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.
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.
5 comments:
Glad all is well. Leaves are tuning up here.
Following you two is awesome , if we ever did the ICW is there any low bridges that the 480 Sedan Bridge won't go under , I heard there's s low bridge in Illinois ???? Let me know ok?
19'7" fixed bridge just south of Chicago. Can be a little higher based on river level.
Tom.. which "marriage savers" are you two using and are you happy with their performance?
Normand, we have the Eartec 24 2G Simultalk. They are OK but not great. Not sure what would be better though. If you keep them well charged, they work OK. If battery gets low it is a problem. and it only takes a couple hours of use to discharge the battery so we only use them docking and locking.
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