The Hayes Visit "Life's2Short"

Nila & Everett arrived at noon on Friday, August 24th, and we spent a quiet afternoon aboard "Life's2Short" before going into downtown Clarksville to eat dinner at the Blackhorse Pub & Brewery, a local establishment that came highly recommended by everyone we talked to. We all shared one of their specialty pizzas, which was very good, and sampled a few different brews before walking down the street to a nice piano bar for a nightcap.

"Life's2Short" at the city dock in Clarksville, TN.



Earlier that afternoon a couple we met briefly as we were leaving Prizer Point last week arrived at the Clarksville city dock and we spent a little more time chatting and becoming acquainted with them. Robin & Warren Kelly have been living aboard their boat "Pepi" a couple of months now and plan to continue this lifestyle for the next year or so before returning to New York.  "Pepi" is a European canal-style boat which, unfortunately for them, does not have air conditioning but they seemed to be handling the heat very well. Robin is documenting their adventures online if you want to Google "Pepi's Ports of Call" and see what they've been up to.

On Saturday we took the Hayes' car and headed to Nashville. Our first stop was at the Opryland Hotel, an incredibly huge and beautifully extravagant facility that everyone should see at least once. While there we stopped at an atrium bar to have a drink and had a great time meeting and chatting with Greg, the bartender. He was interested to hear about our lifestyle and told us about his former life in a band that played regularly at Windows of the World on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center prior to 9-11. He has had an amazing life thus far and we hope to see him again in early 2008 in the Clearwater, FL area where he plans to be visiting sometime in January or February.

Can you figure out which one is Greg? What a great guy!


Just a small sample of one of the exquisitely beautiful garden areas at the Opryland Hotel.


After leaving the hotel, we drove into downtown Nashville and began exploring the area. Our first stop was for a late lunch at BB King's and then we progressed to several other establishments in about a two-block area throughout the course of the day. We also walked up a few streets to the Ryman Auditorium, the original sight of the Grand Ole Opry; through Printer's Alley, which was closed until later in the evening; and down to the riverfront to check out the city dock. The dock was nice and offered much needed shade from the late afternoon heat. We're still not sure why the city dock was closed for the weekend but someone told us they were having some kind of boat races there earlier in the day.

Everett studies the menu at BB King's using Todd's broken reading glasses!


Part of the Nashville skyline. The interesting building on the left is the Bell South building.


By late afternoon we had wandered into a place that offered free pool until 7:00 p.m. so we proceeded to pair up (Todd & Nila and me & Everett) and play three games, all of which Todd & Nila won, even though we essentially gave them two of the three games by scratching on the "8" ball. But, them's the rules of the game, so to speak, so I guess we'll have to concede all three games - sorry Everett!

An easy shot for my partner, Everett.


The happy couple poses for the Captain. Does Nila seems especially happy after winning three games in a row???


We then found ourselves in a karaoke bar called Buck Wild and spent the next couple of hours being entertained by several different singers (some very good and some not so good) and some skimpily-clad dancing waitresses.

Makes me wish I was 20-something again!


Makes me really wish I was 20-something again!!!


We were actually killing time at Buck Wild until Bud (Iceman) and Mary arrived so that we could all have dinner together. Bud had called when we were at BB King's having lunch and said that he and Mary had impulsively decided to drive to Nashville to spend the night. They finally arrived about 9:00 p.m. and we walked up the street to Demo's where we had a nice dinner before saying our good-byes and heading back to the car, destination Clarksville. It was a fun, full day and we were all ready to hit the sack when we arrived at the boat around 12:30 a.m.

No one had much motivation or energy on Sunday but we did manage to walk up the hill to eat a late breakfast at Kelly's Big Burger. After that we had even less motivation and spent most of the afternoon napping and reading and just relaxing in general. Todd and I took Nila's car late Sunday afternoon and made a run to Wal-Mart for a few necessities before returning to the boat to fix dinner. I made Pip's famous Vidalia onion dip and then baked some sweet potatoes and made salad while Todd grilled the filet mignon that Nila & Everett had brought from Harter House, a local grocery store in Springfield with a wonderful meat counter. We then retired to the bow of the boat where we enjoyed the beautiful evening sky with a nearly full moon.

This tow pulled in to the shore right behind the boat to pick up some ice and Pepsi from someone on shore.


We had breakfast on the boat mid-morning on Monday and then Nila & Everett gathered their things together and headed out about 11:00 a.m. for the journey back to Springfield. We tried to talk them in to staying another day or two but to no avail. It was a quick few days and we look forward to having them on the boat again soon, hopefully for a longer period of time next time. The rest of our day was spent enjoying what will probably be our last day plugged in to AC for a while. We will head back down the Cumberland tomorrow and should be on Kentucky Lake, anchored at Smith Bay, within a couple of days.

We plan to spend one night at Paris Landing on our way back to Pickwick to see Todd's cousin Pam who lives in nearby Paris, TN; and we may also try to touch base with Kevin at Cuba Landing, although we will anchor near the marina rather than stay at the marina if we stop by there. We heard from Chuck & Pip yesterday and they were planning to leave Cuba Landing today, headed for Bay Springs marina where they will spend the next couple of months, so we will see them in mid to late September after we leave Pickwick and begin making our way south. I'm not sure when we will have Internet access again so please don't give up hope if it takes us a while to post another update. I suspect our earliest opportunity will be at Bay Springs in mid September.