9-19-18 10-1-18 37th Anniversary at Anchor and Racoon Wars
There were really no restaurants in the area we were in to go out for dinner for our 37th Anniversary. It is more important to us to have some special time together. I know ,we live on a boat together; how much closer can we get. We planned our favorite meal, Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp found a secluded anchorage, swam, paddle boarded and reminisced about our wonderful life together. We have so many great memories! Once again it was scorching hot, so we opted to put the camp stove on the back of the boat and cooked outside, so we didn’t add any heat to the cabin. We do have a regular stove on board, but we also have the camp stove just in case we ever have an issue with the generator, we can still eat at anchor. It came in handy that day. Dinner and wine were divine then back in the water to cool off again. We truly had a wonderful day!
Off to Pisgah Bay on Kentucky Lake. There is a peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Barclay lake. It is called the land between the lakes and there are no house or towns on the upper part, so it will be difficult for me to tell exactly where we are.
Pisgah Bay is a large bay with two boat ramps on it. We stopped here on our last Loop and enjoyed dinghying to the Quarry. The weather this time did not cooperate. It rained for days. We had one break in the weather, so we dinghied to the quarry. But we didn’t get a chance to get out and explore as we wanted to because the rain started again.
Osprey Bay on Duncan Bay has half of the area marked off as a restricted wilderness area and does not allow anyone in the area for the winter months. The bay was so beautiful. We watched a buck and doe feed off the shore in the distance. Tons of fish, many of which were Asian Carp, but bass and panfish are prevalent as well. We did some romping around when it wasn’t raining.
One night we heard terrible screeching, let’s say many animals screeching. There was a terrible fight happening on shore. Scott got out his high-powered- flashlight. When we had gone ashore earlier that day there was a huge dead carp on the shore. We expected it was animals fighting over it, but we were wrong. Not a single animal on the carp. Panning the light rays to the right a tree on shore lit up with about 15 pairs of glowing eyes. There was a racoon war going on. Our light disrupted the war and we had peace the rest of the night. We couldn’t believe how many there were! Osprey Bay might be my new favorite bay…the wilderness was raw and breathtaking. My paddle board has a saying on it which holds true for me. “Nature is my muse, she inspires me to be a truer version of me.”
Higgins Bay extruded the true meaning of “Boat Life.” The bay itself didn’t but the situation did. We had some important main that needed to get out THAT day, but we are in the middle of wilderness, and loving it by-the-way. It has been so stinking hot that after 10 days at anchor we could not keep up with making ice for the cooler for cold drinks. We looked up Cozy Cove Marina and Resorts nearby and tried to call to see if they had ice and could take our mail. Of course, the call dropped because we have almost no signal in much of this area. About a half an hour later, the owner called me back to see if he could help me. The signal held, and we were clear to come in for ice and mail service. We anchored, dropped the dinghy and drove it 5 miles to Cozy Cove. There was a small covered dock for fishing boats and pontoons and a few cottages, but no sign. According to our map this was it, so we tied up and walked up to the office. It had a sign on the door at 11:55 “Gone to Lunch” UGH!!!!! Luckily it left the guys phone number on the sign. At first, we were going to be patient and not interrupt the guys lunch, but it was warm and we have spent considerable amount of time just getting there. Scott is Mr. Patient, but me……not so much. I kindly called the guy and said I called him early for ice and he said “I just left for lunch just take a bag on the house. Don’t worry about it.” I asked how much Ice was and I was happy to leave the money in an empty brochure box, but what I really needed was to get an envelope mailed. He told me where the mailbox was. I hiked up to the top of the hill to the entrance of the resort and easily found the mailbox, placing this important piece of mail in it with the flag up. The thought crossed my mind that the mailman may not even stop here if there was no mail for Cozy Cove. But then I remembered junk mail. It may be my only saving grace. We grabbed our ice threw it in the cooler and headed back to Last Call. Mission accomplished…….I hope. BTW the mail arrived and on time.
When we got back we had a quick lunch, then headed to shore where there is a forestry road. It was easy to find and led us to several very secluded campsites. We hoofed it through the woods hoping to catch the road at the top of the hill. Scottactually got signal at the top of the hill to see on his phone where this trail leads. Our plan was to hike to the other side of the peninsula but once we saw the halfway mark with the trail taking a steep descent we decided we didn’t want to climb back up that thing. Remember our legs are out of shape from many days sitting on the boat in the rain. That’s my excuse anyways. On the way back we marveled at the deep muddy ruts in the clay road. I asked Scott what kind of vehicle would you need to get through this? He said, “I guess it’s a Jeep Thang.” Swimming cooled us down and paddle boarding warmed us up so we swam again. I think we got our exercise that day. The deck was getting some great lawn chair use by us after a busy day. Close to sunset, I kid you not, a JEEP pulled onto the point. We were laughing and said “Yep it was a Jeep Thang” They had a tent that went on top of their vehicle, a small enclosure that was probably their toilet, a hammock and fire burning in not time. We were impressed! Just like that they were gone in the morning.
Next stop: Richland Creek. This was a nice big anchorage, but it had houses and 5 boat ramps on it. We looked back in our records and remembered staying here on our last loop. We remembered the fleet of Bass-boats that came flying by at full speed just before 5pm. There was a tournament and time was of the essence. At least we only got rocked a short time. This was more of a work stop for us. We cleaned the yellow river staining off the back and sides of the boat and scrubbed the green algae off the bottom. Fun times wish you were there.
We were at anchor for 12 days and thoroughly enjoyed the Land Between the Lakes. We desperately need a marina stop.
Thanks for reading,
Scott and Karen
m/v Last Call
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