Our Cumberland River trip (LOOOOONG!)

[snal]

We head out from home at 6:45am...45 minutes late till I remember that we're actually early due to the time change between home and the launch site. The first minor issue is that I forgot to load the porta-potti holding tank...no biggie...it had a broken flush handle, so we'll just stop and get a new unit...did that at Walmart
We trailer to Granville, TN at Granville Marina (MM 331.2). A nice place, with rental cabins, and a sea wall to protect the marina from boat wakes and current.
We launched at 11am Saturday, and headed downstream for our 12:00 appointment at the Cordell Hull lock. All went well, but there's a lot of debris in the lake from recent storms. Getting to the lock was like going through a mine field, but we made it on time. The lock-thru was quick, and we found less debris on Old Hickory Lake.
We cruise down to mile marker 236.8 at Gallatin Marina where we secure a slip for the night ($10). It's HOT!....but the shade of the covered slip and our 2 Stanley blower fans keep us comfortable. This marina was busy, but the service was excellent. No showers though.
Sunday, we head out early for Old Hickory Lock, and as we idle out of the marina I notice that our Garmin chartplotter is not picking up satellites. I turn it off, and back on again, and still no satellites!I switch to our backup Garmin and it picks up fine, but shows no navigational detail...I have left the map card for it at home! We stop at a yacht club to see if they have a store that might carry the map card...nope! Then as we idle out, the original unit starts working...hurray!
As we cruise towards Old Hickory Dam, we notice the strong smell of porta-potti deodorant, so I stop and check the potti.....our new potti was packaged WITHOUT lid on the holding tank! Wonderful! So we sit it outside in the cockpit and motor on towards the Old Hickory lock.
Another mine field of debris pops up, and we weave and bob our way through. Suddenly, it feels like we put the brakes on! I didn't notice a drop or rise in the rpms of either engine, but it happened fast, and I'd quickly pulled the throttles back. I tilt both engines up to check the props, even though there was no indication that we'd hit any sort of debris. No apparent damage, and all I could think of was that I may have spun a prop...so I fired back up and slowly throttled forward. The starboard engine fell off at around 5700rpm, so I backed them both off to 4500. We cruised a few miles and I throttled back up to 5700...same loss of power on the starboard, back to 4500 and all was well. I decided to have a closer look later as we were coming up on the Old Hickory dam.
The wait was a mere 20 minutes, and we were quickly greeted by the waters of Cheatham Lake.
The debris on Cheatham is even more sparse, but we have to keep a close eye out for floaters. We arrive at Nashville, and make a short stop at the city dock. There are several homeless folks wandering around, and washing off in the river at the edge of the dock. Sad, and a little spooky.
We walk the dogs a bit, and check out the area where we will meet our "dog sitter" the following day. We decide not to stay the night at the Nashville dock, so I reach for my new generator bracket while we're still tied to the dock. The folding bracket arms fell off in my hand, and I realized that I had failed to weld the solid rivets in that held them in place! Great!...what else is gonna happen! We then stow the parts to the bracket and head for mile marker 175.3 (15 miles below Nashville) and Rock Harbor Marina where we secure a covered slip for the night ($25). Rock Harbor has showers, and the "Blue Lagoon Cafe". The setup at this marina is strange. The fuel dock is just to port as you enter the cove...and the marina office is dead ahead. The employees must take a small pontoon to the fuel dock from the office....seems like a pain to me if I were the employee, but the service was great, and the staff were excellent. They had a repair shop, but no welder of any kind to weld the pins for the generator bracket. We sleep well, and even have to turn off the fan during the night as it got a bit chilly.
Monday. We meet our dog sitter at noon, she's right on time! We find that the city dock is closed to overnight stays due to the preparations for a 4th of July celebration, so we informed our dog sitter that we would need to meet her at 5pm rather than the scheduled 11pm...so much for our planned Nashville night life. We catch a cab to the Opryland Hotel, and later walk to Opry Mills to see if the Bass Pro Shop happens to have a replacement Garmin maps card...no such luck. Cab back to the waterfront and check out a few music pubs and heard some great tunes! The sitter returns with our best friends promptly at 5pm and we head back towards Rock Harbor for a second night....the Garmin failed again...and never worked the rest of the trip.
Tuesday, we head back upstream to Old Hickory, and secure a slip at Cherokee Resort Marina for the night. We had dinner at the Cherokee Steak House, where apparently all of the Nashville stars go for a casual dinner...they must have all been out on tour Tuesday evening.
Early Wednesday, and we head towards the Cordell Hull dam for a 2pm lock-thru. We arrive 2 hours early since navigating that section without GPS was a breeze, and the mysterious loss of power in the starboard engine has gone away, musta been a fuel issue. The lockmaster is happy because he'd wanted off early anyway.
We cruise up to mile marker 316.8 and secure an uncovered slip at Defeated Creek Marina ($12.50). Very nice folks here! We were asked by 3 different people if we knew a fella named "Byrd", and after answering "yes" they started treating us like family! We had dinner at the marina cafe, and called it a night early so we could get an early start upstream towards Celina in the morning.
Thursday, we have coffee, take the dogs for a long walk and see several deer grazing in the grass on the marina property. We sneak over to the adjacent campground and steal a shower without ending up in handcuffs, and leave the marina at 9am heading for Celina.
We were informed that the powers that be had opened the trash gates at the Cordell Hull Dam on Monday, which should have taken care of most of the debris that we encountered 5 days ago, and it did! This part of the upper Cumberland is delightful...very few houses...and no private docks. We see deer, canadian geese, and what the locals call "river eagles". It seems that each bend of the river proudly offers us it's own unique scenery...beautiful!
We motor into Roaring River, near Gainesboro at mile marker 357.6, and tie the boat at the bank near the swimming area of the Corps of Engineers recreation area. Cordell Hull has at least 3 such swimming areas, and all are marked "no pets", but this one is vacant with the exception of a few men that are mowing the grassy areas. We decide to take a chance and swim with the dogs.
Little Kia (the shit-zu) can swim like a fish, but Cain (the boxer) is a bit more cautious. Kia swims out towards us, and Cain gently grabs the tip of her tail with his mouth and pulls her back as if he was saving her from certain doom. Shortly, a park worker comes by to empty the trash cans, looks at us, and says..."don't worry...I don't care". We must have had guilty looks on our faces. A few minutes later, a family pulls into the parking area, and we decide to go back to the boat. I begin to untie the boat, and another park employee appears, walks over to us and reminds us that dogs must be leashed but says nothing about our swim time. He also reminds us that this is a "Fee area" (we had no idea) so I offer to pay, but he said that since we were leaving there would be no charge.
Navigating the upper Cumberland without GPS has been easy so far, and we are 24 miles from Celina. We check our fuel supply and it's going to be close if we do indeed venture on to mile marker 381 at Celina. We decide to continue upstream to Butler's Landing which we hope will offer a place to pull the boat ashore so that we could place the generator on land and have the fans for the night.
We are treated to even more beautiful scenery such as Seven Sister's Bluff and miles of fantastic landscapes that reduce our conversations to simply repeating the same word over and over again..."WOW"...."WOW"...."WOW!". If you're ever on the Cumberland...Do Not Miss This Area!
We missed the mouth of Mill Creek, and Butler's Landing somehow, there are no mile markers this far up, and I knew we'd traveled too far without seeing it. Just then a bridge comes into view and Jo says..."that's hwy 52"...we're at Celina!
After idling around at the confluence of the Cumberland and Obey Rivers, we head back towards Defeated Creek. Fuel supply shows that we "might" make it back to Defeated Creek, but there is Granville Marina and fuel 15 miles closer.
The water is like glass, and Jo crawls into the berth with the dogs, and the all drift off into what will be a 2 hour nap. I shut the cabin door and listen to the harmony of the twins as the boat rides like it was on air, and the fantastic scenery plays around me for miles. Totally relaxed, and riding on nature's high, I cruise right past Granville Marina, and on to Defeated Creek. Jo wakes as I slow down to enter the creek, and we see dozens of bass boats lined up in front of the marina. Obviously there's a bass tournament about to start and a look at my clock...4:58pm...I tell go that the game is about to begin, and 2 minutes later the boats are roaring off like kids at an Easter Egg Hunt. We're a few hundred yards from the marina, and the starboard engine dies, she ran out of fuel!...so we idle in on one engine as I brag that I had timed our arrival perfectly. We stay a second night at Defeated Creek, and all of the locals drop by to ask how far we'd made it. Wonderful friendly folks here!
Friday, we decide to head back up to Granville and load the boat. Saturday will likely be crowded with folks arriving for the 4th, so we decided to head on back home.
Twas a fantastic trip!...exactly what we bought this boat for!

[Captains Cat]

Larry & Jo, great story, hope you post lots of pictures, particularly of the pooches!

Charlie

[Dragonfly]

Larry and Jo, Sounds like you had a great time ! Can't wait to see Photos ! Happy 4th !

[snal]

A few pics are up.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album1012&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1

[Byrdman]

Hey Larry & Jo!

Great read and a nice welcome home from my travels out to Olympia, Stanwood & Oak Harbor WA. Sorry I was out of the area during your travels....but from the looks of it you did great.

I left wondering which parts you would actually see, and what parts you would not be able to make depending on your final plans.... which were great plans particuarly for river travel..... and those are just be flexible.

After my friend's the Brigners' (C-Pearl) moved onto the Cumberland rather than a place in FL... we re-named the logs "Cumberland River Dolphins." Sounds pretty nice...and has a coastal sound to it... but, as you stated, you have to be mindful at times after hard rains.....as these dolphins will hurt your boat.

Sure glad you got to see the upper river. That is what most folks choose to slice off their trip....and as you now know.....it is pretty neat.

Maybe on a return trip some day you can make it back this way. We do a river run sometimes twice a year... but, for now... we will more than likely wait a spell and let her cool down a bit.

A fall river cruise when the trees are showing their colors is for sure a wonderful time....and those little WOWs you speak of truly happen....even when you live and boat often in these waters.

As for the Byrd guy...more than likely folks were refering to my Brother Mike & his wife Brenda ("B").....that put about 400-600 hours on their motor each year on the Cumberland... Safe to say they get around a bit....and to appreciate just how much they love their 22 C-Dory GYPSY, Mike sill owns his own business and works about 50-60 hours a week...then goes boating.

Nice read...Thanks for enjoying our home waters.

Byrdman

[Dragonfly]

Hey you guys took some GREAT photos ! I love the dog photos. They are just too cute !

[snal]

Thanks Byrdman, and you're right...they mentioned "Mike".

We saw "C Pearl" Sunday morning, at rest on her boat lift. It was around 9am, and we didn't see anyone stirring, so we simply idled into that small cove and took a few pics.

[snal]

[El and Bill]

Thanks for sharing the cruise. It is a favorite of ours - consider a trip down the Cumberland and up the TN River - you have a great long cruiseand end up only a few miles from your parked truck and trailer.

[Jeff Brigner]

[snal]

No problem Jeff, we idled back into your cove to admire the lift setup (sweet!). It didn't look like you were home, but it was around 9am Sunday.
The 4th is also my son's birthday. We took him to a fireworks show when he turned 4...he thought that everybody was there to celebrate his birthday .

We definately plan to return in the fall!