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