GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

FINALLY, TO JOE WHEELER

DAY 127 SUN. OCT. 16, 2011
DEP FLORENCE AL 08:00 ARR. JOE WHEELER STATE PARK, ROGERSVILLE, AL 1:00
CLEAR COOL HIGH’S IN THE 50’s
D. 21 sm / 2482

Today’s the day we finally get to Joe Wheeler State Park and the Americas Great Loop Cruising Assoc. (AGLCA) rendezvous. We left Florence AL with Jeremiah, a 42’ Bristol trawler and within a mile encountered our first lock of the day, the Wilson Lock. After locking up we departed the lock at 8:55 and entered Wilson Lake for the 15 mile crossing. The next lock is the Wheeler Lock where we again lock up and enter Wheeler Lake. From there it is a short ride to the park entrance and the marina. We tied up at 1:00, just in time for the last hour of the Sun. Brunch, which turned out to be the best meal we had at the park, period!

ENTERING THE WILSON LOCK

SCARY

FLOATING BOLLARD

THE TOP OF THE LOCK WALL

ENTRANCE TO JOE WHEELER STATE PARK MARINA

FLORENCE, TN

DAY 126 SAT. OCT15, 2011
AM LOW 50’s PM HIGH 80’s CLEAR, SUNNY
DEP. GRAND HARBOR 08:40 ARR. FLORENCE AL. 2:10
D. 42.0 sm / 2419

Beautiful uneventful trip today. Sunny & warm. Current increasing to about 1 mph. Florence AL is a small city right next to the Wilson Lock. We are here for only one day as we plan to stay for 2 days on the way back to tour the town. Marina is OK. There is a restaurant, launching ramp, loaner car, covered slips for seasonal boaters, and regular slips for transients. To our surprise we met Jeff & Linda from “JEREMIAH.”

GRAND HARBOR MARINA, COUNCE, TN

TENNESSEE RIVER VIEW

ENTRANCE TO FLORENCE MUNICIPAL MARINA (ON LEFT)

NOTICE, EVERYTHING FLOATS

HISTORIC FLORENCE, TN

DOWNTOWN FLORENCE

AT GRAND HARBOR & SHILOH

DAY 124 THURS. OCT. 13, 2011 AT GRAND HARBOR MARINA

DAY 125 FRI. OCT. 14, 2011 AT GRAND HARBOR MARINA

This is a really first class marina. It is owned by the same person who owns the Green Turtle Bay Marina. The first thing we do upon arrival is get the holding tank pumped out. The second thing is to meet all the other Loopers who have arrived before us. After a short rest, its cocktail time somewhere. We call it “Happy Hour!” The next day we planned a trip to Shiloh National Military Park, but it was rainy and the car wasn’t available, so we cleaned the boat. We think salt water is a cleaning problem, fresh water is worse. First we have to deal with spiders, spider webs, spider poop, and millions of bugs. After that’s all cleaned you discover the fresh water leaves spots unless you have a water softener. Consequently, the boat never gets really clean unless you wax it for which I have neither the time nor ambition. That night we went to dinner with fellow Loopers from Dockers Inn, Resolute, and Marc’s Arc. The marina gave us coupons for free appetizers at Freddy T’s and much to my surprise, the food was really good. The next day we borrowed the loaner car, a nice brand new Ford minivan with psychedelic graphics advertising the marina. We teamed up with Kathy & Charlie from Resolute, a 24’ mini trawler with an outboard engine. Whenever I feel cramped on the Glory Days, I think of them on a boat less than half the size.

Shiloh Park in Pittsburgh Landing, TN. is the site of the Battle of Shiloh which was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, or as the southerners call it, The War of Northern Aggression. There were 23,746 casualties in a 6 hour battle.
We parted company with Sharon & Ken as we were heading for the Looper rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, AL, and they were heading south down the Tenn-Tom.

SUNSET AT GRAND HARBOR, COUNCE, TN

Friday, October 28, 2011

CLIFTON TO GRAND HARBOR MARINA

DAY 123, WED.. OCT. 11, 2011
AM SPOTTY FOG LOW 50’s PM PARTLY SUNNY HIGH 70’s
DEPART CLIFTON, TN 07:00 ARR. GRAND HARBOR MARINA 3:10
D. 58sm / 2377

Today is the day we finally get to a place we plan to stay for a few days rest. I don’t know if I said this before, but getting up avery morning at 6am and cruising for 4 to 6 hours is hard work, or maybe we are just getting old??? In any case, we are looking forward to a prolonged stay somewhere. The trip along the TN R. is still very scenic. The shore changes from high limestone cliffs to low dense forests and from areas of beautiful homes to areas of no homes. We met one tow and passed another before we arrived at the Pickwick Lock & Dam at 12:30. When we overtook the first tow and we tried to catch up to and overtake the second tow in front of us, but he was 5 miles from the lock cruising at 5 mph, and we were ten miles from the lock cruising at 8 mph. No point in rushing, and since we couldn’t pass him we would have to wait for him to lock thru first. Fortunately he could fit into the lock without having to separate the barges or we would have been there for hours. We finally exited the lock at 2:10 and were within an hour of Grand Harbor Marina. More about that in the next blog.

DREDGE

MORNING MOONRISE ON THE RIVER

BEAUTIFUL WIDE VIEW

MORE TOWS

INSIDE THE PICKWICK LOCK

THIS IS A FLOATING BOLLARD

EXITING THE PICKWICK LOCK

THE MARINA OWNER'S HOUSE

AN INTERESTING DAY ON THE RIVER

MON DAY 121 OCT. 10, 2011
TUES. DAY122 OCT. 11, 2011
SUNNY, LOW’S 50’s HIGH’S 80’s
DEP. CUBA LANDING 08:00 ARR.CLIFTON MARINA 1:10
D. 43 sm / 2319

We are underway less than one half hour and we encounter our first tow for the day, “Bobby Joe Jones.” Fortunately, it is an uneventful meeting and we arrive in the Town of Clifton TN. shortly after 1:00. Another small but friendly floating marina, and this one is “FOR SALE.” It looks like a good way to spend your retirement, but we quickly dismiss the thought. Like the marina, the town is small and right on the river, so we borrow the courtesy car and give it a quick tour. It’s claim to fame is the home town of Tennessee’s first Pulitzer prize winning novelist T.S.Stribling, which is now a library/museum in his memory.

EVEN TOW CAPTAINS SCREW UP

CHECK OUT THE ORGAN ON THE UPPER DECK (IT WAS PLAYING)

THE EVER PRESENT TOWS

CLIFTON, TN FROM THE WATER

WHERE'S THE BASEMENT?

FISHING THE WIDE TENNESSEE RIVER

Thursday, October 27, 2011

CUBA, TENN.

SUN. DAY120 0CT. 9, 2011
AM FOG, PM CLEARING SUNNY AND WARM
DEP. PEBBLE I. MARINA, NEW JOHNSONVILLE, TN 10:00 ARR. CUBA LANDING TN. 12:45
D. 19.6 sm 2276.0

We left late today due to early AM fog, but no need to rush as we are only going 20 miles. Cuba Landing Marina is one of those out of the way places that is real popular with Bass fisherman. It is a small marina/ tackle shop with a very helpful staff that seemed very happy to have us there. One of the interesting things about the marinas on the river is that the facilities, marina office, shops, rest rooms, etc. are all built on floats secured to very tall pilings. This is necessary because of the constant change in water levels, and spring flooding. While the restaurant was closed for the season, the owner let us watch the Pats game on TV up to half time. I left to get a drink, came back and the place was locked up. Naturally, there was no wifi or cable for the boat so the Pats would have to get along without my support.

ENTRANCE TO CUBA LANDING MARINA

NOTE THE COVERED SLIPS AND FLOATING OFFICE

THE FLOATING OFFICE/STORE/REST/TACKLE SHOP

A WALK IN THE WOODS

THE VIEW FROM THE HILL

PARIS LANDING TO PEBBLE ISLAND, KY

SAT DAY 119 0CT. 8, 2011
WIND SSW 10MPH AM COOL, PM SUNNY, CLEAR

DEP. PARIS LDG KY 07:35 ARR. PEBBLE I. MARINA KY. 11:35
D. 30 sm / 2256.4

This part of the Tenn R. is really beautiful. We did a short trip today, 3 hours, met only one tow, “NELLIE” and passed on 2 whistles. The entrance to Pebble I. Marina was a little tricky, but the marina itself is nice.

MEETING A TOW ON THE TWO'S

ENTRANCE TO PEBBLE I. MARINA

Friday, October 7, 2011

STUMPED! ON THE WAY TO PARIS LANDING STATE PARK

DAY 118, OCT. 6, 2011
LOW 50’s HIGH 80’s
DEP SUGAR BAY 08:40 / 11:40 ARR. PARIS LANDING STATE PARK MARINA 3:30
D. 32.7sm / 2259.1

Another false start. Since Dockers had no generator, we invited them over for breakfast and we discussed plans for the day. They decided to go ahead and try to get the generator fixed at the next stop, Paris Landing. We weighed anchor at 08:40, and shortly after Sharon on Dockers Inn called to tell us Ken couldn’t get it up (the anchor). We turned around to see if we could help. I remembered that I still had that 20’ of chain I removed from my anchor when I replaced it with the 100’ of chain. I thought if we could put my chain around Dockers anchor chain, tie a line to it, and lower it down to their anchor, we might be able to pull the anchor out backwards. The theory was good, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts we gave up and Sharon called Towboat US. Their ETA was 11:00am so we decided to wait in case we could help. When they arrived they confirmed we did the right thing, and after several tries, they managed to break the anchor loose (see pics). With that, we decided to head for Paris Landing and Dockers would catch up after they completed their paper work. Unfortunately, the towboat left the line we used as a trip line in the water and it caught Dockers prop, stalling her engine. That resolved, Dockers was about an hour behind us and on the way.

The marina at Paris Landing is part of a Tenn. State Park, which includes a Lodge, some very nice rental “cabins” (really nice houses) and lots of forest and hiking trails. The park is pretty far from town, but the lodge serves food and has nightly buffets for relatively cheap money. We called the park rangers for a ride to the lodge and had the buffet on Thur. night for only $9.95. Fri. is the really big seafood buffet, so, we tried it and BIG MISTAKE! Whoever said you could get good seafood in Tenn. is wrong. The only seafood they do well is Catfish, which I must admit is pretty good. The park is beautiful and we took a hike (short) thru the woods along the river for some scenic pics.

POND AT PARIS LANDING STATE PARK

LIMESTONE ROCK LAYERS

THE STUMP
ITS ALWAYS SOMETHING

MEETING A TOW ON "ONE WHISTLE"

DRAMATIC SCENERY ON KENTUCKY LAKE

THE RIVER GUAGE AT PARIS LANDING

SUGAR BAY

DAY 117 OCT. 5, 2011
LOW 50’s HIGH 80’s CLOUDLESS
DEP GTB 10:45/1:50 ARR. SUGAR Bay 4:00
D. 18.3sm / 2226.4

We departed GTB at 10:45 and were in the Barkley Canal when Dockers Inn called us on the radio and informed us that her port engine overheated, so we returned to GTB to assist if possible. It turned out to be a burned out raw water pump impeller which they had replaced, and we were underway for Sugar Bay at 1:50. It was a beautiful trip over and by 4:10 were safely anchored for the night. Sugar Bay is a small bay on the western side of Kentucky lake known as “The Land Between The Lakes,” as it is between Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake (http://www.lbl.org/). This whole area is an outstanding boating/fishing/cruising area. There are hundreds of these little bays, coves, and inlets. Most are just beautiful anchorages, but some are home to some beautiful marinas. While the anchorages are free, the marinas are a bargain. GTB was $37.50 / night for the week, Paris Landing is $28 / night. All include elect. and water. Later that evening Dockers called to tell us their genset had overheated and would be without electricity until they could get it fixed. We invited them to join us for dinner, but they said they were all set and could make do without the generator.

LIMESTONE CLIFFS ON KENTUCKY LAKE

ENTRANCE TO SUGAR BAY

SUNSET ON SUGAR BAY

A WEEK AT GREEN TURTLE BAY RESORT

DAY 111 THURS. SEPT. 29 TO DAY 116 TUES. OCT 4, 2011
AT GREEN TURTLE BAY RESORT.

This place is very nice (www.greenturtlebay.com). The people all make you feel welcome and make it easy for you to stay. They have free loaner cars, beautiful grounds, and 2 free days if you stay 5. With all the Loopers there and all the activity, we decide to stay the week. First, we have to get a slip closer to the action and out from under the covered slips. Finally in the sun, and in the midst of the other Loopers we feel more comfortable and are ready for some fun. Fun, is cleaning the boat, making an anchor harness and trip line, inflating and cleaning the fenders, shopping trips to Wal-Mart (4 hrs. round trip ) and visiting other Loopers. One of the highlights is dinner at the very small restaurant, Sugar & Spice. The owner/chef Marilyn Kunz is a sweet lady whose restaurant is very unique. She only cooks for people with advanced reservations, and limits it to one party. The night we had dinner there with Sharon & Ken from Dockers Inn, we were the only 4 people there. Her menu for October was “Oktoberfest” and was limited to Sauerbraten, Roulades, Weinersnitchzel, Jaegerschnitzel, and Chicken Paprikish. For side dished there was sauerkraut, red cabbage, spaetzel, cauliflower, and potatoes paprikish. For $52 you could have a sample platter for 2 which included EVERYTHING! Naturally, for desert there was homemade apple strudel with ice cream and whipped cream. Everything was delicious, and for entertainment, Marilyn told us about her career, recipes, and fresh ingredients. One of the best restaurant experiences we have ever enjoyed.

Unfortunately, are good cruising friends Theresa & Don are parting company with us. They are heading to Chattanooga, TN and we are heading for the Looper rendezvous at Rogersville AL. Fortunately, we meet up with our friends Sharon & Ken (Dockers Inn) and will cruise with them to the TomBigbee Waterway.