June 14 through16, 2012, Nashville, TN

We decided to rent a car for two day and see the sights of Nashville.  On Thursday we spent the day in downtown Nashville.  It was a full day and lots of traffic.  Our Enterprise driver said that the population of Nashville in over 2 million.  We forgot our car GPS so we used my Droid App and it worked real good.  Only problem was the battery was used up pretty fast.  

There was so much to see.  First we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  We took the self tour which a different country star gave a narrative of each section.  All though neither one of us are big Country Music fans, we did enjoy (or should I say I enjoyed) the exhibits which went from the early folk roots through today's stars.  The exhibit on Charley Pride reminded me of my younger days and my old roommate and still good friend today, Joyce, who was a real fan of country music and liked Charley Pride.  I also enjoyed the Hall of Fame Rotunda Room which recognized and honored all it's members. Next we went down to Broadway Street and Honky Tonk Row.  We had lunch and listened to all the music.  Each bar had bands and singers preforming all day and into the night.  We did some shopping as there were tons of shops.  After  Broadway Street we drove about 16 miles out to the Grand Ole Opry House.  It wasn't open but I was able to get a few picture.  We had the car for a second day of sight seeing but by this time we both had enough so we did the next best thing.  We went out to Hermitage to the only West Marine store we could find in the area and after we went to Walmart to stock up.  The Dock Master/Owner here is Arch and he is a very nice man.  He gave us a Looper rate on fuel and a good rate on dockage; he even threw in a free extra day.  Rumor has it he was married to a famous country western singer that just got married again for the 3rd time.

CO's comments:  The marina that we are at is located in an old rock quarry.  It is very well protected because of the high walls and trees are all around us.  The only problem is the entrance is very shallow with the bottom consisting of rock.  If you mess this entrance up you are going to have severely bent props or worse.  My depth alarm was constantly going off on our way in.

 

Rock Harbor Marina, Nashville - view of gas dock from our slip.  A different set up at this marina.  You can only get to the gas dock by boat so the people who work here drive around in small, flat bottomed, boats.

Backed into our slip at Nashville.  View from our bow.

We are on Fern Row.  Every one has at least one fern hanging by their boat.  I felt like I should go out and buy one too.

Entering the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on 6-14-2012.  The round part of the building to the left is the Rotunda.

Bobbie in front of the Gold Record Wall.

Honky Tonk Central Bar.  Doors are open on all establishments and music is every where.

Honky Tonk Row

We had lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Restaurant and Bar on Honky Tonk Row.

Street vendors play on the street and in all the bars just for tips and hopes of being discovered.

Grand Ole Opry House-Nashville, TN

June 13, 2012, Rock Harbor Marine, Nashville, TN

Just a quick post for now.  We had a short day yesterday with only 22 miles to get to our marina.  We got here about 11:00.  There were not very many boats here at the marina so we were lucky and got a covered slip.  This was good because it was hot, sunny, and in the mid 90's.  The next week has the same forecast.  The Cumberland River is beautiful up in this area.  We plan to stay a few days and take in the sights of downtown Nashville.

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Riverview Restaurant and Marina on our starboard Wednesday morning.  There used to be room for 10 boats but after the 2010 flood there is only room for about 3 or 4 depending on the size..

Some of the beautiful scenery along the river.

6-12-2012; Anchorage at Harpeth Island, Ashland City, TN

After staying a 3rd day at Clarksville, we went for our walk, got some ice, and were back on the river by 8:30.  We had our first lock of the year at Mile 148.7-Cheatham Lock and Dam.  It has floating bollards and we went up 26'.  All went smooth.  We did have to wait for an on coming tow that was changing crew just before the lock.  After about 40 minutes, the Lock Master said he would let us lock through first because the tow was taking so long.  We thanked him and were in and out of the lock withing 20 minutes.  Our anchorage was only about 6 miles after the lock just behind Harpeth Island.  This anchorage was a lot like Dover Island; deeper water but good protection from the wind.  We got to our anchorage about 13:00.

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CO's comments:  I was amazed at the barge traffic that is on the Cumberland River.  The other night (after dark) I saw several fisherman sitting in the middle of the channel on a curve.  A tow came by pushing 12 barges, started around the bend, and then saw the fisherman.    It is the first time in a long time that I have heard the "5 Blasts" from a tow.  This means get out of my way now or you will be run over as I can't stop!

Clarksville new marina that was supposed to open in 2010.  It is not open yet but they are getting close.

This boater had a nice lift put in for his boat instead of a dock.  The lift and installation probably cost more than the boat!

Sun set on 6-12-2012 by Harpeth Island

Reflection of the sun starting on Ashland City buildings.                                                                            

Aft view from our anchorage.  Beware of shoaling when traveling up stream and entering this anchorage.   Some boaters have put up a volley ball net at the point and the water is only about knee deep.                                                   

June 9 and 10, 2012; Clarksville City Dock-McGregor Park, TN Mile 125.6

On Saturday we got under way by 08:00.  The river was very smooth with just a few fishing boats out and about.  It seems like we see less fishing boats on the Cumberland River than we see on the Tennessee River.  We got to our destination by 12:15.  Clarksville has a free tie up at their City dock but if you want electric it costs $25.00/night.  We had to use a splitter as they only had 1, 30 amp; the first outlet didn't work but we pulled the boat down to the next outlet and we had no problem.  It was a very hot afternoon, in the mid to high 90's. 

On our way into the dock we saw a familiar boat tied up.  It was the "Lazy Dolphin" who we met in January 2011, at Treasure Island, Florida.  We got together for drinks and it was good to see them again.  Just the other day when we were at Green Turtle Bay we ran into another boat that we met at Treasure Island, the "Caroline Ann".  Small world.   Clarksville is larger than we expected and it is a very nice city.  It is the 5th largest city in Tennessee.  It got its name from a frontier fighter and Revolutionary hero, General George Rogers Clark, brother of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition fame.

Do to the forecasted thunderstorms in the area we stayed another day.  As it turned out, we didn't get any rain or thunderstorms and we could have gone.  Tomorrow they are forecasting thunderstorms again; a 65% chance.  We will check the weather again in the morning and we might head up the river to Ashland City which is only about 32 miles.  Time will tell.

CO's comments:  Being docked right on the river we expected, and did have, a bumpy day because of all the boat traffic.  The biggest wakes were made by the police boat that would drive by with his stern deep in the water which caused a much larger wake than a bass boat doing 50 mph.  Barges made less wake than the police boat did.

Kim Jo III and Lazy Dolphin at the city dock in Clarksville on 6-10-2012

Kim Jo III from on top of one of the many paved paths through out the city.

There is a very nice River Walk along the cities waterfront.

Barge making a turn under a city bridge.  He had to stop just before the bridge, bring his back end around, and then go straight under the bridge.


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