Good-bye Tennessee River!

This morning we left Florence, Alabama for our final leg on the TN river.  It was a beautiful morning!  The early morning fog burned off and it turned into a sunny, calm day.  Our temperature reached the freezing mark this morning and both yesterday and today there was a little frost on the docks.

While in Florence, we saw some of the sites!  The highlight for Ken was the Frank Lloyd Wright house.  I will let him talk about that.

We also visited the home of Helen Keller and saw the famous water pump where she spoke her first word ....WATER!  I for sure now have to watch “The Miracle Worker”.  An amazing women that overcame deafness and blindness to graduate cum laude and spend her life helping those like her.

The next stop was the home of WC Handy, father of the Blues.  The most interesting thing in this house was the organ chimes in the picture below, built in 1901.  It really played like an organ!

The bridge at the left is part of the Natchez Trace.  This is the route that goes from Nashville, TN all the way to New Orleans.  It began as an Indian trail sometime before 1733.  Today it is part of the National Park system.  It goes for 450 miles through beautiful countryside!







We are so  glad we decided to take the side trip up the TN river.  We have enjoyed every mile.  Tomorrow morning we begin unchartered waters again, turning off the TN river and heading down the Tennessee Tombigbee (TennTom) waterway.  450 miles down river we will enter Mobile Bay!  In preparation for the trip down the TennTom, I put some markers on the helm.   You always need to be sure the green markers are on the correct side of the boat when navigating the channel.  It changes, sometimes green is on the right instead of the left.  The same with the red nun buoys.  Suffice it to say, it has made us stop and pause more then once.  They have fancy markers that you can set on the helm and turn putting the markers on the correct side.  We haven’t been able to find one so I created one!  I know it is pink not red but you get the idea!

Time to change laundry and enjoy this beautiful day!

Pat

AGLCA Rendezvous!

 

The rendezvous ended last evening with the final dinner.  It was 3 1/2 days of classes, food, meeting other Loopers, more food, and of course docktails.  It was great to meet so many other Loopers, many who were finished with the Loop and many, like us who are just getting started.  The amount of information shared from other Loopers and the vendors representing marinas etc. was at times information overload.  Now in the quiet of 20BUCK$ we have to sort it all out and plan OUR Loop.  At the end of the last night, a group of Loopers gathered in the hotel lobby and had a sing along.  Two guitars, a ukelele, a dulcimer and 2 harmonicas and about 30 singer wannabees.  We had a grand time singing our hearts out with some very talented musicians to accompany us.

Such a small world we live in.....one of the Looper boats is from Newport, MN.  They finished the Loop last year.  Talking to them at dinner one night, low and behold she grew up in South St. Paul where Ken did and they went to the same elementary school and had the same kindergarten teacher a year apart. 

One of the activities during the rendezvous was a dinghy race, the HP of your motor was not a factor but communication was.  There were 5 boats that entered, one of which was us in 20CENT$.  The object was to drive the dinghy around a buoy and back to the starting line.  Easy you say!  Well.........the Captain was blindfolded and had to drive backwards, taking directional commands from the navigator.  In this case I was the navigator.  Below is a picture of the captain and the winning boat, which you can see was not us.  I can tell you we might have provided some of the best entertainment to the audience! 

We left Joe Wheeler  this morning and headed for Florence, AL.    Our plan is to spend a couple days here and let the Looper boats spread out so we aren’t all competing for the same marinas.  The trip today was short, only 20 miles and 2 locks.  We had quite a group of us in the Wilson Lock.  We were in group 2 to leave the marina but we caught up with the larger Group 1 at the second lock, the Wilson lock.  This is the lock that lowers you 93 feet!  As you can see from the pictures, it is really BIG and we had quite a group of Loopers with us. 

We hooked onto the last bollard in the lock.  This is a picture of the bollard.  My job is to lasso  the bollard and hang on while the boat and the bollard drop 93 feet.  The pictures show a bollard and my view once the boat had dropped 93 feet. You can see the top of the wet wall where we started. Amazing that those steel doors are holding back a lake on the other side.  You can see us all leaving the lock in single file as outside the lock was a tow, ready to enter.

Last but not least, the fall colors are peak in AL.  It was overcast today so imagine with bright sunshine how beautiful this picture would be. 

After we leave Florence on Sunday, we will go to where the Tennessee meets the TennTom river, the river that will take us to Mobile, AL and our first taste of salt water on the hull.

We miss you all, but we are truly living the dream!  Pat

All kinds of boats!

We are meeting loopers from across the US, Canada, the U.K., Sweden, Australia, and South Africa. News of the Great Loop has spread around the World! The Great Loop is the longest, well protected, continuous water way in the World.

There are 58 boats at the Rendezvous which are actively traveling the Loop, and many people who came by car / plane to the Conference. Some are in process, some are planning, and some have completed the Loop, and come to catch up with friends they met.  There are 240 people attending. 

There are seminars on maintenance, trip planning, traversing some of the more difficult segments, and many, many stories from Gold Loopers who have finished.

One of the activities was a “Boat Crawl” yesterday afternoon. Anyone who wanted to open their boat up for tours put a sign on it, and you could get a tour. We found out that about anyone would let you look at their boat if you asked. We didn’t have a sign posted, but showed ours to numerous people. Many were interested in our dinghy davits. They had seen how easy it is for us to raise and lower our dinghy without expensive lift systems or electric winches. I think I sold some St. Croix Davit systems!

It is really fun to see all the different boats that people are doing the trip in.  Below are just a few.

One couple in a Gibson Houseboat got up to speak, and said that no one had told them they couldn’t/shouldn’t do the Loop in a houseboat, so they did! However, the Gulf crossing was a bit nerve wracking!!

Two guys in a small runabout are doing a 600 mile segment of the Loop.

A friend is meeting them down river with the truck / trailer, so they can trailer back home.

The owner was trying to convince his wife that they could do the trip in this boat, but she insisted he give it a “trial run” first. The guys were sure having fun!

The two parked parked side by side are Mainship trawlers.  A very comfortable boat for the journey and we have seen many of them.






 

Trawlers seem to be the most popular boat.  They come in all sizes. The red one belongs to couple that a lot of Loopers will recognize. Jim & Lisa Favors. It is a 26’ (I think) narrow beam Ranger Tug. It is made to be trailerable with a standard pick up truck, without wide load permits. Jim & Lisa completed the Loop a few years ago on a Fatham Trawler, and then wrote some books. “Women On Board” being one. We read it.

They then decided they wanted to be able to travel any navigable river in the U.S. They are doing that now.  Spirit Dancer the one with the green trim is a 49’ Defever trawler. Nice and roomy.

Newer and older boats!

My favorite is parked right next to us. It is a 1964 Roamer, made by Chris Craft. This is a steel hull boat. The couple that own it are a little older than us, and have been restoring it for 10 years. It was a complete restoration, including replacing and rewelding much of the hull structure. They installed new Volvo diesel engines and transmissions. All  the systems have been upgraded. I could tell walking through it, and listening to them talk about it, that it was a labor of love.

In 1964 they did not have electronics and navigation equipment we have today. When they tried to add it to the helm, they discovered that they had to rebuild the entire helm station. It came out pretty impressive!

OK - so what is THE BEST boat to do the Loop in?? Just ask any Looper, and you’ll hear the same response:

“It’s the boat you like, that fits your wants and needs, and that resides in YOUR slip!!

Pat will be around later with some more sights from Joe Wheeler State Park.

Captn Ken

Here we are!

For those of you who have not used this item, there is an RSS feed on the site. If you click on it, and fill out the info, a notice with a link will be sent to your e-mail whenever we make a new post.

Easier than checking the site.

We have had some requests to put up a Google Map that displays our location. We’ll give it a try and see what happens.

Last night we spent anchored in a small cove, just outside Joe Wheeler State Park. Very pretty bay, with a view of the river.

It was a chilly night with a  beautiful sunrise.

It got down to 40 degrees, so we had the genny and heat going this morning. We even saw some wildlife along the river banks.

Today we will move over to our slip at Joe Wheeler for the AGLCA Loopers Rendezvous. This is four days of classes on about anything you want to know about the Great Loop. It will also be good to meet some more Loopers. There is talk of a “Dinghy Race”, so Pat is ready to rumble! 

Two days ago, at Goose Pond, we heard a loud “hissing” noise we could not figure out. A few minutes later, a hot air balloon flew right over us. How colorful!

Our side trip up the Tennessee was a real highlight! It is definitely a wonderful cruising ground. We would like to go back there some day when we can spend more time.

But then, I suspect we will be saying that about many other areas in the next months. After the Rendezvous, we will be heading back down to Grand Harbor marina at MM 215 on the Tennessee, and pick up the Tenn Tom to Mobile Bay. We’ll see you in  few days!!!

Captn Ken

Goose Pond Marina!

We are back at Goose Pond Marina hanging out for a few days before heading to Joe Wheeler State Park Marina for the Great Loop Rendezvous. 

After leaving Island Cove Marina up river from Chattanooga, we headed down river and back to our beautiful anchorage of Little Cedar Mountain.  When we arrived, “Tellico Lady”, a boat we had met earlier in our travels was already anchored.  After dropping anchor and getting settled, Brenda and Ken from “Tellico Lady” invited us to dinghy over for cocktail hour.  We did just that and had a wonderful evening visiting.  They had done the Loop in 2009/2010 and it was fun to hear the stories of their adventures and get some tips on marinas to stay in.  That is “Tellico Lady” in the pictures below.  20BUCK$ is in the picture above under a rainbow.  A little to the left and the Pot of Gold would have been in the boat!

We arrived Friday night at Goose Pond Marina and enjoyed a lovely dinner and sunset at the “Docks” restaurant across the street.

We are enjoying some land time and will stock up on groceries and get laundry done before we leave here on Wednesday.   The weather is beautiful, still high 70’s low 80’s and lows in the 50’s.  They are predicting a frost for this area the end of next week.  Fall colors are not yet peak.  Hopefully by the time we head down river further the trees will be more colorful.   We did buy a little pumpkin to decorate the boat for Halloween.

Tonight I will watch my first Viking game of the season as it is nationally televised.  Hoping it is a good game.  Go Vikes!  Pat

Bye Bye Chattanooga!

Our last day in Chattanooga we spent doing some more sight seeing and walking. There were numerous activities going on around town. They had the river shut down thru town as there were over 100 crew boats here for races.

Brought back memories of the ’60’s when I crewed for the St. Paul Boat Club.

There were also vendors and displays across the river in the North Park. One display that caught our eye were the “Art Bikes”. A lady who was involved with this out East moved here a few years ago, and started an Art Biker group. They let kids put together ideas of what they want to build, then help them find the parts, and line up people who can weld and work with metal to help.   

Ocean Bike

Reflector Bike

Bed Frame Bike

Guitar Bike

Swing Bike - the swinger fell out!

Rocket Bike

My favorite was the Rocket Bike.  As I was looking at it, the young man who had built it came over and bet me I couldn’t identify all the parts. Well - I got most of them! The rear is a muffler off a VW engine.

The round things in the corners are the cylinders off the engine. On the cylinders are some (hard to see in the photo) helically cut gears out of some machine. But I couldn’t figure out what the pointy things at the front were. They are heavy, and made of stainless steel. He told me what they were.

Should we have another contest??? Give us your guesses!

Next we walked over to the sculpture garden.  It sat on the river bluff, and had numerous pieces.

Close by were some art shops we wondered thru. Chattanooga is certainly a town not to be missed. There are so many things to do and see, it would take weeks. We headed out on Sunday, and went a little further up the Tennessee River to Harrison, TN, and the Island Cove Marina. The leaves are beginning to change, and we wanted to see some more of the river before heading back down. 

When  we got into our slip, Pat exclaimed - “Honey - someone shrunk the boat!”  We felt like a rubber ducky bobbing around between a couple of 100’ house boats! Most all of the marinas here have covered slips. They are cooler, and keep the sun and rain off your boat, but the boat is dark during the day. You have to have the lights on. Oh well- advantages and disadvantages. I washed the boat on Monday, and we met some locals who gave Pat a ride to the store. We ended up going over to their boat, and heard about their Loop trip. Another couple who live here and are Loopers also stopped by to say HI. That AGLCA flag on the boat lets people know who you are. We are amazed at the number of people who offer rides to the store, dinner at their house, or just stop by the chat.

We are always walking the docks looking at boats and their names.  This is one of my favorites - "No Job Bob".

Today we took a 20 mile dinghy ride. The colors are beginning to pop. The scenery here is very diverse. Some flat lands, some hills, and a lot of back waters. We almost got lost coming back. There are about five channels that all converge in one spot. You better know your buoy colors, and what buoys belong to what channel!

We decided to swing thru the neighboring marina on the way back, and found some Red Wing boat houses on steroids! Tomorrow we head back down river. We’ll stop at Goose Pond again for a couple of days, then off the Joe Wheeler for the AGLCA gathering on the 21st. Then its off down the Ten Tom to Mobile Bay and the Gulf!

See You All Later

Captn. Ken