Gordon's Great Loop Adventure

Sunday September 29, 2019 Days 44 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (0 miles) Nice lie-in this morning, and then a boat-chore of cleaning out the sea-strainer for the air conditioning system.   The main engine, generator, and air conditioning/heating systems all are cooled (or in the case of the heating system, heated) by "raw" water.  This water from outside of the boat.     Water is pulled into the boat by pumps.  As the water enters the boat it is put through a strainer so that debris or plant life in the water does not get into the system it is feeding.  Part of the care and feeding of these is ensuring that the strainer does not have debris in it.  Debris would inhibit the flow of water.   I am still trying to figure out how water that is 80 degrees manages to cool work to cool down air so that it produces 60 degree cool air.   The most important thing is that it does work!!! The hardest thing was getting the cap off of the sea strainer. 

Saturday September 28, 2019 Days 43 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (11.14 miles) A fun day today.  My good friends Matt and June drove down from Louisville for a visit!   In the morning I cleaned the boat in preparation for their arrival.  My next door neighbor, Scott, on Aleksa  let me use some of his concentrated soap in an attempt to wash the hull, but the dirt seems well embedded and I will need to find some other solution.  It may take a rubbing compound to get the hull clean. We went to lunch at the Thirsty Turtle and then came back to the boat for a ride out on to Lake Barkley.   Yesterday I was not sure if we would be able to do this, since I had the nasty shock of finding that the sacrificial anodes were completely gone, but I felt comfortable doing this after being reassured by Nathan that a short boat ride would not be harmful.    New anodes will be arriving on Monday and I will feel a lot better once they are in place!  Matt and June d

Friday September 27, 2019 Days 42 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (0 miles) Nathan from Green Turtle Bay Marina Boat Works came on board to change the oil and filters, and do a couple of other tasks.  While I was away he had fixed the fridge (which was coming loose from its mountings) and the raw water wash down pump, that had failed due to a corroded fuse holder.  The raw water wash down pump is very helpful when bringing up a muddy anchor! The two filters that separate out any water in the diesel fuel needed to be replaced.  However, when he opened up the packages we found that the whole assembly (not just the canisters) were in the boxes.   Nathan thought that this might be how they came, so the whole unit was replaced, but I later looked it up online and found that the canisters can be purchased alone.  The boat yard will only be charging me for canisters, which I appreciate. The nasty shock came when Nathan took out the sacrificial zincs/ano

Wednesday - Thursday September 25 - 26, 2019 Days 40 - 41 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (0 miles) Wednesday Kathleen went to downtown Nashville early to meet a cousin and I joined her later in the morning.  We found as music studio tour near to the Starbucks where we met, and walked over there.  However, once we arrived we found a sign on the door saying that tours of the studio were part of the Country and Western Hall of Fame experience and tickets had to be obtained from there.   We just decided to walk back to Starbucks and have a coffee, since Kathleen was going to meet another cousin for lunch.  I dropped Kathleen off at a barbecue place to meet her cousin and got a haircut.  I realized that the Downton Abbey movie had recently been released and so found a nearby cinema where it was playing and enjoyed the movie immensely.  It was then a 2 1/2 hour drive back to Green Turtle Bay Marina, and I arrived just around dark. Shortly after I arrive

Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Day 39 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (0 miles) Today ended Kathleen's stint on board the boat (or as she put it, the end of her being press-ganged!). We had a relaxed start to the day and prepared for our drive to Nashville.  The fridge had to be completely emptied since it needs to be re-secured as it has come loose from it's mountings, and that will be done while I am away.  Most of the food was able to be given away to another Looper. Add caption We decided to explore the Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area (run by the U.S. Forest Service) on our way down.  They have an excellent visitor center, named after the town of Golden Pond that was removed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1960's to increase the size of the recreation area.   There are bison and elk in the area. We continued on to Nashville where we enjoyed the crazy bar scene on Broadway.  There is live country music in

Monday, September 23, 2019 Day 38 on the Loop – Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (0 miles) We were in no particular hurry to get up this morning, and had relaxed breakfast.   I called Hertz to confirm my rental car reservation and shortly after making that call I received a call back from them that Ben ( At Ease ) had called them to let them know that he would be returning his car and offering to give a lift if they knew of anyone who needed one.   I rode over with him and then gave him a lift back to the marina. The decks got a good scrubbing. To really get them clean I basically have to do them by hand with a nylon scrubbing sponge.  That gets old in the sun and heat! I also confirmed that Justin from Shelby Electronics would be coming over to look at my depth sounder and that a mechanic from the Green Turtle Bay Boat works would be over to look at a variety of issues, from the fridge that was pushing away from the cabinet, to an oil and fuel filter change, to a

Sunday, September 22, 2019 Day 37 on the Loop – Paducah to Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Marina) (38.6 miles) It was nice to get a more relaxed start to the day since we only had about 45 miles to go today, and one lock to go through.   Our berth last night was on the shore side of the floating dock at Paducah, which was nice since it protected us from the wakes of passing tows. We had thought about joining other Loopers going to brunch in Paducah, but decided that with a lock to go through (which always is a roll of the dice for time) we would start earlier. After a short time on the Ohio River we transitioned to the Cumberland.   Whereas the Ohio had been very wide, the Cumberland was much smaller, and a bit more scenic.  It was also interspersed some large gravel pits and the occasional tow. Gravel plant along the Cumberland River In one instance the tow called us on the radio to discuss a passing situation, but in most cases it was us calling them to ask which

Saturday, September 21, 2019 Day 36 on the Loop – Boston Bar Anchorage to Paducah, KY (47.63 miles) We made it to Paducah KY!  For Loopers, this is a big accomplishment.    When you talk to Loopers and ask what sections they most enjoyed, the Illinios/Mississippi/Ohio Rivers are usually not on top of the list.  You are dealing with swift currents, long hours with not much in the way of scenery, and commercial tows.   Definitely there have been areas of interest, and it is definitely an interesting way to travel through America's heartland, but it is also a bit of relief to have this section of the Loop completed. After a peaceful night at anchor we left Boston Bar Anchorage around 7:30 am.   The raw water washdown (that is used to wash off the anchor and chain) had failed, so we had a large amount of mud on the anchor, but the swift current meant that the chain was clean.  Jubilee on as we head south We followed Jubilee  out and did the short run down to the junction

Friday September 20, 2019 Day 35 Kaskaskia Lock to Boston Bar Anchorage (96.66 miles) After a peaceful night on the lock wall at Kaskaskia Lock we had an an early start, travelling with Frank and Cally Rogers-White aboard Jubilee another Ranger 29 Tug.   This would be a very long day as we traveled over 96 miles down to Boston Bar.   Also on the lock wall had been George and Nina Hutcherson aboard the sailing vessel Breathe  and Chris and Bonnie Clayton aboard Mi Toi. Before we left a tow with a couple of barges went through Kaskaskia Lock.   It was fun to be this close to a tow, and to hear the radio traffic from the crew member guiding the tow as he stood on the front of the barge. Tow going through Kaskaskia Lock We had planned to stop at Hoppies Marine, a floating barge with power about 47 miles down river, but Hoppies was full so we had to keep going.  This ended up being a good thing, as another Looper who did stop stop at Hoppies sent us a messsage that mooring the

Today Diane let me know that dearly beloved Sunny had to be put to sleep.  For almost 15 years he has been a wonderful friend and companion on many adventures.   Diane gave him, and all of the dogs and cats that she has provided a home to, a wonderful, loving, fun place to live.     Sunny helping to christen Sunny Tug with a "champagne bottle" filled with his favorite treats Sunny will forever live in our hearts and Sunny Tug was named in his honor. Sunny wearing a Great Loop Bandanna

Thursday, September 19 2019 Day 34 on the Loop – Alton, IL to Kaskaskia Lock (74.17 miles) We had planned to leave Alton at 7:00 AM, but received a call on the radio at 6:45 am from another boaters that the lockmaster at Melvin Price Lock could lock us through if we could leave the marina immediately.  Kathleen and I hurried through the final items on the pre-departure checklist and cast off, ready to proceed on the next phase of the Great Loop. Leaving Alton.... An early start to the day! After leaving Melvin Price Lock we entered the Chain of Rocks Canal.  This bypasses  a section of the Mississippi that is impassable due to rocks.    At the south end of the Chain of Rocks Canal there is a lock that you pass through and then enter St. Louis. Chain of Rocks Lock, with Jubilee  behind us The floating bollards were quite high up, so the lockmaster just let us float free in the lock as we went down 14 feet. From there it was on to St. Louis where we took turns ta

Wednesday, September 18 2019 Day 33 on the Loop – Alton, IL (4.19 miles) We started the day with a quick run up the Mississippi to give Kathleen a sense of being on board and to warm up the engines and run them at full throttle just to be sure everything was running OK prior to tomorrow's departure. Sunny Tug in the morning light.... Photo by Kathleen The headsets are really useful when docking .... :) As we were headed up stream we saw two Ranger Tugs headed downstream.  They hailed us and one of the boats was Gemini Gypsy with Tom and Patty on board.  Tom had very kindly let me spend time on board his boat at an AGLCA Rendezvous.  They also have a 2012 Ranger Tug and have done a wonderful job on making some improvements. We returned to the fuel dock, where staff from Alton Marina were trying to figure out a problem with the fuel system, so we had an informal Looper/Ranger Tug gathering, and looked over each other's boats and chatted. Here are some additi