Updates and Boat Projects

I've had a nagging little voice in the back of my head lately...people saying "I wonder how Jill & Kevin are? What is Chasing 80 up to??" Maybe I'm wrong but we thought it was time to fill y'all in what we've been up to.

Not long after the last post we rented a car and went on a Florida road trip. Jill's sister Amy has bought a house in FL in preparation for her retirement next year. We drove down to meet up with her and Alyn and check the place out. It's a very nice place on a canal and for whatever reason we didn't take any pictures to share with you, sorry. In fact the only picture taken the whole time we were there was at a cool tiki bar with a great sense of humor.

It is a great house in a nice town and I'm sure they'll enjoy the area very much. I know we look forward to another visit.

We got back to the boat in time for Thanksgiving and planned a wonderful feast. One of our boat neighbors had taken the boat south for some fishing....south as in Belize....it's a bigggg boat. They said we were welcome to use their smoker while they were gone so we decided to try a smoked turkey. It seemed easy enough.....prep the turkey (recipe from Kermit Ruffins in NOLA), prep the smoker, check.

Wait about 6 hours, check.

Enjoy a Thanksgiving feast of epic proportions, check!!

It took a bit longer than expected but it was delicious. We're already planning on smoking something for Christmas since they are still gone....hope they're OK.

The next week it was time for the boat to head to the boatyard for some much needed lovin'. It's a day every boat owner knows is coming and don't really look forward to. As much as we try to do all maintenance ourselves there are just some projects better left to the pros. It's been over 3 years since we've paid anyone to work on the engines so we're doing pretty well. I did some research and found a very well re$pected yard here in the area. That's part of the reason we chose to stay here this fall.

Projects were; cleaning the coolers on both engines (like a radiator in your car) there are 3 on each engine, repack the prop shaft logs (designed to keep the water outside where the prop shaft exits the boat), tune up both engines. Since the boat had to be hauled to do the shafts we decided to get the bottom done even though it was done last year. We should get at least 2 years out of a bottom job.

First up is the part I always hate...the haul out. Even though I know we chose an excellent yard that hauls much bigger boats than us I always wonder, what if? One little slip and there goes our house!!

A short video as she moves off.

First stop is the "dirty" side of the yard where the bottom is cleaned with a pressure washer and the running gear is blasted clean. They put us next to the lil 92 foot fishing boat we are docked next to at Orange Beach Marina.

Just when you think you have a big boat.....

I don't feel bad when it's time to pay the bill though. I can't imagine what a bottom job on that thing costs???

After cleaning the bottom the boat is moved to the "clean" side of the yard where the final prep work is done before rolling on the bottom paint. While this was going on mechanics where inside the boat working on the engines and shafts. Jill and I took the time to clean and wax the hull while we were there. The yard was even kind enough to rent us some scaffolding for the week!

Bottom before cleaning....not horrible really.

And after cleaning and paint. We also had the props sent out for scanning and they came back healthy!

We were lucky enough to get a condo in town for the week through our travel club so we were able to stay out of the way of the guys working inside. They were able to put the boat back in the water on Friday but the engine work wasn't finished. Here she is all cleaned up and ready to launch.

Since they were going to need at least 2 more days to finish up we decided to leave Monday morning and come back Tuesday afternoon so they wouldn't have to be putting back all the open hatches at the end of the day...it adds up at $105 an hour! The only question was where to go......where to go....Got It!!

Why not 24 hours in NOLA before we have to pay the boat bill??

Turns out the boat wasn't ready until Thursday so we ended up working around them for the last day or so. All in all we are very happy with the work, delays are inevitable working on an older boat, things break and parts are sometimes hard to find. The boat is running cooler and smother than it ever has. Can't wait to see if our mileage improves. They still need to come to the boat for some final adjustments but this time they are coming to us. Stay tuned for info on our gofundme page.....

Lastly, from the "don't you just feel sorry for us" department...this is the first thing I saw this morning.

Y'all can just keep that s##t up north!!! Good news is we bounce right back and Christmas looks like a beach day!!!

 Stay tuned for the first post in 2017 where we recap all the holiday fun here in Orange Beach/Gulf Shores Alabama...Merry Christmas to all...🎄🎅🎄

NAS Pensacola Air Show

Last weekend we took a trip over to Pensacola to see the annual Blue Angel Homecoming Air Show. This is their last show of the season and always draws a large crowd here in their "hometown". It was an even bigger deal this year as the team lost a member this year while preparing for a show in Tennessee. To the town of Pensacola these flyers are part of the family and it was evident by the number of #6 flags flying everywhere to remember the lost pilot who flew plane #6 for the team.

We arrived on Thursday to be sure we got a good spot since we had heard the anchorage fills up and, boy, did it! It was nice to be anchored again in the clear waters of the gulf. Our anchorage was at Fort McRee just off the Pensacola inlet and right across from the air station which gave us great seats for the show!

The picture below is just a small number of the boats in the cove for the weekend.

We dropped our anchor and backed up to the beach putting out a stern anchor to hold us in place. This would help leave room for the other boats to get good spots too. It seems most boaters here are very helpful and courteous unlike some other events we've boated to.

We had a visitor shortly after we got there. We heard this is a very popular weekend party cove and I guess he was looking for a handout. I only included the picture to show how clear the water is.

Another unexpected surprise was that Thursday turned out to be dress rehearsal day for the air show and we were treated to the full show a day early! The next picture was taken Thursday and is a bit unusual. See if you can figure it out...zoom in... (answer at the end)!!

The "Blues" weren't the only ones flying this weekend, it was a whole air show with planes of every variety.

It was unfortunate that I didn't take as many pictures on Thursday since Friday turned out to be overcast and the shots didn't turn out as well. The following are a few of the better ones as well as a short movie that show's how close we are to the show. Towards the end of the clip you can see planes 5 & 6 racing to catch up for the next "act" which includes the whole team.

Pensacola Lighthouse

All 6 together

I'm always amazed when I see the diamond formation pass, it's said there is only 18" between wingtip and canopy...that's really close at those speeds.

Another bonus was the second show on Friday that started at dusk and went into darkness with planes streaming fireworks, followed by a full firework show! Really something to watch!! The Blue Angels weren't part of this show but the prop planes were amazing.

We went down to the show planing to leave early Saturday before boats began showing up for that show. We imagined there would be even more boats and we'd be better off getting out before it got too crazy. We were also convinced to leave when the generator died Friday night and spewed anti freeze all over the engine room. I believe we sucked a jelly fish up against the intake which caused it to overheat. There were hundreds in the cove that night. It's all working fine now after making the repairs!

Soooooo....did you have the answer to the question above?? One of the planes in the picture is the #7 plane which doesn't normally fly in the show but is flown on practice day by one of the other pilots. It's used as a backup and pilot #7 is the narrator for the show. This and other interesting info can be found at this helpful site.

Lastly from the "Crises Narrowly Averted" files...as Jill and I were walking around the old ruins of Ft. McRee the following picture was taken...to think, I almost stepped on it!! Good thing I wasn't wearing flip-flops!!

Adventures on the Tenn-Tom Waterway

OK, it wasn't really much of an adventure this year (which is a good thing). Last year the waterway seemed a bit daunting, not so much this year. Having done the trip before made it a pretty easy transit but we tried to stop at new places along the way to see what's out there.

After leaving Aqua Yacht we passed through 3 of the 12 locks between us and Mobile Bay. The first was the biggest drop of the whole trip in the Whitten Lock. Please forgive me if I repeat pictures from last year...I'll try not to.

We mainly stayed 1 night at each stop before moving on. The exception was 3 nights spent at Demopolis where we met friends Ed & Kyle who keep their boat there during the summer while they're in Canada.  The following are some pics taken along the way. It was mainly just long travel days with a short rest stop each night.

1 picture I'm sure I used last year was the famous "White Cliffs of Epes" (I've seen it spelled Epps too)

In the "interesting things you see along the way" category

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Below Demopolis Lock there is only one more Lock between there and Mobile Bay. This is the area where we start looking for gators. We saw a few but 1 was the biggest we've seen on these waters. I estimate it at about 10-12 feet! Where is T-Liz when you need her?

Shoooooooooot....

Just above the last Lock is the "famous" Bobby's fish camp. It's famous only because it's the last dock until you get to Mobile. We passed by last year but made the stop this time. At $1.50 a foot it's a bit pricey but it's the only game in town as they say.

Next day we anchored in a side channel about 40 miles from the bay to have an easy run the next morning. Another boat in the anchorage got a nice shot of us at sunrise the next morning.

Next stop was another new one. We had heard about a free dock at the Mobile Convention Center and wanted to see the town. There was no power or water but the traffic in the busy ship channel was mostly polite and wakes weren't too much of a problem. We were right at the foot of Dauphin St. with it's many shops, bars and restaurants. We agreed it will be worth another stop.

Next day was a short run into Mobile Bay and the western shore stop of Dog River. We passed a ship in the bay that looked different from any we'd see before. From the front it was very wide for it's height. Once passed it we saw that the back was two decks full of railroad cars! I'm not sure where these cars come from or what makes it cheaper to move them by sea vs rail??

After Dog River we went across the bay to Fairhope for a night. We stopped here last year and really liked the town. This year we found a small, city run, marina attached to the fishing pier. It's just a few blocks walk into town and a very nice stop as long as the bay is calm.

Friday we traveled down the rest of the bay and back on to the GIWW for a 2 night stop at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores. This marina is right behind the LuLu's restaurant we stopped at for lunch last year. The Saturday we were there was BooLu's where the kids came out for some Halloween festivities.

This stop was another first for us this season....toes in the sand! OK, maybe it's trucked in but it's still sand!!

Sunday (Funday) we moved the boat to an anchorage in Ingram Bayou and took the dinghy to Pirates Cove for their beach party and a famous Bushwacker.

We are now in a nice covered slip at the Orange Beach Marina for the month of November. The monthly rates are very reasonable here. We'll be getting some more boat projects done while we're here as well as exploring the area. Next weekend is the Blue Angels homecoming show not too far from here and we're planning to anchor out the night before for a good viewing spot. Another event is the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival. This is a 10 day music fest full of people you've never heard of but know their songs! Many have had dozens of hits recorded by more famous artists that you have heard of. It runs between Pensacola and Bon Secour at various bars with the "main" club being the FloraBama.

After that....who knows. The "plan" is to slowly explore the Gulf coast before ending up in New Orleans next spring. We'll post again when there is something interesting to add.

I understand our tracker is a bit hard to follow now since we're covering much of the same ground. I'll see if there is something I can do to change the color of this year's tracks. No promises.......

On The Road Again!!

After a month at Green Turtle Bay it was time to hit the road again. We took some time off before our road trip back to Cincinnati but once back at GTB we went to work on the boat. I think we were both ready to get moving again so we could give our bodies a rest!! Some of the projects included several top coats of varnish, clean and wax the back 3rd of the boat and installing a new davit system for the dinghy. This new system will allow us to launch and retrieve the dinghy much easier and therefore use it more often.

Don't worry, it wasn't all work while we were there. Every day new loopers came into the marina and we would stop by the transient slips to see who we knew and introduce ourselves to those we didn't. The Looper tradition of docktails was held most every afternoon and we tried to stop by when we could.

Soon enough it was time to get moving and stop working. We left on October 11th for a stop at Paris Landing State Park and Crazy Chicken Night. This is how we started the trip last year and it seemed fitting to keep the "tradition" alive. It's inevitable as we head south along the same path as last year that we stop at many of the same marinas. There are only so many along the way. It's nice to see some of the same faces as last year and "sit a spell" with some really great people. In the picture below is Gene (R) who runs Clifton marina and his friend who spent his working years on the barges, both are 80 now. Its always a hoot to spend some time swapping stories with these guys even though I can't understand half of what they say!

Clifton Marina added something new this year in the Clif-Tones...a small band that comes to entertain the boaters heading south this time of year.

Next morning we left early to make the 60 mile run to the start of the Tenn-Tom and Aqua-Yacht, another repeat from last year. There was rain on the radar when we left but the "forecast" was for improving conditions through the day....wrong! Less than an hour after leaving Clifton we rounded a bend and were faced with this sight.....

It doesn't show in the picture but way up river there was a barge sideways trying to get back under control from the wind. We were hit with 40 mph winds shortly after taking the picture and then the rain started. The picture below was our view all day after that. Seems we only go through locks in the rain!

Today we took a day off at Aqua Yacht and borrowed the courtesy car to go exploring. I'm a bit of a Civil War buff and Shiloh battlefield was not too far away. It's a very impressive site with a self guided driving tour.

Back at the marina they were having a classic boat show which was worth a look-see. Very nice to see the old boats so well taken care of.

Tonight is the Hunters Moon and it's nice to see clear skies as we get ready to head south on the Tenn-Tom waterway.

The fall colors are starting to show here so it's definitely time to start moving south. We figure about 8-10 days to Mobile and then slowly make our way to Orange Beach Marina where we will be staying for the month of November. Stay tuned for an update then. Meanwhile keep an eye on the "locate us" link on the right to see where we are. I'll keep sending out tweets on the mornings we're moving.

Great Loop Recap

As promised in the last post I thought I'd post a few details of our Great Loop adventure for those interested. Jill has kept an amazing spread sheet of our daily costs and travel details and this makes it pretty easy to share the information.

• Total days on the Loop-330
• Travel days-130
• Total distance-5746 miles

This equates to an average of 44.2 miles per travel day but that really doesn't tell you much. Longest day other than the Gulf crossing was 134 miles on the Mississippi & Ohio. Shortest day was only 8 miles when we left Oriental NC and immediately ran into bad weather.

The cost of doing the Loop varies greatly from boat to boat and can't really be estimated based on only our experience. Many boaters enjoy anchoring out in a quite cove for the night which can help cut the cost a bunch. We prefer to stop in a marina and check out what each town has to offer. We spent 2 months at the most expensive marina in Marathon because all the others were full but really enjoyed our time there. The following is our expense break down top to bottom.

• Marinas (by far #1)
• Eating out
• Fuel-2776 gallons at about 3.09 per gallon
• Maintenance cost and car rental round out the top 5

By moving so often you don't really get the best price at marinas. We have 3 months reserved on the Gulf coast this winter at an average of $11.00 a foot plus electric. It's already shaping up to be a much cheaper winter.

Along the way we stayed in 16 different States and 1 Canadian Provence. Longest stay was, by far, Florida and shortest was 1 night in Delaware. We traveled through 104 locks and have gotten pretty good at them!

Everyone has different ideas about what their Loop experience will be. Some people take several years to complete it and travel between home and the boat as time, work and family allow. Some go around faster than we did just to say they did it. We looked at our trip as a fact finding mission. We plan to be living on the boat for several years and just wanted to see what's out there for the next go around.

Our plans for the next year are to spend this winter/spring on the Northern Gulf Coast between Florida and Texas. Next summer we're going to travel back up the Tenn-Tom and explore the river systems around here. Maybe even up the Ohio above Cincinnati a bit...who knows. As of now we plan on starting south about the 10th of October so keep an eye out for our Tweets and tracker.

The trip to Cincinnati last weekend was a great time and we enjoyed catching up with friends and family. The doctors visits didn't go as well since we had just spent the weekend Oktoberfesting....poor planning on our part! Who knew that a weekend of drinking would lead to higher blood pressure??

Till next time, somewhere south....Prost!!!

Joliet IL to the Finish Line!!

The last stretch of this Great Loop Trip would be the Illinois River to the Mississippi River to the Ohio to the Cumberland and on to Green Turtle Bay. The last several hundred miles would be covered pretty quickly since there aren't many places to stop once you hit the Mississippi. Even though we were nearing the end of our trip we still had many "firsts" ahead of us.

The first was tying to a barge mooring cell while waiting for a lock on the Illinois River. The river had been in flood stage lately and barge traffic was just starting to move again causing long delays at locks for us pleasure boaters. We got to the Marseilles (Mar-Cells in river lingo) lock and were told it would be awhile and there wasn't really a good place to wait. After floating around a bit and trying to stay out of the way we decided to pull over to a mooring cell and shut down the engines. The other boats must have thought it was a good idea because shortly everyone was tied up for the wait.

We got through after a couple of hours and decided to make it a short day by stopping at a marina just past the lock. This allowed the 8 boats to spread out a bit and made the next several locks less stressful. We covered as much ground as comfortable after that since the convenient stops were pretty spread out. We spent one night at the IVY Club just above Peoria IL. Not much to do in the area but we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the boat after dinner.

The next day was another first for us as we went over a dam!! It wasn't as exciting as you may think since it was a wicket dam where they are raised only during low water to keep the river open. Since we were traveling just behind the crest of the flood the wickets were not needed and we passed right over them. You can see the lock to the left in the picture below and the water is about to the top of it.

Later that day we passed a nice little town where we were tempted to stop but we hear that it's still illegal to go there. Maybe next year....

The next first for us was spending the night at a working barge company. The stop in Beardstown, IL was a good days travel from Peoria and the river being up made anchoring not a very comfortable option.

You really need to watch your step on these barges but the manager was a hoot and insisted on showing me around their newest tug boat, even let me spend some time "between the sticks"

If you ever get to Beardstown (and I don't know why you would) be sure to take a walk down Main St. and check out the Sazarac Bar. It doesn't look like much from the outside but the people are friendly and the ice cold draft is $1.50 a mug! I was tempted to get their namesake drink but decided to wait till we get to New Orleans for that.

Our next stop was Grafton, IL. where we spent 2 nights to rest up before starting the trip down the Mississippi. This would be our last marina before Green Turtle Bay almost 300 miles away. Its a nice little river town and the marina had a pool which really helped on a day when the heat index was over 100 degrees!!

We got started down the Mississippi at first light with the hope of covering over 100 miles. At the junction of the Illinois & Mississippi rivers is the shrine to Our Lady of the Rivers, we hoped she would be looking after us.

Sunrise on the Mississippi

We were able to get through the only 2 locks we would see on the Mississippi without too much delay and were passing St. Louis by noon.

After St. Louis the river becomes very rural and there isn't much to see but you can't let your guard down as there is still debris and barge traffic to deal with. Thanks to a very favorable push from the river we were able to cover the ground we hoped for and were tied to a Corps. of Engineers barge just off the river before sunset.

Big Debris.

The next day we were moving early again in the hope of covering even more ground. We made the turn from the Mississippi into the Ohio mid afternoon and were anchored below the new Olmsted Lock just before a strong line of storms hit. We were pleased to see the current in the Ohio wasn't too strong so we were still able to make pretty good time. We went from a speed of 13+ mph to just over 9 when we started up river. In the pic below you can see the line between the muddy Mississippi and the more blue of the Ohio.

We were moving at first light again the next morning hoping to get to GTB before dark. We knew there would be a delay at the dreaded Lock 52 but didn't know how long. We had heard from boats ahead of us that some had to wait overnight before getting through. First "lock" was the newest on the Ohio at the Olmsted dam. The dam is still under construction but the locks are used as a "pass through" to get past the construction. When finished in about 2020 this lock will replace locks 53 & 52 and make passage much easier on this part of the river. We had to follow a "helper boat" through the construction zone and were anchored below lock 52 by 10:00 waiting our turn.

Turns out we were able to get through 52 after only a 4 hour wait and it was beginning to look like we would make it to GTB!! Lock 52 is the oldest on the river and is a pretty decrepit lock...they are just hoping it holds together until Olmsted is finished. It is also a wicket dam but in this case the wickets were up so we had to use the lock.

Wicket Tender

 We pushed the boat up to about 2000 rpm's to be able to make the last 40 miles before dark, we usually run at 1500. We made the turn up the Cumberland river and knew it would be close but we pushed on. It was good to see an old friend looking out for us along the way.

We made it into the Barkley Lock just as the sun set and by the time we came out the other side it was pitch black! Good thing we only had a mile to go and we knew the way in!! We were safely tied up just a few slips from where we started the trip at 8:05 PM and commenced a celebration with our old Pier 5 friends until returning to the boat exhausted.

It was 11 months and 3 days from start to end and we covered 5745 miles during that time. It has been a great adventure and we're already looking forward to moving again after taking a break for a month. For any of you following back in Cincinnati we will be in town this Thursday for about a week and extend an open invitation to meet us Saturday at Oktoberfest!! We plan to get there early and spend the day so come on down for some Gemutlichkeit with old friends!!

I'm planning another post before we set out again with more totals and information about the Great Loop and our plans for the next adventure. Until then...Prost!!!!