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.