Day 11 Oct 25, Joe Wheeler State Park Marina Rogersville AL

Boats are going everywhere....Chattanooga...Huntsville and the Ten-Tom....
We will stay one more day....Gerald will be joining us for the trip down the Tenn-Tom to Mobile and on down the ICW to Panama City.  Faye will meet us there.  Who's smart in this deal??????

Their friend Ms Linda brought them over so Faye could take the truck back home.  EACH had a load when they arrived at the boat.

Dock Tails and Potluck dinner on our pier tonight.  Word was put out and loopers appeared so...we met more folks.

World Series Tonight!!!!  Paul was in 7th heaven when he found out we had direct TV and Gerald could find the game.  He and his son John are on the Great Loop in a wooden motorsailer.  John, who is 18 yrs old, has taken a year off of school to cruise with his dad.

 

 

 

 

 



Day 8-10 Oct 22 - 24 Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, Rogersville AL

We are learning new things, meeting new friends and hearing all kinds of stories about the loop.  There 250 loopers here at the Rendezvous with 55 boats.  If you were looking for a boat you could find many different brands.  We had several stop by to see our Mainship.  It appears that many are new, looking for boats and information plus quite a few just starting the loop.  You have a blue tag when you are a want-a-bee, white tag when you are on the loop and gold tag when you have finished the loop.

Sunrise

 

Saddi has been to Florence to get her booster.  Gerald left Saddi his truck to do this little chore so we wouldn't have to walk from the Florence Harbor Marina.  Thank you Gerald.  Smith Animal Hospital went out of their way to help us out.  Plus...."no charge"....can't beat that

 

Smith Animal Hospital

 

Joe Wheeler State Park Marina

 

Looking at our dock

 

Sunset

 



 

Wine and dinner this evening and the AGLCA Rendezvous is over.  Everyone has different ideas for tomorrow morning

Saddi met more friends on the pier and was just OK



 

 



Day 7 Oct 21 Joe Wheeler State Park Marina Rogersville AL

Today is the day everyone is getting ready for the "looper crawl"....pink jobs, blue jobs, clean the boat....a bunch of busy bees on the piers.  The crawl is when you open your boat for people to visit.

Then we hear music and here comes this boat around the bend.  They cruised our marina and everyone had their cameras out wishing this boat was on the "looper crawl"

 

 

 

You could even keep "all your stuff" on this boat.....oh well they went on down the river and we all we back to the pink and blue jobs.

Day 6 Oct 20 Joe Wheeler State Park Marina Rogersville AL

We are at Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, the site for the AGLCA Fall 2012 Rendezvous and Reunion which begins on the 21st.

Rik and Gerald have many chores to do which includes Direct TV so that (when we have service) we can watch NCIS and Alabama football.

Meeting lots of loopers who are friendly and very helpful.

Gerald and Faye fixed steaks for dinner....nice fire....good food....good friends....just a REALLY NICE evening.  Saddi says this is OK

Gerald/Faye's motorcoach

Saddi's wheels

 

Nice campfire Rik

 

 

Fenders for the locks

 

 

Day 5 Oct 19, 21 miles Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, Rogersville AL

We wondered last night why a guy was sitting in a Bassboat with an American Flag flying and going nowhere....well, little did we know Florence was having a "big time" Bassboat Tournament with big time money

So this morning we are up at 5:30 AM looking for the 142 bass boats who were here.  I know it's not a good picture but think...just up...looking out the aft and you see this

The fishermen were waiting for True Light (7AM), someone sang the National Anthem and then the boats left every minute

Rik visited with a gentleman from KY and he told us all about Bass boats and Bass tournaments.  In exchange we gave him a "hot" cup of coffee.  Steve you would have loved this....

 

124th to leave

 

We are departing at 8:45 AM today as we are waiting for a barge to lock thru Wilson.  8 Loopers will be locking thru at 9AM....the rest at 11AM...Here we go....with Water Music behind us...

 

 

 

 

We have a very good friend with us today.  Miss Faye has joined us for our cruise to Joe Wheeler.  You can see Saddi is showing her the ropes

 

 

OK now for Lock Two....Wilson Lock and Dam....we are leaving Pickwick Lake and will be entering Wilson Lake

Wilson Lock is the world's highest single lift lock.  It now ranks sixth in the US...built in the 1950s.  This is a 93-foot-high lift, has an unstream gate that lowers.  Oh me I'm ready with my gloves, life jacket and fender out, lines ready to catch the bollard.

 

coming in

 

gate closing

 

Bollard....looking up.......

 

Waiting for the gate to lower

 

 

30 minutes from the time the gate closed to the time the gate opened....tells you how FAST we went UP...  Wilson Lake is the shortest of all the lakes on the Tennessee.  It's one of the deepest with water depths up to 125 feet.  Beautiful homes surround the lake but the haze on the water prevented pictures.

 

Lock Three...Joe Wheeler Lock is a 48-foot lift.

Joe Wheeler Dam is only 72 feet high and is the lowest of all the dams on the Tennessee.  But, with a length of 6,349 feet it's the third longest.  Construction began in 1933 and was completed in 1936.

 

Going In

 

Closing the Gate

 

There was lots of wind in the lock but I'm getting this locking down....Took over 30 minutes again

 

Wheeler Lake is 74 miles long but we are just going to the First Creek (on the port) to Joe Wheeler State Park Marine where we will be until October 24th.

We arrive with the wind blowing, loopers everywhere and it is a stern docking...plus we were sharing a dock....Well, Capt Rik put the Nanseann into her slip and with the help of fellow loopers lines were tied and we were docked.  This was a 22 mile day.....four hour run from Florence...and the boat we are sharing the slip with are from KY Lake Dam Marina...

 

Gerald and Faye fixed dinner at the campground that evening...Chicken on the Grill with all the trimmings.  Faye fixed a "new" dessert called SIN and it was sinful.  Saddi came along (in Gerald's truck), walked the loop, watched the campfire and rolled in the dirt.  She even had bites of chicken but no dessert. (watching her weight)

 

Beautiful day....the best of two worlds....Boating and Camping....

 

 



 

 







Day 4 Oct 18, 48 miles Florence Harbor Marina, Florence AL

We traveled 50 miles yesterday....Capt Rik says we are 183 miles into our trip and now it's Day 4.
The correct name for the Catfish Cafe....is really Hagy's Catfish Hotel....one of the oldest family restaurants in the country.  ALL-you-can eat Catfish!  I'm think Jim/Claire, Lee/Judy and the two of us went to dinner there when we attended the Shiloh Battle

It rained all night at Pickwick Landing....everything was wet....very quiet marina....no one around

 



 

Departure time 7:30 AM as winds were calm and were expected to pick up before the day was over.  Beautiful with the sun coming up...think we were the only ones up and out...no fishermen...just ducks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The downriver side of Pickwick Lock and Dam....impressive...at least to Saddi and I

 





 

We are now on Pickwick Lake which is 52.7 miles long.  Kentucky Lake ended at the Dam by the way. 

At mm215 ....here you leave Tennessee and cross into Alabama...Roll Tide Roll... For 10 miles the middle of the river serves as the AL/MS Boundary.  So...Saddi has been in three states in a matter of minutes.  We saw many beautiful houses on the lake.

 

 

 

The Natchez Trace Parkway crosses the river at mm 236.  There is a story...Here at Colbert Creek Chickasaw Chief George Colbert opened a ferry at the point where the old Natchez Trace crossed the river.  At Colbert's Ferry a pioneer riding the Trace was only two days out of Nashville.  At $1 per person plus an extra sum for livestock, Chief Colbert reportedly took in up to $20,000 a year in profit from his ferry service and inn.  When Andrew Jackson had his army ferried across the river, it is said that Colbert charged him $75,000.

Today the mile-long Natchez Trace Parkway bridge that was completed in 1965 crosses the Tennessee.  Rik and I drove the 450-mile long Parkway at 45-miles an hour.  We couldn't figure why none of our coach friends wanted to make this journey.

 

 

We saw three barges today....all going downriver

 

 

 

Florence Harbor Marina ...mmm 256...has 8 loopers in and were expecting 9 more today.  Eva says "it's a full house and I love it"...you guessed right she is the manager...

 

Gerald and Faye arrived...they are at the campground at Joe Wheeler State Park.  They treated us to dinner at Dale's.  It opened in 1962 and serves great steaks and seafood.  We all decided upon seafood as Saturday night will be steak night.  Nice evening...."Boat Bums: are having fun and Saddi even met a new friend on the pier and was polite.

 

 



 





 

 

 

 





Day 3 Oct 17 continued

Well rain and wind came so I couldn't finish my notes from Day Three and the best is to come...Oh me!  You have to remember I'm not real creative when it comes to writing. 

Today was my first lock on the Nanseann and Saddie's....so here we come Pickwick Lock and Dam.

It gets your attention....you in this little boat and this mass of concrete in front of you....putting out fenders and lines on port and starboard so when the Lock Master tells you which side of the lock you will be on you are ready.  Life jackets on, gloves on....I was ready for the starboard side...
Oh me...port side you say I haven't practiced that.  Capt Rik tells me...counterclockwise with the lines Nancy....OK I can do this....I only have hundred or more locks to go thru

Miss Saddi

 

There were 10 boats in the lock....1000 foot lock...we looked like toys sitting there

Took two hours of waiting (barge on the other side) and collecting pleasure boats.  You know commercial traffic (the barges) go first.  But everyone who left Clifton Marina that morning and three other boats that we passed on the river made it too the lock.  Just goes to say.....the fast boats go fast but when it comes to the lock they will be waiting for the slower ones to catch up

 

 







Gates open and everyone is off and running.  We decided to stay at Pickwick Landing which was about a mile upriver.  It is a state park.  We were on the sailboat pier, backed our boat in, put Saddie's ramp together and heard from pier "weather" was coming...secure you boat.  Capt Rik took care of the boat and Saddi and I headed to green grass.  It was  long way from the boat but we made it.  She has really been good and is becoming a real "boat bum dog".

Good day....experienced wind way over 30 miles per hour at times....even had a few white caps on the river......Nancy and Saddi experienced Lock Number 1 and Rik kept us on course with stern into the slip first with wind.  We had a great day and love being "Boat Bums"