September 15-27, 2019 – “It’s time to go. I’m ready to move the boat”
When we pulled out of Barkley Lock, and into Green Turtle Bay Resort, we were ready for a break. We had been fortunate and timely with our decisions to move when we did, down Lake Michigan to Chicago, and then down the rivers, and as a result had some slack in the schedule that has us zeroing in on Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous.
GTB, as we had heard it termed for all the years we’d been thinking about the loop, is sort of a must-stop, and it truly was a crossroads for all the Loopers coming through, some of whom would continue down the Cumberland River, along Lake Barkley and beyond, to Nashville. Others would, as in our case, cross over to the Kentucky Lake, and follow the Tennessee River south.
It had a pool – three pools as a matter of fact. A courtesy car – two in fact. And a cute little golf-cart shuttle that would take you anywhere around the resort or the town. A waterfront pub (The Thirsty Turtle, naturally).
It turns out that they actually had turtles, and they even sold bags of turtle food in the marina store, where we checked into. Suckers…we bought some – and found out later that they like rice crispies or cheerios, too. Just as well – we don’t have any cheap cereal on board.
The nearby town, Grand Rivers, had a couple well-known institutions – Patti’s 1880s Settlement, and the Badgett Playhouse. The former had suffered a fire in their main restaurant, which is under construction and due to reopen in November. We attended a great show, The Sounds of Memphis, at the Playhouse with new friends from Joy Girl, that we all agreed was absolutely top rate. And the resort shuttle even ran us over there in their golf-cart limo!
The first weekend we were there, we rented a car to go back to Paducah, and to tour around the area, including some of the ‘Land Between the Lakes’ National Recreation Area.
We will later traverse the Kentucky Lake side of the park, and stay in some of the many coves that result from the contours of the land that was flooded when the Tennessee Valley Authority dammed the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.
We had enjoyed Paducah when we made a short stop there on our way up the Ohio River, and went back several days over the weekend, shopping for necessities, getting some barbeque, and attending their annual dragonboat races.
It was set up as a charity event, with teams that had raised money facing off in 3-boat heats, for prizes. The organizers provided the boats & equipment, so no prior experience was required. Quite a crowd gathered along the waterfront (outside the floodwall) to watch.
For the live action…
We walked, swam, did laundry, boat projects, met dozens of new Loopers.
But it’s time to move the boat.