Kentucky Lake   
             
                                                         

                                          Stressful day at work                 

                                                   sunset on the water            
                                                                        
                                                                  

          It has been pouring rain hard ALL DAY today.  Luckily we are safely tucked into at the State Park Marina at Paris, Tennessee. There is a beautiful campground here.  Signs all over say the Tennessee State Parks are the best in the country.  Don’t know if that is true, but they are very nice. No fireplace for a rainy day but we are dry and have internet and cable TV. We had "docktails" last night with loopers from the boat Carole Ann.     

Our flotilla has disintegrated for the time being.  Two boats have had people go home for visits and one had engine trouble and stayed behind.    For the first time in quite a while we are traveling alone.  Since leaving Turtle Bay we have meandered along VERY slowly averaging 5 miles a day.  We have anchored out 2 nights in very desolate, beautiful coves.  There was no one, no boats, no lights to be seen.  We went swimming off the boat for the first time this trip.  We enjoyed taking the inflatable and exploring the shore. The water is 80 degrees.  It is not blue, but it is less muddy than the Mississippi river.

 

The fishing boats here are different - basicly a ski boat with a large motor and 2  raised fishing seats - they need to get to those fish fast!                                                     

          We stayed a night Kenlake State Park Marina in Kentucky.  While there we rode our bikes to visit their TINY town of  Aurora (a lodge on the lake, one country store, one restaurant, a few more buildings, that’s it).

                                                                     

          Kentucky Lake is huge, about 90 miles long and 3 miles wide here.  It is manmade as they put a dam across the Tennessee River and flooded the area.  Many little towns were flooded and are now underwater. There is a marker in the lake where the Lake Henry Fort was – the first large, significant Union victory in the Civil War.  The memories of the Civil War are very alive here.  There are memorials all over to those who died in the war, and places where battles were fought.

                     Fort Henry Memorial out in the water - the fort is below the surface