Mike here:

Ok, firstly, I must point out that Mary was a bit influenced by her imbibery last night when writing her post…I know–it is difficult to believe, but there it is.  Give the girl some live blues & jazz, a nice meal and a few good beers, and…well, there you have it.  With that in mind, I have to begin this entry by expanding on her minor mention of “bikers galore” on Beale Street.  There were literally hundreds of motorycles, all shapes and sizes…mostly Harleys but also some others including dirt bikes, BMWs and even Vespas!  The occasion was a Shriners Children’s Hospital Charity Run…bless ’em all!

After a wonderful evening on Beale St, Memphis, we got an early start in the AM.  Waze must have also been drinking, as it led us S/W back across the Mississippi into Arkansas, back north into Tennessee again, across the Missouri line for a few miles, back into Tennessee, and finally into Kentucky.  We were on pins and needles as we turned into the drive that leads into Green Turtle Bay, finding some of the trees on the sides of the road to be extending their branches over a portion of the drive.  Finally pulling into the boatyard property, we saw our girl sitting on her semi….intact, beautiful, and CLEAN!  It looked like she had just been washed and waxed (well, she had…a week and 2,000 miles earlier!)  We had heard of horror stories…boats sometimes arriving with a little damage–and always filthy with either black diesel soot, or road grime…and often with lots of both.  Ours arrived with neither.  She was clean as a whistle.  Our wonderful driver, Don, and his wife Rona, took great care to avoid all of the hazards that might have damaged our home.  Upon entering the drive to GTB, Rona apparently got on top of the rig and actually pushed branches out of the way so they didn’t scratch the boat.  Yes…we did tip them well for going above and beyond.

We are now in a rented cabin on the shores of Kentucky Lake (1/4 mile away) to await bottom painting and launch.  We will replace the upper deck railing and radar mast (with radar scanner, AIS and GPS antennas, anchor light, loud speaker, etc) after we’re splashed.

Stay tuned!  Hopefully Mary will write a really nice piece tomorrow, expounding on the wonderful amenities GTB has to offer…you may have noticed she is not quite as…well…long-winded as me.  She’ll be in the groove mañana.

Cheers all!

M&M

M/V Forever Friday

Green Turtle Bay, Kentucky