Here are the pics from the day.................
Happy Halloween !
Monday, October 31, 2011
Taking a side trip to Chattanooga
This is our first side trip since June, its a 190 mile trek up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga and we are told its well worth the trip as you travel through the gorge surrounded by mountains and with the fall foliage at its peak its spectacular. We are now half way and it is beautiful though a bit chilly in the mornings ( 40s) today it was 67. We spent a couple of extra days in Scottsboro AL and took the courtesy car out for lunch we also went to the Unclaimed Baggage to see what they had, a trip to Wally World and back to the marina. We are planning to leave here tomorrow morning and continue on up the river. Since the days are getting shorter and it's been foggy in the mornings we haven't been leaving as early as we would like, tomorrow we may anchor out since its 85 miles to Chattanooga and we will have 1 lock.
Here are the pics from the day.................
Happy Halloween !
Here are the pics from the day.................
Happy Halloween !
Sunday, October 30, 2011
AGLCA Looper Rendezvous Until we met again
We are on the move again, we left Joe Wheeler State Park after a week long stay for the AGLCA Rendezvous. At the Rendezvous there were a total of 57 boats that came in, all in one stage or another of the loop. Boats of all shapes and sizes with homeports from all over the US, Canada, England and Australia. There were Gold loopers (those who have finished the loop), White loopers (those who are in the process of the loop) and people who drove in and stayed at the lodge who are in the planning process or Veteran loopers who came as speakers. The meeting had more than 200 in attendance and was a great time to meet up with people all with the same goal, of doing the Great American Loop. For us, the fall rendezvous is a great place to meet alot of newer loopers, those who will be doing most of their loop in the next 12 months. And a gathering place to catch up with people we have seen or traveled with at some point along the way. We consider ourselves 3/4 looped, we will be finished when we cross our wake. which for us will be in Stuart Florida. We then change out our white burgee (flag) for a Gold burgee.
The sad part of completing the loop is, we are beginning to lose people as they this adventure comes to a close, especially from here on down to Mobile, as we will then lose those who head home to Texas, LA, AL and FL. Many of them however, are planning to continue cruising after they take a break, do further upgrades etc. So to those fine folks I will say, till we meet again! As for everyone else we move onward, head south to the warm salty waters of Florida and the Keys then for others over to the Bahamas and the Abaco's in late winter and early spring.
The sad part of completing the loop is, we are beginning to lose people as they this adventure comes to a close, especially from here on down to Mobile, as we will then lose those who head home to Texas, LA, AL and FL. Many of them however, are planning to continue cruising after they take a break, do further upgrades etc. So to those fine folks I will say, till we meet again! As for everyone else we move onward, head south to the warm salty waters of Florida and the Keys then for others over to the Bahamas and the Abaco's in late winter and early spring.
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| This is Kemba and Bob on Spirit Dancer they are possibly the first loopers we met heading south in October 2010 we first met them in Belhaven NC. This picture was taken in NY at Half Moon Bay when we came back to the boat after visiting home in June 2011 they were docked directly behind us. |
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| There is Spirit Dancer at Joe Wheeler in Alabama they have now completed their loop and are heading home (Texas) for 6 months then back out to the Bahamas for a couple of years. |
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| Here is Carol and Monty (the largest looping dog) we met them in Norfolk Va in June and again on Mackinaw Island MI in August. |
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| Theres Bill and Monty stretching their legs in Grand Harbor TN |
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| There they go, heading home on there boat Trident, you can see Monty up at the helm with Bill, they have also completed the loop hence the gold flag at the bow. Home for them is Houston Texas they hope to sell their boat as Carol has her eye on something a bit larger, when that happens they too will head to the Bahamas and beyond. |
This is GodSpeed and SugarBaby, thats Billy peeking around the corner, they are from Louisiana. They are also heading back home to do some upgrades on the boat and will head back out again to the east coast in the spring.
Pam and Billy on GodSpeed from Sidell LA
Fair Winds and Following Seas
Saturday, October 22, 2011
OH.... Please let there be heat
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| People and their pets |
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| This dock is now full lesson #1....... |
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| socializing 101 |
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| OUT with the old............ |
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| IN with the new! |
In my last post I mentioned the fact that we have been without heat in the aft cabin and Jim ordered a unit to be delivered to Joe Wheeler. Well I am happy to report that we now have heat!!! The unit was here as promised and Jim was all over it when we got here. It took him about 3 hours to get it installed and 1 trip to the hardware store. Thank You to Pam on GodSpeed for taking Jim to the store, luckily she had rented a car and generously offered to drive him there. So last night when it got down to 30 degrees we were nice and toasty. And with Jim purchasing the unit direct from the factory and installing it himself he saved us $1400. Way to Go Jim!
Today was spent cleaning, Jim is working on the outside, an endless job. And I spent the day inside mostly cleaning up after the install and killing flies, we seem to have those spiders we picked up in Canada under control.
I would say about 15 more boats came in today and the marina is nearly full now, Check in for the start of the rendezvous begins tomorrow at 3pm, cocktails began early today I would guess by 2 in the afternoon the docks were full of people. By 6pm we wandered over to the " official dock party" at the gazebo, its great fun catching up with other boaters we haven't seen in awhile, and the many knew boats that are starting or at the beginning of their loop.
Florence Mississippi to Rogersville Alabama
Friday Oct 20th
We left Grand Harbor on Thursday and traveled to Florance Ms it was a nice short day and the ride was pleasant. When we left Grand Harbor the marina in Florence was not sure if they would have a slip for us with electric as they were quite full and because of the weather. boats were lingering longer than anticipated. Luckily, when we arrived they had electric for us, this was important as the temps have been wayyyyyy down the last couple of days, and it is always nice to have some heat. I say some heat as we are down to 1 unit on the boat that is working properly, there are 3 AC/heat units onboard. I had mentioned that while at GH we had someone come take a look at our unit in the Aft cabin and the unfortunate diagnose was it lived a 20 year life and needed to be put to rest. Now, anyone with a boat knows these boat things are pricey and when they called with a replacement price of $3000 for 1 unit installed. the captain went online to check things out himself. In the end he ordered a unit had it shipped to Rogersville AL and it would be waiting for us when we arrived. Oh, and the weather when we left GH was long pants, sweatshirts, jackets and gloves. Sure hope all goes well with the AC/heat unit Jim ordered.
Florence was a nice stop though be it a 1 night stand, we will be stopping there again on our way south in a couple of weeks. The next morning we would leave here with a flotilla of 8 boats all heading to the rendezvous. though a short day, we needed to go through 2 locks which can really slow things down, but traveling as a unit and talking in advance to the lockmaster the lock was open and waiting for our arrival. SWEET! And the second lock was just as nice as the lockmasters talked to each other so again the 2nd lock was open and waiting for us! Once at the 2nd lock we picked up some more boats so 2 boats needed to rafted up in order for us all to lock though together. We arrived at Joe Wheeler in a flotilla of 11 and were in our slip by noon, checked in and cocktails shortly after, docktails at 5pm and dinner at the lodge (9 of us) at 6:30.
We left Grand Harbor on Thursday and traveled to Florance Ms it was a nice short day and the ride was pleasant. When we left Grand Harbor the marina in Florence was not sure if they would have a slip for us with electric as they were quite full and because of the weather. boats were lingering longer than anticipated. Luckily, when we arrived they had electric for us, this was important as the temps have been wayyyyyy down the last couple of days, and it is always nice to have some heat. I say some heat as we are down to 1 unit on the boat that is working properly, there are 3 AC/heat units onboard. I had mentioned that while at GH we had someone come take a look at our unit in the Aft cabin and the unfortunate diagnose was it lived a 20 year life and needed to be put to rest. Now, anyone with a boat knows these boat things are pricey and when they called with a replacement price of $3000 for 1 unit installed. the captain went online to check things out himself. In the end he ordered a unit had it shipped to Rogersville AL and it would be waiting for us when we arrived. Oh, and the weather when we left GH was long pants, sweatshirts, jackets and gloves. Sure hope all goes well with the AC/heat unit Jim ordered.
Florence was a nice stop though be it a 1 night stand, we will be stopping there again on our way south in a couple of weeks. The next morning we would leave here with a flotilla of 8 boats all heading to the rendezvous. though a short day, we needed to go through 2 locks which can really slow things down, but traveling as a unit and talking in advance to the lockmaster the lock was open and waiting for our arrival. SWEET! And the second lock was just as nice as the lockmasters talked to each other so again the 2nd lock was open and waiting for us! Once at the 2nd lock we picked up some more boats so 2 boats needed to rafted up in order for us all to lock though together. We arrived at Joe Wheeler in a flotilla of 11 and were in our slip by noon, checked in and cocktails shortly after, docktails at 5pm and dinner at the lodge (9 of us) at 6:30.
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| Pickwick Belle |
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| Tee Pees on the Tennessee River |
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| At Florence we woke up to the start of a bass tournament 100 boats |
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| The Florence Flotilla 5 behind us |
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| 4 in front of us |
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| Joe Wheeler State Park we are finally here for the fall rendezvous these are the slips in front of the lodge. Theres Erika Lin pulling into her slip, after a year and a half we, or they, finally caught up to us. We first met Lynda and Bob at the Myrtle Beach rendezvous 2010 |
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Grand Harbor Marina at Pickwick TN or MS?
Today makes 5 days here on Pickwick lake we were to leave here yesterday but decided to have someone from Aqua Yacht come take a look at our AC/heat system in the aft cabin. Since the temps are suppose to drop for the next few days to the 50's it would be nice to have heat again in the cabin, its actually suppose to get down to mid 30's at night for a few days. Then we heard we were going to get rain, thunder and lightening and possibly Hail! So we stayed another day, we are leaving tomorrow sun, rain, wind or whatever. This is a very nice marina though its a condo/marina development, they have a spa here as well, so the loopers have been keeping them quite busy with manicures, pedicures, massages, haircuts and colors etc. I got a cut and color myself.
The day we got in there were a total of 20 looper boat here by the end of the day, since everyone, or most are heading to Alabama to the rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park. As I had said earlier, its a bit confusing, we are in Tn if we leave the dock but the boat is in Mississippi on the dock and when we look across the water a short ways it Alabama. See map above...click to enlarge it.
Cocktails on the dock in Mississippi
This is a field trip to Freddy T's (TN) the restaurant provided a van for us, only its a 11 person van so the 13 of us squeezed into it. Number 13 was a Canadian stowaway in the luggage compartment.
Twyla showing off NautiNell's new signs on the port and starboard, nice job Mike.
Mike and Miss Twyla at Shiloh overlooking the Tn River, we had passed by here just a couple of days ago.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Gunkholing along the Tenn River
Since leaving Pebble Isle 6 days ago we have been cruising at Turtle speed, travelling on average 7.5 mph and covering as few miles as possible stopping at all anchorages along the way that we can. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to travel this way, and it has been great fun and very relaxing. Since the only schedule we have right now is to get to Joe Wheeler in AL by the 21st, we have lots of time to travel a short distance. Our buddy boat is NautiNell and Mike and Twyla like to anchor out as much as possible so now is a great time for us to hone in on our anchoring skills, we are getting much more comfortable with it and its really nice to just drop the hook rather than having to travel a certain distance to get to the next marina.
The Tenn River is so beautiful and we have had the most wonderful anchorages and the BEST company! The leaves are changing color the weather has been perfect and the scenery is picturesque.
Below are some photos................. Click on them to enlarge for a better look.
Once on the hook Mike and Jim took the dinks to shore to gather wood for and Fire, this was the night of our 1 year anniversery on the boat. We had the crew of 3 other boats to help us celebrate.
They managed to find plenty of wood for the fire.
One of the many beautiful sunsets that we have had the pleasure to enjoy the last week.
It was a fun night on the island there were 12 in attendance. Mike broke out his Party Time flag.
At one of our anchorages there were goats on the island as well as deer.
Since most of the mornings have been cool there has been fog in the mornings.
The end of another great day.
Full Moon on the Tennessee River
Our final anchorage before Grand Harbor Marina.
We had been seeing lots of deer on the islands when anchoring out but these were the largest.
Mike's offering to the fair weather God
The Tenn River is so beautiful and we have had the most wonderful anchorages and the BEST company! The leaves are changing color the weather has been perfect and the scenery is picturesque.
Below are some photos................. Click on them to enlarge for a better look.
Once on the hook Mike and Jim took the dinks to shore to gather wood for and Fire, this was the night of our 1 year anniversery on the boat. We had the crew of 3 other boats to help us celebrate.
They managed to find plenty of wood for the fire.
One of the many beautiful sunsets that we have had the pleasure to enjoy the last week.
At one of our anchorages there were goats on the island as well as deer.
Since most of the mornings have been cool there has been fog in the mornings.
The end of another great day.
Full Moon on the Tennessee River
Our final anchorage before Grand Harbor Marina.
We had been seeing lots of deer on the islands when anchoring out but these were the largest.
Mike's offering to the fair weather God
Sunday, October 9, 2011
1 Year anniversary OnBoard SweetPea
It is almost impossible to believe that it has been a year since we pulled away from our homeport of Westport Ma. Last year in a 10 day period we had sold our camper our 17'Bass boat and Jim's beloved Pickup truck. It was at that point, that we knew we were actually going to do this, but it didn't really hit home till the morning of Oct 9th we dropped our dock lines and left port to places unknown. We really were in total disbelief! After all, we had just purchased SweetPea 3 months earlier and our only boating experience was that little 17' basstracker with its 25 hp engine we had owned for 20 years.
The plan if we had one, was, go south to somewhere warm for the winter. At that time we naively thought, if we go to say, South Carolina surely it would be warm, but no, there was frost on the docks each morning so we head further south, OK Florida it is, Jacksonville was just as cold and frosty as SC it was not until we reached Stuart FL that the temps were in the high 70's mid 80's. We really had not planned to travel that far south and now we will have to retrace our path back north to begin the loop. So, Stuart was the start of the loop for us. We now call the trip south our shake down cruise, as we, (Jim) was able to really get a good handle on the boat and what we needed to add to it as far as navigational and safety equipment to do the trip. So, on March 1st we began our trip north on the Great American Loop with a pit stop back in Jacksonville to get canvas made for the upper helm and new bottom paint for SweetPea.
We have been to so many incredible places and met so many wonderful people so far to numerous to mention. I would like to send a big hello to 3 boaters we met when we first began the trip south Bob and Denise on Liberty who left their state of RI one day before us heading to the Keys, Pete and Jerri who we first met in Melbourne Fl on their boat 5 o'clock and Scott and Lane on Esperanza out of Canada who spent a month in our homeport before heading south, we did some traveling with all of them at different times along the way south and look forward to catching up with them again in the future. I can't believe its been a year!
A few days before we left Westport Ma. Jim installed a new chartplotter so all the travel info is actual,
as of today we have traveled a total of 5559 miles, and the 3857miles are how many miles since we left Stuart FL, which is the start of the loop.
The 22.1 mph is the fastest we have traveled, and the 9.1 mph is the average speed, we have really learned to slow down which helps considerably with fuel consumption. We estimate that when the loop is complete, it will be well over 6000 miles for the loop and total miles once we are back in New England will be over 10,000 miles.
The plan if we had one, was, go south to somewhere warm for the winter. At that time we naively thought, if we go to say, South Carolina surely it would be warm, but no, there was frost on the docks each morning so we head further south, OK Florida it is, Jacksonville was just as cold and frosty as SC it was not until we reached Stuart FL that the temps were in the high 70's mid 80's. We really had not planned to travel that far south and now we will have to retrace our path back north to begin the loop. So, Stuart was the start of the loop for us. We now call the trip south our shake down cruise, as we, (Jim) was able to really get a good handle on the boat and what we needed to add to it as far as navigational and safety equipment to do the trip. So, on March 1st we began our trip north on the Great American Loop with a pit stop back in Jacksonville to get canvas made for the upper helm and new bottom paint for SweetPea.
We have been to so many incredible places and met so many wonderful people so far to numerous to mention. I would like to send a big hello to 3 boaters we met when we first began the trip south Bob and Denise on Liberty who left their state of RI one day before us heading to the Keys, Pete and Jerri who we first met in Melbourne Fl on their boat 5 o'clock and Scott and Lane on Esperanza out of Canada who spent a month in our homeport before heading south, we did some traveling with all of them at different times along the way south and look forward to catching up with them again in the future. I can't believe its been a year!
A few days before we left Westport Ma. Jim installed a new chartplotter so all the travel info is actual,
as of today we have traveled a total of 5559 miles, and the 3857miles are how many miles since we left Stuart FL, which is the start of the loop.
The 22.1 mph is the fastest we have traveled, and the 9.1 mph is the average speed, we have really learned to slow down which helps considerably with fuel consumption. We estimate that when the loop is complete, it will be well over 6000 miles for the loop and total miles once we are back in New England will be over 10,000 miles.
Tonight we are anchored behind an island on the Tennessee River with our friends Mike and Twyla on NautiNell. This is our view, however this morning we woke up to another cool morning with heavy fog and only the sound of the fog horns in the distance. Life is Good.
For those of you who have been following our blog, thank you for your comments, questions and e-mails, with almost 15,000 page views we hope to meet some of our followers and those of you in the background in the up coming months. Or maybe we will see you at Joe Wheeler State Park at the rendezvous, in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Kentucky Sugar Bay
Sugar Bay
OokPik, NautiNell and SweetPea
Karen and Twyla checking out the scenery and the guys at work
After we got rafted they thought maybe we should at least drop another anchor.
Jim fishing.............
Mike catching!
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