Clarksville

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Stats:
Barkley Lake MM 51 to Cumberland River MM 125.  7:45 - 5:30.  74 Miles

Those of us of a certain vintage will remember the tv show "The Monkeys"?  And the song "The Last Train to Clarksville"?  Well, guess what.  We're in Clarksville, Tennessee.

We started the day in a light fog (both literally and figuratively) and started down (or up, actually) the river.  It was cool, but we closed up the vinyl windows and our "solarium" became quite comfy.  The day was spent watching the landscape drift by, peacefully tinkering away on chores, listening to tunes, etc. There were many many herons and other birds, and Jeff was quick with the camera, always searching for the perfect heron picture.

You can tell this is a man-made lake.  We wonder about the homes, roads and in some cases, villages that are now under water.

The Loop trip is quite safe as travel goes.  We rarely ran into trouble, but today we had a hairy moment. The tow was coming around the corner towards us.  We knew he was coming as Potest Fiery was ahead of us and radioed warning.  Jeff had made radio contact to tell the driver we were around the bend in the river and out of sight. We were instructed to stay on the "one whistle" (the right).  The wind had picked up in the narrow channel and we were working to keep the boat off the shore and on our side of the channel.  As the tow rounded the corner the wind caught him and he started to quickly drift right towards us.  If we were going to stay on the right side of the channel we would have to go between that barge and the little marker you can see right beside him in the water (which had just bopped up from under him after he ran over it.)  

Obviously another plan was in order and things were happening quickly.  Jeff quickly reacted and scooted (as much as our slow boat can) over to the two whistle (the other side of the channel). I kept radio contact with the guy and grabbed the camera.  We'd never seen one of them lose control like that and that guy was BIG up close!  We're glad we had stayed well back.  We passed each other starboard to starboard without incidence.  Once we were clear, the tow driver radioed and said in his thick Southern drawl "Preciate working with 'yall there, pleasure craft."  We later heard him on the radio saying he was going to park his barge for the day due to the high winds.  Um, good idea.

We arrived in Clarksville and tied up to a free town dock.  Another story:  It was a long day and we were thirsty.  Jeff and I walked down to the store to buy a well-earned case of beer.  Jeff grabbed one case and I grabbed another and went to the cashier.  He asked Jeff for I.D.!! We snickered and Jeff showed him his I.D.   We were in the bible belt now, had just left a "dry county" and apparently, it's a law that they have to ask everyone (which kind of burst Jeff's balloon).

Then he asked me for my I.D.  We explained that I wasn't buying the beer, just helping to carry it. With a deadpan face, the guy told us that because I had "touched" the beer and didn't have I.D., he couldn't sell it to us.  Seriously?!  We had just walked all the way to the store!  We tried every angle with no avail.  Jeff put the beer back, I went outside and Jeff got different, "untouched by me" beer. The cashier's stoney face hardened.  So did Jeff's.  Nope.  He refused to sell it to us.  No amount of reasoning could sway him.  We left angry and frustrated for our empty-handed and thirsty walk back to the boat.

Danny and Susan (and the wiener dog, Lowla) joined us for dinner on Gran Vida. Later we all walked Lowla down to the store and Jeff waited outside (figuring we was probably blacklisted) and we bought our beer.

 Tomorrow morning the guys will shop at a local hardware hotspot and the girls will get a chance to sleep in.  Yeah!  Then we'll carry on down the river towards Nashville.

The old train station in Clarksville.  We thought about taking the last train.