Sunday 11-22-09

Pic of the dolphins running with us today. When you would hear a splash, you knew they were beside the boat. So much fun to watch them playing. We are at Bay Point Marina. Arrived at 1:15 today. We will leave the boat here for the holidays and return mid January to continue.
The Captain has made a big mistake. He taught me to read his charts and now I can/am a back set driver. Traveling the GICWW is different.So much more to see on the rivers. We did go through the "Grand Canyon" on the GICWW. Captain says it looks like a ditch more than anything. There were a few bold eagles and probably gators but didn't see them. We wish all of you have a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for following along with us and watch for us to return mid January. God be with you. Jeff,Cheri and Frizz.... Annie Lee 111 signing off for now.

Saturday 11-21-09

We made it to Ft. Walton, Fla today. Finally out of Alabama! We are at Fort Walton Yacht Club. Fifty cents a foot plus two dollars for electric. Not bad! Again it pays to be a member of the RSYC. Their club house is great. We have a drink with the current Commodore. The rain started right after we got tied up. Perfect. When we were running today, a dolphin was running right beside the boat. So neat to see. I was setting in the pilot house in my first mates seat and I was working my suduko puzzle, I just happened to look up and there was Captain Jeff sound asleep. Yes he was behind the wheel and yes we were under way. And people wonder why I don't like auto pilot! Of course I raised my voice alittle since a bridge was in sight.
This will be the first night we will not need heat. Don't get me wrong, it's not summer here but it is in the 60's tonight.
We are hoping for some sun tomorrow. Lost a finder today (darn!) so Jeff called our friends who are a day behind us(they are from Cincinnati and doing the loop too). He told Bob to watch for it. You really think a finder will just be there, somewhere? Who knows.

Friday 11-20-09

We had breakfast with Norm and Ina, did a little Christmas shopping and decided to hit the waters again. We had planned on staying another night but storms are moving our way so we need to get across the bay to the GICWW. So..at 12:30 we again untied the lines and headed out. We heard there was to be strong winds, rain and heavy chop tomorrow. We had 21 miles to reach the GICWW. We made it to the cut at 1:50 and there were dolphins playing in front of the boat. It was so awesome to see. We arrived at Bear Point Marina around 4:00 at mm #165. We were running right beside the street for awhile. It is really different the the river. It has such a calm peaceful feel about it.
If the weather behaves its self, we will head out tomorrow. If it gets to bad, we will stay put. Good chance to get caught up with laundry.
Neat town! If you ever have a chance to see Fairhope,Ala. do it.

Thursday 11-19-09

We left mm 16.6 on the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Water way at 6:30. By 7:45 we were at Mobil Alabama. Such a welcome (and over do) sight. We made our way through with no problems. Some majorly big vessels out here! At 8:05 we entered Mobil Bay. We are in the wide open water now. It kind of takes your breath away and is very over whelming. We headed to our spot for the night, Fairhope Yacht Club on the east cost of the bay. We arrived at 10:03 a.m and waited for Norm and Ina Carpenter who were RVing to Texas for Thanksgiving. We went to town to watch the lighting of the Christmas trees. This is such an interesting old town.
Hang on to those RSYC cards! We only paid $10.00 a night to stay here and that includes electricity. Only if you are a member of a yacht club.

Wednesday 11-18-09

We pulled anchor from our quiet, perfect night.We work to fog and just waited it out. We had a great day with beautiful weather. We are running alone now.Most are behind us. Tonight we decided to drop a hook at mile 16.6 on a creek called Big Buyou Canot. It had a current running about 4 mph and rising. A fishjerman told us it us going up about a foot every night still from IDA. So, Captain Jeff got the dingy out, rowed (and it wasn't easy) to a tree and tied off the back of the boat. We also dropped the hook at the front. We didn't move all night! My hero!!!! The owls make a crying sound and there were a lot of other sounds that I had never heard before like birds and who knows what. We are now in gator country but haven't seen any. It was very very dark out there. Very dark!

Tuesday 11-17-09

 This is a pic of some bluffs on the Tenn-Tom River. We left Demopolis Marina today at 4:45 A.M. and got locked down before the sun even began to think about showing up. We ran 100 miles today and got thru our last lock on the Black Warrier section of the Tenn-Tom. We are hanging on a hook with 5 other boats at the Old Lock #1. It's dark by 5:00 so or goal was to be settled by 4:00. We had five minutes to spare. Tomorrow we plan on droping a hook about 16 miles from Mobil Bay and we will be in brackish water. Great day and ran with some great loopers!

 
This is a boater that we have passed two times now. He is traveling with a dog and another sail boat (Lazy Day). His boat name is River Rat. We stayed at Demopolis today to wait for a UPS package. Some of the boats we left behind in the fog of the morning at Columbus have caught up with us now. Last Tango left this morning and we will probably not see them again. There was a captains meeting today and they have decided to leave tomorrow morn at 5:00. We are trying to stay ahead of a bunch of other boats. We will all hang on a hook the next two nights so some meals were pre-cooked today and ready to go. The evening temps will be in the mid 30's so it's gonna be a little cold. We hope to do about 100 miles tomorrow and make it to Coffeyville. Mobil Bay is getting closer (finally)!

Sunday 11-15-09

Superman has a summer home on the Tenn-Tom!!!!! This is setting along the bank with a small a-frame house. Only on the river! Last Tango took off at 6:45 in heavy fog but we decided to hang a bit longer. We pulled anchor at 8:00 and headed out. The day ended up being great.Lots of trash in the waters but we still managed to get to Demopolis in 5 hours (50 mile run). We were trying to stay ahead of three other boats.There were very few slips at the marina and we wanted to try to get one of them. We found out that Last Tango had only been here for about 45 minutes soleaving early didn't get them much. We used the marina car and you could make milk shakes in it. The marina cars are greatly appreciated but most shoud have been retired long ago. Oh well, its wheels.

Eagle on the Tenn-Tom. Saturday 11-14-09

 

This is a pic of one of many eagles we are seeing on the Tenn-Tom. The Captains decided to leave in the early morning fog to head out to Demopolis. The fog was so thick you could not see the front of the boat and the first mate was standing on it! We felt our way to the lock with the radar and headed on down. After the sun rose and burnt the fog off, it was such a beautiful day. We will find a spot and hang on a hook with Last Tango tonight.

11-13-09 Friday

Beautiful weather here today.It is such a shame we are stuck here at Columbus Marina. We went to Wal-Mart (again) to get supplies as the guys are planning on heading out on Saturday night. We will take two days to get to Demopolis Marina in hopes that trash and high waters will stay ahead of us. We are running with Last Tango again but our other friends have decided not to leave until Sunday and some on Tuesday. We plan on hanging a hook tomorrow night. Everyone here is getting cabin fever and are ready to head out.
Picture of Wilson Lock (93 ft lift) on the Tennessee River

11-11-09 Wednesday

Decided that we would leave for Columbus Marina in Columbus,MS (mm#335). We will be going about 30 more mies, not as far as we would like but right now the waters are running to high and the marinas are full. We have been told that waters will now crest at floor stage on Saturday. When we arrived at Columbus, we met up with a lot of the friends we met at Joe Wheeler. Sounds like they are really ready to get out of here since some have been here for over aweek already. At this point most boaters have been advised not to leave before Sunday at the earliest. Sounds like we are here for a few days. Good time to get laundry done. This is a picture of a morning fog.

exit/entrance to Aberdeen Marina

 

Tuesday 11-10-09

We got brave and decided to run a few more miles down river. We ran with Last Tango to mm 358.2 to Aberdeen Marina in the great city of Aberdeen,MS. Talk about a ride!!! We had afew showers and high winds to start. The exciting part was the marina its self. You had to see it to believe it. Captain Jeff called them on the phone because he didn't believe that the sign to the marina was where it should have been. We went thru trees and more trees and yes...more trees.You could not see the marina until you went around and over and thru trees, stumps, and lots of green floating vegetation. Once there, it really wasn't bad. Best beer stop on the rivers so far. They had every kind of beer you could think of in the coolers and they even had a "beer cave". Wear talking about trying to head to Columbus tomorrow if they have room for us. The marinas are all full from this point on so unless some brave (stupid) sole leaves, there will not be room and we will be stuck here for another day.

Monday 11-9-09

We have ran with another boat today, Last Tango. They are delivering this boat to Florida for its owner. The weather has been overcast and grey but no rain today. We went thru four locks today. It seems the sun never shines when you go thru locks! Annie Lee is spending the night at Midway Marina in Fulton, MS. We are at MM #394. Keep in mind that we are running down river so Mobil Bay will be MM #0. Everyone is keeping an eye on the weather. Last report was 25-30 mile per hour winds. You know weather people.....maybe less and maybe more. We will see tomorrow what we will be doing and how far south we will travel. Our goal is to be in Panama City by the 21st of November and then off until the second week of January. We have compiled a movie of some of our pics that I am trying to get on here. Keep watching

Sunday 11-8-09

We made it to Grand Harbor Marina today. This is at the beginning where the Tennessee River meets the Tenn-Tom. The sun sets around 5:00 so we headed out around 7:15 this morning (too early for me!). We had beautiful weather (calm before the storm)the whole day along with calm waters. Shorts and T's were the dress for the day.It was about 79 degrees. We have talked to different boaters and have found that alot of the marinas on south are over flowing with boats trying to stay safe. We are taking it slow and easy to try to stay out of this storm. We called John and Carol Sagle from A dock at Lighthouse who are also doing the loop. They are at Demopolis, Al (mm 216) and they will feel more of the storm than we will but they are safe with other boaters. In case you were wondering, the Tenn-Tom is 450 miles long. We don't know when the boats will start clearing out but we'd guess as soon as the storm clears. Some of them have been held up for two weeks now.
Tomorrow is another day. We hope to get about 30 or so miles on down. It depends on if we can get into any marina.

Saturday 11-7-09

Well, Captain Jeff replaced the new water pump we put in before we left, fix the brackets that broke that connects to the holders for our dingy, put our finder boards in place, changed the wash down hose to the fresh water system,found where our dingy was leaking & washed the boat. He got the steering working before we left last week. It needed some fluid and had an air bubble. I got all the supplies put up, made up a few meals for any nights we are on an hook, played with the cat, wiped off off the windows, played with the cat, fixed super, & got everything ready in side the boat to take off tomorrow (I had to make it look like I do as much as him!).
We are watching the weather really close. Tomorrow we will be at Grand Harbor Marina, the beginning of the Tenn-Tom. Ida sounds like she might slow us down a little but better safe.

Friday 11-6-09

Saturday thru Wednesday night we were with other loopers at the AGLCA rendezvous.We met lots of interesting people and picked up on a lot of information. We have met a couple from Cincinnati that is on the same leg of the trip as us. We headed home on Thursday and back to work for a week. On Friday 11-6-09, we headed back to Joe Wheeler State Park in our "full size" (ha!ha!)car. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart (are they everywhere?) the gent from Enterprise brought us back to the boat. After three trips (one with a cart), we had all supplies on board. We have a few things that need repaired before we take off Sunday.
Thank you to all of our friends who call and make sure we are still talking to each other. So far, everything is great and Jeff is still Captain. I think the cat,Frizz, has moved up to a four star Brigadier General. She rules this vessel.

Saturday 10-24-09
As I said yesterday, we are at American Great Loop Cruiser's Association rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama. The trees are beautiful with reds and golds. The water is like glass. There are probably 75+ boats here for this event and people come by land as well. I want to add a note and ran out of room on yesterdays blog. Our steering stopped working on the lower helm after we pulled anchor. Thanks goodness Captain Jeff has done this before with our Carver. He needed to steer the boat with the auto pilot. Now ladies, picture this...you are at the gates of a lock waiting for them to open, wind blowing at 25-30 mph, no steering and he says...I need to pee! NO WAY! Lets get real, he trusted me to take the helm?
We have met people from everywhere that are doing, has done or hopes to do the loop. There are boats from 26 ft to 55 ft, lots of cats on board, afew dogs and believe it or not, one looper has two dogs, two birds and a hermit crab on board. Today they are doing different seminars and tonight we have a deck crawl where you can board boats and see what neat things they have done.

Friday 10-23-09
High winds. We pulled the hook around 8:15 and hoped to make it to Joe Wheeler State Park by night fall. A little more rain but still had the winds. Today is suppose to have gust of 30 mph. We locked thru Wilson lock and boy are the doors hugh on this lock. We went thru with five other boats. One that decided to pass us when we were leaving the lock and one that walked away from the wheel when we got out of the lock and cut us off. Some of the boaters should not even be aloud on the water! The next lock was something else. Joe Wheeler lock, winds blowing up river at about 25mph and a lock master that didn't want to lock us thru. When we finally convinced him that we wanted thru it took him forever to empty the lock and he would not talk to us on the radio. The boats that had went thru just before us was suppose to of had trouble because of the winds. We got in the chamber, tied off and had no problems. We think the guy just didn't want to be bothered with us. We made it into the park and will be here for a while with many other loopers. We head home on Thursday for a week at work. We will catch you on the second leg of our trip. This leg will take us to Florida where we will lay up until the first of the year. By the way, you need to ask Jeff how to play "butt darts".

Thursday 10-22-09
We left our wonderful marina around 7:55. I don't even think the chickens were up yet. We got to talking to another looper, Miss Ruby and decided to hook up with them for the night to get a few tips from them about this trip. "Miss Ruby" is a self made trawler form Delaware. Captains Wes and Jeanine Quigley.We stopped in a cove for the night around 2:15 in the afternoon. They shared a wealth of information of their travels. Around 10:30pm the winds kicked up and never let up. The rains started around 6:00 in the morning. Those of you who know me, know that being on a hook is not my favorite thing to do. Frizz and I were up all night while the boat was swinging around on the hook.

Wedneday 10-21-09
We left Perryville around 10:32. There was fog early in the morning. We got the bikes out and road to a restaurant half a mile down the road that wasn't open for breakfast. At least we got some exercise. The weather was beautiful with a few boaters sharing the waters with us an one jerk. The term "responsible for your own wake" doesn't mean much here. We stopped for the night around 4:15. You will not believe the place the Captain picked for the night. What was standing was called Saltillo Marina located in Tennessee. I'm not sure what was holding up the docks. The rust on the roof or the weeds growing around the docks. We stayed on the gas dock and the dock master and mistress met us with cigarettes a smoking. It was a place you had to see to believe could even exist. We walked into town and at at one of the two restaurants for supper. At least the price was right, $23.00 and all the electric we could use.

Tuesday 10-20-09
Pulled anchor around 9:15 and headed to Perryville Marina. At 4:25 we arrived. Nice friendly place. The weather is still a little on the cool side and I will appreciate the heat tonight.

Monday 10-19-09
9:20 we leave GTB and head for Kentucky Lake. The waters are alittle rough due to some winds. Beautiful homes everywhere. At 6:00 we stopped and are on a hook for the night. Captain Jeff picked a beautiful spot for a sunset. Night has fallen and it is so quiet. We now have 528 miles behind us.

Sunday 10-18-09
Took a long walk with Laura around the grounds while Mike and Jeff moved our swim ladder(like we are going to use it really soon). Got to tour a condo. So nice! Frizz and I took a walk and watched the turtles.She was not impressed with them. We went store hoppin in Grand River and got a couple of pizza's made at the local IGA. Gotta say that they really good. We are getting everything ready to hit the waters again in the morning. I could easily stay here for a while longer. Thanks-you Mike & Laura for such a wonderful time. We really miss you two. We love you guys.

Saturday 10-17-09
We have decided to stay at GTB until Monday and spend some time with Mike and Laura. Last night we went to Grand Rivers for supper at Patties. Wow! Great meal and you should have seen my pie. I know it stood 4 inches high. This is a really neat restaurant and a must to eat at if you are ever there. It is a town of 352 people and over 600 boat slips. Today we headed into Puducah and got a few supplies. We ate at the CommonWealth Yacht Club. RSYC, we have a long way to go to be like this place. Got the best tables in the house and another great meal. We got a tour of GTB. This is such a nice resort. The condos are beautiful, the marina is so clean and we understand why Mike and Laura wanted to move down there. Turtles everywhere. The sun did shine today..finally. If you want to go somewhere for a weekend, head on down the GTB.

Friday 10-16-09
We left Golconada at 9:00 and locked thru Smithland Lock. We hung a right turn and headed up the Cumberland River. This is a beautiful river. There are eagles every where. We saw a bird in the water that we could not agree on what it was so they now have a "kentucky duck bird". I have decided that they need road signs on the rivers. It was a guess as to the enterence to the Cumberland but Captain Jeff made the right decision and made the turn at the right place. We locked thru the dam at Lake Barkley and pulled in to Green Turtle Bay at 4:30 with two very wonderful people waiting on the gas dock for us, Mike and Laura Lytle. It was so great to see them standing there but I still think they should have made arrangement for the sun to shine. We still love them! At the enterance to GTB, there is a beautiful house that we learned is only lived in 6 weeks of the year and the rest of the time the care taker lives there. Think we might apply for that job some day. What a beautiful house and the view has to be the best on the river.

Thursday 10-15-09
We left Evansville at 10:35, locked thru JT Myers lock and arrived at Golconada Marina by 7:10. Finally, another boater was on the river. They were going the wrong way, up stream. It's still cold and wet and gray! Is the sun ever going to shine? There was fog this morning so we got a later start. So far, everyone is happy. Frizz is my shadow. She even goes to the bathroom when I go. Captain Jeff is reading his charts, following the computer, talking on the phone and taking a nap here and there. I do believe he is in his hay day. Today we traveled another 106 miles. We are getting there. We hope to be at Green Turtle Bay tomorrow night. We have not set on the hook yet. The nights have been to cold to be with out heat. We have even been running a small heater in the pilot house during the day just to stay warm.

Wednesday 10-14-09
We left Rocky Point at 9:45 am ( not sure what time zone) and locked thru Cannelton Lock and Newbury Lock. Arrived at Nu Plaza Yacht Club at 5:15 in Evansville. Filled with fuel and with $100.00 in fuel pruchase you get a free slip for the night. We have managed to burn approx 180 gal of diesel. Today was 78.4 more miles. It was wet, cold and lots of tow traffic.
Need to add a note about last Monday that most people that have ever traveled on the river with Jeff can relate to. We were cruising down river, I was setting there reading my book when I looked up to see Jeff walk out the door, around the front of the boat to the pilot house door on the otherside. With screwdriver in hand he starts to take the door off the track. Whos piloting the boat??? Captain Auto Pilot!
Needless to say, Frizz and I decided we felt more comfortable with either one of us behind the wheel. Gotta love him!!

Tuesday 10-13-09
We left Louisville at 7:51 am to lock thru MaAlpine lock. Took about 30 minutes from start to finish. The waters were smooth, it was cold and overcast. I thought that as we headed south, the sun might shine of at least be a little warmer. Sun..what does that feel like? Could use some tomorrow because it really gets cold out there in the locks. Of course, the first mate gets that job. Frizz, our cat, is traveling with us. She worried me going the the lock yesterday but today she just set there and watched us. She has a seat in the pilot house with us and stays there all day while we are traveling. Still waiting to see another boat on the waters besides tows. So far, nothing in sight. We arrived at Rocky Point Marina in Cannelton, IN at 5:23 pm.
Three days down and 228 miles down the river.

Monday 10-12-09
After waiting for 6 hours, we finally got thru Markland Lock and Dam by 2:00 in the afternoon. They were taking boats and tows in the order of arrival. By the time we were locked thru, there was an eight hour wait for some. We really wanted to make it to Louisville by night fall so we needed to put the throttle down and make every minute count. Well, we make it to Tumbleweed dock in Louisville just as the sun was setting at 7:02. We met Bob and Terry Stanley for a wonderful dinner and settled in for a quite night. We were the only boat there and the price was right..free with electricity. Again it was a cool day with smooth waters.

sunday 10-11-09

Today friends and family gathered on B dock at Lighthouse Marina to wish us a safe voyage. Thanks to all of you for your support, prayers and love. We left our marina for our two year voyage at 11:26 a.m. We made it to Pier 99 by 2:53. Smooth waters, some trash, cool temps. We now have 39.3 miles under our belt. A few of the boaters left at Pier 99 invited us to share a fried chicken dinner with them. Thank-you Doug for loaning us your life raft. Heather stayed on board Saturday night and she let us know that her bunk was wet at the foot. So, while under way, I took a look. The bed was wet, the matress on the underside was wet, all of the sweatshirts and extra bedding I have on board that were in the storage area at the foot of the bed were wet. Captain Jeff needs to find out why but in the mean time, I had two loads of laundry at Pier 99 on the first day out plus bedding to get dry. What fun! Here's hoping we never need it. We will keep this space updated when we can and share pics with you when possible.