Leaving the Paducah docks, we could look up into the mouth of the Tennessee River behind Owens Island. We were advised against following the Tennessee River to Grand Rivers, Kentucky even though it is the shortest route by distance. The Kentucky Lock is one of the busier locks in the area and prioritizes commercial traffic over pleasure craft - and could represent significant delay. We opted to head up the Ohio River 11 miles to the mouth of the Cumberland River and by following that river we would make better time even if 20 miles longer.

As we entered the Cumberland River, it was as if entering a completely different world. The commercial traffic was gone, the current sluggish and the banks, for the most part lined with trees interrupted by a creek or a field. With the exception of two sand and gravel operations, we encountered little human activity and nearly no commercial traffic. Following the river for about 30 miles, we arrived at the imposing miter gates of the Barkley Lock that would lift us up by 57 feet to the Lake Barkley.

Lake Barkley is our first encounter with the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the government agency formed by the government of Franklin Roosevelt to create and manage the waterways of the Tennessee Valley in response to the devastating floods of the 1930's. The locks are currently under the jurisdiction of the Army Corp of Engineers. As we passed into Lake Barkley, the charts indicated that submerged bridges, roads and buildings were beneath us - covered by the Lake created when the Barkley Dam held back the waters of the Cumberland River. The damming of the Tennessee River created the Kentucky River just across the Land between the Lakes - a 35 mile peninsula resting between these huge lakes. These lakes represent the largest man-made lakes by volume and surface area in the Eastern US.

Shortly after entering Lake Barkley we turned right and entered the Green Turtle Bay Resort & Marina - a huge full service marina, where a large number of the locals keep their boats and where a lot of the transient Great Loopers hold up for longer stays before heading down the Tennessee River and the Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile.

The town of Grand Rivers just outside the marina straddles the Land between the Lakes at its northernmost point just above the canal that connects the two lakes. The town is small but has some boutiques, a grocery store and the unfortunately recently burned-down Patti's 1800's Restaurant - famous in the area for its country cooking. Too bad we can't wait for it to be rebullt. We walked from lake to lake and went shopping for provisions.