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| Indian Creek |
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| Mornings are getting cooler. |
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| Radar this morning. |
Keep an eye on the tracker tomorrow and you'll know how our day is going.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Rain Delay....
We left off at Joe Wheeler SP after spending a few extra days letting a majority of the boats get a head start. Quite a few boats went even farther upriver to visit Chattanooga and see some of the fall colors. We started back down river on Wednesday and spent two peaceful nights at anchor on Indian Creek just before the start of the Tenn-Tom waterway. This was a very relaxing stop after the hub-bub of the previous week.
Friday morning we pulled anchor and went a whopping 9 miles to Aqua Yacht Marina on Yellow Creek.We are now officially on the Tenn-Tom waterway and will be for the next 449 miles to Mobile. The plan was to spend 2 nights here and start south Sunday...Patricia had other plans. The forecast has been right for a change and we've had pretty steady rain for the past two days. Things are supposed to begin improving later tomorrow so we will get moving in the morning and hope things get better as we go.
One other issue we had was a dead start battery on the Port engine. It had been acting up for the past week so it wasn't a big surprise. They have a great repair yard here and had it changed out in under 1/2 an hour Saturday morning. Now we keep our fingers crossed for the other one since they were the same age...
Keep an eye on the tracker tomorrow and you'll know how our day is going.
Keep an eye on the tracker tomorrow and you'll know how our day is going.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
AGLCA Fall Rendezvous 2015
Last Tuesday we made it to Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville Alabama for their fall meeting....we're still here. There were over 250 people in attendance along with about 60 boats. We decided to stay here a few extra days to let the herd thin out. The folks here were about 50/50 of those currently doing the loop and those in the planning stages. In the 3 days of the conference there were seminars on route planning between here and Norfolk VA (where the spring rendezvous will be) as well as sessions on buying, outfitting and even selling a boat. We took away some good information that I'm sure will help us along the way as well as meeting some great people that we will be traveling with.
The marina did a great job of making room for all the boats including moving some folks from their regular slips so we could all be close to the lodge. Two afternoons they had "Looper Crawls" where people opened their boats for others to see and trade ideas.
Most meals were included and there were even evening cocktails hosted by some of the many sponsors of the event. I've found that if you mention free drinks to boaters you're sure to get a good turn out.
Speaking of sponsors, one of the boat brokers had their IT guy flying a drone taking photos and videos of boats coming and going. He has a pretty cool web site if you're interested. There are even a few good pics of Chasing 80, too bad he didn't get us underway.
The sponsors brought along plenty of SWAG so we all had gift bags with t-shirts, coozies and other fun stuff. The big highlight for us was the fact that Jill won a major door prize...a free 2 week stay at Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin FL. This will be a great chance for some R & R as it sits at the southern end of our gulf crossing. We hope to be there late November or early December depending on the weather.
Tomorrow morning we will get underway after a week here. The plan is to head back down the Tennessee river toward the start of the Tenn-Tom waterway. We will anchor out a couple of nights before spending the weekend at Aqua Yacht marina where the Tenn-Tom starts.Early next week we'll start heading down the 450 mile waterway toward Mobile. It looks like weather may be a factor in how fast we get there. We will be in rural Mississippi and Alabama with few marina stops so I'm not sure if we'll be able to blog but keep an eye on the "locate us" link and you can follow our progress to salt water!!
Until next post, goodnight from Joe Wheeler State Park...
The marina did a great job of making room for all the boats including moving some folks from their regular slips so we could all be close to the lodge. Two afternoons they had "Looper Crawls" where people opened their boats for others to see and trade ideas.
Most meals were included and there were even evening cocktails hosted by some of the many sponsors of the event. I've found that if you mention free drinks to boaters you're sure to get a good turn out.
Speaking of sponsors, one of the boat brokers had their IT guy flying a drone taking photos and videos of boats coming and going. He has a pretty cool web site if you're interested. There are even a few good pics of Chasing 80, too bad he didn't get us underway.
The sponsors brought along plenty of SWAG so we all had gift bags with t-shirts, coozies and other fun stuff. The big highlight for us was the fact that Jill won a major door prize...a free 2 week stay at Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin FL. This will be a great chance for some R & R as it sits at the southern end of our gulf crossing. We hope to be there late November or early December depending on the weather.
Tomorrow morning we will get underway after a week here. The plan is to head back down the Tennessee river toward the start of the Tenn-Tom waterway. We will anchor out a couple of nights before spending the weekend at Aqua Yacht marina where the Tenn-Tom starts.Early next week we'll start heading down the 450 mile waterway toward Mobile. It looks like weather may be a factor in how fast we get there. We will be in rural Mississippi and Alabama with few marina stops so I'm not sure if we'll be able to blog but keep an eye on the "locate us" link and you can follow our progress to salt water!!
Until next post, goodnight from Joe Wheeler State Park...
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The Adventure, Week 1
After a summer full of boat projects and fun with our friends at Green Turtle Bay Jill and I set off on the Great Loop Tuesday, October 6th. Monday night we had our last night at the "club" and finally got our boat name hung up in the bar. Who knows, it may be down by now...
We got underway about 10:00 on Tuesday morning with everything we own strapped on board looking a bit like the Clampetts heading up river.
The first few days were easy runs to Paris Landing, TN, Cuba Landing, TN and then Clifton, TN. We were one of the few loop boats at Paris and the only one in Cuba but things started to get busier once we hit Clifton. Clifton is the last good marina on the Tennessee before Pickwick Lock and the current above Clifton makes for a longer day. After Paris you pass an old grain terminal that was flooded when they made the lake. It's in every looper blog I have seen so I have to include it here. I think I've posted it before but this is a "new" picture.
Being the only transient boat at Cuba they just put us on the fuel dock for the night. Very peaceful spot or the calm before the storm....
We have been passing many Monarch butterfly's making their way south and Jill has made it her mission to get a photo of one...not an easy task. The third day she finally got an acceptable entry.
When we got to Clifton there was a pretty good crowd of boats and they decided to put us in a covered slip. Only problem was they couldn't tell us how high the roof was. You'd think a marina would know this stuff....
The next day we had our first lock so, of course, we had sprinkles and a bit of thunder as we approached. We got through pretty easy with a few other boats and the storms held off until we were docking at Pickwick State Park, TN. The wind was really blowing as we pulled into a slip shared by a sailboat but the staff was there to help and we made it in with no issues.
Saturday we made it to Florence, AL to take a few days off before heading to Joe Wheeler State Park for the Great Loop Rendezvous. Seems every boat headed up was taking a few days off in Florence but the staff did a great job getting everyone in.
The picture below shows our sister ship in the foreground with us to the right, next to the restaurant. I think we could have gotten carry-out from the deck.
Seems that wherever there are a few Loopers gathered there is the evening tradition of "docktails". Florence was no exception.
Yesterday we made a short 20 mile run from Florence to Joe Wheeler...it took 7 hours! I know it's only been a week but yesterday was a rough travel day. The winds were blowing hard all day and right into both locks we had to transit which really makes us move around as we're trying to get secured. It was made more difficult as we were traveling with a flotilla of 11 boats all trying to get to the same place. Some fellow boaters on this stretch have less patience than I would have expected.
Jill has been a bit worried about going through the locks since this is the first time we've done it without our "crew". She has done an incredible job every time in some pretty tough conditions. We have worked out a few kinks and I think each time will only get easier. I know we'll still have rough conditions sometime but our confidence is better with every bit we learn.
We are now tied up at Joe Wheeler for the next few days. There are seminars through Saturday to educate us on the route from here to the Chesapeake where there is another Rendezvous next spring. Some boats are heading up river to Chattanooga from here and others will hang out here before heading south. Hopefully the traveling gets easier as the group spreads out. Our direction has yet to be determined....
We got underway about 10:00 on Tuesday morning with everything we own strapped on board looking a bit like the Clampetts heading up river.
The first few days were easy runs to Paris Landing, TN, Cuba Landing, TN and then Clifton, TN. We were one of the few loop boats at Paris and the only one in Cuba but things started to get busier once we hit Clifton. Clifton is the last good marina on the Tennessee before Pickwick Lock and the current above Clifton makes for a longer day. After Paris you pass an old grain terminal that was flooded when they made the lake. It's in every looper blog I have seen so I have to include it here. I think I've posted it before but this is a "new" picture.
Being the only transient boat at Cuba they just put us on the fuel dock for the night. Very peaceful spot or the calm before the storm....
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| Got to Cuba sooner than expected! |
The trip has been very scenic so far. We passed under a lift bridge that looked like something out of Star Wars.
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| Just less than 20' 6" is my guess. |
Saturday we made it to Florence, AL to take a few days off before heading to Joe Wheeler State Park for the Great Loop Rendezvous. Seems every boat headed up was taking a few days off in Florence but the staff did a great job getting everyone in.
The picture below shows our sister ship in the foreground with us to the right, next to the restaurant. I think we could have gotten carry-out from the deck.
Seems that wherever there are a few Loopers gathered there is the evening tradition of "docktails". Florence was no exception.
Yesterday we made a short 20 mile run from Florence to Joe Wheeler...it took 7 hours! I know it's only been a week but yesterday was a rough travel day. The winds were blowing hard all day and right into both locks we had to transit which really makes us move around as we're trying to get secured. It was made more difficult as we were traveling with a flotilla of 11 boats all trying to get to the same place. Some fellow boaters on this stretch have less patience than I would have expected.
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| Wilson Lock. Almost 100' lift. |
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| The Flotilla. |
We are now tied up at Joe Wheeler for the next few days. There are seminars through Saturday to educate us on the route from here to the Chesapeake where there is another Rendezvous next spring. Some boats are heading up river to Chattanooga from here and others will hang out here before heading south. Hopefully the traveling gets easier as the group spreads out. Our direction has yet to be determined....
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Super Moon & Loopers...
With all the pre-departure boat projects checked off it looks like I have time for one more post before we leave.
This past week we had the Super Moon/Eclipse here (along with the rest of the US) so we went up the ramp to watch and take a few pictures. It was partly cloudy so we lost a bit of the view when it was full eclipse but I'm pretty impressed with the job our Nikon Cool Pics did. The moon really lit up the night.
About the time of full eclipse the auto focus was having a hard time keeping up but here are a couple of pics just before it went red. The clouds gave it an eerie look.
All in all a really cool event that won't happen again for 18 years. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized I had been looking at a barge instead of the moon the whole time!!
The other big event around here was the arrival of boats traveling along the Great Loop. Green Turtle Bay is the first marina they reach after a long run down the Mississippi and up the Ohio. It seems every boat doing the Loop stops here for a few days to re-charge the crew and maybe get some work done on the boat before continuing on. The marina staff said they had 150 boats come through in the month of September. About 50 boats more than a normal year. Looks like we'll have plenty of company when we head out on Tuesday. There have been a lot of trawler type boats as well as a few "interesting" models pass through.
We got our AGLCA burgee in the mail so I guess the only thing left to do is mount it and get going!
The weather here has been cold and damp so it looks like it is definitely time to start Chasing 80. We are really excited to begin our adventure but it is bittersweet to be leaving the great friends we have made here over the summer. Last night our pier 5 family hosted a going away dinner. Thanks so much to everyone involved and we look forward to seeing you all next fall when we return. Remember, there is always a stateroom open for any of you if the winter gets to be too much!!
Again, follow the Locate Us link to the right beginning Tuesday and you'll know where we are every step of the trip. You can also enter your e-mail address in the Follow Us box to have new posts sent directly to you.
Next post from somewhere on America's Great Loop!!!!!
This past week we had the Super Moon/Eclipse here (along with the rest of the US) so we went up the ramp to watch and take a few pictures. It was partly cloudy so we lost a bit of the view when it was full eclipse but I'm pretty impressed with the job our Nikon Cool Pics did. The moon really lit up the night.
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| Pre Eclipse |
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| About Half |
All in all a really cool event that won't happen again for 18 years. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized I had been looking at a barge instead of the moon the whole time!!
The other big event around here was the arrival of boats traveling along the Great Loop. Green Turtle Bay is the first marina they reach after a long run down the Mississippi and up the Ohio. It seems every boat doing the Loop stops here for a few days to re-charge the crew and maybe get some work done on the boat before continuing on. The marina staff said they had 150 boats come through in the month of September. About 50 boats more than a normal year. Looks like we'll have plenty of company when we head out on Tuesday. There have been a lot of trawler type boats as well as a few "interesting" models pass through.
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| Young Couple from California |
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| Transient Dock |
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| Another Connie 460! |
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| Rough Map of the Loop |
Again, follow the Locate Us link to the right beginning Tuesday and you'll know where we are every step of the trip. You can also enter your e-mail address in the Follow Us box to have new posts sent directly to you.
Next post from somewhere on America's Great Loop!!!!!
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