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--