Oct. 4-6, 2017 Clarksville to Nashville with a side trip to Huntland, TN.
Oct. 4: Another beautiful day as we wake up in Dry Creek off the Cumberland River. Every day I wake up and just say Thank you.Leaving the narrow channel we note the River has dropped 7 inches over night – Yikes. At 5 feet 11 inches, we still have room to spare.Beautiful cliffs and no signs of humanity for miles.This tow we encountered pulled over to the river bank because another tow was coming along the opposite bank. We were advised to pull over too, so we did.The very narrow inlet into the Clarksville Marina Basin, our destination for the night.The marina was built 5 years ago and was literally scooped out of the side of the Cumberland River. Our Furuno charts need updating since it has us on land! So here’s some trivia: We of course were singing “Take the Last Train to Clarksville” on our way here. Per Google, the song was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart about a fictitious Clarksville, but it was actually a protest song about a guy heading off to Vietnam – hence the line in the song: “I don’t know if I’m ever coming home.” Who knew? Certainly not me. Per Bobby Hart, he had to “sneak in” this protest because the Monkeys were too “clean cut.”Met some new Loopers at the marina (Kim and Tom aboard Sweet Liberty) and wound up going out to dinner with them at the adjacent restaurant (which was excellent). We were able to sit outside, check on our boat and enjoy the full moon rise.Oct. 5: Leaving the marina we had a better view of this wedding venue.These two homes are well prepared for rises and falls of the Cumberland River. Their houses are on stilts and their mini docks are on an adjustable mini marine railroads.Navigating the rivers is not very challenging since for the most part you simply stay in the middle of the channel. However, many buoys are missing or are off station. In this instance, there’s a green buoy to the left and a red to the right – on the same side of the channel!!! Just goes to show you can’t always believe what you see.More tree lined cliffs for miles and miles.Had to go through one lock today. This is the one of the simpler ways to go up (or down). You simply put one spring line around a floating bollard and cleat it aft. Much simpler than having a bow line and a stern line to deal with. On the way up I noticed a weird green blotch on the bollard…Turned out to be a tiny green frog holding on for dear life.The only 2 boats we saw today were the new friends we made yesterday behind us and a down bound pleasure craft. No tows to deal with.Our destination for today was Commodore Yacht Club (mile marker 172.5). Wow! The inlet to the marina was pretty narrow!I stopped looking at the depth sounder when it got down to 4 feet (we draw 3.5). But no issue, we made it in fine and the water depth around the docks was over 7 feet. Tied up by 5:30. We are now 10 miles west of Nashville.My brother-in-law Harry happened to be in Tennessee visiting his mother on their family homestead “Gorelawn.” He drove 2+hours to pick us up and take us down to their cattle farm. We stopped briefly at a college about a half hour away from their farm in Huntland, TN to take some full moon pictures.Oct. 6: Harry and Bob on the porch of Gorelawn.Harry and his mother Vivien.
Inside the home, a few of Vivien’s saddle collection.This phone still works! Love it!My sister Denise “inherited” this dog Jasmine from her son David when he went to Germany to complete his doctoral degree. Jasmine was intent on following a squirrel up this tree and was eventually successful in its capture.One of the day’s events was the selling of this bull to another cattle ranch. Vivien arranged the transportation to its new home. It was interesting to watch the gating and ungating of the bull into an awaiting trailer. (BTW, Vivien does use some of the systems developed by Temple Grandin).Vivien putting a bridle on Star, one of three Appaloosas she owns.Vivien (age 77) exercising Star, a daily event. Her dog Frankie (he has blue eyes) is nearby.Pathway leading to the outer pastures.That’s one heck of a huge oak tree!Bob and I showing how wide that oak tree is, photo credit: Harry Allen.Same oak tree from the sunny side.Harry, Vivien, Bob and I loaded up in one of their farm vehicles to go on a daily ritual of counting the cattle and checking the fences. Here are the “babies.”Vivien counting the pregnant cattle.Stayed for lunch and then had to head back to the boat. Goodbye Gorelawn – such a cool departure from our boating adventure!On the way back to our Marina we stopped at a working Grain Mill.The mill is powered by a 32 foot water wheel, one of the last working water mills in our country.We also toured the Prichard Distillery. So 2 ironic things. 1: We met the owner and he will be in Albany, NY next weekend for the “Taste NY” festival. Not sure why he will be there since that festival typically showcases only NY businesses. ?? 2. After we left that distillery we went by (but didn’t stop at) the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. That distillery is in a dry county, so you can tour the business but not buy the product. Weird! But thank you Harry – in less than 24 hours he drove 8 hours to pick us up, bring us to his family homestead, and drove us back with an additional stop at a grocery store so we could re-provision for the next week. I know the world is going crazy around us but on an individual local level I can’t help but embrace the wonderfulness of humanity.
Nice blog Dee. Loved Harry Farm/ranch. It look beautiful. Loved the oak tree.
I was surprised by the working grain mill! It was very cool. I’d like to go to there.
Islandia Grabo's Blog 
Thanks for the tour of “the farm” (or is it “the ranch”?) Loved the mill, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Outstanding blog version, Diane! Loved seeing the cattle and horses under the supervision of 77 yr old Vivian. What an amazing woman!
LikeLike
Nice blog Dee. Loved Harry Farm/ranch. It look beautiful. Loved the oak tree.
I was surprised by the working grain mill! It was very cool. I’d like to go to there.
LikeLiked by 1 person