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!