Day 34: Monday, October 8, 2012
Underway: 9:45 am Motor Off: 5:15 pm Miles Traveled: 42 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First time motorsailing with both sails flying.
Mile 32 (Cumberland) to Mile 66 (Tennessee): It’s nice to be underway again. The marina life is fun but, after a while, it can be exhausting to be social all the time. We will no doubt cross paths with some of our new found friends in the next year and keep in touch
It’s cool but sunny with a gentle following breeze so we are motorsailing with boat the jib and main up. We are almost a sailboat again. Yaaa! Bruce on Tango is just couple of miles behind us also motorsailing.
We talked to Robert and Theresa on It’ll Be Alright just before leaving – they were able to fix their steering chain last night so they are ready to have their mast pulled this week in preparation for their voyage to the Caribbean. Now that is an adventure.
We have enjoyed hearing and reading the stories of other Great Loop travelers. Many people who have done this trip keep logs or publish blogs online. When we were planning this trip we heard about several other people – friends or relatives of friends – who decided to pack up and go on this adventure. One of our neighbors’ father and uncle (Bob and Dick) did the Great Loop on a small powerboat named Fuddy Duddy over a period of 5 years and 6,465 miles in 3-4 week increments each year. We have enjoyed reading about their adventures along the way. We have discovered good marinas and anchorages, things to watch out for and interesting places to visit by reading other peoples stories.
After an uneventful motor sail up the Tennessee River, we decided to stay at Paris Landing State Park. We arrived after closing and couldn’t find anyone to talk to so we just stayed at one of the many empty transient slips near the floating store/office. Bruce followed us in too. We invited him over for dinner and enjoyed steak, fried red potatoes, salads and an apple as the sun was setting. A nice way to end another great day on the river.
In Passing: Blood River, Ginger Bay, Happy Chandler Park, Blockhouse Creek, Snipe Creek, Redd Hollow Creek, Turkey Bay, Mays Hollow, First Class Harbor, Second Class Harbor, Aurora Kentucky.
