Oct 3 Paducah to Green Turtle Bay Marina (Barkley Lake)

Oct 3

We really enjoyed our time in Paducah. Despite the continuing and almost unbearable heat wave we tried to take advantage of all the sites around town.  Maybe it was just getting back on terra firma again but more likely we appreciated that it was just a nice town holding onto and cherishing its often-turbulent river heritage.  The town has been devastatingly flooded over its history.  After the flood of ’37 when the Mississippi expanded to a width of 7.5 miles and covered most of the town for several months a 12.5 mile long flood wall was built that now protects the town.The market area contains a great collection of original buildings now housing restaurants, galleries, shops and bars.  The murals on the flood wall depicting the towns history, the upcoming artist area, the National Quilt Museum (yes, even I went and was impressed)  and the River Museum all make this a must stop location for any looper – especially now that they have the new town docks with fuel and pumpouts available.  

Delta Queen stopping for a visit to Paducah  

Quilts on display at the museum

Today we’re headed to Green Turtle Bay Marina on Lake Barkley.   This is one of the lakes making up “The Land Between the Lakes” with Kentucky Lake being on the other side of the land.  Leaving Paducah, you have 2 choices – the short run taking you up the Tennessee River and through Kentucky lock or the longer and more scenic route through the Cumberland River to the Barkley Lock. Both routes currently have their challenges as there is more commercial traffic at the Kentucky lock which can cause long delays while at Barkley they are doing maintenance work during daylight hours which could mean delays and possibly a nighttime arrival.  We opted for the Cumberland route with Cat and Dogs taking the lead as their AIS equipped boat could communicate with the tows.  

The Ohio continues to the left - Cumberland  to the right

 We made it up our final 12 miles of the Ohio then headed into the Cumberland where we encountered an unexpected 2 knot head current.  Apparently, they have started a winter drawdown of the lakes and are dumping the excess water down the Cumberland.  After enjoying 12-14 knot speeds traveling with the currents on the Mississippi, we were now finding speeds dipping under 4 knots when we hit an especially strong flow around a riverbend.  It felt anguishingly slow but really wasn’t an issue since our only plan was to arrive at the lock by late afternoon.  The biggest obstacle of the day was overcoming the heat.   Record high 90+ degrees and barely a breeze.  Lots of hydrating all day but it still made for a very fatiguing day.

As we rounded a bend nd came upon this gravel loading operation Martha got curious about its size

GoogleEarth showed it was pretty big

When Cat and Dogs contacted the lockmaster upon our arrival for permission to tie to a cell and wait, he told us to bring the boats on up for lockage.  The work crew had just finished for the day and he was locking them through and then would drop the water and get us.   A 57’ lift that took less than 10 minutes!! 

Entering Barkley Lock

 We were docked at Green Turtle Bay Marina (GTB) by 4:30 and had a stiff vodka tonic in hand by 5!!   We’ll be here a few days – possibly a week.  Big resort style marina loaded with loopers all recuperating from our travels down the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Certainly not our favorite portion of the loop but as with all areas we had concerns about – never as bad as envisioned.    Feeling bad for the 70+ loopers north of Chicago who opted to wait until after the scheduled 3 locks on the Illinois River reopened Oct 5.  That work has been delayed and now looks like mid Oct before they can start.  

Journey for Oct 3