Wednesday, Dover, TN

Wednesday Dover, TN

Out boat left Clarksville, TN last night at 7:30pm while we were at dinner (catfish and beef for me; chicken for Karen). Our destination was Dover, TN about 38 miles downriver towards the Ohio.

This stretch of the river has very few towns along its banks. It was the darkest of nights even with the FULL MOON out. At times we could barely see either shore even though the river is only 100 yards across.

We stayed up until we got to Dover at 11:30 that evening. We averaged about 9.3 mph during the trip - no locks to slow us down. The docking took about 45 minutes. We nosed into a park and tied the bow off to a tree and a concrete stump. The stern was tied to a tree in the forrest. Cool stuff. The bow is about 10 feet from the shore. They use a 25 foot ramp to get people from the bow of the boat to the shore.

In the morning after breakfast we took a tour of the PILOT HOUSE. Ooh, aah. Karen wanted to do this on the last DQ trip but we were always going into town on excursions and the only time the pilot house is open is when it is docked.

So, this time we made sure we got on the list and we got to spend about 20 minutes listening to a lady talk about all the controls and rules and the experience-ness of the pilots and captain.

The pilots work 6 hours on and 6 hours off. Everyone else seems to be working all the time. The maitre de is there for all three meals AND there to say hi when we were getting on the boat after we visited the teeny, tiny flea market out in front of the boat.

The engine room is also off-limits except for a few short hours on certain days. We toured it and took lots of pictures of the huge arms that drive the paddlewheel.

At lunch we met a Brit who came here just to ride the DQ before it is taken out of service at the end of October. He's ridden many many steamboats in Europe and his friends said he had to go ride this one. He talked about all the trains (steam and diesel) that he has ridden all over the USA and Europe. We never knew there were so many steamboats abroad. Now we may have to do some research so we can ride some when we go to Europe in a few years.

Our off-boat excursion (is that being redundant?) was to Fort Donelson. In the Civil War the South held the town of Dover because it was in Tennessee and they were partial to the Confederacy. General Grant, who wasn't a general at the time, captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River in early 1862 and then a week later captured Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River as well. This effectively cut the defensive line of the South in half and gave the Union Army a way to get at the South from the West. And the rest was history.

Our boat left Dover this afternoon at 5pm and headed downriver toward Paducah on the Ohio River. We should get there some time in the early morning on Thursday.

This area is so rural that there is no Verizon connection for me to upload this. Maybe later as we get closer to civilization.

Ahh, another meal is close at hand. Time to get dressed in some "Sunday" clothes and eat with some class.