AGLCA Rendezvous and Tennessee River Side Trip Oct 14-24

OK, time got away again.  Sorry we have not posted in a while!  We are too busy having a great time seeing America to get to it.  So here is a 10 day recap.....
So we had a great time at the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous.  Met so many other couples both underway and in the planning mode.  There were about 70 boats at the marina and a total of 260 participants in the rendezvous.  Sum Escape front and center...

 The agenda

An evening sing along.....

 Why it can take some time to cross the Gulf in Dec

On Wed we visited Rogersville on a free shuttle arranged by the Chamber of Commerce to get folks into town.  A great way to get a few groceries and the lay of the land there.  One knows they are in the South Bible Belt when the 10 Commandments are on a marker in the city park!
On Thursday night Shaun McKenna drove over to have dinner with us in town.  It was fun to spend some time with Shaun and learn about his jobs/business, house and activities in general.  Thanks for sharing some time with us Shaun.
We also got to tour a lot of cool boats at the rendezvous.  There are so many different kinds of boats doing the Loop!  It was fun to see all the variety.  Kind of a free boat show without the sales pitches!
A number of boats are doing the 500 mile plus side trip up the Tennessee as we are.  We left early Sunday morning and went through one lock to Ditto Landing Marina which also had a campground on site.  It was a very nice stop and we got in early enough to watch the Lions and Bears game with Carey and Nancy (bears fans) from LeeLoo.  About time the Lions won a game...sorry about that Jim K. Oh and sorry about the Cubs too...

The river gets more and more beautiful the further upstream we get.  Monday night we stayed at Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro, AL.  AJ from Gimme Time was our courtesy van driver and took 3 trips shuttling 16 of us to and from the marina to an Italian restaurant , Stevarino's, where they even had Yeungling on tap!  Thanks AJ!!  Goose Pond had $2.25 diesel and if you bought 200 gallons the slip was free.  So we took advantage of that great deal.   Also got a couple loads of laundry done after dinner as the laundry room was open...go figure!
Leaving Goose Pond...

 

 

Tuesday brought one more lock and a beautiful anchorage at Cedar Creek.  We shared the anchorage with Carey and Nancy from LeeLoo.  Took a nice dinghy ride around the anchorage.  We think we found the famous bat cave but Julie's research on them suggested that they move on in early Oct. so we must have been a week or two late to see the show.  We then grilled and shared dinner aboard Sum Escape. The Hearts game after was a great night cap.

 

 

Wednesday we travelled to the docks right downtown Chattanooga in front of the aquarium.  Went out for dinner with Ralph and Linda (Mazel Tug) and Carey and Nancy at Hennen's steakhouse.... what a great meal!

On Thursday we went to the Chattanooga aquarium.  Wow!  It is a fantastic place. They have a fresh water (mostly river fish and wildlife) and a salt water building.  They have some of the largest species of fresh water fish in captivity...sturgeon and huge river fish from S America, Africa and Australia among others.  Unbelievable exhibit.  They even have numerous large shark swimming around with divers in one exhibit. As I understand it, all the money for all this came from the families that started Coca-Cola bottling in Chattanooga.  It is a very, very impressive downtown area.

We also got haircuts/styling etc today.  We miss you Nancy L!!!
Hal the AGLCA harbor host was awesome.  He took me to buy oil for an oil change and was successful in convincing the marina to extend our stay a day until Sat.  He is also coming to pick up the drain oil from Tom's oil change activity on Thurs night.  Tom could not stand paying over $600 in labor for 3 hours of work so Thursday night was spent in the engine room. 

Friday we broke out the folding bikes and travelled along the river to the Chickamauga  dam and Lock. 

This was a round trip of about 15 miles and we also had lunch along the way at the Boathouse restaurant...very good!!  We were originally planning to continue upstream through this lock and others to the Little Tennessee but time is growing slim to make Tampa by Dec 13 with a trip home for a week or so for Thanksgiving.  So we intend to turn back downstream on Sat. Additionally, we walked to Walgreens and Publix and it was just too much for me combined with the "yoga" in the engine room on Thurs. night.  I had ice on the knee for a while before dinner Fri night... 
We went to dinner with Richard and Kat from Katt in the Hat.  We had first met them in S Haven the first day of our adventure!  We have seen them off and on as we travelled but this is the first time we had a chance to spend time with them over a great dinner.  And we should mention they are Gold Loopers, having completed the Loop recently.  Congrats!! We went to 212 Market restaurant.  They had oodles of choices for GF, vegetarian as well as a great menu overall.  A wonderful dinner. 
We are very impressed with Chattanooga.  Their downtown, outdoor green spaces, restaurants, condos, cost of living, availability of awesome boating destinations and cruising grounds, etc all suggest we may have to further check it out in a couple years.  And the Looper rate of 75 cents a foot was the cheapest dock fees yet!
Our only regret was that we missed our Gold Looper friends Susie and Jeff Parker from Idyll Time as they were on IT cruising the East coast down toward Florida for the winter.  They were coming home in a few days but as we said earlier, we had to turn back downstream so we missed them.  They were a big influence on our decision to do the Loop after we met them in Grand Haven when they were on the Loop about 5 years ago.  They graciously gave us a wonderful tour of their Kadey Krogen 49 and shared their thoughts on the Loop and retirement and cruising in general. Oh, and I should mention they are divers for the aquarium...too bad they were not in the tank when we went to the exhibit.
On Sat we left first light to get ahead of 300+ paddle boarders that were going to race downstream from Chattanooga to the Nickajack dam starting at 8AM.  With a 7:54 AM sunrise we just beat them out of town.  A beautiful morning to cruise though.

 

 

And you too can take a cruise on the Tennessee...

We stopped an the Raccoon Creek anchorage.  It was about 3/4 of a mile back through a narrow but well marked channel to a very large body of water.  We found some 5' depths partway in (as the Active Captain posting suggested) but then anchored in about 10' of water.  A beautiful spot with lots of wildlife.  There was a huge mansion with a gazebo far atop the hill that was lit up like a Christmas tree after dark.  Wow, they must have quite the view of things from up there!  No cell service down at the anchorage, but satellite TV worked fine to watch the Michigan State football game!

 

 

Sunday we travelled back to Ditto Landing marina.  We decided that with a couple days of rain expected, we could rent a car and go to the Huntsville space and rocket exhibit.  So that is the plan for Mon, Tues will likely be boat chores and laundry and we'll hit the water again on Wed.  So we should be back to our starting point at the head of the Tenn-Tom (mile 215 on the Tennessee....Chattanooga was 464 so our little side trip was over 500 miles) and getting ready to head south by Thurs or Friday.

 


Probably won't be posting for a few days again.  Thanks for following our adventure!  We are really settling in to the travelling and site seeing.  This is an awesome way to see our great country!

JoeWheeler State Park, AGLCA Rendezvous Oct 9-13

We had great dinners at Freddie T's on both Friday and Sat nights.  They come with a van to pick you up at the marina, so very convenient and great food.
On Sat we used the Grand Harbor van and went to the Shiloh battlefield park.  Sid (Something Special) and Dan (Tranquility) joined us.  In a word, wow.  Hard to believe 23,700 lives were lost in two short days.  And seeing Pittsburg landing where the troops arrived to fortify Grant (he would have really been a goat had these troops not arrived in time) and learning how the river played a critical role in the battle was really interesting.  Grant was not following orders to not engage the enemy  until these troops arrived so had they been delayed another few hours the history books would have read a lot differently.  Speaking of that, the dock master asked us how we liked the tour and being a good Southerner, wondered if we asked for the alternative ending at the documentary movie....pretty funny guy.  The logistics of the troop movement, thinking about the massive efforts to bury the dead, the awful carnage that occurred and life in that day and age were really sobering.  We are glad we made the visit.

 

On Sunday we moved on to Florence Harbor, with Julie again piloting out of the slip and marina (and everyone was waving and commenting what a great first mate I have....little do they know she is the admiral and I merely the chief engineer), and retrieved a new VHF radio, sump pump and general mail forwarded there. 
A little football to watch along the way.  Love that DirecTV.

On Monday it was a work day.  First, I went to Ace Hardware and Best Buy to get parts.  Then I tackled the pesky water intrusion issue on the anchor rode locker.  I had plugged both holes earlier thinking that I would not accumulate much water and mud each time I retrieved the anchor.  But it rained a couple inches and we found that the bow sprit drain terminates in the locker too.  So we had about 8" of water after the rain.  Ok what now? Plan B. Installed a short hose to one of the drains and put a scupper type valve on the end.  The test was running here.....Dry!! So as long as the rainwater drains with the gravity scupper (it should) I will have succeeded in fixing a design flaw on the boat (that was probably due to the PO installing a splash guard that redirected the water toward the drains).
Next up, installing the new VHF.  Of course the "direct replacement" was not that easy.   Cut out in the dash was high enough but not wide enough.  Needed another 3/8".  So out comes the hack saw and shop vac. Thanks Kevin B for the short hack saw you gave me....would not have been able to complete the job without it!!  It's always nice when one has all the necessary tools to complete a job.  And the new radio works great!
Also went to my retinal specialist appointment.  Short answer is the retinal tear has healed well and no further follow up is necessary.  The Doctor spent a lot of time explaining things to me (especially considering this was a one time visit).  We are hoping that the floaters will dissipate with time (not yet though).  But great news.
Next was replacing the old wireless router on board.  It was so old it still had WEP security (this comment is for you Jordan and Dave Couch).  So after making like a pretzel to get out the old and the new one in, the challenge was to get the wireless amplifier to talk to the new router.  Long story short, it works now after "fiddling" with settings, google searches, etc to find the solution.
So now it was dinner time so we ate on board then went to Publix to re provision.  By the time we got back to the boat it was bedtime!  Long day and I still need to find some time to replace that lazarette sump pump!
Tuesday was a travel day with both the Wilson and Wheeler locks in the short 21 mile trip to Joe Wheeler.  We got a late start as the rental car needed to be returned and the GPS sent me to the wrong end of town.  The Enterprise rep says, "oh, that happens 10 times a week".  GPS sends you to the wrong place.  So we called the  lock master and he said, "get on down here and join the 10 boat parade".

As usual, waits at the locks got us here after 3 in the afternoon so it took about 7 hours to move 21 miles.  The locks lifted us a combined 150+ feet and we were travelling with 11 other boats. At the Wheeler lock a 64' boat would not fit with all the others (he arrived last) so he had to wait another turn of the lock.
90+ foot lift here at Wilson.

 

 

What a beautiful setting here at Joe Wheeler!  This reminds us of some of the parks we camped at in West Virginia years ago.   We took a walk around the facility and hope to explore the area by dinghy when we get a chance.

 

 

Docking here was a significant challenge.  We are berthed right in front of the lodge and of course there was a 15 MPH crosswind and a slip that it two feet wider than our boat.  Aborted the first attempt but succeeded on number two. Our dock neighbors were helpful guiding us in but said, "you can't move that heavy boat!"  Here is the finished product.  Only Kevin Keech or Matt Doornbos (or perhaps many of our other boater friends) could have done better.

The next few days will be busy with all the AGLCA Rendezvous activities.  We will leave here on Sunday heading further upstream to visit Chattanooga and beyond. 
Well, time to sign off and enjoy nature here.  The trees are just starting to change and it should be in the 70's again today with bright sun.  The weather has been really great (thanks Mort).  And the marina it filled to the gills for this event.  We understand there is actually a pretty sizable waiting list for both slips and rendezvous spots.  It seems there are more people doing the Loop this year...fuel prices and general economy maybe??
We are excited that Sarah and Joe will be our first guests on the Loop (well I guess they already were along with Brett for one night in Portage IN) in mid Dec in the Tampa area.  We are so glad they will be travelling with us for a few days!
Well, off to the Rendezvous.  Will update again in a week or so.

The Adventure Continues.....Oct 1-8

So we really liked Green Turtle Bay and stayed a week!  On Oct 1 they even had a "Looper-Q" for all the Loopers in the facility. 

One of the employees was playing acoustic guitar and singing for our entertainment.  He even composed and performed some Looper songs which were pretty humorous!   They had soft drinks, barbeque pork, potato salad, etc, plus great desserts!  Many went to the beach for a huge bonfire after the dinner.  Met so many people as many boats are starting to arrive for the rendezvous!!
We took many walks through the facility checking it all out....from the outdoor pools (closed) the the wedding chapel and all the condos on site.  A very nice facility and we saw deer, fox. eagles and other wildlife on these walks.
They also had an indoor pool so I was able to swim laps three days.  The shoulder feels good and I think the swimming was really good for it!
On Sat night we had dinner with fellow GLGBA members Jane and Ben Stephen from the Grand Banks "Jammin Jane".   We originally met them at the summer Grand Banks  rendezvous in Sturgeon Bay but didn't really have a lot of time to talk with them then.  So dinner was really nice.  And Ben helped me trouble shoot our VHF... we now know that the replacement that awaits us at Florence AL will "plug and play".  Thanks so much Ben and Jane!!  Picture courtesy of Jane's FB page...thanks Jane!

On Sunday we took the marina golf cart to  church, only about a mile away.  I will say that was a first!!

We left GTB on Monday with Julie at the helm. I am so glad she is a great captain as driving the boat all day does get to be a chore. Sharing the duties is good for both safety and reducing fatigue.

Ben and Jane helped us untie and waved goodbye.  Julie expertly took us out of the marina and due to the great weather predicted we stayed at the Dry Fork Creek anchorage about 40 miles away.  Wow!   Eagles, blue heron, and awakened to owls calling each other.  What a great spot!  Only a few fishermen during the day, we were the only boat there all night.  We took a nice dinghy exploration ride in the afternoon.  85 degrees too!

A nice sunset.

And a great sunrise...

 

 

The next day after a little boat maintenance/cleaning, we left for Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN.  Great service and a great surprise at the restaurant.  Billy the dockhand introduced himself and the owner Randy and talked our ears off!  What a great guy.  After refueling (and a great price too) and pumping out I went to sign in. Randy then informed me that the on site restaurant would be open.  And they had some great gluten free options.  So I said to Randy, "you better go tell Julie before she starts dinner for us".  He did! He convinced her we should try it.  So after docktails with  others at the facility,  we went to the restaurant and had a wonderful meal.  Julie had crab and I has surf and turf. Excellent meal.  And in the morning I went over to the restaurant to check it out and received a hot out of the oven, free cinnamon roll!  Mmmm, mmmm good!! 

On Wednesday we left the marina and headed for Double Island anchorage, again because of the really nice weather predicted.  We entered the channel to the island and found 15' or so of water all the way in to the anchorage.  Perfect.  Another really nice night at anchor with grilled chicken and fresh grilled veggies. 

A lighthouse and some nice homes along the way.

 

A little traffic along the way.

We left by 7 AM to make the 67 mile trip plus the Pickwick lock to Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN (although on the docks we are actually in Mississippi)  We got really lucky with the lock and only waited a few minutes for the doors to open for us.  And again another 80+ degree day!

Lock doors closing...

 

The marina is a really nice place that we intend to stay at for three days.  Sat we have the courtesy car reserved to go to see the Shiloh battlefield which is only minutes away.
We leave for Florence, AL on Sunday.  Have a bunch of packages awaiting us there.  And a Monday eye check up with a retinal specialist.
Thanks for following our blog.

Kentucky! Sept 25-30

Note to readers....if you click on the photos they pop out larger....just in case you did not know...
So we finally left Alton on 9/25. As we were leaving slip, Julie says "Hey there's no water".  Well I knew tanks were full so I went below to check the pump and you guessed it...DOA.  Luckily, I had a  spare (albeit less GPM and not a direct replacement) but with a little ingenuity and the Admiral piloting the boat through all the turbulence and tow traffic around St Louis, I got a spare installed and we had water to anchor out the next couple nights.  Not sure you can get to the Mississippi from the Illinois!


Which way?

 Julie even captured this photo of the arch while piloting (I was in the lazarette installing a water pump!!)

Then after I took over on the helm, the upper station VHF decided to quit.  It is not fun trying to communicate with fellow boaters and tows with a handheld radio, but that is all we had at that point.  Unless of course we piloted from below, with the reduced visibility there.  Neither of us prefers that with all the tow traffic so we made due.  Frustrating.
One of the boaters we were travelling with said this..."something on the boat is always broken, you just don't know what it is."  How true.
The first night we made it to Hoppies Marina, nothing more than a few barges tied to shore with fuel and electricity. The famous Fern (owner) usually gives a river briefing to help with the downstream anchoring spots.  But due to a family emergency, she could not do so this evening.  So we still gathered as a group and decided on Little Diversion Channel as a first destination.  No locks and a 110 mile day but doable with the river current push.  Hoppies moored with bow to current...mandatory to approach and leave docks in a 3-4 knot current...something this Lake Michigan boater was not used to but learned earlier at Beardstown.

It turned out to be an excellent choice.  We rafted with our friends on JimKat, each dropping anchor and backing to tie port to port so one boat's stern lines up with the others bow.  That way each boat effectively has a bow and stern anchor so there is space for more boats, as the boats do not drift at anchor with winds.  It was quiet and well off the river with no wakes or disturbances.  Nice! Note how far off the Mississippi we are!  And in 15' of water.

Cruising the Ohio on Sunday we ran across two separate groups performing baptisms in the river. Interesting approach. Here is one. Nice background at the boat ramp huh?

Day two on the hook was up for grabs.  We wanted to get through the notoriously slow locks 53 and 52.  Here we are in lock 53.  You can see why they need replacing! We weren't sure our fenders would survive with all the rough metal hanging out, etc....but we survived.

And here is the construction of the new Olmstead lock that will replace both 53 and 52.  It is seven years behind schedule and who knows how many dollars over budget...now to be ready in 2020.

Well we only made it through 53 so we punted.  Fellow GLGBA members Ben and Jane on Jammin Jane suggested Bean Creek anchorage near Joppa IL (although across the river on the MO side) as they had stayed there a few nights prior when also caught between the locks.  It was an excellent suggestion, well off the channel (although still in the Ohio R) with good holding, about 10' of water and no wakes to speak of.  This was the super moon and eclipse night but clouds precluded the moonrise and we were too tired to stay up for the eclipse.  Still a great night at anchor.

Super moon peeking out for a moment.....

Next morning we hit the river at 6:35 AM to get through lock 52 at a reasonable hour.  Well, it was still a very long wait as pleasure craft are not the first priority.  But we got through and then had to decide whether to take the Tennessee (supposedly lots off tow traffic and potential delays at Kentucky Lock) or the Cumberland (longer but less tows).  Two boats decided on Tennessee and three the Cumberland, all with Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, KY as the destination.  Who "won" you ask?  Well we took the Cumberland and arrived about an hour later than the others.  But we saw another river and it was a very scenic route. So we both won!
We had a different experience in the Barkley lock.   Doors closed for our 50+ foot lift but then reopened.  Hmmm, wonder why?  Well a few minutes later this small craft we passed about three hours ago entered the lock.  It is a truck camper mounted on some sort of small boat with a tiny outboard.  Brave souls!

Hindsight says we should have slowed to their pace as the lockmasters do try to get all pleasure craft in the area through the locks in a bunch.  So I still have to remember I am retired and this is not a race I guess!   :>)  And this lock was fast once all boats were secured to the bollards.  It was almost like being on an  elevator!  50'+ lift in no time at all!

And a Cat in the Hatt sighting again.  We met these folks in S Haven and they leave their boat signature sticker on each lock they navigate.  This is the second time we found their "mark"!!

We ended up slipped next to Jammin Jane at Green Turtle when we arrived on Monday.  We were telling them about our equipment malfunctions and Ben showed up with a spare VHF radio.  He said it was his "back up to his back up" so we should please take it.  Wow, how thoughtful.  I plan to temporarily install it until we can get a new radio in Florence AL.  Thanks Ben and Jane!!
Tuesday I installed the correct fresh water pump (Green Turtle had one in stock) and Julie and I washed the boat, which was pretty gritty as the last wash was before Labor Day.  So it was a work day.
Grand Rivers town is about a 1 mile walk.  So Wednesday before breakfast, we went out for a walk for exercise and combined it with a trip to the grocery store.  Two cars and a golf cart all offered us a ride!  We passed as we do need to get moving from time to time....may even have to try to do some laps in the indoor pool here.
I scheduled a follow up eye evaluation in Florence AL for Monday Oct. 12.  Given we have some time to get there, we are going to stay here for a while.  Its a nice marina (another floating one) and many of the folks we have met along the way are here as well. They have a special Looper barbeque (Looper-Q) on  Oct 1 and banners that read "Welcome Loopers, We've Been Waiting All Summer for You".  Nice place and very friendly.  Great ship store too.  A couple restaurants on site.  Like I said earlier, we're staying here for a while...
 
Sept statistics (plus August 27-31):
Miles travelled:  809
Travel days: 13
Engine hours:  90 (lots of idling at locks waiting, waiting, waiting....)
Locks:  14
Bridges opened:  5
Days on hook or free wall:  3
Gallons of diesel:  556

So month one of our journey is in the history books.  And many say the river system from Chicago to Kentucky Lake is the toughest part navigating with all the tows, locks, etc.  In hindsight it was not all bad, albeit a bit frustrating waiting and waiting for locks.  But we are here safe and sound and thankful for God's grace overseeing our journey.  Thanks for following our adventure.