We had to get up bright and early on Friday morning, 07/10/20, to drive the BMW from where it had been parked at GTB, awaiting our arrival on Legacy, back down to Aqua Yacht Harbor on Lake Pickwick to pick-up the Lexus. With mainly two-lane highways making up the shortest distance between the two points, our total driving time on Friday was more than 7 hours total. As much as I love still having our vehicles, I must admit the shuttling part gets old!
On Saturday, 07/11/20, we slept in, relaxed onboard, and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club right here at GTB and only a stone’s throw from our boat’s slip location. Bill Gary, the harbor master at GTB, had issued us a temporary membership to the yacht club as soon as we arrived, encouraging us to try out their food and possibly decide to join the club once the temp membership expired. The food was noticeably better than the standard, deep-fried fare served at most marina cafes. We finished dinner around 7:30 pm, and the heat of the day had gone, so we dropped the top on the Z and drove it over to The Thirsty Turtle (also part of GTB) for adult beverages and to listen to some live music by the Tommy Akers Band. Considering Grand Rivers is a tiny town in southwestern Kentucky, and The Thirsty Turtle is a very informal eatery (outdoor eating and porta-potties for restrooms), we did not expect the music to be as good as it was. Tommy Akers is one of those vocalist/lead guitarists whose appearance does not match his singing and playing abilities. We stayed through both of their sets, with Steve enjoying the Turtle’s only IPA, West Sixth, and I had a Tipsy Turtle, a pineapple/rum concoction that goes down easy.
We looked up some recommended scenic drives near The Land Between the Lakes and took advantage of Sunday, the 12th’s, milder temperatures to enjoy a leisurely drive and take in some local scenery. We’d hoped to stop for lunch somewhere along the drive, but none of the tiny towns we drove through had any open restaurants that we could find. We returned to GTB and ate a late lunch/early dinner at T. Lawson’s Tavern on the main drag in Grand Rivers. Thanks to COVID, the restaurant was operating at reduced capacity, so even at 2:30 pm, our wait was still more than 30 minutes for a table. And of course we had to wear our face masks from the front door to the table, where we were permitted to dramatically rip them from our faces and sling them across our table top.
On Monday, the 13th, we awoke to the news that there had been an early morning marina fire on one of the docks right there at GTB, that destroyed 5 boats and damaged another 10! Fortunately, no one was injured before the fire was extinguished by the fire department. We never found out for sure exactly what started the fire, but we strongly suspect a lightning strike, as a loud electrical storm had come through our area just before the fire started. Steve managed to pull the port side of our boat right up against the port finger of our slip, which gave us just enough room to lower the dinghy off with the crane between the starboard side of our boat and the starboard finger, without damaging either boat. We idled around inside the marina, getting as close to the fire-damaged area as we could (the fire department had placed a floating ballast around the gasoline and diesel spilled into the water during the fire, until it could be cleaned up by hazmat). Fire in a marina is a very real and not uncommon danger, especially for boats stored under covered docks. Luckily for us, the dock that burned was at least a half a mile from the transient dock where we were slipped, but we sure felt sad for the owners of the damaged boats, as well as for the marina, which will be replacing that dock soon. We took the dinghy out of the marina and onto Lake Barkley for a really fun ride. Even though it was sunny and HOT, as long as we were flying along the water, we stayed relatively cool.
On Tuesday, the 14th, we took “Digney” (that’s what we call our dinghy since the previous owner had hand-labeled it’s key with the word DIGNEY – seems only fitting to leave her name the same) back out onto Lake Barkley and around the point of land where The Thirsty Turtle is located. We tied up to their private dock and climbed the hill to have lunch in their “open-air” seating. It was during this meal that Steve deemed GTB to have a real FLY PROBLEM. We ate our lunch with one hand, and used the other hand to wave away the millions of flies that decided to share our table.
Position: N 37° 00.458, W 88° 13.628