Dale Hollow Lake | FindPenguins

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🇺🇸 Pickett County, United States
Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Illwill Creek
Yesterday in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F
Last night’s low was 51, followed by another sunny day that made it up to 82, with a light breeze. We pulled anchors at 830am, and dropped them again around 12:30pm. Today we came up Illwill Creek, exploring the coves off of it. My first find of day was some big red circular object. I have no idea what it is. If anyone knows, please let me know. (It’s one of the first photos.) We are seeing a lot of Loons, but they are hard to get close enough to get good photos. As soon as you head towards them, they dive under water. A couple coves we entered, had some really nice A-Frames and homes. One peninsula between the coves even had its own street light! We passed the Wisdom Resort Marina, which pretty much took up most of the point it was on. Sadly, it appeared they have a lot of junk spread out along the shore downstream of their main facilities. That’s one thing that is very apparent on this lake. The amount of garbage along the shoreline. And apparently some of the marinas just leave their damaged docks along the shores nearby. Buoys break free during storms, but usually you don’t see as many beached as I’ve seen here. A lot of Styrofoam and dock floating material is along the shoreline as well. Since the lake is mostly undeveloped except for marinas, most this waste comes from the marinas! Plastic buckets, life jackets, bottles, tires, etc, all trashing up the shoreline. This stuff most likely comes from the people using the lake! Almost like the lake is used as a dumping grounds around the shore. And then when the water is at winter pool, as it is still low now, all that stuff surfaces. We continued upstream past the Wisdom docks, and finally anchored at the end of Illwill Creek . Before anchoring, I started up Howards Creek, but couldn’t get very far, so turned around and joined Bill a short distance away still on Illwill. After settling in and having lunch, Bill got in his Kaboat and I got on my kayak, to explore the area. We went up the Sexton Fork at the end of Illwill Creek, the short distance, until it became a small shallow stream. Then turned around, and went up Hogback Creek a short distance until it became just a small shallow stream. I had already peddled close to 2.5 miles on my kayak, so called it a day and went back to my boat. Bill Kaboated up Howards Creek as far as he could get, and then returned. This evening we were serenaded by the frogs.Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Sulphur Creek
March 20 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
Last night got down to a low of 43, while today was sunny and in the upper 70’s. And quite breezy. We pulled anchors again at 8:30am, and dropped them here towards the end of Sulphur Creek at around 2pm. Today we mostly explored the Wolf River. It’s the main river that makes up the eastern side of Dale Hollow Lake. We actually got quite a ways up the river, where it narrows. We made it to half way between Brimstone Creek and SR 42. Finally turned around when the water got down to about 3 feet, and rocks got in the way! Turned around, and then went up Spring Creek, which feeds into the Wolf River. Didn’t get quite as far, and turned around when it got down to about 4’ deep. Not far from where we anchored last night, in the next cove there was a larger cabin cruiser anchored and tied to shore off both its starboard and port stern. Looks like perhaps someone keeps it there instead of in a marina. Saw a couple more beached buoys. And cruised through the Wolf River Resort Marina, getting a closer view of that boat that appears to be sinking on the shore. This afternoon Bill took a ride around the area here in his Kaboat, then beached it to do some hiking. I repaired some wires, and then took my kayak out.Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Meeting House Branch
March 19 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
Still a little chilly last night at 39. But today was sunny, slight breeze, and up to 70. Bill and I pulled anchors at 8:30a and dropped them again in Meeting House Branch at 1p. Bill figured we only had 60 miles left of lake shore to explore, and now planning on loading out on Monday, we are only doing 15 miles a day, and then stopping by 1p. Today we spent some time going around Trooper Island and then entered the Wolf River section of Dale Hollow Lake. Looks like the Kentucky State Troopers have a pretty nice family camp. Appeared to have several cottages, a couple covered boat slips, a picnic area, and some canoes/kayaks. Looked like possibly a pool too. There was a small ferry barge at their ramp, probably to bring work vehicles on to the island. Saw a Bald Eagle along the shore perched in a tree watching us. Found some kind of floating buoy on one beach. Then near where we are anchored, there is a beached warning buoy. We decided to bow anchor and stern raft like we did yesterday. I peddled my kayak around about 3 miles while Bill covered much the same area in his Kaboat. Another thing we’ve noticed is how much trash is along the shoreline, especially within the timber. Wonder where most this stuff ends up when the water is higher at summer pool? Got a message from Mike today. He got home last night. He said that the lake has risen about a foot with the rains the other day, and that the boat launch dock we used, had about a 6 foot length of foot deep water between it and the ramp. Hopefully the park will adjust their dock for this weekend’s traffic, before we come back in on Monday. One last note, I was able to adjust the shift linkage on the kicker, so it has reverse again! Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Lenear Creek
March 18 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F
A little warmer last night at 39 degrees. Today only made it up to 46, and was cloudy. Mike pulled out at 6:40a, and his Garmin Inreach shows that he’ll probably be home in Milwaukee before 10p. We saw that he was back at the boat ramp around 10am. Bill and I pulled anchors at 8am and dropped them just before 3pm in Lanear Creek. Saw maybe eight fishing boats today. This is supposed to be a good lake for fishing, but I haven’t seen any of the fisherman real in fish.  We are just a few miles south of the State Park where we launched, however, we still have the lake east of there to explore. Still seeing icicles around the lake in shaded spots. Saw a couple of warning or navigation buoys beached in a few coves. We see a lot of timber in the end of the coves, and even along the main shoreline. That’s been around most of the lake. Glad the logs are not out floating in the channels! Looks like Sunset Marina is going through with a large expansion. On the other side of the channel from the marina we saw a whole lot of new slips on some very long docks. Doing a little googling, it appears that these are all part of Sunset's expansion. And from a few remarks I found, I don't think a lot of folks are happy with it. The expansion takes up a good part of the cove. We are thinking now we will have circumvented Dale Hollow Lake by the end of this weekend. In which case, I’ll get home a few days earlier than planned. This evening Bill and I are bow anchored, and then stern rafted. We do this to socialize and also keeps the boats in line without using a stern anchor or tying to shore. We both also have the Webasto heaters, which sound like a small jet engine when they are running. In this configuration, both our exhaust ports are far from the V-Berths, so don’t hear each other’s heaters running. :-)Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Obey River
March 17 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 37 °F
Chilly night last night, as it got down to 30 degrees. The sun did come out today, and it warmed up to low 40's. Today was a longer day. We pulled anchors at 8am, and then dropped them again in the same cove as last night, at 6:30pm. We spent the day exploring the south end of the Obey River, including the West and East forks, as far as we could go. That's until the water depth got down to around 3'. The Obey River is actually the main river channel of Dale Hollow Lake. Today we were in the section south of the Hwy 111 Bridge. The West and East Forks are much narrower and we noticed a current of around 1.5-2 mph flowing in from both Forks, in their narrowest parts. Near an area called Split Rock, on the West Fork, Bill damaged his prop on an underwater rock pile that was not charted. He anchored in the center of the channel and from his Kaboat, changed his prop, while Mike and I had continued on a little farther. Didn't see any other boats out on the water today. Stopped briefly at the East Port Marina to walk through their store. While most of yesterday's snow here melted, we stills saw a lot of Icicles hanging on the rocks just above the water. Saw several water falls as well. My big find today was,... well I'm not exactly sure what it's called. It said "Wake" on the side of it, and looked like a kids small plastic surf board or towable of sorts. (See photo). I gave it to Mike to give to his grand kids.
Mike will be leaving us tomorrow to head home and plans to take off early, at daybreak. So we said our goodbyes tonight.
Late note. Did some quick research with google. The find was a Lifetime Wave 60 Kayak - Youth. (https://www.als.com/lifetime-wave-60-kayak-yout…)Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Pendergrass Creek
March 16 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 34 °F
Well today was a first. Boating in the snow! I have had snow fall on the boat while asleep at the dock, but this is the first time that either Bill or I have actually boated in the snow. (He was with us when we were snowed on at Yellowstone National Park a few years back.) And it was really coming down at times, sometimes reducing visibility to less than 1/4 mile. And then last night, the thunderstorm that was forecast, hit with a vengeance just after midnight. Wind and lightning included. All three of our boats were secure. Glad we were in the coves that gave us a lot more protection than if we had been out in the open. Last night temps only got down to 40. However, it went down from there today, with the temperature finally bottoming out at 34. We’re forecast for 23 tonight, but I’m hoping being on the water, with the water temperature at 51, will help keep the outside air temperature from getting that low.
We pulled anchors and headed away from the Lilydale Recreation Area at 8a, and dropped anchor here in Pendergrass Creek, just past the Sunset Marina, at 3p. We were surprised to see one hardcore fisherman shore fishing in the snow, and two fisherman in a Bassboat in one of the creeks. Also saw some campers along the shore. Hope they are ready for this evening’s temperatures. And two nice looking dogs out for a stroll on the shore as well. Didn’t see anyone around them, so hope their home was nearby in the woods. Tomorrow is forecast to be another cold day, but no snow. Then one more cold night, and it should start warming back up. We’re fairly well protected in our cabin boats, but without any kind of insulation, our Webasto heaters will be running hard to keep the boats relatively warm in these sub freezing temps. Fortunately my potable water tank is in the bilge which is below the water line, so it should be fine.Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
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DHL Ashburn Creek
March 15 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
Very pleasant night last night, with a low temperature of 55 degrees. Today was very windy with winds out of the SW, and a high of 72. Left our anchorage around 8:15a and dropped anchor around 5p. Today was filled with good and bad for me. First the good. After breakfast, I pulled anchor and beached C-Traveler a short distance away to go hike to the Mitchell Creek Falls. Bill and Mike had hiked over to these yesterday. Mike and Bill meanwhile had left their boats at 7am to go hike up to the house that I saw yesterday. We were all back to our boats by a little after 8, and headed out. I enjoyed seeing the Falls myself and was interesting to see several streams combine into the one before it entered the cove we were in. Interesting too that the one main fall originated from springs coming out of the mountain. While I had no service all evening and night, I woke up to one bar of cell service. Enough data to upload my blog this morning from last evening, and even to stream my church service from back home. God probably had something to do with that.  Mike and Bill found one of those large, 6’ x 12’ mats you see people on at the beach or behind their boats. Too large however to retrieve and take home. I missed seeing that as I was busy cleaning up. More about that in the bad. Bill spotted another fender and pointed it out to me. I was able to beach C-Traveler amongst a bunch of logs and branches, and go retrieve the Fender. Another one I can use.  Saw some kind of hawk or falcon in a tree along the shore, and a Blue Heron that took flight right after I got it’s picture. Ok, now the bad. After retrieving the fender, I managed to trip and fall while returning to the boat. Scraped my arm up pretty good. I was busy cleaning it and my knee, up with some baby wipes rather than following Bill and Mike into the cove with the floating mat. Later, I stopped and anchored in a cove for a few minutes while making my lunch. I only put out the anchor chain of 20’, rather than adding some of the anchor rode. During a gust of wind, the anchor drug a little bit, and when I went to raise it, it appeared to have caught something and wouldn’t come all the way into the bow roller. I caught up to Mike and Bill and they said it looked like a large black ball. Mike and I beached in the next cove, and while I was trying to get turned around with the wind pushing me farther in the shallows, and not hitting Little Joe, I dung the prop on the bottom. Although it doesn’t look like I did any damage to the prop. Finally beached, I let out the anchor chain (I have a windless) and Mike carried the anchor away from the boat and cleaned off what was a bunch of muddy vegetation.
We pressed on with the day, watching a fisherman retrieve his fishing floats. Basically a very short section of pool noodle with a fishing line attached to it. We see a lot of these that have apparently floated away or no longer attended. Also been seeing a number of rope swings folks use in the summer to swing into the lake. Passed one large marina today, the Willow Grove Dock and Resort. Another large marina with a large number of house boats. Also saw what looked like a ferry barge. We looked at possibly anchoring behind the marina, but decided to go a little farther. This evening we are anchored on Ashburn Creek next to the Lillydale Recreation Area. There is another barge and tug at the park dock here, that belongs to the Army Corp of Engineers. We tucked away into some smaller coves this evening for protection from the forecasted severe thunderstorms and high winds expected to hit around midnight.Read more
Traveler Wow!!!
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
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DHL Mitchell Creek
March 14 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F
As expected, another quiet & calm night. Temperature got down to 41, but made it up to the low 70’s today, sunny and not much a breeze. Pulled anchor at 8am, and dropped it here near the end of Mitchell Creek at 3pm. Explored some interesting things, saw a turkey and found a large boat fender. Not long after leaving Indian Creek, and just across from the Cedar Hill Resort, we entered a small cove and at the end found a building with its dock on the shore. Mike and Bill decided to anchor nearby and then rowed their Kaboats over to check it out. I just drove C-Traveler over next to the building and beached it. (Beach was steep, so just put the bow against it and left the engine idling in gear.) Ended up being a floating restroom and storage shed on a large dock. Not in the best of shape. I suspect it came over from the Dale Hollow Lake Marina, as there were some other old docks and buildings in coves next to that marina. (Dale Hollow Marina was just uplake a short distance from the nicer Cedar Hill.) Passing another small open cove, I spotted what looked like a boat fender. Pulling up to the beach I could see it was a large black one. I beached C-Traveler and retrieved the fender to add to my collection. We entered Mitchell Creek, passed the Mitchell Creek Marina, and continued down the west branch, which was Carter Creek. In one of the coves I got a pretty good view of a Turkey watching us. At the end of Carter Creek, we turned around and then when we got back to the Marina, I decided to stop in to see what was in the store, actually just looking to drop off my garbage. Still too early in the season for them to have much other than beer, but I did score a Milky Way Ice Cream Bar! Left the marina and turned to continue down the east branch, which was back on Mitchell Creek. Then towards the end of Mitchell Creek, we could see a large chimney or rock tower with what looked like a camper on it. Or at least Bill thought that. With the sun hitting it, it was rather bright at the top, and did look like a rock tower. We continued past it, and went on to the end of the Mitchell arm. Mike decided to anchor there and take his Kaboat to find a stream at that end. Bill and I came back to the cove next to where we saw the chimney, as I wanted to hike up to check it out and see what it really was. Before anchoring, I beached C-Traveler, and then hiked up a short distance to a gravel road/trail. I followed it up a short distance to an intersection with another overgrown road, and then walked up it to the structure we saw. Looked to be a nice home at one time. And it was a chimney with just a chimney cap that was reflecting the sun when we went by. Once Mike came back from the far end of Mitchell Creek, he and Bill Kaboated to shore and hiked to the stream and water fall flowing into this cove.Read more
Traveler Oh my gosh, Mike
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Traveler Very peaceful
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TravelerLooks like alot
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TravelerLooks like you found a gem in the wildness. Have fun. Its cold here in Pensacola so stay warm, and have fun.
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
DHL Indian Creek
March 13 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F
Another chilly night last night, at 38 degrees. Sun was out today and it did make it up to 63. However pretty windy, with winds SW20. Saw a few more fishing boats on the lake today. Entered three marinas, Dale Hollow Lake Marina, Cedar Hill Resort and Marina and the last one, Horse Creek Resort Marina, which had one house boat sunk at the dock. All the marinas have quite a number of large houseboats, both private and to rent. Continued following the shoreline, seeing what we could find. (Nothing worth keeping…) Mostly garbage that has washed down the ravines or blown off the lake. A lot of Styrofoam, probably from docks. Saw a couple more turtles. We made it to the southwest end of the lake at Dale Hollow Dam. Turned around and now entering all the branches and coves on other side of the lake. Stated out at around 8 this morning, and anchored at 3:30 in Indian Creek. Bill and Mike took off in their Kaboats and found a spot to go hiking. I kayaked around this end of the branch we are in. I am seeing a few trees starting to bud out. It’s still early in the season, so not much activity in the marinas. Although today we saw a few more folks at the Horse Creek marina, including a family on a pontoon boat. The weekend is forecast to be nice, Saturday 70 and sunny, Sunday 74 and mostly cloudy, so I would expect to see a few more folks out tomorrow. The water is still too cold for swimming, at 49 degrees. The land around the lake is still mostly undeveloped. But we have seen a number of campsites on some of the peninsulas. One thing I’ve noticed in the marinas, are a lot of torn and shredded American flags. Folks really need to either remove them, or replace them with new flags. I suspect many of these boats sit in the marinas unattended, and winds and sun have deteriorated the flags.Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
Galton Hollow
March 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F
Happy for my Webasto diesel heater in my boat. I think it was down to 41 last night. And today the high was 53. It was sunny, so the boat’s cabin was around 60 by mid day. (I turn the heater off in the morning when I start cooking breakfast and open the windows to vent the condensation.) We weighed anchors at 8am, and dropped them again at 3:30p. We are in the north end of Galton Hollow tonight. No cell service, so I’ll upload this tomorrow. With Verizon, I’m in and out of service as we explore or overnight in these lake branches and coves. Bill, Mike and I cruise slow. Usually right around 5mph, and we enjoy going into every branch of the main lake channel, and then every larger cove. Part of the fun is looking for stuff on the shore. Today we managed to find me a boat fender and a 5 gallon gas jug. (I lost a fender last year, so was happy to get this one!) Also saw our first and only turtle so far. Earlier I beached C-Traveler to walk up the shore a short distance to figure out what we could see, but couldn’t make out what it was. Ended up being a dock float. Mike beached Little Joe to walk up the shore a short distance to see what was up there next to an outhouse. Also saw a couple of beached buoys. Both green “can” navigation buoys that had likely broken lose during a storm. And another no wake buoy that was ashore. Sort of like a scavenger hunt while we explore the shoreline. And sometimes more interesting at the lower winter pools as stuff tends to be above the water line. Don’t remember if I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, that switching the NMEA 123 wires around from the Yamaha digital gauges did the trick. So now I have my MPG and MPH readouts available. And I verified today that my solar panels were NOT damaged by yesterday’s hail storm. Fortunately, none of our boats, Kaboats, or kayaks, suffered any damage.
So what do I eat when I’m on the boat by myself without my pretty wife cooking? This morning I had Bacon, Pancakes with strawberries and blueberries, and a fried egg. Lunch was a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, some canned fruit, raw vegetables and a ranch dip I made before leaving home. Supper I grilled a pork filet migon, green beans and pasta. Also had a kale salad (one of those package deals you mix up), and for dessert a mug chocolate cake.  Supper isn’t usually that extravagant. The rest of the evenings I’ll have spam or hotdogs. Lol. I do have apples and other stuff to snack on. So no, I won’t starve. Lol. And this evening I even got a shower. (The solar bag felt a lot warmer than the water ended up being…) Just think of camping in a nice camper with all the necessary amenities! Read more
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DHL Casey Creek
March 11 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
Very pleasant night last night in the unnamed cove we were anchored in. (North side of the Lake, east of Sulphur Creek.) We didn’t go very far today. Only about 8 miles. Cruised up Sulphur Creek to check out the marina. The Sulphur Creek Marina is one of the larger marinas on the lake, with the main dock walkway .4 miles long. Then turned around and entered Casey Creek. It was only about 11:30a, but it looked like such a nice and protected area to anchor, so we decided to call it a day. Actually a wise choice as storms were predicted to come in later in the afternoon, and they did. Started with a strong downpour and hail. That was just after 3:30p. It’s now 5p and it’s been raining since. Suppose to rain until at least midnight I believe. After lunch (and before the storms came), I inflated my kayak and peddled around the area. Also hiked a bit along the shore. Mike and Bill went off in their motorized Kaboats, and also did some hiking. The last two days were fairly warm in the mid 70s, with night time lows in the upper 60s. The storms are bringing in some cooler weather, but not as cold as back home. Yet…Read more
Traveler I’m glad you have each other.
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Traveler Lol
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Traveler I’m glad you’re having fun.
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TravelerHope the weather holds out. Looks like a great
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
Arrived Dale Hollow Lake
March 10 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F
Nice quiet night last night in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Got up this morning and had cereal for breakfast. Then on the road by 7:30am. Gas along my route was costing anywhere from $3.09 to $3.59. Highest I paid today was $3.45. That was at a Loves. Listed at 3.55, however with my Loves app, the gasoline is discounted .10. Mike had already arrived at Dale Hollow last night, and stayed in his boat in the parking lot, then launched this morning. Bill got here early this afternoon, and then I arrived at 3:30p. Bill and Mike were working on a trailer brake on Bill’s trailer. I’m not the only one that has brake issues! Bill had lost a brake pad I believe, and then the slider pin was stripped out and he couldn’t remove it. Fortunately, I carry a couple of spare calipers, so I gave him one. While they finished putting his brakes back together, I prepped C-Traveler for launch.
The drive through Kentucky is always scenic. I turned off the interstate at Elizabethtown, and took hwy 61 most the way from there. Hwy 61 is a country road. And as all Kentucky country roads, quite narrow. Narrow as in I put the outer edge of my right trailer tire on the inner edge of the white line, and the outer edge of the left tire on the inner edge of the yellow line. Much of the way, I tend to ride over the yellow line. Then when meeting oncoming traffic, I hug the right side listening to the rumble strip! And don’t dare move over any farther, as there is usually a lip on the asphalt, or a ditch! Always interesting to meet an oncoming truck. I think I actually suck my gut in a little to help. LOL!
I ran my kicker for a good 15 minutes today on the water, at about 85-90% throttle. All worked well. Still hard to believe that something as minor as a loose fitting oil cap would cause the fuel pump to not work. (The fuel pump works off the pressure in the crankcase.) So hopefully no more issues with the kicker now! This evening we are all anchored in a small cove off the main lake. Bill and I are bow anchored, and then tied stern to stern with only about 10 feet between us. Mike came up then and rafted on Bill.
New problem. Over winter I upgraded to a new chart plotter. My main VHF radio requires a signal from the chart plotter for its position for the DSI Emergency call button to work. (It sends a position report with the emergency signal.) The position is communicating ok. I also need the chart plotter to send a signal to my Yamaha digital gauges for the MPH and MPG readouts to work. This is not working. Both the VHF radio and the Yamaha gauges use the older NMEA 183 system of several tiny wires for communicating with the chart plotter. Everything worked fine with my old chart plotter, so I’ve likely hooked up the wires from the gauges incorrectly. This evening I cut the wires and spliced them with a wire tie reversing the gauge wires. I’ll find out tomorrow if that worked. Always something….Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
Champaign, Il Cracker Barrel
March 9 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 64 °F
Decided to leave a day earlier, due to some thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday at home and along the route. Stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Champaign, Illinois for supper and to park over night. Cracker Barrel remains one of my favorite places to "Boaterhome'. They allow overnight parking, and the food is pretty good. This has a nice area around the parking lot and it's almost like camping at the state parks with a couple trees next to me. Lol. Pretty quiet night. Not much of a crowd inside, and I think I'm the only RV back here.Read more
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Dale Hollow Lake Traveler
De-winterization and trip prep
March 8 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
This is my first boating trip of the 2026 season. I'll start this blog with just a little description of what's involved de-winterizing C-Traveler, and trip preparation to head out on a two week trip.

(March 4) I had already pulled C-Traveler out of the storage unit a few weeks ago to go fill her 100 gallon fuel tank, which I stored empty over the winter. Gas was down to $2.29 /gal at a nearby Costco, and I figured prices would start increasing eventually. With what happened in the Middle East, I made a good call! Wonder what I’ll be paying to fill the tank again after this trip? Just before filling the fuel tank, I put new bunk boards on the trailer and did some touch up to the bottom paint. It was above freezing at the time, but still only in the 40’s. A couple big heaters going under the boat, and several bottle jacks to lift the hull off the bunk boards, allowed me to touch up the paint and replace the boards. Today was more of a day to put everything back on the boat that I normally take off in the winter and store at home, inside. Start by removing all the bounce fabric sheets that I place in the boat when I winterize it, to keep the mice away. Then put back on, first aid kits, bedding, travel cpap, any liquid soaps and lotions, smoke detector, CO2 detector, etc. Basically, anything that I don’t want to leave in our sub zero temperature winter. Also put the muff on the main and kicker outboards and ran those, to insure they were going to start up and everything running smoothly before traveling 600 miles from home and then finding out something doesn’t work! Main started and ran fine. Kicker started and ran fine. Unfortunately, as I was running the kicker at a higher RPM, the muff came off the water intake, and I didn’t see that until it had been running for a minute or so. Concerned about the water pump impeller, I dropped the lower unit to replace it. Fortunately, it appeared fine. Still flexible and no damage. So I reinstalled it and once back together found that the water tube that delivers the water from the pump to the engine, didn’t connect. So had to drop the lower unit again, and insure that the tube connected. In luck this time. Back together and everything appears to work fine. This is the same kicker that was giving me issues at the end of last boating season. I ended up replacing the after market oil cap with an OEM one. So hoping that once I’m on the water, it will run just as well as it did on the muff! Finally, flushed the RV antifreeze out of the potable water system, and filled with fresh water. Today it was 52 degrees out, and it’s not suppose to get below freezing before my trip south, so I’ll leave the water in it. Also found one of the trailer tires that I plugged late last season, was slowly leaking over winter. So pulled it off and took it to a tire shop for a proper patch repair. Took C-Traveler back over to her storage unit and will wait until a day before leaving, to load food, clothing and personal supplies.

Today (March 8), two days before I head out, I finished loading clothing, food and personal supplies. I have a refrigerator on the boat, and turned it on yesterday. Tomorrow I'll hook the boat up to the truck, so I'll be ready to head out early Tuesday morning. Depending rather I decide to go through Chicago, or around Chicago, the distance to Dale Hollow Lake Resort State Park, where we are launching is 589 miles or 630 miles. So I'll likely take a day and a half to get there. I only tow at 65mph (or speed limit if less), and will plan up to 500 miles a day when towing the boat. 400 miles is a lot more enjoyable.Read more
TravelerHave a safe trip.
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TravelerThanks
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Trip start
March 10, 2026