Sunday 9/16 – 9/17
Our travels today brings us into the area known as the Land Between the Lakes as well as into Kentucky (mile74.7) and into some of the most interesing scenery on the river as many islands and broad reaches and creeks are intermixed along the river. Our cruise brought us past the Kentucky State Penitentiary, built in 1888 from local stone quarries, and appeared more like a castle than a prison. We decide to stop at the Lake Barkley Marina(mile59.1) because it is located in the Lake Barkley State Park and they offered a shuttle service between the marina and the park lodge. As Puffin approached her assigned covered moorage, we were not only surprised that it was occupied but that the boat there belongs to our friends, Jeff and Judy whom we met at the rendezvous and coincidently live in the area. We arranged for the adjacent berth and later left a message with them of our arrival there. We enjoyed swimming and hot tubbing in the afternoon and dined in the Lodge for a buffet dinner.(we are stuffed!) The next morning, Jeff and Judy surprised us with a visit and we caught up on our travels. ( They have now completed the loop with their arrival back home.) They offered to take us to the LBL Golden Pond Visitor Center and later had us over for lunch at their newly constructed home. We planned to rendezvous with them at our next stop, Green Turtle Bay Marina and have dinner at the popular Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.

Saturday 9/15
We awoke to the sounds of tows manuevering barges to be towed up or down river as this is very much a commercial navigation channel. Checking our river guide, we cruised past Cumberland City and decided upon an anchorage up Hickman Creek (mile87.7), located near Ft. Donelson alongside the Cumberland River where Confederate gun emplacements leveled fire on the Union Fleet. After securing our anchorage up the creek, we dinghyed over to the historic site displaying the cannons overlooking the river. Upon returning to Puffin, we barbequed burgers and enjoyed the solitude of our haven.

Friday 9/14
Soon after weighing anchor, we encountered the Cheatham Lock & Dam (mile 148.7) where Puffin & crew entered the 800' x 110' lock chamber and were lowered 26' into the next pool of the Cumberland River called Barkley Lake. During our stay at Nashville, we learned from another looper that a new city dock had been constructed at Clarksville, making dockage subsequently available for pleasure boaters and so making it a destination that we took advantage of. Clarksville (mile125.0) , immortalized in the tune by the music group, the Monkee's, titled Last Train to Clarksville, offers historic sites and points of which we only briefly experienced around the downtown historic district.

Thursday 9/13
Having our fill of city life, we opted to make our next destination the scenic anchorage of Harpeth River.(the mouth of the Harpeth at mile 153.0 of the Cumberland) After exploring some of the river by dinghy, we enjoyed a very serene evening, having our anchorage to ourselves.

Monday 9/10 – Wednesday 9/12
Anchor High Marina is located directly upstream from the Old Hickory Lock and Dam (mile 216.2) and would be our first encounter with a lock. We called the lockmaster from the marina on our cellphone to schedule our turn and at the appropriate time we approached the massive lock chamber. As it turned out, Puffin was the only vessel in the 84' by 400' lock as she decended 60' down into the next captured portion of the Cumberland called Cheatham Lake. When the huge lock gates opened, Puffin and her crew proceeded to our next destination, the home of country music, Nashville.(mile 190.5) Upon tying up at the downtown Metro docks, we walked up the ramp and were in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city. We spent the next few days experiencing the sights and sounds of Nashville; the highlights including Opryland, Tennessee State Museum and of course assorted honky-tonks.

The River Adventure

Sunday 9/9
Puffin gladly slipped in the waters of the Cumberland River at river mile 239.6, about 50 miles east of Nashville ( the navigable section of the Cumberland River begins at mile 0.0 at the Ohio River at the west end and terminates at mile 381.0 at Celina, Tennessee on the east end; there are four lock and dam complexes between these points; they are called Barkley, Cheatham, Old Hickory and Cordell Hull which each one creating a pool or lake with the same names.) So begins our exploration west , passing through Nashville and Clarksville towards the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) located in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. The LBL is quite literally the land between Kentucky Lake (dammed up portion of the Tennessee River) and Barkley Lake (dammed up portion of the Cumberland River). We decided to make our first landfall at mile 216.4, staying at Anchor High Marina. Although the marina is no longer offering transient moorage, they allowed us to tie up at the guest restaurant slips and use their facilities at no charge!

Saturday 8/25 – 9/8
Our arrival back at Bill & Janny's in Wisconsin began a two week mix of events and experiences sans waterways. We were able to take advantage of our landfall to work on Puffin including installing a new stereo. There were more repeat 60th birthday celebrations, a trip to Milwaukee's waterfront and an awesome antique car show. Next came a trip to Chicago to visit relatives, Joyce & Robert as well as Shauna & Richardson who really took us on a whirlwind tour of the city's entertainments and highlights including an acrobatic show called Circus Shanghai , an architectural boat tour along the Chicago River showcasing the awesome and numerous downtown skyscrapers, the Museum of Science and Industry featuring a captured German U-boat, a tour of the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, drives along Chicago's waterfront and a visit of the incredible sculptures at Millenium park.. We were also given a special harbor cruise aboard Carrie Rose, a Nordic Tug belonging to Dean & Charlotte (good friends of our Chicago relatives) who are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest and the Loop.
We returned to Bill & Janny's in Wisconsin to pick up Puffin and prepare her for the road trip to the Cumberland River in Tennessee. Our journey south thru Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee included visits to Kikkapoo State Park, the Indianapolis 500 Speedway, Jim Beam Bourbon facility , Mammoth Caves and the Corvette Museum. We arrived east of Nashville along the Cumberland River at Cherokee Resort Marina where we would launch Puffin and store the truck & trailer.