Day 25: Saturday, September 29, 2012
Underway: 7:03 am Motor Off: 12:25 pm Miles Traveled: 13 Stayed At: Anchor
First Things First: First time going through an upbound lock (Lock 52 on the Ohio river raised us about 10’); first random festival – Paducah, Kentucky Riverfront Rib Fest, first idiot drunk boaters of entire trip.
Mile 946 to Mile 933 (Mile 2 on the Tennessee): We passed into Kentucky yesterday – it’s starting to feel like we are getting closer to the south everyday. We hear lots of ads on the radio for Nascar and guns. After an early start we decided to make a gas stop in Metropolis Illinois – the home of Superman – at a small dock at the local boat landing in Fort Massac State Park. Keith, who just finished the night shift by spending a few minutes eating his breakfast while watching the traffic go by on the river, offered me a ride to the gas station which I decided to take advantage of to save a little time. Fort Massac is a beautiful park right on the edge of town with walking trails, a restored fort and a convenient boat landing. Gas and groceries only took a few minutes and we were underway in less than 90 minutes – a record I think.
After an uneventful passage through lock 52 – our first official upbound lock – we stopped in Paducah, Kentucky. The lock tender told us that the Riverfront Rib Fest was underway there with good music and great food – perfect timing too since it was lunch time. What was supposed to be a quick lunch stop for BBQ ended up being a permanent stop for the day. Paducah is another beautiful river city hidden behind a seawall but they have made the inside wall into an amazing work of art and history with dozens of large scale murals depicting historical events in the area. Well worth the visit alone. As we were eating our BBQ and treats, Grand Cru – a pristine Island Packet 440 sailboat arrived and, after helping them tie off at the end of the dock, we met Bob and Donnell who are also doing the Loop. We were jealous when they offloaded their bikes to go for a ride around Paducah to get some exercise.
Our first bad experience with other boaters also happened at Padukah. The owners of several speed boats (the kind of totally impractical boats that look like giant phallic symbols) that had tied up at the end of the dock came back well lubricated from the beer garden and decided to make some noise and show off to the other drunks standing around on shore. They went up the Tennessee River a little ways and came back at full speed within 100’ of the shoreline sending up huge wakes which caused the boats tied off at the dock to rock back and forth violently. They did this several times. Two bumpers on the boat behind us were ripped off and our toe rail caught on the dock leaving behind a gouge. It was lucky we stayed with the boat to try to fend it off or the damage would have been much worse. The Grand Cru came within a couple inches of taking out their teak rail on a large bollard (would have been thousands of dollars in damage). Its lucky the idiot boaters chose not to come back onto the dock – I would have been spending a little extra time in Paducah not having BBQ for supper. We decided we didn’t feel safe on the dock so we moved to a quiet anchorage a few minutes down the Tennessee River that turned out to be the best anchorage yet. Hopefully it will be at least another 4 weeks before our next encounter with the inevitable idiot boaters.
After anchoring along the river, we relaxed, read a little and crashed early – one more day to Green Turtle Bay.
Lessons Learned: If you don’t feel safe, move sooner rather than later.
