Kentucky Lake - Clear Water at Long Last

Getting an early start, Late Date enjoyed another beautiful sunrise. "Gas Hog" aka Late Date needed to be fueled up before departure.  

Once done, they departed for the amazingly beautiful Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. 

As background, Kentucky Dam creates the largest human made lake in the eastern United States. It backs up the Tennessee River for 184 miles and creates a lake that stretches south across the western tip of Kentucky and nearly the entire width of Tennessee. At maximum normal operating level, Kentucky Lake covers 160,300 acres. The Tennessee is the nation's fifth largest river within the lower 48 states in terms of flow. Kentucky Dam is just 22 miles upstream from Paducah, Kentucky where the Tennessee River flows into the Ohio. Water from the 40,200 square mile Tennessee Valley passes through the dam. This strategic location and the vast flood storage capacity of Kentucky Lake make it possible for Kentucky Dam to reduce or even temporarily shut off the flow of water from the Tennessee to help lower flood crests on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The five turbine-generators in Kentucky Dam powerhouse have a total capacity of 175,000 kilowatts. They harness the river's flow to generate up to 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. In 1938 when it was decided to build the dam and create the Kentucky Lake & Lake Barkely, thousands of people had to be relocated since the Tennessee Valley Authority purchased over 170,000 acres of land to flood.  

Colin snapped a photo of one of the flooded farms - sort of amazing but sad to see.

Abandoned Farm

Kentucky Lake 

Kentucky Lake