9/9- 9/12/17 - Kevil KY to Green Turtle Bay, KY (Barkley/Kentucky Lakes)

9/9/17: Kevil, KY to Green Turtle Bay, KY (50.7 miles)

We both slept great on the Ohio River!  Pulled the anchor, and off we went!  15 miles upstream, our first stop was Lock 52.  Our lock good fortune continued, as the water was too low for barge traffic, so it's a pleasure boat holiday.  We when right in, and floated up approx. 12 feet, and back out to the Ohio for 6 more miles to Paducah, KY.

At MM933 we had the choice to continue on the Ohio to the Cumberland or divert to the Kentucky Lock & Dam on Tennessee/Kentucky Lake.  The Cumberland is a little longer, but the KY lock has a reputation for loooong waits as barges have preferential treatment.

We rejoiced at our good fortune when our call to the KY Dam lock master gave us to OK to come on up.  It took up about 2 hours to get to KY Lock and Dam where we checked in on Channel 14 to confirm our approach.  WHAT DO YOU KNOW - THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!

Lock Master notified us that there will be an approximate 4-hour wait.  We tried to tie up to a bollard and an abandoned barge, but the current was not cooperating.  We stayed adrift on the Tennessee Rive for 4.5 hours.  To add insult to injury, after locking up 57 feet we waited 30 minutes for the doors to open.  We were the only boat in the lock - no radio response, so I starting yelling, "HELLO!!  The echo in the chamber reached the lock master who was busy on the phone with IT regarding his computer!!

We finally locked through as the sun was setting. Threw the throttle down to benefit from the last glimpse of daylight to get through the cut from Kentucky Lake to Lake Barkley, and into Green Turtle Bay channel.  We arrived at our slip in darkness.

Things got better after that; we had a welcome party waiting for us at the marina.  Kurt and Leanne, on Festivus, are Canadians that came through Reef Point in August, arrived at GTB earlier in the week, and were waiting for us with several other loopers enjoying the wonderful amenities at Green Turtle Bay.  Our friends, Ron & Libby that we met last year at the Looper rendezvous at Joe Wheeler, had to go back due to darkness, but we connected later in the week.

Around 9:00p.m. we finally got to the tacos that we had cooking in the crock all day and enjoyed a restful night's sleep in our slip.

9/10/17 Green Turtle Bay

Woke up to a beautiful day, back to our routine of Captain cleaning Port-A-Gee, and Loral got to investigate the grounds on a nice 3-mile run.  Scouted a couple of places to return to, and had some great wild life encounters.

In the afternoon Scott & KC Calkin (Jetstream) organized an impromptu Looper docktail gathering to include:

• Kurt and Leanne (Festivus);
• Herb Seaton (Phantom);
• Dan Sherbun (Institution);
• Byron & Cynthia Miller (Bright Angel);
• John & Susan Robin (Eagle Heart); and
•  Lars and Erja Odmark (Ambika);
• Plus a couple others that we unfortunately neglected to collect boat cards from.

We enjoyed an ok dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club and called it a night.

9/11/17 - Remembering the lives that were lost 16 years ago - God Bless America.
We started the day with our respective routines: boat cleaning & run.  Loral ran to Lighthouse Landing Marina in Grand Rivers hoping to find Ron and Libby.  They are calling Lighthouse Landing their home May - November this year.

In the afternoon we walked around GTB to include an inspection of their boat ramp for its feasibility later this week.

Then we walked a mile to the famous Patti's 1880's Settlement.  It was an interesting trip back in time and we made a point to enjoy the Looper-required Patti's pork chops - they did not disappoint.

After dinner, we continued back to Lighthouse Landing Marina to catch up with Ron and Libby (Tug O' My Heart).  We enjoyed the evening sharing stories on back of their Ranger Tug.  They introduced us to Carl and Vicki (Vicki Lynn), Ranger Tug ('27).  Ron and Libby brought us back to GTB and we agreed to get together again later in the week.

9/12/17:
As "segment" Loopers, part of the planning includes logistics to retrieve the truck and trailer to get Port-A-Gee back home until the next leg.

Our original plan was to go home on Friday to get the truck and turn around to bring Port-A-Gee back home on Sunday.  Storms produced by Hurricane Erma made their way to KY on Tuesday/Wednesday, so we took advantage of the inclement weather to go home and get the truck and trailer.

Our 4-step logistics went like this:

1.)  Enterprise, Paducah graciously picked us up at Green Turtle Bay, then we began the 5-1/2 drive back to Lemont, Illinois.  First time we spent the night at home in the middle of our vacation!
9/13/17 (Wednesday)
2.)  Sleep at home, then drop off rental car in Joliet, Illinois.
3.)  Drive to Seneca, IL to hook up trailer.
4.)  Drive 5 1/2 hours back to KY to resume vacation :)

We were back at Green Turtle Bay with plenty of time for Captain / Head Chef, Brian to make us a lovely pasta dinner aboard Port-A-Gee and we "NetFlix chilled" for the evening.