Location: Clifton Marina, Mile 158.5 of the Tennessee River

Distance Travelled Today: 55 Nautical Miles

Total Trip Distance: 924 Nautical Miles

For the first night of the entire trip, my Verizon internet service and my Verizon phone are totally out of range. I am writing this at 8:30 Monday night but it will not be posted until we are within range of something, tomorrow we hope.

We continued travel on Kentucky Lake today until the lake disappeared and we continued up the narrower Tennessee River. It was cloudy all day and we could see from the weather radar that a 100–mile-wide band of rain was approaching from the west. We had planned on pushing on a little further but decided to turn in to a convenient marina at 3 pm. Fortunately, we got tied up and settled before the rain started hard at about 4 pm and it continues now. We can see, however, from the weather radar, that the backside of the rain is about 30 miles west of us and it should stop by midnight. We’re hoping for a clear day tomorrow. It has grown steadily warmer as we have moved south.

Hardheaded George proved his worth today by fixing the reversed hot and cold water at the kitchen sink and connecting up the little knob on the sink that opens and closes the sink drain. This will allow me to cross one more item off the “Things that were wrong” list I’m maintaining elsewhere on this website. He only bumped his head a few times today and still shows no signs of injury…hardheaded.

We’re in a nice little marina with a friendly owner who allowed me to use his cellphone to check in at home and offered us a courtesy car if we needed supplies. For lunch today, we finished off Gail’s homemade chile and for dinner, we borrowed the slightly dirty gas grill behind the marina to cook grilled chicken.

Since its after 8:30, we’re continuing our exciting nightlife and turning in for the night. I’m tired and ready to sleep but I need to get out of the habit of waking up at 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning so I’ll try to stay up until at least 9:00.

Tomorrow, we should reach the beginning of the Tenn-Tom after about seven hours of cruising, perhaps around 2 pm. We have one lock to go through about 68 miles from here and we plan to get to Aqua Harbor Marina in Iuka, Mississippi for the night. Wednesday, we’ll push on to Midway Marina near Fulton where hardheaded George will disembark Thursday to be replaced by the inimitable Uncle Randy.

Stay tuned.