The Loop Continues - Days 6 - 11

Day 6 was our next day on the water after spending Thanksgiving at Joe Wheeler State Park.  We planned an early start to get rolling and shoot for making Grand Harbor at the top of the Tenn-Tom today.  Things didn’t look too good after calling the Wheeler Lock only to find out that they had a barge coming up and we would have to wait for two hours.  So much for getting up early!!  So we waited (not like we had a choice) and left the marina to be out in the channel about the time suggested.  The barge came out pretty close to the expected time and made the first lock.  Next was Wilson Lock that has been under repair for a couple of months.  Instead of having to go through in the dark (6PM to 6AM) we got a Thanksgiving treat and basically zipped through at 11AM!!  The rest of the trip down to Grand Harbor was virtually us and a few fishing boaters.  Beautiful sunny day that warmed up from 27 degrees to about 60!  At Grand Harbor, we took the courtesy car and went to Freddy-T’s for dinner.  Great place for dinner that also is a sort of sports bar with a DJ and dance club – you got to multi-task in a small town!!  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/899024

Grand sunset at Grand Harbor

Freddy T's

The boat table

Water skis on the ceiling

So did you notice in the track photos?  It was your first teaser pic. Wilson lock at Florence, Alabama, constructed between 1918 - 1925, was once the world’s largest dam and highest single lift lock.  Today is the 3^rd highest with a vertical lift of 94’.  Wilson Dam is the oldest TVA dam and is constructed of brick.  It is 4,541’ wide and 137’ high.  It is a National Historic Landmark and pretty impressive to see and pass through.

Yes - that teaser was Wilson Lock

Day 7 was our next change of plan.  We learned that the Tenn-Tom Locks now communicate and coordinate for river traffic.  So instead of doing a short run to Bay Springs prepare for a day of locking, we took advantage and made 56 mile run to Midway Marina.  We had stopped here on the way up after buying the boat so this was a familiar location and is a nice break after doing 24 miles of the “divide cut” and 3 (Whitten, Montgomery & Rankin) closely spaced locks.  When you look at the photos on the Ramblr track, it is easy to understand this section of the waterway.  Not too interesting as it is the excavated portion that created the link to the Tennessee River – pretty straight, rip-rap banks and nothing too see.  We’re going to spend an extra day here and go over to Tupelo to see Elvis’ birthplace and museum.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/899995

Day 8 and we are off to Tupelo in the marina courtesy car to visit Elvis Presley's birthplace.  Allen, this one's for you!  It was about a 25 minute drive over from the marina and a huge step back in time.  We saw the house, and room, where Elvis was born.  A little, white, two room house of just barely more than 400 SF as well as the church he went to up until the age of 13 when the family moved to Memphis.  There was a museum with a lot about his early life and influences in Mississippi.  Really interesting to see and have a better understanding of what the early years were like for him!  So I'm sure all of you Elvis fans know that his mother was 4 years older than his father, he was a twin (older brother was stillborn) and that his father was sent to prison (for forgery).

The House

Room where Elvis was born

Kitchen

13 year old Elvis

His Church

Inside Church

Check out the numbers on the wall plaque.  The donations are $5.31 and $3.58!  Got to remember that this was about 1940.

Day 9 has us moving on down the river toward the Gulf.  We woke up early to fairly thick fog on the river which delayed departure by about an hour, but when it cleared it was like a curtain being lifted - bam it was gone!  We had four locks (Fulton, Wilkins, Armory & Aberdeen) to pass through today on the way to Columbus Marina.  The weather, which began a foggy and cold (29 degrees) went to beautiful sun and upper 60's.  I had to get rid of my long sleeves and get down to a t-shirt - not bad for almost December.  In Columbus, we took the courtesy car into town for dinner at Huck's which I would highly recommend to anyone who might happen to be in this part of the world.  Food was great and the staff was friendly and attentive.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/902054

Day 10 was cold just like the previous day, but the fog did not form so we were able to get started when we had wanted.  This is basically just another day moving south on the waterway to get to the Gulf.  We got through the locks at Stennis and Bevill with no waits - continuing proof that the lock coordination really does work.  There were several barges along the way to provide some change to the scenery.  We traveled for a little over 6 hours and anchored in a cutoff channel for the evening.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/903276

Watching a tow pass our anchorage

Sunset in Upper Crooks Cutoff

Day 11 - the morning was much warmer than the previous days so no fog formed on the water.  We woke up early and decided to just go ahead and get started.  The only lock to do today is Heflin which is about 11 miles downstream from our anchorage.  The only traffic we have on the river is a few tows and their barges.  Not another pleasure boat anywhere.  All the other loopers have gotten down the river and are apparently well ahead of us!  One of the most interesting sights today were the white cliffs of Epes, Alabama.  These are chalk cliffs of the same basic composition as the White Cliffs of Dover in England.  We traveled just under 6 hours and stopped at Demopolis for fuel and to stay overnight. Much to our surprise, there are 4 or 5 other looper boats here.  Several of us will be continuing on down toward the Gulf tomorrow.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/903277

Kingfisher Marina at Demopolis Yacht Basin

We are now 3 travel days from Mobile Bay.  The next two nights will be spent in anchorages as there are no facilities other than Bobby's Fish Camp between here and the Bay.  Bobby's was once a great stop for a catfish dinner, but unfortunately Bobby passed away a few years ago and things are just not the same.  Next time we will have WiFi will be at Dog River Marina in Mobile Bay.

Happy Thanksgiving - First 5 Days

The section of the river we did on Day 1 was below Chattanooga passing Lookout Mountain, going around Moccasin Bend and then through what is referred to as the Grand Canyon of Tennessee.  Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but a beautiful section lined with steep, mountainous banks in full color with fall leaves.  A particular portion of the river in this area is referred to as The Suck.  The area is very narrow and deep – as in 110’ water depths and not much wider.  Stories of the river section before TVA dam construction tell of extreme rapids, whirlpools and sinking’s.  Our ride was nothing like that, but we did get about a 3 mph push from the current!  Below this area and just before Nickajack dam are the remains of Hales Bar Dam.  This is quite a story so to get all the details without paraphrasing just Google that name. Here is a link to our track and photos along the way – www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/896171

Here's what you will find when following the link

Our first night on the loop was spent at an anchorage adjacent to Shellmound Recreation Area.  We went into a small, well protected cove and anchored looking at a large home in one direction and Nickajack Dam in the other.  Morning came with a temperature of about 27 degrees and a good 1/8” of frost on the deck.  We had a slight delay waiting for the lockmaster get an abandoned boat moved from in front of the lock doors and then we were off on our way down stream.

Sunset on the river

For Day 2, after locking, we traveled about 47 miles to another anchorage just above Goose Bay Marina.  I had really wanted to stay at the marina, but their restaurant was closed and we really had no other reason to go there.  This anchorage was identified as a Federal Mooring as it has three large pilings apparently for barges, although I’m not sure how they could have ever been utilized.  This location was very quiet and calm, but full of hydrilla.  We pulled up about ten pounds of the stuff on our anchor which I really should have gotten a picture of – imagine a chia head with bright green dreadlocks!!  Track and photos – www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/896172

One more sample of where the link takes you

The anchorage

Day 3 continued after doing a haircut on the anchor by continuing about 30 miles to   Guntersville Lock.  It was a warmer morning than the previous day.  Sunny and about 37 degrees warming to 60!!  We went through he auxiliary lock at Guntersville as the main had some kind of repair work in progress.  This was actually a good thing as barges were backed up in both directions waiting on a break in the construction work.  After passing through the lock, we decided to alter the plan for the day and travel about 42 miles to Riverwalk Marina in Decatur, Alabama.  This little marina had a good restaurant to visit and was a very inexpensive stop to give us a place to get off the river in a protected location.  Track and photos – www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/896933.

Slip at Riverwalk Marina

Day 4 – This has turned out be a short day since we extended yesterday’s trip so we slept in a bit, had coffee and a muffin while Regina watched Kelly and Ryan.  We pulled out of Riverwalk marina, eased back onto the river and called the Decatur railroad bridge to request an opening.  His response was “it will be a little while” so we started looking and yes, here comes the train.  It was a short train that seemed like would require an equally short wait, but no, one of those pickup trucks with train wheels was following a distance behind.  This guy did something at the bridge while we circled in the channel and we finally got our opening after about a 20 minute wait.  Not too bad all considered!!  We are on Joe Wheeler lake and from Decatur to the dam the lake is pretty wide and not very deep.  The wind was blowing out of the northwest at roughly 10 to 15 mph which roughed up the water enough for us to get a little spray over the bow.  There are lots of industrial buildings in this area so barge traffic increases to match.  We arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park after about 3 hours, backed into a slip and checked in at the lodge.  This will be our Thanksgiving Day location as they serve a huge buffet with all of the traditional fixin’s.  Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/897583.

Slip at Joe Wheeler State Park

A Wheeler sunset

Day 5 – Thanksgiving Day arrived with 27 degrees and sunny.  It will be spent here at the lodge so we are already changing the plan.  Just seemed like the thing to do so we can watch the Macy's parade, eat turkey and watch football.  With luck we will make up the day by skipping Florence.  Wilson lock is under construction for "major repairs", but for this weekend, no work is being done so operations will be on a normal schedule.  We will get an early start to hopefully get ahead of any commercial traffic.  Hope everyone had a great day and we will have more updates to come.

Great Loop - Day 1

The AGLCA flag went onto the bow of the boat. Departure day arrived and fortunately the rain passed before dawn. We took off the lines and left our slip in Erwin Chickamauga Marina at 9:10AM Sunday morning and crossed the lake to lock down. That put us on Nickajack Lake with roughly 45 miles to the next lock which we will pass through on Monday morning - provided no barges are in the way. 

So now after all the years of planning and preparing, the adventure has begun. Stay tuned for updates as we continue downstream and until then - Happy Thanksgiving!

Countdown to Departure

Wow has time flown by since I retired!  That 3-1/2 months was like the blink of an eye, but we have been busy and gotten a lot of things completed to get ready to start the adventure that has been a dream since buying the boat.  In the mist of all that, we managed to take a couple of trips, celebrate some milestone birthdays and get ready for a wedding.  The Vol Navy had to be put on hold this year and we will not make all of the games, but it's still football season so we just watch everything else on TV. Not the same as the "live action", but still fun.

So here we are 30 days before the beginning of our departure on America's Great Loop. I've got a 42 page "plan" covering 177 segments, ±6,650 miles spread over 12 months. That plan has been revised many times and I can only guess at how many more changes will be made as we cruise along.  Hurricane Irma has played havoc with a part of this voyage. We really want to spend time in South Florida and the Keys. Some locations suffered a lot of damage, some escaped intact, some are still making repairs and some may not reopen. Fortunately there are some websites to help get information on what is available so we will have to adjust as we go. A part of the adventure that can't be predicted.

Our home for the next year is pretty close to ready to go. The dingy and davit were installed in July, the bottom has new paint, anodes have been changed to aluminum to work in both fresh and salt water. The engines and generator got their valves adjusted along with oil and filter changes. Marine diesel fuel systems are a little different than a car and have extra filtration so all 6 of those filters have been changed. Final days will be spent getting charts, guides, bicycles, clothes and food on-board and unneeded items off.  We will have a month to test out our selections as the plan is to return to Atlanta for Christmas then resume the trip just before New Year's Day.

My goal is to keep,this blog going for the entire Loop.  I'm not sure exactly how it will play out. Maybe about once a week or so I'll post our progress. There will be some great sights along the way and some places where we will have extended stops. Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite. Maybe you can guess what they are, if not, stay tuned and I will fill you in as we reach them!!

The End of an Era and a New Adventure

I've been quite remiss in keeping up with this blog, but we're nearing a milestone that will be the start of the next set of adventures.  My retirement date is set for June 30.  So 7 days before my 70th birthday, I'll join all the rest of my unemployed friends in the great happy hour of life!  Or is that the early bird special??

The old saying "time flies" is certainly true!  Unfortunately as I get older, there's not even the need to add the "when you're having fun" portion to that.  Days, weeks, months and years zoom past way too quickly.  So it's equally hard to believe that four years have past since we bought our boat.  That was a day not soon to be forgotten nor was the next month and a half that went by before we could get to Louisiana to actually take possession of the vessel.  A lot has changed since that day when we arrived in Slidell to find the boat tied up to an old wooden fixed dock requiring a 30" step up or down to get aboard.

On the dock at GulfSouth Yacht Works  

The adventure of making the trip from Slidell to Chattanooga was key in cementing the idea of doing the cruise referred to as " America's Great Loop".  There's a book titled Honey Let's Get a Boat which tells the story of a couple who buy their first boat in Florida and take off to do the trip.  You can find lots of websites and stories about this route. So for the last two and a half years, I've been planning and working on things that will make the trip easier, safer and hopefully a little less expensive.  The trip will have us traveling about 6,500 miles round trip beginning in Chattanooga and returning to our starting point.  There will be about 180 actual travel days, but when you add in weather and stops at places along the way, the whole thing will take about a year to complete.

The Great Loop Map

So we're well ahead of the couple in the book who jumped on board and took off cold. We plan to start the trip in late November this year.  I haven't figured out how all of the nitty-gritty details will work like how to do oil changes along the way, what is the best way to deal with mail, what happens if something breaks, how do I get a package shipped to myself and the list goes on. So starting in July, I will have a job to do.

Most of the boat upgrades are finished.  A fresh coat of bottom paint and the mounting of davits for our dinghy are still to be done.  The bugs are pretty much worked out of the new systems we've added and things are starting to become familiar.  There are still surprises as we learn about little hidden things on-board like generator circuit breakers which aren't in the electrical panels.

Sitting on the Dock of the River

Now its time to get ready for nice weather to return.  Spring outings are chances to get out and enjoy the scenery and maybe locate a new place to go.  Summer will come and go too quickly like always.  We will not be in Vol Navy for football season this year so that we can prepare for the November departure.  I'll try to keep the blog going throughout the trip so you can follow along on our new adventure.                                    

Is it football yet?

This has been a strange summer.  It seems as though the entire season just vanished somewhere and it happened over night.  June was here and Chattanooga had Riverbend.  Then somehow the calendar said it is almost the end of August.  Now that's just WRONG!!

I think it must have had to do with the way July 4th landed on the calendar.  That's the holiday, fireworks show and the week in Maryland that happens every year between Regina's birthday and mine.  

To celebrate her's, we went to the Biltmore in Ashville.  That place is really amazing as well as the way the Vanderbilt's lived and how the mansion got built.  This time we did a plantation tour which takes you off the beaten path to see some of the history and workings of the Estate. Of course, there's the afternoon visit to the winery and the food at their restaurants is fantastic.

Our annual trip to Maryland to visit our friends, Tom and Teresa, has become a tradition. This year, Brittany came from Texas to join us for a few days.  As always, the shrimp, crab and lobster were to die for and we ate until we rolled back onto the plane.  Tom and I started the week in his bilge replacing the water pump impeller on the generator.  Here I discovered about the only thing easier to get to on my boat than his.  What an exercise that was!  Much of the rest of the week was spent playing on his dinghy and visiting marine stores to help me figure out what kind I will ultimately buy.   

By the time that we had finished all of those activities, it was late July and we had missed over a month of boating on our Chattanooga lakes.  So now we are trying to catch up on river fun.  One weekend we went downtown for a River Front Nights concert, the next weekend was a big raft up with other Erwin Marina folks and then there was rain.  I guess we could have gone and anchored out somewhere in the rain, but it's more fun when the sun is shining and you can play in the water.  To make up for that, we went to the movies.

This weekend is forecast to be nice.  A couple of my projects are getting close to being completed.  There are only about two weeks left before we make the trip up river for football season!  I have a spot in the marina where we stayed last year lined up.  The Vols are predicted to be a much better team this year so that's very exciting.  We're going to be back in the Vol Navy and hopefully celebrating some big wins!!  GO BIG ORANGE.  We'll be there soon.

Spring sprung and summer is near

When the weather got cold and boating season basically ended, so did my blog.  There was not a lot of boating done this winter.  In some ways, I'm surprised we didn't do more.  It certainly wasn't as cold or snowy or iced over like a year ago.

So winter went by with some trips to Chattanooga to change oil and transmission fluid.  We went to the Miami Boat Show in February to investigate a number of additions that are on our list.  During that trip, I discovered that my air filters needed to be changed (read replaced) with the new upgraded model.  Now instead of boring old black filters on my engines, I have pretty new blue ones!!

And the reason they turn blue, is the color of the oil that you coat the filter media with.  All those other pieces and O-rings are buried inside the housing behind the blue filter.

This was our first trip to the Miami show.  We've done the Ft Lauderdale show a few times, but never this one.  It was overwhelming and virtually impossible to locate the dealers/booths that you want to find.  Obviously, they need an architect to help them with everything from graphics to layout.  (I wonder how I can turn that into my retirement job??)  In any event, we had a great trip.  Our friends from Maryland came down and met us for the show and that always makes things more fun.  We walked until we couldn't anymore, got more info than we could or wanted to carry, ate some great food and came home with more ideas.

A few of our ideas are beginning to take shape.  The generator now has an hour meter that a human being can read.  Our bilge heaters have their own outlets so the floor isn't covered with extension cords anymore.  A new VHF radio along with a AIS transponder are waiting to be installed.  The inverter that will be used to keep the generator from running non-stop is in the garage until my electrical guy figures out how we are going to tie it, the batteries and new solar panels together. And we have a new floor covering in the cockpit!!  This doesn't seem like a big deal until you have had to try to clean black marks off of white, non-slip fiberglass.  Oh do I love this stuff!!

 

The not so great part of our spring was finding the bottom of Chickamauga near Island Cove Marina. That turn out to be a very unpleasant experience. So I've been told that there are only those who have run aground and those that will - hopefully having now joined the club that means I don't have to do it again to maintain membership. Anyway, what ever was down there, in the middle of their marked channel BTW, was hard enough to bend both props. BoatUS had to pull us off so got to add that to the list of "done that's". 

While not officially summer, it is Memorial Day weekend. Our daughter is in from Texas and we're back to Bluff dock in Chattanooga. Time to enjoy her short visit and have some fun on board.   There are some festival events happening in town over the weekend so after we check those out we will take a run back up river to Paradise cove.  That is a popular place near Harrison Bay and is usually packed with boats and all variety of activities.  So the Flag is flying and this day set aside to remember all those who sacrificed everything for us to be able to enjoy all these freedoms.   Let's take this time to honor, to salute and to thank them.  That's what we will do as we end this spring weekend.