Before I tell you about these fine feathered friends I need to catch you up a bit since someone told me the SPOT was not broadcasting perhaps due to severely overcast conditions. It must be able to see those satellites.
We finally got away from Green Turtle Bay at 0945 on Friday morning. The props were just delivered and put on Native Son prior to departure so our leaving was the test run for this work. It seems the third time is the charm as Rich says they are vibration free. That is the good news. The bad news is that the bill was over $2000!!! That makes a grand total of nearly $3200 for all repairs. When I consider that we spent less than $2500 for three separate repairs in Florida it makes me glad that we made our mistakes early on in an area where prop shops are as common as fleas on a cur dog. Up here there is only one shop that does digital computer balancing in 3 states and he controls the pricing.
After leaving GTB you cross over a short channel from the Cumberland to the Tennessee and start upriver toward home. Our first overnight stop on the Tennessee was Paris Island State Park, a beautiful, modern marina with the cheapest dockage of the trip, $27.30 per night. Wish we had had to wait here for those repairs.
We found our friends Craig and Barbara on Blue Heron waiting on us to catch our lines so now we have increased our fleet by one. Everyone went out to dinner at the resort lodge where they have an excellent seafood buffet on Friday night.
It was at the lodge that we picked up some interesting factoids. First, parked all around the property were huge motorcycles all bearing the logo Boss Hoss. I had never heard of it but they are about as famous as Orange County Choppers in this part of the country. They are all custom fabricated here in Tennessee and have such a variety of types it is hard to explain. They are super expensive as one had a a paint job of Looney Tunes characters that cost over $50,000! That is just for the paint job! Here is a sampling. They were raffling off one for $10 a ticket that had 3 wheels and a 6.2 liter Corvette engine. We did not buy a ticket because what with taxes and poor fuel economy plus the fact that I would probably get killed in 24 hours made us decide to forego any chance of winning.
As We entered the lodge lobby there was a display of live birds of prey. What you see here from top to bottom is a Barred Owl, an American Kestral and two Screech Owls. All are rescue birds and fairly tame for the gentleman that keeps them. He is on oxygen and I wonder what will become of them if he cashes in. I am pretty sure that unlike our friend Ziggy these birds have no trust fund.
An interesting note: the American Kestral is not the smallest bird of prey; that distinction belongs to the Elf Owl, but it is the prettiest with markings like a miniature Peregrine Falcon. It keeps a sharp eye on everything and bobs his head up and down with excitement when he sees something interesting. It did take several sidesteps down the perch when the big Barred Owl was placed next to it.
They are fed cut up beef hearts laced with powdered vitamins and minerals. The beef hearts provide needed moisture as there type birds drink very little water.
The dinner was delicious with good company.
On Saturday we left at 0745 and made another 51 miles to Cuba Landing Marina which is a quiet country marina where the price is $28 for the night. Boy it is nice to be back on the Tennessee where they treat you right for the right price unless you are having your props fixed.
