Photos Extraordinaire

View at Rock City
Aydin& Emre with us at Ruby Falls

Some Ruby Falls Burley

Loopers

Loopers

and more loopers

Sweet Alabama

Foggy Morn at Joe Wheeler

Our View at Joe Wheeler

We set out for Joe Wheeler State Park on Oct 13 and arrived the same day. A short and very sweet trip. We locked through Wilson Lock , a 93' lift into Wilson Lake and Wheeler Lock, a 40' lift into Wheeler Lake. Wheeler State Park was named after General Joseph Wheeler, a soldier and politician from the mid 1800's. The setting here reminds John and I of Lake Cumberland with it's coves and clear water. It's a good thing , since this will be our home for a number of days.

We decided not to take the boat up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, but to rent a car and drive instead. We are planning to meet Cait , our youngest daughter and her two sons there. The wind, rain and cold convinced us to drive instead. The trip to Chattanooga by boat would have taken 4 or 5 days and $1000 for fuel ,whereas in a car it was 6 hours and a cheap $22 a day rental car! True we missed the beautiful Tennessee River Canyon, but there's always next time and I'm learning that some things become a little less beautiful in the wind and cold. In the end, we were pleased with our decision. Our rooms in the Hilton were adjacent to the children's museum and a short walk to the Imax etc.

We had a great weekend with Cait, Aydin and Emre and were very taken with Chattanooga. We experienced all the hot spots, visiting Ruby Falls and SEE ROCK CITY. Both John and I were impressed that neither site was as tackey as we always thought they were. Actually, they were pretty neat! After we said good-bye to Cait and the boys, we went to visit friends Jane and Pete at their beautiful home on Chickamauga Lake. We hope they will decide to start the loop this fall with us.

Monday Oct 19 we drove back to Wheeler and were glad to see the number of current loopers increasing. With boaters come wine, women and song!! Since Monday our days have been filled with sunshine (which is why the blog is a little tardy), and chatter, vittles and cocktails at 5:00!

At this point in our journey, we are awaiting the arrival of the remainder of the loopers and the rendezvous to begin. In the meantime , I must report that we have launched the dingy and all is well. I have mastered most of the operation (I'm still working on docking). Amara, the thing does circles just like the seadoo did! I have also learned to blow a conch shell and it was commented in some circles that I'm a natural at it. Who would have thought that at aged 64 I would finally find something that comes natural to me. CAN'T WAIT TO REACH THE CONCH REPUBLIC!! Since I'm still working on how to incorporate photos into the text of the blog, the next posting will be all photos. Until next time--

Not Intent on Arriving

Old Dock on Kentucky Lake

The Viking

Sam & River Four Sailors From Greenland

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving" Lao-Tzu. In this case John and I are excellent travelers!! The weather has been so chilly and windy I've hardly had my long underwear off. Mostly, it has kept us from going very far and very fast. We did have a great time in Paris Landing, however. The sun finally appeared for a short while and we were able to take a long walk in the beautiful park there. The best treat ,however, was meeting our dock mates. Sam, along with his dog River, were traveling from Michigan to Ft.Lauderdale in his modified pontoon boat.

We also met 4 fellows from Greenland who sailed across to the St. Lawrence Seaway and down the rivers! In both cases I can't even imagine their experiences. I think I would really like to do both, but I know I don't have the skills to do either! The Greenland wives are flying to meet the husbands once they get to the Carribean. Smart Girls, they're probably quilters too! Their sailboat is called "Viking" and they are certainly living up to their heritage. We all indulged in the ALL YOU CAN EAT SEAFOOD BUFFET at the lodge and shared stories. Of course, John and my story is so much less dramatic. We continued to dodge rain drops and wind and finally departed Paris Landing , TN on Saturday at 8:15am CST for Clifton, TN. Clifton was just on overnight stop, so we fueled up and departed Sunday morning at 7:35am CST for Florence Harbor Marina in Alabama.We cleared Pickwick lock quickly, but the trip down the Tennessee River was cold and overcast. Now you may wonder why at this point I'm still the Admiral and chief navigator on this trip. Well, good question. It's because there are beautiful vistas thru the clouds, and folks like Karen and Greg, Patti and Brad, Judy and Sterling and the other great friends we will meet up with, share drinks with and cruise the waters with along the way.

Florence, Alabama is the home of the only Frank Lloyd Wright House( circa 1939 ) in Alabama. It's very fine. The city boasts a darn good super Walmart and an ok, but ALWAYS necessary (the captain says so) Home Depot. On Tues. Oct 13, we departed Florence Harbor Marina at 8:20am CST heading for Joe Wheeler State Park. We had a short weather window in the morning and decided to take it. See you in Wheeler.

Until We Meet Again

MIGHTY OHIO

GREAT BLUE HERON

As we cruised down toward Smithland, the Cumberland River and Barkley Lock, we said good-bye to the mighty, muddy Ohio River (at 11:39am CST) for a few years. The Cumberland was absolutely beautiful and we encountered NO barges this time. At mm 19.5 we watched an American bald eagle fish. There were many great blue heron and two great white egrets. We locked through Barkley easily. In fact it was the best lock through we've had so far, even though we were lifted 49ft. into Lake Barkley. We pulled into Ky Dam Village Marina at 2:30pmCST

We spent the next two days at Ky Lake, enjoying the warm sun when it appeared and attending to the details of life as we now know it. I did the laundry while Captain John made the pole fenders that we will need once we reach marinas with pilings. We took the dingy prop and canvas to be repaired, both boo- boos occurred during the high winds you already know about if you read "Down Mighty Rivers". I don't want to re-live that experience. Anyway both items were fixed by two fine fellows who went out of their way to rush our jobs and put us at the top of their fix- it lists. We borrowed the marina's van and picked up the canvas, the prop and lots of groceries. Oct.7, we fueled up and departed for Paris Landing, Tenn. at 10:32amCST arriving at 2:00pmCST. The marina is lovely and we had a nice evening chatting with a group of older folks on 5 large cruisers who were boating up to Green Turtle Bay and the Cumberland for awhile. I'd hate to see their ibuprofen bill! We decided to stay at Paris Landing for a few days. It's our 26 wedding anniversary today and they have a nice restraurant in town for a special dinner. Who would have ever thought 26 years ago we'd be here in Paris, Tenn. today.

Down Mighty Rivers

Well, today Oct.6,we have lots of time to catch up. Storms are expected all day. So here goes! We left off watching Fox news in Evansville. We arose on Oct. 2, not to the severe weather that was predicted, but to blue skies. Evidently the storms were moving faster and cleared out before expected. This , we learned, is not always good news for boaters,since the fast movement of the storm clouds is caused by high winds! Being relatively new at this travel bit, we decided to depart at 7:58am CST. Lesson # 5--never, ever leave a cozy dock when winds of 10-25,(with gusts of 35 )mile an hour are expected. The winds were coming directly from the west and ,of course, the river winds almost due west in that area. By 9:15amCST we welcomed our first spray into the fly bridge and also our second,third etc. throughout the day. We arrived safe and sound in Golconda with only a minor ding in the dingy prop (Very High gusts going through Meyers lock) and a ripped zipper in some fly bride canvas. Captain John just informed me that the predicted winds were only for 10-20 mile an hour,but we learned after we arrived at Golconda that the winds actually gusted to 35 mile an hour. I say over 10 can be uncomfortable!

Oct.3, we decided to stay in Golconda for the day,since winds were still high. We had a beautiful spot and the sun was shining warmly. We walked into town for lunch at the Sweetwater Saloon and had our usual burger, salad and Ginnis Sat. lunch in honor of Wes and Sally. There were even bikers in the bar,so we felt right at home! We met some nice dock mates who invited us to party with them Sat. night and had a great time. Golconda marina is a happening place. Oct. 4,we departed Golconda at 9:32am

Let the Journey Begin

"Adventure is worthwhile" Amelia Earhart . We hope ole Amelia is right. Evidence so far confirms her words. We hope we don't share her fate, however!! Sat. night Sept. 26, we had a wonderful bon voyage party given by our favorite dock mates who we will miss a lot . We really enjoyed their companionship over the last few years and came to love them dearly. The rivers do seem to have a way of bringing folks back together though, so we know we will meet again.

Sept. 28 D-day ( thanks to brother David for the lift to the dock) except that two things held us up--predicted 15-35 mile an hour winds and the door that fell off the 1200 ft chamber of Markland Lock, closing the chamber down for several weeks. We did ,however, venture out of the marina on Sept.29 at 7:35am EST and cleared the lock by 8:42am EST. The lock master told us he hoped we weren't coming back for awhile, since we probably wouldn't get back. We told him we had approximately two years . The trip down river was swift, since the winds were still 5-10 mile an hour and the current was strong! We saved on fuel though. Arrived in Louisville and were secured by 2:30pm EST and had a lovely dinner with Pat and Lloyd. The city docks there are highly recommended.

Sept.30 We were up and ready to depart Louisville by dawn, but as fate would have it the locks were closed for 4-5 hours so that the divers could go down and inspect the lock doors. ( a result of the accident at Markland). The plus side of our long wait was that the Tumbleweed restaurant offered us a free chicken tender platter and drinks brought dockside. We finally got a call from the lock master and were able to lock through at 1:30pm EST. Since we were way behind we would not be able to make our planned anchorage around Cannelton, so we found another beautiful anchorage and had a nice dinner, sipping our wine and vodka on the deck in the middle of nowhere USA. Next morning Oct. 1, we arose to dense fog ,but after breakfast and with our amazing AIS system we were able to get underway, knowing where all the barges were located along with their names and directions. We locked through Cannelton and Newburg (gusty) and made Evansville's Inland marina by 3:45pm CST. Inland's restaurant burned down, so be prepared to cook. Fueled up-180 gals, ate a nice dinner and watched fox news.