Barkley Lock and Dam is our entry point back on to the Tennessee River. We actually had a choice of turning on to the Tennessee directly off the Ohio and it would have gotten us to the Tennessee some 20 miles closer. I say closer not sooner as the Kentucky Dam which lifts boats up to the Tennessee is the primary route for tows and so again PC's are frequently subject to hours of waiting to get passage while the commercial traffic is handled first. Our route involves continuing on the Ohio to the Cumberland River another 20 miles longer and then taking Barkley Lock some 40 feet up. Less than a mile upstream from either lock a natural interconnection between the two rivers allows Tennessee or Cumberland River travelers to cross over and continue on either river.
We are on our last few hundred miles of this journey with a marina somewhere yet to be determined near our dirt house in Atlanta, but on the way we will Cross Our Wake, going over the place where we first started our Loop in 2015.
Being back on the Tennessee is welcoming and familiar. Happy Happy is glad to be back in freshwater on big rivers and reservoirs where weather isn't as big an impact on travel and we are traveling long days to make mileage and get home................"we can smell the barn now".
After Barkley, we'll pass thru the Pickwick, Wilson (100 ft up!), Wheeler and Guntersville locks, bringing us up almost 400 feet higher than our connection at the Cumberland, which was already some 350 feet above sea level and Mobile, AL.
Pebble Isle Marina, a friendly stop along the way and another round of docktails with half a dozen Loopers.
This stretch of the Tennessee River in Alabama had a lot of RV parks with elaborate support buildings.
...........as well as some very nice and interesting houses.
Florence Harbor Marina and the transient docks are showing it's the end of the boating season for most of the locals.