Louisville Magazine

AUG 2013

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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TRAVEL By Bill Doolittle Illustration by Carrie Neumayer Plying the big water and holing up in coves over a long weekend on one of Kentucky's most famous lakes Y ou see Dale Hollow Lake on a map and there's just no other lake that looks like it. All those spidery arms and little lake fngers, spreading out among the hills and hollows, right on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. And call me crazy, but it's almost like the mapmakers colored it a darker shade of blue — like it's deeper and clearer than other lakes. Maybe even bluer, or more mysterious. Ten gave it that oh-so-remote name, Dale Hollow. Late Afternoon A houseboat turns of the main lake and the driver eases back on the throttle. Te big boat looks clumsy, but it skims slippery over the water, almost noiselessly. Tere is 40 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.13 noise comes from the roof overhead, though, where the denizens of the deck ofer opinions about the merits of this particular cove. What the houseboaters are looking for is an ideal spot to tie up for the night. Something of the main lake, so the water is calm. Maybe a bluf close-by on one side for fshing, with a clear expanse of water on the other for swimming. Te cove narrows, then splits, and there is another racket of comments from above. All of which is ignored. A fellow with a map who sees himself as a skilled navigator (this scribe, actually) has already picked this cove, of Galton Shoals in Tennessee waters, after referring to a past note on his map: "Good cove." Jim, the driver, likes the looks of the branch to the right. Ten there's a bend, and ahead — ta-daah! — lies the perfect Dale Hollow cove: Beautiful water. High, steep hillsides. And blue skies overhead. "Skilled positions," barks the driver, and all hands (even the balky ones) step lively around the boat. "Swimmers out," comes the driver's next order, as he abruptly turns the bow of the boat straight toward a bank. Out jumps Ralph, who takes a rope tossed from the front deck and swims to shore. He clambers up a sandstone bank and quickly runs the rope around a tree — a tree he'd picked out while still on the roof. He runs the rope around the trunk a few more times and the boat is held in place. Ten he makes

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