04/02 - 04/17 Nashville/Mt. Juliet TN C-Dory Gathering

B

Byrdman

New member
Being born raised in the Nashville/Mt. Juliet TN area, and having others express interest in a gathering in the Nashville area, we are going to put one together. The waters are the Cumberland River System, or more accurately, Old Hickory Lake. I have family members living on the lake. We are at present looking at an open window of times as to allow for others to drop in what dates would work for them, see who is scheduled for the Grand Ol' Opry. Mile marker 236, LBD is just about on my Mothers house. You can hit the power towers with a rock in her back yard. My last duty day is 1Apr05 and find it fitting I go out on April Fools day...one for the road!. Plan to have FreeByrd hooked and ready to drag from the 1300 hours ceremony, going straight to the lake. Need help with a sign up roster with earliest arrival date of 2Apr and ending date of 17Apr05. Folks can sign up for which ever part they can make it for, and we just might have more than one if needed. Then, some (Halcyon) has already expressed interest in a possible follow on down the Tenn-Tom to the Gulf. I plan to stay on my boat and being somewhere for about a month and a half to start my retirement. See some of Yall in Seattle at the boat show/factory gathering. Byrdman
 
Good & Bad News on that Pat... Do have family business in the BBQ and Sports Bar business...but they do not make their own.... Feel very sure a brew or 2 will be toasted to the water God for the safety of all... Cheers! :beer
 
Opry plays on Tuesday nights (2 hour show), then the normal show with several guest on stage each Friday and Saturday nights. Attempted to find who is there for the 1st couple of weeks in Apr05 for the Nashville gatering, but nothing posted that far out yet. With this, if folks want to see the Opry during the gathering, guess we need to shoot for one of the Saturday nights due to most folks attending gatherings during the weekends.
 
Made nice visit to Mt. Juliet TN for Chrismas. Talking with my brother Mike (who will be in attendance at the SBS & C-Dory Factory Gathering), the overnight transit docking spaces in Nashville at the Nashville Waterfront Park are limited, and last year were on a 1st come 1st serve basis, often taken up quickly by the 70+ ' houseboats that came up river from KY Lake/Lake Barkely land between the lakes area... He has stayed overnight and last years "dockmaster" would even bring him down a morning paper to his boat. Mike will check and see who the city of Nashville awarded the 2005 contract to, and what the rules of ingagement are for this year, prior to our Grand O'l Nashville gathering... Some are planning a follow on down river towards the Gulf Coast, and we can "leap-frog" our tow vehicles. Sign up sheet on the C-Dogs site. See some of you in Seattle in a couple of weeks...and see some of you in Apr05 in Nashville/Mt. Juliet, TN
 
Looks like we have 8 boats signed up already and we are months away still. Looking like no body had to rush in and rush out. Input from my brother Mike with much more local knowledge than I on things there, I recommend that we just get everybody in the water Saturday morning 2Apr05 (that we can not get in Friday evening), move the tow vehicles over to my Mom’s house/yard for storage. Then, just take some short runs in and around the launch area leaving us time to anchor up good, take vehicle ride into Nashville for a great southern BBQ dinner (Scoreboard across the street from Opryland…and family owned), enjoy who ever is at the Opry Saturday night, return to the boats afterwards… Opry starts at 7pm and about 30 minutes drive in/out. Scoreboard right across the street from Opry (5 minutes drive with parking time)

Then Sunday, go up river to accomplish a couple of things… 1) get away from most of the “weekend traffic”, and 2) see some of the real beauty of the Cumberland River system that most never see. Then on Monday, work our way back down river and possibly thru the lock and dock-up at the downtown Nashville Riverwalk, and see the Ryan Museum (old Grand Ol Opry location), and other this is where it happened down town Nashville sites…leaving time to get back thru the lock prior to dark…and headed back up river to our anchorages. We can run up the river at slow speeds after dark but really would need to be thru the lock prior to dark. This would be a very flexible Sat-Monday run…make sure we take in the Grand Ol Opry, see often unseen parts of the Cumberland, and give those who need to pull out either Monday late afternoon/early Tuesday morning a good trip too. Then, take a look-see at who all can stay, see what is possible for us to do with those available and go from there…??



What do ya’ll think?



Patrick Byrd “Byrdman” aboard FreeByrd
 
The plan for the Grand Ol' Nashville Cruise/Gathering sounds great!!! And, one of the best aspects of the Gathering, is to share time with the two Brydmen and their families.

The following links will give some impressions of our cruising on those delightful rivers (the Cumberland and Tennessee), a little background geology, and a look at the two former gatherings in those parts.

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/cumber.htm

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/impact.htm

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/tenn.htm

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/cdory.htm

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/alcdory.htm

For any folks within driving distance and with some time off, as Pat would say, "Ya'll come on ovah!" If you can't bring your boat, due to time constraints (or not yet owning one), come on anyway -- it will be a great social time and there's room aboard boats for some shared cruising.
 
Great stuff Bill...Ya got me home sick now after a little time poking around on your links... and, as El found out talking with the LockMaster.. There is true reason I picked "FreeByrd" for the name of my vessel. You call on the radio and often they are singing in the background when they call you back... And, if you did not have a Lynard Skinard album ..... Ya just ain't from around here. And for a informational tid-bit... that was actually the name of the band member's high school principal....
 
Hey, Byrdman,
We would like to sign up for the Nashville gathering. We would plan to arrive on Friday, April 1, and leave Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. It sounds like a great time.
Where do we go to sign up?
Tom & Marge
 
Tom: Great to get back together... Below is a copy & paste from the C-Dog site where Ken has set up a sign-up roster for us. I will also attempt to get one set up here in the C-Brat too because so many folks are totally new to these formats and we do want all the folks to have an opportunity to gather when we can. That is one of the many great things about being a C-Dory owner, is getting to meet and spend time with others.

http://groups.msn.com/CDoryOwnersGroup/ ... ortstring=

Sorry... I have not mastered that ....here is the little blue link thing just yet...

Byrdman on FreeByrd
 
Thanks C-Brat Administrators.... OK gang, we now have a functioning group sign up roster on the C-Brat site for the Nashville Gathering. Please feel free to sign up here too if you have already signed up on the C-Dog site too. I track both and some folks do not. Looking to have around 8 boats already. Looking forward to the trip and enjoying some great home cook'n with ribs, BBQ and the fixen's...then on over to the Grand Ole Opry Saturday night...prior to going back to the boats.
 
Curious about plans some folks coming to the Gathering might have for follow-on cruising.

Pat? After some Cumberland/Tennessee River cruising, got any plans. I know you've talked about going south on TennTom and maybe over to Bahamas.

Joel (be sure to check with Roxie) - want to stay east awhile and do some cruising either heading south on TennTom or (maybe) trailer over the mountains and splash on the east coast and cruise over there?

We're kinda thinking of different possibilities, but certainly would like to be in Chesapeake for their Gathering. Love crab cakes!

Anyone else coming to the Gathering that might be able to cruise around elsewhere after the KY/TN cruising?
 
Bill: My plans are a toss of the coin now.. I got picked up for Lieutenant Colonel by the Department of Army promotion board. Screwy regulation that us Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) soldiers have to retire at 20 years active federal service, rather than our Mandatory Removal Date (MRD) (of which mine is 2017).... The only way I can pin on/accept the promotion would be to get picked up for another mobilization tour. So, If I get a tour, I would work with Mike to get my boat moved to Old Hickory lake at either his or Mom's dock, then do the Apr05 gathering on leave status...and have to return on Tuesday...... or, if I do not get picked up, stay on course to retire and I am wide open to bounce around a while. Looks as if some of us can go way up river after the Nashville Opry visit... so if we can, I'd like to go up the Cumberland for a day or two. Then, If some want to pull out, haul/launch in Knoxville, work another "horse shoe" back around and end up back in Mt. Juliet, that would be fun too. I am way flexible.....if I retire. But, even without me, those that make the gathering several have expressed some type of travel in the "general area." We can take a poll on Sat/Sun/Monday and see who needs to be where....and who wants to go where...
 
Byrdman,

It all sounds great. Add Wanderer to the list. Hope to get there on Friday. We plan to cruise the area after the gathering. May our vehicle and trailer remain for a week or two, if we decide to cruise from your location?
 
George/Wanderer: Sorry for the delay in this response... Working on that transition into the retired life and have not been around a computer much this month.... Great to have you join us. Yes, I plan to get up to Mt. Juliet around Thursday late afternoon myself. Yes, no problem at all with tow vehicle/trailer storage for about as long as a month. Longer than that may not be any problem either, but we would need to keep a key to the vehicle as to move it around to cut the grass and stuff. I will be posting a few GPS markings today or early next week for folks to follow to the ramp, Mom's house where we will store the trailers. Some may also be stored in my brothers yard, but he has a very "krisp" drop leaving the road and getting onto his driveway and I am not sure of the head clearance with limbs and stuff going down his driveway. He has a beautiful place tucked back into the woods, right on the lake also. A new dock should be in place by the gathering too. More later.
 
Looks to be about 8-12 boats signed up between the two sites and some local C-Dory want-a-be folks! Need to get head counts for Opry tickets and dinner reservations for our Saturday Night on the Town in Nashville. I have to send numbers for tickets up on the 10th of March due to me and Sherryl leaving the country for a Tahiti/French Polynesia Island cruise, and possbile factory visit (if they have a TC25 somewhere on the west coast) from 13-27Mar05. Then, pulling my boat and heading north to Mt. Juliet, TN on 30Mar05 for the gathering. Looks like most can play for just about a week in the area, so we will make "long range" plans on Saturday, 2Apr05 after all are on site/in water. Please let me know your arrival time/date and if you can stay in the area thru about 8Apr05. Please let me know how many Opry tickets your boat/guest will need for the 630pm 2Apr05 Grand Ol'Opry event just after our good ol'souther BBQ dinner (buffet style for our group). If you feel better sending email rather than posting this information (AND I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE'S CELL PHONE) just email it to me @ zboat4@mindspring.com. I will be checking my email again on Sunday, 6Mar, and each day there after. Also, if you can send me your approach plan to the Nashville area, I can/will send you detailed driving directions with GPS coordinates. Thanks and truly looking forward to this event.
 
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