful Kentucky lake. Kentucky lake is really the Tennessee river surrounded by numerous smaller lakes that flank it. There is endless coves and small side lakes that beg to be explored. The hills that line the river were in full fall colors although a bit muted due to the lack of rainfall.

Both a blessing and a curse. Good in that we have seen not only minimal rain but hardly a cloud for several weeks. Bad in that the fall colors are not the best and the water levels are at record lows. You may recall we are in a boat and it needs water to move. So we arrived at Paris Landing state marina and got settled by about 1 pm. We launched the bikes and went on both a ride and a hike thru the park. This marina was where the Looper Rendevous was held just 10 days earlier. They have a beautiful lodge on the property where the event was held. There was a number of Loopers in port so as usual Docktails were the order of the day. After dinner Razors Edge came over for a spirited game of left right center. They lost some of their laundry money to the crew of Next Chapter. Oh the sweet smell of victory! 

Birdsong Creek

On Friday we both headed off up river but the crew of Razors Edge would continue further as they wanted to make haste to Florida. We had 39 miles to Birdsong Creek. When we hit the channel where the marina was located we began a very windy shallow 1/2 hour trek. The good part was it was beautiful. The bad part was if you wandered even a little out of the channel you immediately would run aground.

Good news we made it to the marina without incident. Once tied up Sue grabbed the loaner car and headed to Walmart to resupply. Once She returned we went to the Fresh Water Pearl farm onsite. Turns out Birdsong was one of the largest producers of fresh water pearls in the country. It was very interesting how the whole process was carried out. When we returned to the boat our UK friends on Tomijean showed up. We had not seen them in quite some time.

Well with all reunions we know what typically happens, and it did. We ended up having dinner aboard on Pilar which was a couple we first met in Cape May, NJ. Turned out to be a very fun evening. 

Boating on Kentucky Lake is simple paradise. Adding the fall colors makes it just that much more. We get why there is numerous marinas to support the huge number of boaters that enjoy the lakes. 

Kentucky Lake Bound

 Heading North to get South

Just so you know that not every single day is sunny, our last day in Nashville started out cloudy and eventually progressed to a light sprinkle. Fortunately not a deal breaker. On Monday morning we set out for Clarksville some 58 miles down river and involved passing thru the Cheatum lock again. Funny thing about these rivers.

To get to Nashville on the Cumberland you actually are traveling south and a bit east and upstream. River lingo you are traveling North. Don’t get it but that’s the way it is. When communicating with the Tows I stuck to up bound and down bound. That seemed to keep everybody on the same page. Monday turned out to be a pretty long day as it took us about 2 hours to get thru the lock which made for the arrival at Clarksville at 4:30 pm. We were also aware that the temps overnight were going to drop into the low 30’s. 

When we woke up on Tuesday it was quite cold with a nice 5 mph breeze. I had zipped in the rear enclosure the day before but still needed gloves to hold onto that cold stainless wheel . To our favor it was sunny and the wind was on our more most of the day. We had a planned 50 mile cruise to Bumpus Mills where we anchored in Saline Creek. By about 9 am it was actually fairly warm on the flybridge which made for a nice cruise.

We traveled with our 75 year old friends on Call Me Curly. I can only hope to be as sharp and full of energy as they are when we get that age. When we arrived to the creek my first attempt at the entrance had to be aboarted due to lack of water. As we back off to try again a crackly voice came across the radio, “Cruiser trying to enter Saline Creek come in tight on the green, you should find plenty of water.” Well we did just that and in we went. We found a nice spot and dropped the anchor for the night.

We got another call on the radio and this time it was our friends. They invited us over for dinner and a game of cards. We played a card game called Wizard which was a whole lot of fun. We hopped into our dinghy and Uberdinged back to the boat. 

On Wednesday morning we headed out around 8 am for the next 50 mile leg to Pisgah Bay situated just off Kentucky Lake.

The Tennessee river actually runs thru Kentucky lake all the way to Pickwick dam where we will pick up the Tom-Big-Be. The cruise was not as chilly as the past two days so it was more enjoyable. When we finally entered the canal we would now be heading south for warmer climes. We anchored up about 3:30 pm and got settled for the night or so we thought. I then got a text from Razors Edge which are some folks we have been cruising with on and off. They said they were going to meet us at the anchorage and raft up. Before they arrived I went in the dinghy and explored an old rock quarry. The rock faces were covered in graffiti in kind of a good way. Ashore I found a great trail that went through the woods. It was like a big park with little under brush. When Razors Edge arrived Sue made a great dinner for everybody. After dinner we went over to their boat to watch a funny movie called TED. We laughed our butts off. The moonless night sky was just spectacular. We were quite a ways from any populated area which made for great star gazing. It also made for some serious darkness aboard. The type when you hold your hand up you don’t even know where to look for your hand. 

Next Chapter Goes Honky Tonk

 Side Trip to Nashville

The side trip to Nashville is about 155 miles which meant three travel days for us plus one lock. We wanted to break the trip up into two long days and one short day so we would be in Nashville early Friday. So leaving late on Wednesday meant we would be pushing daylight. We had 70 miles to cover to get to our planned anchorage at a place called the Steam Plant.

We also knew we would have a head current which would slow our forward progress. Fortunately the current was pretty mild so we were able to average 8 mph. And as things would have it we had rain and lightning move in on us for part of the cruise.  We had a bit of luck as the skies cleared near sunset which gave us the much needed extra light.

We dropped the anchor right at 6:20 pm which was the official sunset time for the day. Sue made a great dinner and we called it a day. 

Thursday we weighed anchor at 7:30am and began a very chilly morning cruise to our planned stop at Harpeth Shoals Marina 56 miles up river. The temps rebounded nicely giving us a comfortable sunny day to cruise the beautiful Cumberland river.

The master was at work painting the trees with the wonderful fall colors. The landscape was that of rolling hills right up to the water’s edge. There were many sections that were quite remote and gave us the feeling that we were truly in the heart of Tennessee. We connected with couple Looping from Georgian Bay aboard Call Me Curly. We met them at the lock and went thru together.

We arrived at the Marina about 3:30pm and headed for our slip. As I was backing the boat in I heard this awful metal scraping noise. I yelled to Sue, “What was that?” She yelled back, “I don’t know.” All engines stop! So we were backing into a covered slip, first time by the way. Well I forgot to lower the antennas. Fortunately no harm done due to the flexibility of the antennas.

So I lowered them and finished backing so we could secured Next Chapter in her slip. I managed to sneak in a run and a bike ride to explore the very small town near the Marina. We shared docktales and dinner with the crew of Call Me Curly and closed the night with a bit of TV. 

Friday morning was again very cool with temps in the low 40’s but it was very sunny. Now when you combine cold temps with warm water and little wind you have the perfect receipt for river fog. Well that’s exactly what we had. Fortunately as the sun came up it started to burn it off. We planned to pull off at 8am but delayed till 8:30. Even then we ran into some fog that caused me to spin up the radar.

By 9am we were in the clear. With only 30 miles to Nashville we had a great short cruise. The Cumberland river gets very torturous the closer you get to Nashville. Reportedly there are many country music stars homes along the banks. We reached the municipal dock at 12:30 pm and were ready to hit the ground running. The Municipal dock is right next to Titans Stadium and directly across the river from the end of Broadway.

There is a nice pedestrian bridge that connects the two sides of the river. From the vantage of the boat we can see the giant guitar at Hard Rock Cafe spinning. We can also hear the blaring of the endless live music pouring from every bar, honky tonk and rooftop. Our first mission, BBQ. So we headed of to Peg Leg Porker, an award winning BBQ joint in the Gultch district. It did not disappoint.

Then it was off to the mash pit of Broadway. If you have never been to Nashville and like country music you are missing quite a spectacle. Broadway is lined with endless multi story bars and restaurants all with live music. We wandered into Whiskey Bent and listened to these two young girls sing their hearts out. The one played the violin and treated the crowd to the best version of Devil Went Down to Georgia that was better than the original.

The other girl sang Independence Day by Tina McBride. They brought the house down. We made our way back to the boat and joined our Looper friends for a planned night to at  the Grand Ole Opry House for the Friday night live show. It was awesome. The Opry House is where country stars are born. Tricia Yearwood opened the show followed by a number of other artist including the Oak Ridge Boys.

Tricia closed the show with a surprise appearance from none other that Garth Brooks. WOW what an experience. We spent the rest of our three days sightseeing, listening to great musicians and exploring the many eating and drinking establishments. The variety is unmatched. There is one thing for sure and that is there is no shortage of incredible talent and in this case musical.

What is the secret sauce that propels one to stardom and the many others to lifetime pursuit of struggle and bare survival. Is it luck? Is it timing? Is it that special internal star quality? I certainly did not find the answer from our time in Nashville but sure enjoyed those truly talented artist trying to get that major break and stand in the “Circle” at the Grand Ole Opry House where country stars are born.