Looping with the Chequamegon Ark

Very nice day on Kentucky Lake - very little barge traffic and not too many fisherman. Green Turtle Bay marina and resort is a beehive of activity starting at 7 AM. We headed out about 9:30 in perfect conditions. All kinds of beautiful homes lining Kentucky Lake. Catfish - it's what's for dinner. We caught 2 channel cats the first 2 minutes and then nothing. Like manna from Heaven - just enough for today. Old railroad loading dock from before the dam went in and flooded the area to create Kentucky Lake. This area of Kentucky and Tennessee is rolling hills so when the dam went in you get lots of little islands and the old river channel., We are eating like kings. Captain is a looper and he gave us a sample of his seasoning - very good. Green Turtle Bay drive is lined with USA flags - nice touch. The 47 footer on the low boy rolled in from Branson last night to start there loop from GTB. Lake level is down about 2 feet since last week when we first got here. 2 80 footers at the e

Our water project yesterday smells like a success - no more swampy water smell! Caught enough catfish yesterday for today's dinner as well. Beautiful day for a cruise - almost no wind and sunny. Hot though - upper 80's. Dinghy losing air so that was today's project along with Lez going to town to reprovision - marina had a courtesy car which is nice. 2 hours checking,  rinsing, cleaning soapy water over and over . Inflate, lose air - recheck repeat 4 times pumping it back up. Never found a leak but by the grace of God it is holding air - should have remembered to pray before trying to "fix it" on my own. God thing and we are back in business. Up Kentucky Lake tomorrow. Calm during our morning dog walk. Barkley Lake Marina - very quiet secluded bay but a long way off the main channel at idle speed to stay in the old creek bed. Stayed this calm all morning. Lake has been drawn down to winter pool so many very shallow areas outside the channel. It can get to 1 foot d

Very quiet day on Lake Barkley - about 3 hours of cleaning up the water system - got rid of the swamp water smell. Catching was best right off the back of the boat. Reflective day looking at pictures and telling stories. Enjoy every day. Swampy smell seemed to be coming from the hot water side of the system. Took this apart and cleaned as best we could with bleach and elbow grease. Followed with draining the system and running H2O2 through to oxidize the bad stuff. Early evening the catfish started biting again. We caught a few channel cats today and our first blue cat. Fresh catfish for dinner again. Greg always had a story, a song or some knowledge to impart. First hunt together. Sunrise from Greg and Jo's cabin on the Gulkana River - Mt Drum and Sanford in the background. Rest in peace my friend, until we meet again.  

Quiet day on Lake Barkley, fishing but no catching - good thing we weren't depending on eating the fish we caught. Worked on our water system today and will again tomorrow to get rid of some odor.  Each day running the boat on the rivers I have used lessons I learned from good friend and Alaskan guide Greg Boyd. What the changes in surface movement mean and what to expect from depth, current etc.. Greg lost his fight with covid pneumonia yesterday and we got the news today. Temporary good bye to a Christian friend but we won't chat together again in this life. Greg was a talented artist, excellent guide, pilot, served our country for decades in the army - I cherish the memories we made and hang on to the lessons learned. The sun sets today with a heavy heart but in Christ we have eternal hope.  Enjoy every day. Keep Greg's wife Jo in your prayers.  

Relaxing day on Lake Barkley - marina is quiet, no waves or night noises. Finally got fishing some and today did some catching - extremely fresh fried catfish for dinner. We'll spend a few more days here before heading down Kentucky Lake toward the gulf. Looking back at the Ark from fishing on the dinghy. First catfish - set-line while dog walking. Fried the catfish on the grill to keep the heat out of the boat - tasted great!  

We have battled low voltage on our Port side "house bank" batteries for a few weeks. Going Appollo 13 at night especially after non-travel days because even plugged in we would drop to 8 volts and have to para start the port engine. Ace first mate today says - what does this converter switch do? Bingo now sitting at 13.2 volts and no need to go dark while plugged in. Since we will be here a few days we got fishing licenses and wet a line - we should have bought the catching licenses. Nice sunset off the back of the boat. They have 5 very large covered docks here - not nearly as big as Green Turtle Bay but definitely large. Looking back at the marina from our dog walking area.  

We headed toward Nashville up the Cumberland River but no marina in Nashville so it looks like we will stay at Lake Barkley State Park for a few days and maybe do some fishing. Looking back at the Green Turtle Bay marina and the Yacht Clubhouse on the stilts. We were near the far end of that dock - almost every boat is a "Looper" boat. More of the expansive Green Turtle Bay marina. Lake Barkley formed after they dammed the Cumberland River so the contours and islands and bars are everywhere. Old castle looking building - I thought the marina guy said it was a low security prison. Without a good chart plotter and staying alert to follow the channel we would be running aground frequently. We could see the channel because for some reason the wind didn't affect the surface water over the old river bed. We are next to a very large houseboat.  

Took yesterday to fix a few small items and do a bit of clean-up and laundry. Green Turtle Bay is a huge place - on the dock laundry, courtesy vans, bars, restaurants, pools etc.. Waiting on a call back from Nashville marina to see what out next move is - Lake Barkley State Park tonight and then ??? Looking back at the Ark from their very well stocked ship store. Looking at the Southwestern end of the marina - over 500 slips. Beautiful pool - all to ourselves. Poolside R&R. Top of the "Land between the Lakes". Site map showing the size of this place - very quiet harbor, no rocking and rolling like the river side of the town dock in Paducah. Looking at the middle dock - the covered dock is over 200 yards long.