October 16, 2012
Got up and met everyone at the courtesy van to go to
Shiloh. I found it a very haunting place
and still don’t know what to think of it.
The visitors center has a video which was produced about the battle and
it was bloody to say the least. I think
they said that about 23,000 men were killed or wounded in 2 days of
fighting. I was amazed at how peaceful
and tranquil a place it was to have been host to such horror and carnage. It will be a long time before I put it
together in my mind.
After the visit to Shiloh we drove over to Savannah, Tn for
a Walmart run. Had lunch at the Toll
House restaurant. Drove back to the
marina then to dinner at Rusty-T’s. I
thought the dinner was only marginal. I
also hated the TV over the table showing the presidential debate which I find
demeaning. Glad to get to bed.
October 17, 2012
We could not make up our minds whether we should leave and
go to Florence or stay put at Grand Harbor.
Some weather is due in tomorrow night and it will cancel any plans the
group had to anchor out. Joy and I are
going to Joe Wheeler on Thursday and could make the run in one day. The Dock Master at Florence has not told us
that they can take us all at one time.
Finally she called and said she could and we left about 10:30. We have no locks ahead of us so it is a
simple run of about 43 miles.
We arrive at about 4:00 and tie up to the fuel dock as the
depth of the other docks are marginal and I don’t want to bend up my
props. The restaurant is closed. So we had dinner on the dock. Grilled chicken on the dock. Nice evening.
October 18, 2012
All sorts of things are happening outside the boat. I look outside and there are about 140 Bass
boats milling around in the little marina.
Boats everywhere. Joy said they
played the national anthem and everyone stood up in their boats as it was
played. They took off rather peacefully
given that they all wanted to get fishing.
Left about 9:30 headed for Joe Wheeler State Park and
Marina. The rest of the group is staying
in Florence. We called the Lock about 3
miles up the river and they said to come on up.
Got there and had to wait about 25 minutes for the water to be drained
from the lock. The last trip was a group
of bass boats. Can you imagine?
Came out into the lake and took a very peaceful slow run up
to Wheeler Lock and Dam about 16 miles.
Locked through and had about 2.5 miles to the Marina. Worked on the boat for the rest of the day. Not many boats here yet. Most will come in on Saturday.
October 18, 2012
Working on the boat today.
Installed the new GPS antenna as recommended by the tech at Port
Charles. It still did not work. Called Lowrance and talked to them about
it. Checked out some things, but did not
get it to work.
Couple of boats came in to the marina, however things are
pretty quiet around here still. That
will change.
October 19, 2012
More boats coming into the marina/hotel for the get together
which starts Sunday PM. Otherwise a slow
day.
October 20, 2012
Took a shuttle ride into town to the auto and hardware
store. Not much of a town, but they are
proud of it. They were having a car show
right down town as well as a chili cook off.
Country music, everything.
October 21, 2012
Official check in for the Rendezvous is this afternoon. Then tea and lemonade (alcohol is not allowed
on the state park on Sunday and we are asked to be discrete) on the patio
veranda and dinner with Looper introductions this evening.
October 22, 2012
Seminars today till about 3:30. Then Looper Crawls and Vessel Safety
Checks. A wine reception on the veranda
and dinner.
October 23, 2012
Seminars again today till about 3:00. Then an optional tour of Rogersville which
Joy and I passed on. Then later from
about 6:30 to 9:30 a local Bed and Breakfast in town held a special concert on
their ground for the Loopers. The band
was called the KGB and they played a little of everything from Elvis to Johnny
Cash, both current and oldies. They were
really fun. Also, there were Smores and
cigars were available if you so desired.
They took us over in a school bus and since the area is dry, we had to
BYOB. We still had a grand time.
October 24, 2012
Last day of the Rendezvous.
Some seminars and picture taking and more Looper Crawls and Vessel
Safety Checks. They also had a dingy
race. The Captain (driver) had to drive
the boat backwards while blindfolded, directed by the Admiral (Navigator). This made things a little more even. Then another wine reception and dinner.
We had a great time at the Rendezvous. We have however been here for a week and are
anxious to get going.
October 25, 2012
Moved to the fuel dock at the marina and pumped out and
headed out about 8:45. We are getting a
little late start and have a full day ahead.
We are headed for an anchorage about 85 miles up river on the top side
of the Guntersville Lock and Dam. We are
leading and Sareanna and Good Karma are following. The rest of the group are doing other
things. One September is going back home
to Virginia Beach for about a week.
Seaquel is going south and heading for Florida about as fast as they can
get there. Catmandu is also heading
south, but at a much slower pace.
We are headed for Chattanooga, TN. Today is a long day upstream and we are lucky
that we get to the Guntersville L&D and have no wait. We also pick up Dave and Joy on Maia just
before the lock and go up together. We
are going to an anchorage behind Goat Island, but it is getting late and it is
almost dark when we get there. Another
boat named Water Music is in the anchorage and we have some confusion getting
anchored. Maia and Good Karma anchor
separately and we raft up with Sareanna.
It was a very peaceful night.
Beautiful.
October 26, 2012
Water Music is the first to leave the anchorage. Maia decides to stop and smell the roses and
I can’t blame them. The rest of us head
up river. It’s a little breezy
and cool, but a very beautiful morning.
Lake Guntersville is a very beautiful lake. An absolutely wonderful ride.
Today is another rather long day and it gets more windy as
we go along. We catch up to Water Music
and we lock through Nickajack Lock and Dam together. We all head for an anchorage just above the
lock. The three of us raft up, but Water
Music chooses to anchor alone. We have
done almost 83 miles and are in need of rest.
The anchorage is very quiet and docktails aboard were very welcome. We slept well.
October 27, 2012
Today is a relatively short day into Chattanooga. What a beautiful ride. The fall colors are strong and the leaves are
falling. The mountains are close to the
river and we are fighting a current so we are forced to go slow.
We arrive in Chattanooga and go to the Aquarium Wall. This is a concrete river walk just below the
Aquarium in downtown Chattanooga. The
town has arranged with Marine Max to handle their docks for them. Unfortunately, Marine Max is in the business
of selling boats and not running marinas.
I call Brian and he come to the boat. Later we go to dinner at the Big River
restaurant. Suzanne also came by and it
was good to see her. It has been a long
time since I have seen her. (We also got to see Margaret as well.)
October 28, 2012
Went to the Blue Plate Diner for breakfast with Brian and
Joan. She does not seem to be feeling
well and probably would have liked to stay at the house. The rest of the day we piddle on the
boat. We need a day to tend to things
aboard.
Brian picked us up and we had dinner at their house. They have moved since we were here last near
where their old house was. Joan is not
feeling very good as she has a bug Brian brought back from Turkey. She is still very gracious and a lovely
hostess. Margaret joined us and we had a
wonderful evening. Brian loaned us his
car for tomorrow so we could get around.
Thanks. It was very helpful.
When we got back from Brian’s house, we became very
concerned about the level of the water in the river. Chickamauga Lock and Dam is about 4 miles up
river and they are producing power, thereby letting water go through the
turbines. The concrete wall is
constructed where another few inches of elevation of the water and the boats
could float over the edge of the dock wall.
We call the dam and discuss it with them and they tell us that they are
near the end of the release and the water level will go down instead of going
up. I am not real comfortable. Not much I can do.
October 29, 2012
Went back to the Blue Plate Diner for breakfast. Unfortunately, it was closed. Bummer.
We found a Starbucks at a hotel and had breakfast and afterwards walked
down to the Arts Museum and the grounds where they have several statues. This area is very nicely presented and we had
a great time walking around. Visited a
bakery and a chocolate factory. Then
walked back to the boats along the river trail.
What a great job the town had done to bring the riverfront back together.
We went to Whole Foods and Walmart in the afternoon and got
some shopping done. We would like to
leave tomorrow, but the forecast is pretty bad.
High winds are scheduled from Hurricane Sandy. We plan to check it first thing in the
morning to make a final decision. I
don’t think any of us are excited about the forecast.
October 30, 2012
We decide to sit out the day. Instead of traveling down river, we are
traveling to the liquor store to stock up.
I also get a haircut and we ride the electric trolleys to Chattanooga
Choo-Choo. They have a display of an
electric HO train layout with nearly a mile of track and lots of miniature
scenery of the local area. Otherwise, it
was not a very interesting visit.
October 31, 2012
We leave the dock at first light. We are headed to Goose Pond Colony Marina. It is a long ride, about 93 miles, but we are
going with the current. Our average
speed will easily pickup 2 mph. It has
turned really cold. However, the ride is
very nice and we just bundle up a little.
We arrive about 4:30, take on fuel and then go to dinner at the
restaurant. Pretty good food and the
service was great.
