On Friday morning, I left Kentucky Dam Marina at 9:45 and arrived at Pickwick Lock and Dam (top photo) at 6:00 P.M. traveling about 180 miles. I do not intend to do that again but the spacing of marinas prompted a longer day. Guess I had to work off some energy with all the past week’s waiting to get started. Kentucky Lake is beautiful and tapers into the Tennessee River. Cloudy and windy all day into the bow. Homes along the river range from tiny "home builts" to roofs for travel trailers to fancy brick homes with lawns that run down to the river. Ranch House cruises nicely in the 30 to 35 mph range. The GPS is specific to waterways on my trip, but a chart on my lap is necessary for backup. The wind and motor sound preclude the phone most of the time but that is ok until evening. The marine radio is tuned to Channel 16 in case of emergency, mine or someone else’s. Some of the river seems rather remote and it fits the people who are very friendly and eager to strike up a conversation.

Today I begin the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway towards Demopolis and in a few more days Mobile Bay, AL. Thanks to my wonderful wife, Joanne, for transferring my pics and narrative into the blog at night. It saves me time that I need to plan the next day’s journey. Today was too long - time for a beer.