October 10,2013 Day 25 Thursday

03:15 Woke up to violent wave action on the boat. Must have rocked for 30 minutes, finally fell asleep and woke up at 7:30, wondering if there was fog because we got to sleep calmly for a while.  Sure enough fog, thank you Lord!  Towboats were moving slowly in the fog and most were stopped.  The 9-10 that were stopped along the Illinois side last night were gone, must have gotten thru the Lock up river.  Coffee in hand, breakfast over and barges moving with the boat again rocking and rolling we headed for Paducha city dock 1.5 miles from anchorage.  No city dock to be found, just a huge boat ramp.  Went to an open barge almost out of town, circled and decided we should see if there is a close gas station to fill up the 6 gallon tank just for insurance we would have enough incase we got stuck at the Kentucky Lake Dam for 8 hours.  Curt walked up to find a cement wall and buildings on the other side.  Was a marine company with high fence, Curt walked into the office and asked if we could tie up on the barge till we got some gas.  The southern boy said sure I don't care, I gots to run an errand but I'll take you when I come back.  Gas station about 3 miles away so we decided to wait and wait and wait.  In the meantime we decided to fill up our water tank since it wasn't pumping water, carried our two water jugs back and forth approx. 1 block down to the boat and back up the hill.  Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water,  we didn't fall down.....Curt came back with the Gentleman and when we told him we were getting a little extra water he said you're out of water too.  We reassured him with the disgust on his face we were fine, just making sure we had enough till we get to the Marina tonight.  Nice guy though, when Curt asked him if he could give him something for his trouble, he said have you heard "Pay it Forward"?  With our shock we said yes we've given many away, this was to be our first official one back at us.  Almost brought tears to the eyes.  With a handshake he backed his truck around and went back up the hill thru the trees on the gravel broken concrete trail.  Off we went, leaving Paducah without me getting to the long promised Hancock of Paducah quilt shop...  Up the Tennessee instead of the Cumberland, saw several Bald Eagles today, hadn't seen them for awhile, guess they were guiding us once again.  Had a big probably 60 foot boat slow down before he went buy us, his wake would have buried us.  Beautiful while boat named "The Captivator".  Captain and probably owner waved as they went buy, gave us some space and then sped up, huge wakes on both sides, soon to disappear down the river.    Made it to the Kentucky Lock, was open for business and promised only 2 hour wait, we were hopeful since we talked with Jeff and Judy and they were coming up to the Barkley Dam Lock.  We wanted to surprise them and get there first since they had left a couple days ahead of us.Tried anchoring on both sides of the river but the sandy muddy bottom wouldn't hold, found a little whole what we were able to anchor till time to go thru the lock.  At 6:30 we got the okay to go into the lock to be raised 57 feet to the Kentucky Dam level.  Went in with another boat called Elegante, beautiful 60 foot boat with lots of bells and whistles on top and teak would all the way around the back and sides.  Coming out of the Lock it was black, now dark.  The Captain of Elegante called us by radio and asked where we were going for the night.  Agreed that we would not make it to Green Turtle in the dark, took him up on his offer to follow him, since he had lights and radar to the other Marina across the lake.  Thank you Lord once again.  We would have never been able to see without him ahead of us.  Got into the Kentucky Dam Marina, tied off into a slip and tried to decide what to eat after calming down.  Captain Jack and his wife worked the boat for another couple who owned it, they were on their way to an open house for a facility they were opening for injured Iraq. Veterans, then a meal on the boat with the City of Nashville councilmen and a boat ride for the Mayor.  Their next stop was to Key west back from Nashville down the TennTom Waterway and then to Turks and Caicos Islands for the winter.  Captain Jack and been driving the boat for 11 years all over the world taking the owners to where ever they wanted to go.  Said the diesel motors burned 50 gallons an hour, you do the math.