The Jump

Going across the gulf from Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs is called “The Jump” in Looper lingo. After much discussion with folks from three other boats we decided to leave Apalachicola at noon but there was still a fairly thick fog lingering, however with no weather windows in the foreseeable future we decided to wait just a bit more then head out fog or no fog. At 12:45 we pulled out of the Water Street Marina (29.732043, -84.987860) and four boats moved in single file ever so slowly, due to the persistent fog, toward Government Cut (29.613685, -84.959052). This cut is a pass between two long narrow islands which was dredged earlier this year, so we knew the depths would be good enough for our small fleet. The lead boat, Tango Papa, worked his way forward using his chart plotter and radar to locate bouys and markers to keep us all in deep water, the channels in some of these areas are bordered by 1 to 2 foot depths. We finally reached the cut at 2:15 and safely found our way out to the gulf, but we were still in a heavy fog for the next hour or two. Once the thick stuff disappeared we had several hours of blue skies and 1 to 2 foot wave action bouncing us around, bumpy but not to uncomfortable. Around 6:30 darkness had swallowed us like small gnats in a sea of stars, by 8:00 the Milky Way was again visible as a faint white river stretching across the heavens; this is when you lay on your back and pretend you're in a spaceship headed for new adventures in a place far far away. By 9:00 Kim and I were pulling shifts, one sleeps as the other drives... as I've mentioned before, Overtime does not have an autopilot which means someone is constantly manning the wheel as if driving a car. To make matters even more difficult, there is a lot of play in the wheel which means you can change course without the wheel moving, therefore you have to keep an eye on some target in front of you. My target for this trip through fog, darkness and open waters was Kharma, much thanks to our buddy boat for making our trip much easier, without a target we would constantly be over-correcting while using the chart plotter to keep on course, we would have made it but it would have been a lot of work. Morning light arrived shortly prior to the Sun's blinding glare obscured small round floating objects call “crab pots.” Actually the crab pots are laying on the gulf floor while small ropes keep each attached to floats for retrieval. We started seeing these balls/floats about 3 miles prior to reaching the channel (28.151063, -82.859128) which would lead us into Tarpon Springs and our destination, Turtle Cove Marina (28.152620, -82.762343). They are well known obstacles to boaters because if you run over one the rope will most likely wrap around your propeller shaft and screw your day up. Our approach to the channel had us heading directly into the Sun which made it nearly impossible to see the balls/floats. We took to a zigzag approach crossing the Sun's glare while looking for the little bastards, but they were in silhouette and as dark as the water they sat in. We managed to win the battle by keeping a slow pace and a sharp eye. After a slow ride through the channel leading back into Tarpon Springs with boaters who didn't know what “No Wake” actually means, we reached the marina. The time was 11:13 am on 12-29-16. It had been a 22 hour and 32 minute trip.... maybe, my math may be wrong because I'm very tired.

Kim's Korner:
The “jump” causes more anxiety for a looper than anything else. We have heard horror stories but ours went very well. We took our Dramamine in case we got sea sick and we were rocked quite a bit even though looking at the sea, it looked fairly smooth. Morning brought very calm seas which were very welcome. As many crab pots as we dodged, I'm expecting some really wonderful crab here! ...Pictures

Panama City Marina to Apalachicola (2)

We had heavy fog this morning which delayed our departure until almost 10 am, traveling 60 miles at trawler speeds requires a lot of daylight. After the fog lifted the weather was good as we passed through East Bay and into the canal leading to our next port-of-call. As we approached the end of a long day the sun settled below the horizon and another layer of fog settled on our tired bones. Our last 3 miles of a 60 mile trip was dark and difficult to navigate. The inside and outside of my windshield was covered in a layer of dewey haze limiting my visibility to that of a ninety year old man with 30 year old cataracts. That wouldn't have been so bad except that I had to turn back into a small stream which was only about 60 yards wide which lead to our marina. Several people from the hotel assisted us and our buddy boat, Kharma, in tying up then we promptly made a bee-line to a local oyster bar for drinks and food.  

Panama City Marina to Apalachicola

We rented a car and drove home last week for Christmas and enjoyed visiting with friends and family throughout the week, today (12/26) we drove back to our waiting boat and friends in Panama City Marina. Tomorrow we plan to head on over to Apalachicola to position ourselves for a gulf crossing on Wednesday/Thursday. We'll leave Apalachicola around 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday and travel 7.5 to 8 mph through the bay and across the gulf to Tarpon Springs' Turtle Cove Marina. The trip will cover about 186 miles which will take about 24 hours at our speed. While in Apalachicola we'll be at the Water Street Hotel & Marina.

Just The Cook

Kim and I went for a bike ride a few days ago from Panama City Marina over to St Andrews Marina and stumbled across a small food joint built on a boat hull sitting in one of the slips. It was painted white with red trim and was very interesting to look at, someone saw me staring and said I should order the Dan-D-Donut Burger. A few minutes later another person walked by and suggested the same thing. So, I suggested to Kim that we invite Bob and Sharon to join us the next day and check it out, after all, it's these kind of interesting places you want to find when traveling the back-roads, or in our case the back-waters. The name is “Just The Cook”... check it out here.

Overtime Before and After

Kim's Korner:
So I finally had time to put together some before and after pictures of the boat. I've added an album if you'd like to take a look. We really put a lot of time and love into fixing her up!

Ft Walton Beach to Panama City Marina

Fort Walton Beach had a nice pier (30.401770, -86.606586) with several slips adjacent to a pretty little park (Landing Park) located within walking distance to a grocery store and several restaurants. When arriving you're supposed to call city hall to check-in, which we did, and you can only stay one night; there is no power or any other amenities. We liked the area so much we called to see if they'd let us stay one more night but they had no record of the previous call. Rather than accusing us of not calling they were nice enough to say that no record existed of us staying the previous night therefore we could most certainly stay. Tuesday morning (12/13) we untied and crossed Choctawhatchee Bay followed by a small canal called the Grand Canyon which lead us to West Bay, Grand Lagoon and Panama City Marina (30.150713, -85.664633) located in St Andrews Bay. We are within walking distance of the downtown area which has several good restaurants. Kim and I went for a bike ride today and saw a lot of beautiful old homes with large oak trees which were covered with Spanish moss. We are still traveling with our friends Bob and Sharon, our other friends, Rob and Glenda, are staying in Niceville for a few days and will catch up with us soon. Kim and I will be heading home Monday for a week to see family and friends for Christmas.

Kim’s Korner:
Dolphins!!! All through Choctawhatchee Bay, we saw dolphins! They had a great time bow riding, wake riding and riding alongside Overtime – it was absolutely spectacular! If you had asked me what the #1 thing on my list of things I wanted to see during the Great Loop, this would be it. See my album for pictures.
In Panama City, we’ve enjoyed the downtown restaurants, shops and fresh seafood markets as well as biking along Beach Ave. The weather has been nice and we plan to go to the beach tomorrow – it’s supposed to be 75 degrees in the afternoon!
We’ll be headed home for Christmas and be looking at trying to do “the jump” – the 170 mile crossing of the gulf when we return. We are both ready for warmer weather although the last week has been much nicer.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe, happy holiday!

The Wharf and Fort Walton Beach

The Wharf and Fort Walton Beach

We pulled out of Fairhope last Wednesday (12/7) and traveled to The Wharf marina (30.295827, -87.629834) in Orange Beach, Alabama. This is the nicest place we've stayed so far but still we had little to no wi-fi service. They have very nice floating docks rather than the more customary fixed docks usually found in coastal areas. The marina is part of a large complex of shops, restaurants, condominiums and a movie theater located right along the intracoastal waterway. We decided to stay a few days so that we could enjoy the sights, the best sight was the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, it's a must see event. The weather has been colder than we'd like at times with occasional rain showers but we're managing to stay warm and dry. One night we had dinner at Lu Lu's and enjoyed the music of Albert Simpson, who by-the-way was born in Ringgold, Georgia. We left The Wharf Sunday (12/11) morning headed for an anchorage called Big Sabine about 35 miles away, but when we got there it didn't look like a very good place to anchor in our opinion. There was a very narrow trough showing on our charts with one to two foot depths on either side and no markers indicating where to steer, so we decided not to take a chance; there wasn't much wind protection either so it just didn't seem worth the trouble. We decided to go another 25 miles to a free dock at Fort Walton Beach where we spent two nights. One thing Loopers have in common, we all like the word “free.”

Kim’s Korner:

We were lucky enough to get to see the Christmas Boat Parade in Gulf Shores and even had front row seats from Overtime to view the parade and it was spectacular!

The most memorable thing in Ft. Walton was The Magnolia Grill which is a house that was bought from the Sears Roebuck catalog in 1910 and relocated at some point to its current location and made into a restaurant. The atmosphere was very warm and inviting with Christmas lights and decorations everywhere. The food was absolutely wonderful! If you are ever in the vicinity, I strongly urge you to try it.

Fairhope, Alabama

We arrived in Fairhope's Eastern Shore Marina around noon yesterday just as heavy rain hit us. We're staying put today due to high winds and overcast skies, the weather has not been very pleasant for the last week or so. My last entry had us at Bashi Creek where we rafted with Kharma, they have been very gracious in providing a power cord and sharing an anchor line with us; as I've explained previously, we only have a small gas powered generator which is plenty but since they run their generator anyway it's nice to not run out of gas at night. Bashi Creek is at mile 145 on the waterway and our next destination was mile 119, Bobby's Fish Camp (31.764188, -88.157801). Bobby's has a dock which holds about three and one-half large boats... yachts, more than that and we have to raft (tied side by side) up with each other. There are only four power outlets so there has to be some cooperation there as well, but cooperation and helpfulness seems to be what all these boat people are about. We wound up having five boats all total before the nights end, one of which pulled in after dark. A bunch of us enjoyed a catfish dinner at the restaurant where the waitress and new friends sang Happy Birthday to me as apple pie was placed on the table, very nice. The next morning it appeared several of our five boats had run aground without ever moving. There's a lot of floating clumps-of-grass and hyacinth in the river and it had collected at the bow of two rafted boats, we all got a kick out of it. All five boats traveled together for several days to mile 52.8, an anchorage at the Alabama River Cutoff (31.190126, -87.935490) and mile 12, Big Brier Creek (30.811756, -87.935508), the following night. We weren't in any hurry because of foul weather due to hit Mobile Bay, so we just enjoyed the anchorages and scenery. The five boats were Overtime, Kharma, Monterey, Kristine (53' Defever) and Carter's Cove (48' Bayliner). You've already meet the good folks on Kharma and Monterey, Kristine's crew was Rusty & Kris Bliss and Carter's Cove's crew was David & Bonnie. After leaving Big Brier we traveled in a light fog which hid all of Mobile except the shoreline structures; cranes, a tall bridge, and anything above 50 feet was shrouded in a haze. The five boats crept along at our usual slow pace in awe of the ominous looking landscape, or should I say riverscape? The path along the Mobile River eventually lead us to Mobile Bay where the fleet of five broke apart with two heading south for the GICW and three heading east for Easternshore Marina (30.542662, -87.903660) at Fairhope where we hope to do a little sight seeing and wait for better weather to arrive.

Kim's Korner

Talk about feeling small! Going thru the Mobile Bay shipyard in our little trawler made me feel like an ant next to those huge container ships – what a different perspective! The pelicans and seagulls gave us a nice escort across Mobile Bay which averages about 10' feet deep. Soon after we arrived in Fairhope, storms came in full force with lightening and rain galore. Overtime was rocking and rolling for quite some time but thank goodness, things calmed down some by bedtime. When the rocking picked up again during the night, David got up to adjust the fenders for reassurance. Surprisingly, we both fell back asleep and woke up to fairly calm waters :)

Demopolis to Bashi Creek

When we pulled into Kingfisher Marina (32.528756, -87.841636) in Demopolis there were high winds and storms due to hit, so we decided to wait them out here because Bobby's Fish Camp, the only small spot of civilization between here and Mobile 216 miles away, is not a good place to be stuck; we'll be anchoring out except for Bobby's until we get to Mobile. While here we have enjoyed the company of our fellow fleet members, Bob & Sharon and Rob & Glenda. The marina has excellent laundry facilities, a courtesy car and is a nice clean place to stay. The six of us went out to eat several times and enjoyed hanging around the dock and discussing our next departure plans. The next recommended anchorage was 70 miles away at Bashi Creek (river mile marker 145); other anchorages were not looking good, too shallow according to the information we had. 70 miles calls for a lot of daylight when you travel at trawler speeds, if we could get on the river early, say 6:00, and not get held up at the Demopolis Lock we could make it. By Thursday, the storms had all passed so Sharon called the lock at 5:30 am and the lock-master said to come on down since no commercial traffic was in the area. Sharon said we'd be there at 6:30. At 6:00 we pulled out of the marina with the sun just breaking the horizon and a very light fog rising above the water's surface due to the low temperature - 38 degrees. The routine at the lock went smooth and we were 30 feet lower in altitude in about 20 minutes. As we pulled out of the chamber onto the river we were met with a thick fog that was totally blinding for moments at a time. The chart-plotter shows my location relative to the navigation line but is not fully trust-worthy since it's not a real-time aid. This was my opportunity to use my new radar system, one I was reluctant to buy since I never planned to be out in the fog or the dark. Kim activated the system and adjusted the gain to reveal two objects directly in front of us about 50 yards out, our traveling companions. For about the next 45 minutes we worked our way down river, the new AIS system was a comfort as well, it let us know there were no tugs in front or behind. Once the fog lifted, we had clear skies and all the rain from previous days gave us a strong current to push us along. I was doing 8 knots rather than my usual 7. We passed several tugs, some southbound and some northbound but only one was a challenge. The Bobby Joe James, tugs are usually named after someone – I don't know why, was pushing 9 barges fully loaded with coal and doing about 6 knots. Our timing to catch him was important because we were just coming to a scarce straight section of the river. I radioed and he said to pass on either side so I chose to stay on his starboard side which eliminated the need for me to cross his prop-wash. It looked like I would have plenty of time to clear his bow before the next curve but you tend to lose some speed until after crossing the lead barges bow wave. This bit of a slow down meant I was barely outrunning him and as we approached the curve I heard his massive engines throttle back and his voice came over the radio telling me to speed up cause I was on the wrong side for this curve; I said I was going as fast as I could so he backed off a bit more until I cleared his bow. At that point, my speed picked up and we were out in front with plenty of distance after a few minutes, at this point I radioed “Bobby Joe, you sure are fast for such a big boy”. About thirty minutes later we were pulling into Bashi Creek (31.955732, -88.071086). Kharma had already anchored and invited us to a starboard raft-up, they were also gracious enough to share a power cord so that I wouldn't have to add gas to my little generator at 3:00 am. Karma and Monterey are much faster than us, they each have twin engines measured in the hundreds of horsepower where Overtime has a little 90 hp engine, they also have built-in generators which draw fuel from the main diesel tanks whereas Overtime has no generator other than the little Honda gas powered unit I carry onboard.

Kim's Korner,

It's cold in the mornings!!! We are using hand warmers, foot warmers, winter coats, wool socks, long underwear, gloves, hats and have 3 thermoses full of hot chocolate, tea, and cider! Oh and don't forget the blanket I have wrapped around me :) But we keep warm and after a few hours, the sun gets warm enough and the layers start coming off. Somehow, this wasn't the picture I had in my mind but the 4 weeks of repairs and improvements put us into the colder temperatures. But we've met some awesome friends, enjoyed beautiful leaves, no waits at the locks, and availability of marinas and anchorages which has definitely been good things! Our anchorages have been just beautiful!

Cook's Inlet to Demopolis

We had a nice visit with Bob and Sharon on Karma last night, the sky was clear and the Milky Way magnificent. We ran our little 2 kW Honda generator all night, well almost all night. I need to run it to power my CPAP but I didn't turn the heater on until around 3:30 (25º outside)... the geny ran out of gas at 5:00. We got up about 6:00 filled the generator, cooked breakfast then all four boats headed down river about 7:45. Only had one lock at mile 266 and no barges today. It was a beautiful trip with very little excitement, we even took turns napping in the pilothouse with a cold breeze while snuggled under layers of clothes and a blanket. We arrived in Demopolis around 4:00 and plan to spend a few days here due to in-coming weather. Kim & I, Bob & Sharon and Rob & Glenda all piled into a five-seater car and went out for delicious Mexican meal and conversation. Cook's Inlet is located at 32.944319, -88.178556

Columbus Marina to Cook's Inlet

We left Columbus Marina (33.522302, -88.481801) at 7:00 this morning and had a great little trip with new friends, beautiful scenery, bald eagles and big barges. We are anchored at Cook's Inlet, mile 277, rafted with friends Bob and Sharon from “Karma.” The night sky is dark and the Milky Way is brilliant! We plan to reach Demopolis tomorrow.

Midway Marina to Columbus Marina

We left Midway Marina (34.297828, -88.420396) at 7:00 am with 4 other boats all mentioned in yesterday's post. We went through 4 locks and covered 60 miles pulling into Columbus Marina at 4:30 pm. We have about 120 miles to the next marina so we'll be anchoring out tomorrow night. Sorry this one is short but we are tired and will be going to bed early.

Aqua Yacht Harbor to Midway Marina

After four weeks of waiting we are finally on the move again. We joined Bob & Sharon (Karma) and pulled out of Aqua at 7:00 am headed for the Tn-Tom at a leisurely 7 knots. Now I don't usually talk or think in terms of knots because the rivers and ICW are all measured in miles plus my brain is wired for mph, not knots... so this morning as I was running my usual 2000 RPMs my new chart plotter indicated to me that I was only going about 6 mph, I was expecting 7 to 7.5. I kept bumping the engine speed until I saw the expected 7 on my plotter and eventually realized the display said 7 kt rather than 7 mph, so I was actually doing a little more than 8 mph. Since I haven't figured out how to change that particular setting I'll try to rewire my brain to think in knots for a while. I made use of my new AIS as well, as we approached a southbound tug, I looked her up in the list supplied by my new toy and saw the name was Ginger Moller, however I called her Ginger Molly over the radio. Well the tug captain didn't seem to like that, his only reply was “Ginger Moller.” So, I hailed again with the correct name and asked which side I should pass to which he indicated it didn't matter since he planned to stay in the middle. This section of the Tn-Tom (The “Divide Cut”) is about 200 yards wide and his barge is about 70 yards wide, that leaves about 65 yards on either side. Normally that would be plenty of room however we were in a slight bend as I started around and it seemed he was squeezing me a little more than he needed to, I was about 10 yards from the barge and 10 yards from the bank as I passed. From now on I'll make sure and call these tugs by their proper name. We passed through three locks, Whitton, Montgomery and Rankin, on our way to Midway Marina with a 40 minute wait at Rankin being our only hindrance. We picked up another boat in our traveling pod, a small sailboat with no mast called Plan B (Charlie and son, Quinton) and when we pulled into the marina, we met other Loopers from Ocean Dancer (Bill & Kellirae) and Monterey (Rob & Glenda) at the dock. It was a good day! And Thanksgiving to boot! We enjoyed turkey sandwiches and leftovers from Hagey's Catfish Hotel Restaurant where we had eaten the day before – excellent food! We finished off our very unique Thanksgiving with some apple pie and ice cream. Hope all had a great holiday!
Aqua Yacht Harbor is located at 34.991645, -88.246922.

We Are Back On Overtime

Repairs and new electronics installation are complete... almost. I've been in touch with the service manager quite often and have been tracking their progress.

The work includes:

1. Installation of AIS, GPS, sonar and radar.
2. Installation of a new Racor fuel filtration system.
3. Davit repairs.
4. Hull repaired near rudder shaft.
5. Steering Actuator resealed.
6. Fresh water leak.

The new fuel filtration system installation was nearly complete when we arrived, everything else was complete except for one thing; the bilge had standing water again. They are having a hard time finding the leak, it's not lake water, it's coming from the fresh water system.

We had hoped to get underway tomorrow but with rain and windy conditions forecast we will probably wait until Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), this will also give them one more chance to find the leak.

We ran into a couple who are in the same boat as Kim and me, sort-of. They bought a boat in Florida and crossed the Gulf then brought her up the Tn-Tom to Aqua Yacht Harbor. From here they drove home and loaded up a truck and came back ready to start the Loop. They suggested we travel together for a while, so we'll see how that goes.

On The Hard

Overtime has been pulled from the water and placed on “The Hard.” How can I be sure you ask? Because a friend from Gold Point Marina, Chris Burton, called me today and when I asked “what cha doing” he said “standing here looking at your boat.” As you know, Overtime is at Aqua Yacht Harbor in Mississippi, so I was kind of surprised just as he was when he noticed my boat. Small world!

Time For Some TLC

We arrived at Aqua Yacht Harbor Sunday afternoon to have some work done, just not sure how much is to be done yet. I gave Tom, the service manager, a list of items I wanted them to look into but while looking they discovered something that may prove to be expensive; a leak/seepage in my fiberglass hull in the area where the rudder shank penetrates, ouch! They'll pull the boat out of the water possibly next Monday and she'll be on the hard (sitting on dry land) for at least a week, therefore we'll rent a car and drive home since we're only four hours away. On a happier note, we had a good day at Shiloh National Military Park Tuesday with Jim and Mandy (Shell Belle) along with Kent and Jan (Follow That Dream) followed by dock-tails; also had an excellent lunch at Hagy's Catfish Hotel located next to the park.

The Great Wall of Alabama

Kim and I walked almost 4 miles this morning then went to a Florence visitor center located near the marina where Kim found an item of interest. We borrowed the marina car, loaded Wally and Darcy Campbell in the back and headed for The Great Wall of Alabama. With the help of the young lady in our GPS app we found the great wall in the Alabama country side. We parked on a dirt road and as we walked up the driveway we saw several people sitting in a semi-circle, we were invited to join them. Tom Hendrix told the story of his g-g-grandmother walking back to this area from Oklahoma when she was 17 years old in the year 1844 or 45. She had been forced from the area along with all the other Indians in President Jackson's Indian Removal Act better known as the Trail of Tears.

Later in the evening we celebrated Darcy's birthday with champagne and homemade apple pie.

Florence, Alabama

With 12 boats pulling out of Joe Wheeler State Park this morning and headed to the Wheeler Lock it was best to have one person do the coordinating rather than each boat making contact. The lock is only a mile or so below the park and with good coordination the lock was open and waiting. It's been rather windy this morning and I was a bit concerned about hitting one of the other boats while pulling into the chamber, remember I have a single engine and no thrusters, but everything went smoothly. We rafted onto another Kadey-Krogen Manatee named Summertime and had a nice conversation with Wally and Darcy as the water level eased us on down to the Wilson reservoir. Once on Wilson Lake we had a 10 mile or so trip to Wilson Lock, it's a rather short lake but has a hell of a drop to the Pickwick pool level... 95 feet. At the lock it was “rinse and repeat.” So, we are now tied to the end cap of “A” dock and heading out to see what the day brings.

The 2016 Fall Rendezvous Comes to a Close

The Americas Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) 2016 Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park has reached its conclusion. We had a lot of good meals, a lot of good booze, a lot of good information disseminated and met a lot of good people, all-in-all we had a really good time and picked up a lot of good information. Kim even won a door prize one night which was a basket filled with lots of goodies – an engraved wine bottle, t-shirts, hats, books, gift certificates, and a coffee mug. We have also been able to go on a couple of hikes plus paddle our kayaks around the large bay facing the lodge which is located just above the Wheeler dam and branches north off the Tennessee River. Wednesday evening we attended an exhibition polo match, meal and concert at the Bluewater Creek Polo Club located near Rogersville, the polo was boring but the meal and the music were good.

Weather permitting we will be casting off at 8:00 in the morning (Friday) with 12 other boats all heading for Wheeler then Wilson Dams, we have a couple of guys coordinating with the locks in hopes of having a smooth passage. Kim and I are stopping in Florence for a couple of nights then heading over to Aqua Yacht Harbor to see about adding some additional navigation equipment to the helm... I'll let you know how that goes.

For now we plan to have a drink, watch a show, then go to bed.... we are tired – it's been a very busy week... good night.

Joe Wheeler State Park

We pulled out of Ditto Landing at 8:00 a couple of days ago and had a 7 hour and 30 minute ride from mile 333 to 277 at speeds approaching 7.5 mph on occasion; a strong headwind was holding us at 7.0 to 7.3 most of the time. Again we saw just a few other boats however we were trailing Le Marie Sofie most of the entire day, a 2006 36' Monk in beautiful condition owned by Maurice and Renee from Canada. As we pulled into the bay where the lodge and marina are located we radioed the office and they directed us to slip 602, surprisingly the exact same slip I was in two years ago when bringing the boat home.

We are now on a dock with numerous other boaters here for the rendezvous, all nice folks eager to lend a helping hand where needed. This morning Kim and I went for a hike, about four miles through paths trailing the lakes edge where we saw deer on several occasions, yesterday we kayaked along the entire bay.

We will be busy attending informational sessions for the next several days so I may not be making very many posts.

A Trip to the Store

I have saddlebags... not just the ones hanging from each side of my torso, I have them hanging over the back tire of my bicycle; today we made good use of them. We woke early and hopped on Aldridge Creek Greenway and rode to a Publix grocery store a little over 4 miles each way. There's not much near Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, our next destination, so we thought it would be a good idea to have more food on-board. We bought some Boars Head Hickory Smoked Turkey, pork chops, salmon, veggies, chips, snacks and bread. I put 2,000 lbs in my saddlebags and the bread and chips in a basket on Kim's handlebars, I then popped a wheelie all the way back to the boat.

Oh, be sure and see pictures at the link listed on the sidebar.

Beautiful Weather and Beautiful River

Shellmound has a couple of nice little T-docks to tie onto and it was a quiet night, no jackhammers or traffic sounds, just the occasional smell of dead fish. I wound up tying a string around the tail of a big one and dragging it across a field to a garbage can, all under the cover of darkness of course. I'm sure there will be a concentrated smell waiting for whoever opens that can next. We were on a dock by ourselves but there were three boats on the other dock, I walked over the next morning for a short visit and to see what their plans were for the lock but they were in no hurry, so we pulled out by ourselves around 8:00.

I had called Nickajack Lock earlier to check on traffic, since there was none and the chamber was ready for us we sailed through in about 20 minutes. As we were pulling out of the chamber my nephew, Shawn, called to say he was waiting on the downstream side to take our picture; his timing couldn't have been better. We cruised by waving while he stood by snapping, a few minutes later we had pictures of ourselves delivered via text messaging... ain't technology cool!

We settled in at around 7 mph with the engine temperature holding steady around 165 degrees at slightly under 2000 rpm's, I didn't touch the throttle again until we arrived at Goose Pond Marina. Since leaving the lock we have been traveling on Guntersville Lake and it is a beauty, parts are remote and parts have some very nice homes, some are amazing. We heard radio transmissions with Nickajack and knew some boats were behind us but it was hours before we saw any, eventually though we saw Rachel in the distance. She's a 2013 48 foot Kadey-Krogen trawler owned by George and Rachel (Rachel is the name of the boat and wife) who kept her at Gold Point, they're not doing the Loop but are headed out into the vast river system and the world beyond. We kept seeing her in the distance when we were on long straightaways and after several hours she caught up and we sailed next to each other taking pictures, she's a beautiful ship with some mighty nice owners. I wish them well in their travels.

Yesterday and today several boats called us on the radio to say we had a beautiful boat, that surprised me because I consider it to be rather odd looking although very functional.

We arrived at Goose Pond Marina around 3:00 and were joined by our friends Bill and Janie, who own a boat like ours, a Kadey-Krogen Manatee. When we were looking for a boat, we had read about the Manatee and wanted to see one. I was able to locate Bill and Janie's Hi-D-Ho using a boater's forum we belong to and they were kind enough to allow us to come see theirs. After seeing Hi-D-Ho, we decided the Manatee fit our requirements; a small 36' boat with a small 90 hp single engine and very comfortable living space. It was nice to see them Tuesday again and after a few drinks and good conversation, the four of us had a wonderful meal at the nearby Docks restaurant. These folks have been a very big help to us and become very good friends - thanks guys!

Next morning we headed out shortly after 8:00 aiming for Ditto Landing Marina located near Huntsville. Again we had a beautiful trip, saw very few boats and sailed through Guntersville Lock in about 20 minutes. We passed very few homes and just enjoyed the natural beauty the area has to offer, and again the weather was magnificent. We arrived at Ditto Landing Marina around 3:00 and were joined a little later by Kim's aunt and uncle, Corky and Ed. We had a wonderful visit followed by a Mexican meal at Rosie's.

So, we are having a great time and are doing well, I'll write more in a day or so.

Life is Good, and I have the tee-shirts to prove it!

Leaving on a Slow Boat

This morning we wanted to get underway no later than 10:00 am, so we got up semi-early and walked up to Chattz coffee shop to use up the last few dollars we had on a gift card. Since Kim woke up with a pain in her back we walked slow and she'd stop to stretch every now and again, but we eventually made it. When we got back to the marina I wanted to add water to my tanks and pump out the holding tank but the only working faucet was not at my slip or the pump-out dock, that meant two opportunities to display my boat handling skills. No problemo, backed out of my slip and with a few backward and forward thrusts along with my mastery of the ship's wheel I was able to back into a slip with a working faucet, the only problem was a boat pulled up to the pump-out dock at the same time. As luck would have it the other boat pulled away just as I finished topping off the water tanks so I hopped up to the pilothouse and started pulling out of the slip but then noticed another boat headed to the pump-out dock; being the gentleman I am I pulled back into the slip and motioned him to go ahead. So now we wait, he gets gas (it's a gas and pump-out dock) then he pumps-out, then his wife goes up to the office, in the meantime his friend in another boat pulls in for gas. Well, I won't keep harping on that except to say we did finally get to the pump-out dock.

Ok, now we are ready. Years of research, training, boat searches, getting her home, fixing her up, provisioning and transitioning it all comes down to this... pulling away from the dock. So now we're cruising along leaving the sounds of the best little mid-sized city behind (massive jack hammering on the Olgiati bridge).

We floated effortlessly downstream at a leisurely 7.5 to 7.9 mph for the next 40 miles through the gorge, this is rugged country but with some beautiful homes with large yards scattered here and there along the way. Oh, and the mountains were awesome as well.

We tied to a free dock just above Nickajack Dam for the night, other boaters have already invited us over for dock-tails. See you later.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Guess what.... we have been busy. We have made several trips to the house to straighten up, boat parts and gear were everywhere. I moved most of it to the basement but still have a bunch of tools cluttering my “office.” While at the house we've taken advantage of the washer and dryer since we don't have one at the marina, and since we're trying to conserve water on-board we have taken a couple of showers there as well. All that luxury comes to an end Monday when we pull out of Chattanooga and head down river, we'll be going through the gorge which has been hailed by many of the boaters we've met as spectacular. I've seen it many times and must agree.

We've also had four or five groups of friends, co-workers and relatives come down to have a meal, see the boat and wish us well, all much appreciated. We are very fortunate to have so many people interested and caring.

We have met several more Gold Loopers in recent days, Chattanooga is a great side-trip for the water-wanderers in the Fall, not just for the natural beauty but for the many events going on at Ross's Landing. Last weekend was Wine-Over-Water and a Three Sisters festival, this weekend is the 24th AnnualChattanooga Head Race.

Today Kim and I rode our bicycles on the River-walk up to Chickamauga Dam, about 16 miles round trip, then we finished off some meatloaf leftovers we had from last night's visit to Clyde's-on-Main.

The Journey Begins

After years of anticipation we are finally under way, sort of. We pulled out of Gold Point Yacht Harbor around 2:00 on Friday September 30, 2016 located near Tennessee River mile 472 and promptly began an hour long wait for the Chickamauga Lock about two miles downstream. My Dad was a huge help with logistics when we purchased this boat 2½ years ago and he's never got to enjoy it, so we invited him to ride with us on this first short leg of the trip. With some major events happening in downtown Chattanooga this weekend the wait area quickly accumulated ten boats for the downstream lock-through. This weekend is one of the busiest boating weekends for the downtown marina, there's a Wine Over Water event happening on the Walnut Street Bridge and a Three Sisters blue grass festival going on right next to it. While waiting we could hear some of the radio chatter, several boat owners knew each other and they were devising a plan for entering the lock and tying off. One of the ladies referred to Overtime as “that green striped thing” which got a chuckle out of Kim and me, although I think Overtimes feelings may have been bruised. We were the third boat to enter the chamber and when all was said and done we were tied to the wall on our starboard side and had a 45 foot Californian tied to our port side, this turned out to be a good omen because they were Gold Loopers. Boats fly little triangle shaped flags on their bow called burgees, these burgees display some interest of the boat owner such as a sports team or organization they like. We fly a burgee signifying we are members of “America's Great Loop Cruisers Association,” it has a white background with the letters AGLCA and a symbolic map representing the loop's route around the eastern United States. Once a member has completed the loop they fly a flag of the same design but with a gold background, thus they are called “Gold Loopers.” We finally got to pull out of the lock and got under way at an easy 7 mph, the slowest boat of the ten, we soon lost site of them and enjoyed an easy cruise to our first destination, Chattanooga... our home town. Since Gold Point doesn't prorate their monthly fee we decided to stay downtown for a week or so while living on the boat, this gives us a chance to see our hometown as tourists and we can still run home to balance what we need with what we want on-board Overtime.

We dropped my truck downtown at a garage where we pay a monthly fee prior to casting lines so we'd have some transportation, so Saturday morning we go be-bopping to the garage ready to get things done and were quickly deflated to see a totally flat rear tire on my truck, geeze! Of all the places to have a flat this was one of the best, I was under cover with room to work rather than stranded on the side of the road with cars whizzing by. After finding the jack, figuring out how to access the spare located under the truck bed and changing the tire we headed to Gold Point so Kim could get her car. After dropping her off I headed to the house and decided to mow the grass one last time, I have a two year old 46 inch riding mower which I drive with the attitude that things that don't move out of my way will be obliterated with a blade that hasn't been sharpened in two years. Since I'm not stupid (my opinion, not everyone's) I do tend to avoid things that might not want to be obliterated so easily, however on this date in history my mind was elsewhere, plus I didn't see the big root hiding under the dead leaves... one of my blades now swings freely and my spindle may be spineless.