Boat Trip: Clarksville, TN to Huntsville, AL. With Pictures and maybe a video or two.

[wahoo33417]

We are on a trip from Clarksville, about an hour outside of Nashville, planned to end at Huntsville, AL. The great part is that my wife will join me for the first week. We'll take the Cumberland River (new to me) to the Tennessee River. I've seen this section of the Tennessee River while doing to Great Loop and loved it. But the loop leaves the Tennessee at the Tom Bigbee. We'll stay on the Tennessee to Huntsville, AL. Again, all new to me. Huntsville has a promising marina an airport that can get me home.

Unfortunately, my bad discs have been especially problematic. So the plan is to run every other day. We'll stop at state parks as much as we can so my wife can get some hiking in as she just came off the Appalachian Trail. Of the 2,200+ miles of AT, she has about 300 miles to go.

So I'll post updates here as I can. The first few will be catching up with days that occurred while my wife was with me.

Beginning:

Used my usual boat hauler and put the boat on the trailer in Riviera Beach, FL:









Arrive Clarksville,TN:



Nestled in at Clarksville Municipal Marina. Good, helpful folks. But will be leaving at sunrise the next morning.

 

[wahoo33417]

Already screwed up and doubled up on images. I think choosing that "Insert full image" after they were already in thread did it. And I can't figure out how to undo it.

Also, I can probably make the images a tad smaller.

Will try to post tomorrow as we get going to Lake Barkley State Park.

 

[Iced-D]

I'll enjoy coming along with you as you upload your pics.

Just south of Savannah on the Tennessee River, I found the Shiloh battlefield memorial park to be well-preserved and moving. I had only a couple hours but could have spent the day there and still missed a lot.

If you brought bass fishing gear, you should try both above and below Pickwick Dam. Here are a couple videos fishing at Pickwick in November 2024 and in November 2023.

What I don't know and still wonder is what might be preserved about the Swampers in Muscle Shoals. A museum? The recording studio? If I were on the way to Huntsville I'd have to find out.

Happy cruising.

P.S. If you have the time and inclination, here's the full Muscle Shoals documentary movie.

 

[wahoo33417]

Thanks Iced-D. I hope I can figure out how to post videos as easily as you make it look. I'm catching up with posting after my wife ended her stint with me on this trip. She has accompanied me on short sections of the Loop, but it's not really her thing. So when she is aboard, my priority is that she enjoys the trip and wants to go again.

I didn't get a license for the states (TN, KY & AL) that we went through. But I did sit with some other fisherman while my wife was out on hikes.

So I'll pick up with leaving Clarksville, TN headed for Lake Barkley State Park along the Cumberland River.

Days were as warm (high 80's) as home in South Florida, but mornings were a bit cooler. So, although we had a 75 mile day ahead, we waited until we thought the fog had mostly lifted.




We ran into one heavy fog bank. We were going 'down bound' so I slowed down and stayed just outside the green markers. But not so close to shore that I was likely to bother fishing boats. We put in an AIS radio for this trip and it worked great.




We saw this tug on AIS when two miles away. That's the range I kept it set at. I don't recall why, but he wanted us to pass him on 'two-whistles' or on his starboard side. AIS is so helpful. When you call a tug by name, they almost always answer. And I always thank them for communicating.





It wasn't long before the fog burned off and we got a gorgeous ride down the Cumberland River.




It was so beautiful the Admiral decided to take the helm for a while!

https://imgur.com/a/nwYKr2G

We'll see if my attempt at inserting a short video via Imgur meets with any success.


Saw many white pelicans in Lake Barkley (a wider section of the Cumberland River). Every image of them is blurry!




At Lake Barkley State Park. The Restaurant was open, but all the lake front hotel rooms (lodges) connected to it were closed for renovation. We knew that going in. We were happy to have a cabin in the woods. And my wife had access to hiking trails. I don't do well walking very far on hills, unfortunately, and it was about a mile to the restaurant. so the Park would have someone shuttle us so long as we didn't abuse it. They always had trucks running by doing maintenance.




So we stayed in the cabin for a 'rest' day for me and a hiking day for my wife. The Park staff couldn't have been any nicer. I'm going to say that for a lot of parks.

October is the tail end of their 'season', so they didn't have many guests nor boats in the marina. So rather than put us in an uncovered transient slip, they put us in a huge, covered slip. Even after I told them we didn't need 30-amp or water. But it was nice to fiddle on the boat in the shade.

The next day we would have a short run to Moor's Resort. One of our few non-park stops.

 

[wahoo33417]

I'm amazed - video works. Just need to click sound icon if you want to hear a pair of Yamahas on plane...

I went smaller on the pictures (40%), but looks like I could go smaller still. Or does that just affect resolution and not display size?