Are we in the south?! While we are on the topic of local cuisine, when we were in Grafton, IL, all the menus we saw listed fried ravioli as an appetizer. We decided we had to try it and chose the place that listed theirs as "toasted" rather than fried. Hey, like with John and his peanut butter on hot dogs and lunch meat, don't knock what you haven't tried! The ravioli was served with a side of marinara (makes sense) and was quite good, but one serving was enough to have us imagining our cholesterol and blood pressure numbers spiking.
We stayed at Pebble Isle Marina for 2 days. Besides the hot boiled peanuts, they have a marina restaurant that offers options other than "bar food" and deep-fried. They are 1/2 mile from Tennessee's Johnsonville State Historic Park, which was the site of a unique military victory. On November 4, 1864, Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry attacked and destroyed Johnsonville, a river port. This is the only record of a naval force being engaged and defeated by by a cavalry force. The Union lost 3 gunboats, 11 transports, and 18 barges. Johnsonville disappeared when Kentucky Lake was created. We had ridden our bikes, so explored some Civil War Redoubts, walked through the visitor center (which is being dismantled because a new one has been constructed on the highway, but still had a couple of displays) then left the park to ride our bikes on the road to Denver, the small community near the marina.
We borrowed the marina courtesy car and drove to the Wal-Mart in Waverly. Neither of us likes shopping in Wal-Mart, but it was the only choice and we needed a few groceries plus anniversary cards for each other, as we may not be anyplace else before the 24th. We have used the courtesy cars in 4 marinas. 2 of them had the check engine light on, one had the brake light on, and the other's "change oil" light was on. All have had well over 100,00 miles on them, but have been the only way to buy needed supplies, as towns have been too far away or along busy highways, so we haven't wanted to bike or walk. We're glad they've been available!
One of the boats in this marina looked like a small scale replica of a river steamboat. The roof behind it is typical of the marinas here. Seasonal slipholders have roofs over their slips both for sun protection in the summer and to keep any ice and snow off in the winter, as most boats stay in the water all year. The whole pier you can see in this picture floated over against the restaurant in the spring floods 2 years ago. The poles the system floats on were simply not long enough and the water rose high enough to float the dock off the poles and away. It was their newest dock and has their biggest boats. The poles are longer now.
The boat not only looked like a steamboat but actually uses the paddlewheel for propulsion, powered by a gasoline engine that probably ran farm equipment in the 40's. If you're interested, it's for sale.
We enjoyed our time at Pebble Isle, but looked ahead on our charts. We decided to move to Clifton Marina, which sounded as though there is a small community nearby. The lake/river changes here, many small islands, LOTS of fishermen (it is Sunday, after all), and still those darn tows! We appreciate the expertise of the tow captains and realize that much of the route we have been traveling and will travel are here to make possible the transportation of goods, but they are just so darn BIG! There is plenty of room to pass comfortably here, unlike our experience on the Illinois River, but it is still intimidating.
We see more bluffs as we travel-it almost feels like driving in mountain foothills:
We are now tied up at Clifton Marina and RV Park. It's small and John's parallel parking skills were, once again, proven. The sailboat in front of Mary Frances IV is the afore mentioned Horison from Sweden. The other boat, Tropical Breeze, is almost finished looping.
To offer a better view of the close quarters:
There is about 38 feet of dock space. We need 42. The dock doglegs just outside the bottom left of the picture. We had to take the dinghy off to almost fit. If the wind blows, Horison's bow and ours will be kissing. We started to walk into town, but after 20 minutes of walking along the roads, we headed beck to the boat. John rode his bike back toward town to choose a route for us to ride tomorrow. He found a grocery store that had 3 peaches, so was able to procure the one we needed for peach slaw for dinner tonight.
Rain is predicted for the next couple days, so we'll probably stay a while. Overdue thanks are due in this forum to John's sisters Jackie and Jo who are taking care of our house and mail. We love you, ladies, and thank you enormously for helping us fulfill our dream.
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