Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: It’s all about a Terapin

Green Turtle Bay

The cruise on Saturday was a sunny 29 mile windy trip on the Cumberland river that also involved transiting the Barkley lock just short of our destination. It was a pretty chilly trip even tough the the sun was out and the temps were in 60s. We had a wind on the nose which cooled it off quite a bit. Along the way we passed a couple of tows and enjoyed some beautiful scenery.

We arrived at Green Turtle Bay (GTB) about 3:30 pm and were greeted by some locals that had quite the outdoor setup on the dock complete with fridge, furniture, grill, etc… We could not even get the boat settled and they were putting beers in our hands. It progressed to homemade chili and then shots. We had a hard time getting away. GTB is a resort in and of itself.

It is complete with a yacht club restaurant, a breakfast place and the Thirsty Turtle bar. It is situated in an area called the land between the lakes. It is another favorite Looper stop. The area is flanked by Kentucky lake to the west and Barkley lake to the east. The adjoining town is called Grand Rivers that happened to have their fall festival going on that weekend complete with music and parade.

The town is anchored by a place called Patties 1880 Settlement. It is two restaurants, shops, hotel, mini golf, and of course ice cream. In the main restaurant the staff dress in period costumes. It draws over 350,000 people a year. The town itself has a population of only 360 people. Needless to say if the place closed down the town would go with it. Sue and I biked around the area taking in the sights.

I also went on a great hike that hit both lakes. Even stumbled across a couple of Armadillos. Our plan was to stay three nights and then begin our trip to Nashville on Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning we readied the boat to leave and started the port engine then the starboard engine. 15 seconds later the starboard engine shut down. Ut Oh! The god thing about Diesel engines is that they are fairly simple in their mechanics. The rule of thumb is they need fuel, compression, and air to operate. Or better put, “suck, squeeze, bang, blow.” Well first thought was a fuel problem but we had just filled up the day before. After a bit of hunting I found the fuel filter on the engine had air in it. Bad thing for Diesel engines. It’s too bad they wont run on air but that’s just the way it is. Well after an entire day of trying to figure out why that was happening I isolated it to a loose fitting in the fuel line. So I tightened it and after bleeding all the air out of the system the engine started and ran for over 20 minutes. Yeeee Hawwww. And just in time to make Docktails. So we went down and celebrated the repair with our fellow Loopers. We got back to the boat to have dinner.

I wanted to make sure everything was working so I started the engine again. 15 seconds later it shut down. Shit! Boating is a lifestyle of extreme highs and incredible lows. Intestinal fortitude is a prerequisite to doing the cruising lifestyle. Let me tell you it was everything I had not to lose it. So once again this would be a really great spot for a cliff hangar but I wont this time. The next morning I was at it at 6am.

What could it be? So I took the fitting apart again and used some thread sealant on it which was the magic bullet. We were off by 10am bound for Music City or better known as NashVagas.