Sunday, April 28,2019 - Cumberland River to Sugar Bay Anchorage, Tennessee River mm 36

We traveled back down the Cumberland today and over to the Tennessee River. We encountered 3 tows and only one was going our direction, which required our passing them. The day was gloomy and grey until after noon when the sun came out.  Then it was still chilly...but at least sunny!

Tomorrow we mosey on up the river towards home...with a stop for fuel at Pebble Isle Marina.  Tomorrow is predicted to be much warmer. ;-) And, we have a phone signal again!!!

And now for a few photos from yesterday and today.  First is a view as we approached our anchorage last night, entrance on the right. The land square on in the photo is the Fort Donelson National Battlefield.

When I describe the difference in the channels of the Tennessee River and the Cumberland, the charts show a clear example.  The Tennessee River is the large white swath across lower left corner.  The Cumberland is the narrow white line with triangle markers along side to the right of Land Between the Lakes.  Clear as mud yet?  ;-)

Looking out from our anchorage tonight to the main channel of the Tennessee River...

And a shot of the back of the Sugar Bay anchorage....  Nice!

Saturday, April 27, 2019 - Kentucky Dam Marina to anchorage at Hickman Creek, Cumberland River mm 88.

Well.  Today was our first day on the Cumberland River since the small piece we covered back in 2008.  We traveled through the Barkley Canal that connects the Tennessee River to the Cumberland and then up to our anchorage.   Total miles covered around 55.  We traveled at speeds averaging 7.6 mph as we were going against the current.  Based on our travel today, we are altering our plans for this trip.

Tomorrow we are turning around and starting the trip home.  We had planned to stop at Clarksville, TN, and had checked out the marina there to know it had very good reviews.  The only reason we picked Clarksville is that we thought we’d visit a city on the Cumberland before heading home.  We know now that we’d rather spend our time on the Tennessee River.   Mission accomplished: we cruised the Cumberland River for 55 miles and got a feel for it.  We’re looking forward to getting back on the Tennessee. 

The Cumberland River has a very narrow channel compared to the Tennessee.  The surrounding land is no prettier, either, by our estimation.  Today we met about 10 tows.  If we see as many tomorrow as we go back down, we may be running at full throttle for the majority of the trip just trying to pass them!  

Meanwhile, our day yesterday at Kentucky Dam Marina ended with our being asked to partake of eats and drinks with the group of friends who assembled on our dock.  They, apparently, meet every weekend on the dock for the pretty months.  They were a fun group of people and we enjoyed spending time with them.  Look forward to seeing some of them up Knoxville way sometime soon.  ;-)