Ohio River Excursion (ORE)

8-21-09

Starting an excursion on the Ohio River. The plan (after a ton of revisions) is to start in Kentucky Lake, go down the Tennessee River to the Ohio. Up the Ohio as far as half our time allows--probably Evansville. Turn around and come back to the Cumberland River, up it to Barkley, and then through the canal back to Kentucky Lake. Participating with me are Dawg and Rich. Both long time sailing pals. Rich will be joining us Monday.

And speaking of sailing pals, after launching at the dam marina on Kentucky Lake, we motored over to Barkley and found some of our sailing pals from our days of racing down here. We asked the dock master if we could get a slip close to them. Our power boat was lonely on this dock.

While there are quite a few people we know on this dock, not many of them will let us take their photo. Some are in witness protection programs, and others are still on the "most wanted" list. Here's Dawg with Anne, who has so far been able to elude notoriety.

The rest of the group scatters when a camera comes out. (One guy was sitting on the dock with his foot in the water................"They can't find me if I keep this home detention ankle bracelet underwater.")

We were disappointed to learn that "Brown O" bOb no longer keeps his boat here. A lot of people have nick names, but Brown O is unique. A few years back we were discussing tattoos. bOb says he has two--both are the letter "b". He said the place he got the tattoos charged by the letter, and he could only afford two. So he got one "b" tattooed on each butt cheek. He says now when he moons someone, you can read his name. Hence the nick name "Brown O." I've never seen the b's and doubt if they actually exist. But at a regatta a few years ago (when I was still drinking) I mooned bOb with a couple of b's made from electrical tape on my cheeks. The sentiment brought bOb to tears. I can't say the same for the other folks at the awards banquet. It was a topic of conversation around the club for a while wondering how those b's" got on my cheeks. No way I could have done it myself.

We plan to go back over to Kentucky Lake, anchor our boat in a cove, and go sailing with someone.

Tom and Dawg