I’M EMBARRESSED

October 30, 2011  Dateline, Booneville, MS USA

Yesterday was uneventful for me, well almost.  Once the fog lifted from the marina, six boats were on our way to Joe Wheeler Lock.  The lock doors were open when we arrived and in we all went. We were on our way. With 62 miles to go and one more lock, I was anxious to get going.  I got to the next lock, the Wilson Lock, with the other boats and discovered there was a tow in the lock.  Ok, the wait ended up to be 4 long hours of idling before I got into the lock.  The lock had a valve that wasn’t working so I had to wait for a maintenance man to make the necessary repairs.  Once I got through the lock there were some 40+ miles to go and it was already after 2 PM.  Come on Rich, I said, move those throttle levers forward.  He listened to me and up on plane I went.  Yes I was running at 19.5 miles an hours---this was great and my Caterpillars loved it.  When I got to Grand Harbor Marina in 2 hours I saw SLANTY SHANTY, but more about her later.   Rich and Carol bought me a dinner of 364 gallons of diesel and then they went off to have dinner with some Looper friends that they met at the Rendezvous 2 years ago.

This morning I got up to fog again.  It’s that time of year.  The same 6 boats left the marina when the fog lifted.  Before long I came upon SLANTY SHANTY.  There are two young people onboard who are trying to sail her from Pittsburgh PA to Mobile AL.  The raft is powered by a 9.9 horsepower engine and there are two chickens onboard which provide them with an egg or two every day.  The raft has grown over time as they find things along the rivers. When they started it was an open raft. The 3 sided covering came from material they found along the way. It must be very cold at night. They have a solar panel but it doesn’t work. Their cell phones aren’t working either as they can’t charge the batteries. We all wish them good luck.

I sailed down part of the Tombigbee Waterway today and I still have 412 miles to go before Mobile.  The waterway, completed in 1986, was created to connect the Gulf of Mexico and the Tennessee River.  The connection enabled the low cost shipment of bulk materials without traveling through the Mississippi River.  The waterway was made by connecting rivers and lakes together by building 12 dams that control the flow of water from 414 feet above sea level to actual sea level.  More dirt was moved to construct it than had been moved to build the Panama Canal.  The man-made canal portion of the waterway is relatively straight with stone walls along each side.  I heard Rich call Wayne on MY WAY on the radio and say one word “Boring”

So, how was I embarrassed?  Both MY WAY and I were passed by a trawler (ONCE AROUND)---a trawler, how could that be?  A trawler!--- what was Rich thinking?  I guess I will have to hang my anchor in shame for a few days.

Tomorrow will be a short day with only 18 miles and 3 locks to go through---it could be a very long day if we are delayed at any of the locks. Wish us well !!!

CHATTANOOGA

October 28, 2011  Dateline: Joe Wheeler State Park, AL USA

Yesterday, Rich and Carol went with Wayne, Francine and Skipper to Chattanooga.  They first went to visit Ruby Falls.  The falls is located approximately a quarter mile underground in a cave and falls 145 feet.  The falls have been created over millions of years as the moving water dissolved the soft limestone.  The falls has lights on it that change color making it even more beautiful. The entrance to the area where the falls is located is full of stalactites and stalagmites as well as some columns where the stalactites and stalagmites touch each other. 

Next at Rock City, they saw this plug for electric cars.  By the way it works very well when you insert a credit card.  There were two such machines and they gave the users better parking places than the handicapped.

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Today, they went to the Chattanooga Terminal Railroad Station which was abandoned in 1970 and was scheduled for demolition.  In 1971, a group of citizens saved it.  Today the CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO serves as a hotel, conference center, model railroad museum and shopping mall.  The model railroad is 174 by 33 feet.  It has 3,000 feet of track, 129 locomotives, 320 structures and 1,000 freight cars.  The hotel offers some unique rooms; they are in remodeled and refurbished old railroad cars that still sit on the terminal tracks. The rooms are very fancy. You can also have lunch or dinner, informal and formal, in a railroad car.

They all went to the International Towing Museum.  Ernst Holmes built the first recovery vehicle in 1916 in Chattanooga, thus it is a fitting place for the museum.  There are more than 15 old wreckers in the museum’s collection as well as hundreds of wrecker models.

Carol bought Rich a big box of Moon Pies (12).  Moon Pies were first made in Chattanooga.

Looking down from Raccoon Mtn.

On their way back to MY WAY and me, the happy wanders went to Raccoon Mountain.  The top of the mountain has been removed and a 528 acre water storage facility created.  During periods of low power demand water is pumped up 990 feet from the Nickajack Lake of the Tennessee River to the storage facility.  During a period of high demand the water is released back down the  penstock and electricity is generated.  It takes as much power to pump the water up to the storage facility as is created during the period of generation.  The electricity used to pump the water up is generated by hydro power that would otherwise go to waste. Even though the facility is net neutral it stores power somewhat like a rechargeable battery that can release its stored power in periods of high demand.

Tomorrow I am off to Grand Harbor marina at the northern terminus of the Tom-Bigbee Canal. Sunday I will be starting my trip to Mobile, AL.

WHAT A WEEK!!!

October 26, 2011  Dateline: Joe Wheeler State Park, AL USA

What a week this has been!!  From Sunday through Wednesday Rich and Carol were kept very busy attending the America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association semiannual rendezvous.  They were kept so busy that Rich did not have time to help me write this blog.  They met many new and old friends and they look forward to seeing them all again.  I met some new friends as well including Molly J.  Molly J is very small; she is only 26 feet long and is powered by a 135 horsepower outboard motor.  Andy and his wife, Molly, live in South Dakota and are able to trailer this little boat to wherever there is water. Rich and Carol also spent time with Brian and Jean on the 29 foot Spirit of Whitby.  They make their home in the United Kingdom but spend all available time boating in the U.S.



John, Mary, Mary, John



John and Mary of Mackinaw City, MI as well as John and Mary of Mackinaw City, MI were also in attendance.  This is not a typo, there were two boats Passport and Mary Frances whose owners were named John and Mary and both are from the same home port of Mackinaw City.

Marc and Shelly from Rock Chalk are really big Kansas University fans.  They even have the Jay Hawk painted on each side of Rock Chalk. The name is derived from the “rock chalk” chant used at Kansas University sporting events.

As part of the event there are two afternoons where various boats have an “open boat” for attendees to see the inside of different boats on the Loop.  Carol decorated me for Halloween and to add something different, Carol dressed as a witch and Francine as a WIT (Witch in Training). 

Skipper keeps getting bigger here is a latest picture.



WHO IN THE WORLD IS JOE WHEELER?

October 22, 2011  Dateline: Joe Wheeler State Park, AL USA

Everyone knows about Nashville, TN being a Music City with all of its recording studios and Detroit with its Motown sound.  In Alabama there is Muscle Shoals with its Fame Music Recording and Cypress Moon Studios.  Many famous recording artists worked at these studios including Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Little Richard, the Osmonds, Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffet as well as many others.  The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Museum was established in 1969 by a group of session musicians known as the “Swampers”.  The museum is located in a building where the Roling Stones, Cher, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Paul Simon Art Garfunkel and many others created some of the most popular music of the 1970s.

The town of Muscle Shoals got its name from the rapids and shoals that were in the Tennessee River before the TVA dammed the river.  There were river mussels that grew in the area and the Indians would farm them, but it took strong arm muscles to paddle through the rapids.

Who could be a general in two armies that once opposed each other?  That would be Joe Wheeler.  Lt. General Joe Wheeler served in the Confederate Army and fought at the battle of Shiloh.  Following the War Between the States he was a Brigadier General in the Unites States Army.  He also served in the House of Representatives.  In honor of his service to our nation, a lock on the Tennessee River and a Tennessee State Park were named after him.

The Joe Wheeler State Park has a large lodge with meeting rooms and banquet facilities.  Today there was an outside wedding at the facility.  Tomorrow the AGLCA semi-annual rendezvous starts at the facility. There will be approximately 75 boats at the facility with Loopers from Ontario and Quebec, Canada, Florida, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South Dakota and many other states, including me from New Jersey  The Park’s setting is beautiful and the mornings are crystal clear.

The Loopers who were at the park today were all invited to meet at an outside gazebo for a typical 5 o’clock cocktail party. Everybody brings their own drinks and a food item to be shared by all. About 40 Loopers showed up. The party ended when the lights came on and the bugs arrived. A good time is always had by all.

ALABAMA STATE BASS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 21, 2011           Dateline: Rogersville, AL USA

Yesterday Rich and Carol walked over to the tepees that I had seen the day before.  It appears that the tepees are rented to campers as the floors were covered with pine straw.  Rich got Carol's picture peeking out of the tepee.

Last night Rich and Carol went with Wayne and Francine of MY WAY and Brian and Jean of SPIRIT OF WHITBY for dinner at the Florence Marriot which has a rotating dining room on a tower.  The food was outstanding and the dining room made one rotation around through the course of the dinner.  The beautiful view included an aerial view of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Wilson lock.

This morning I woke up to a lot of noise as 97 bass boats were being off loaded from their trailers into the marina waters.  The temperature was in the high 30’s and the fishermen were bundled up in heavy clothes.  The marina was just full of bass boats with their navigation lights on.  Rich spoke with one of the fisherman who told that the tournament was for the Alabama State Bass Championship.  The boats were allowed to leave the marina one by one and each was told when it had to return.

Today, I left Florence Marina about 8:30 along with 7 other Looper boats.  We had called the Wilson lock and were told that we could “sail” right into the lock and asked that we include as many boats as possible.  I got to the lock and in I went.  The lock is deep, 97 feet, and I entered it I lost access to the GPS satellites and my chart plotters started to beep.

By the time I got to the second lock of the day, Joe Wheeler Lock, our group picked up three additional boats and lost one.  The floating bollards in the lock were all taken and there were two additional boats coming in.  When in a lock with a floating bollard I am held in place with a single line.  Rich offered a large Bluewater boat the opportunity to raft to me and we would ride up together, held in place by a single line.  It worked well.  GRIANAN and PASSPORT did the same thing, they are of equal size.

Ten boats arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park together and the dock hands did a great job of getting everyone in place.  The America Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA)  will hold its fall rendezvous here beginning on Sunday, October 23.  I will stay in place for the meeting.

OF A BATTLEFIELD AND INDIANS ARE COMING

October 17, 2911

Rich, Carol, Wayne and Francine took Grand Harbor’s courtesy car and went to visit the Shiloh Battlefield.  The Battlefield is a huge expanse of land encompassing some 4,000 acres.  The Union forces wanted to control the western rivers as that would give them a way into the heart of Confederate States.  This would also give the Union forces the heart of the railroad system.  Closing the rivers and the railroads would prevent the South from moving men and supplies quickly to battle fronts.

October 17, 2911

Rich, Carol, Wayne and Francine took Grand Harbor’s courtesy car and went to visit the Shiloh Battlefield.  (1016) The Battlefield is a huge expanse of land encompassing some 4,000 acres.  The Union forces wanted to control the western rivers as that would give them a way into the heart of Confederate States.  This would also give the Union forces the heart of the railroad system.  Closing the rivers and the railroads would prevent the South from moving men and supplies quickly to battle fronts.

Part of the battle took place in a peach orchard.  It was said that there were so many bullets flying that petals from the peach blossoms fell like snow as they were hit by the bullets.

There was a pond where wounded or exhausted soldiers from both sides went to get water or bathe their wounds.  It was said that the water was red from all of the blood that was in it.  Perhaps all the blood is why the water is green today and certainly looks undrinkable.

October 18, 2011

Today was an easy run of some 42 miles from Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, Tennessee to Florence, Alabama.  The weather for October 19 was predicted to be very windy so Rich and Wayne decided it was a good time to get out of town.  There were several other boats that decided to do the same thing.

The trip down the river was uneventful and smooth.  I did notice the very high limestone walls usually on one side of the river and not on the other.  When I asked Rich about them, he said that there was likely an uplifting of the earth at some time way in the past and that the river was forced to follow the course created by the high walls.  The limestone walls also showed how high the river had been in history.  Wow, it was likely 100 feet higher at one point. (1026)

As I pulled into Florence, I saw this collection of colorful Indian tepees on the river bank.  They were located at a trailer park resort ----I kept an eye out for flaming arrows!!

ROOFS OVER ROOFS

October 17, 2011 Dateline: Counce, TN USA

Got up early this morning and left Clifton Marina at 7:45 AM to travel 58 miles to Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN.  The trip down the river was again uneventful, but today it was really pretty.  The limestone cliffs along the river bank were outstanding with the prominent out crops of limestone.  Lady Finger Cliff was one of those out crops.

Houses along the river range from mobile homes to mansions on high bluffs. Many mobile homes were parked inside of portable garages. (804) I suspect that the reason for this is that the portable garage keeps the hot sun off of the metal roof of the mobile home.  This one was parked under a bridge so I am not sure how effective it was.

Along the way down the river, I passed the Shiloh Battlefield.  Nearly 150 years ago Federal Gun Boats were on the river, where I passed, and pounded the Confederate troops during the night of April 6, 1862.  Rich, Carol, Wayne and Francine are planning to go to the battlefield tomorrow.  There were more than 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing in action when the two day battle was over, that was about 1 of every three involved in the battle

I traveled through one lock at Pickwick Landing.  The lock has a lift of 57 feet.  The lock is massive, this picture shows MY WAY as it is about to enter the lock, MY WAY is the white dot in front of the lock.

The houses on Pickwick Lake are very impressive.  As I exited the lock these houses were located on a high bluff on the left bank of the lake.

The houses matched the size of the Pickwick Lake.

DON’T GO WHERE BIRDS STAND

October 16, 2011  Dateline: Counce, TN USA

After two nights at Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsville, TN I began to move again.  On October 15^th I traveled 62 miles to Clifton Marina in Clifton, TN.  The trip down the river was uneventful but there were some interesting sights along the way.  For example, I would not like to go where these birds were standing on the river bed.

The Clifton Marina is a small marina and there were seven Loopers in the marina with me.  The entry channel was narrow and lined with rocks on both sides.  The picture below shows what the channel looked like when I left the marina on the 16^th.  Looking out the channel you can see the fog rising off of the Tennessee River.

I met a sail boat called CUBA LIBRE I thought that the name derived from the desire to free Cuba from Communist rule.  Its owner’s son told me that it was named after a drink.  Oh well so much for that idea.  Carol tried to get the owner’s son’s computer onto the internet but to no avail.  CUBA LIBRE was a two masted sail boat made of Ferro cement.

While at the Pebble Isle Marina, Carol noted this blot floating next to me.  I don’t know what it was but it was not pleasant looking and it looked like it go hit with a propeller on one half of it.

The colors of the trees are beginning to come out as can be seen in this picture taken at the Pebble Isle Marina.

DEAD END RAILROAD BRIDGE

October 13, 2011  Dateline: New Johnsonville, TN USA

I got up early this morning and was on my way by 8:15.  Rain had been predicted for today, so I figured that the sooner I got going the better the chance I had to “beat” the rain.  I had to travel 54 miles to the Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN.  While I was going south, I was traveling up stream.   Carol has a difficult time with the concept that going south can be actually going up stream.

Traveling down or up, as the case maybe, a river is kind of boring until such time as you find a railroad bridge that ends in the river, like the one in the picture below. 

Of course abandoned docks are also fun, like the one in this picture.

The inlet to the marina was a challenge as the buoys were small and the channel narrow and twisty, but other than that it was fine.  Carol and Rich got me tied and then MY WAY came in.  Just as MY WAY tied up to the fuel dock and Francine took Skipper for a walk, the sky opened up and the rain poured down.  Since Carol has to be outside when I come into a marina, I got her to the marina before it rained and now she owes me.

I will be here tomorrow and the next day I will leave for Clifton, TN.

WATER BORN CALIOPE

October 12, 2011  Dateline: Hardin, KY, USA

I started to move again today.  I didn’t go very far, only 19 miles, but it was a good day full of interesting things.  The mornings on the river at this time of year are foggy, so I think that I can count on late morning starts as long as I remain on the rivers.  When I left this morning, after the fog lifted, at 9:30 AM,  I was on the Cumberland River and a short time later I was on the Tennessee River and will remain on it until I get to the Tombigbee Canal.

Suddenly as I traveled on the Tennessee I heard music, it was a strange place to hear music.  I was passed by a boat with a calliope on the roof playing Walt Disney music.  I don’t know how the owners put up with the music all the time but it was really neat.  Notice the pipes on the top of the boat.

When I got to KenLake Marina I noticed this sign on the barge where the office is.  I didn’t know that my sister had a restaurant in Kentucky.  While the restaurant is closed in the evening, Rich, Carol, Wayne and Francine had dinner there.  The dinner was prepared by their friend Pam Atwood who they met two years ago and keeps her boat at this marina.   The dinner was a really good roast beef.

The marina is really nice, here is a picture of it.  Who is that pretty boat in the middle of the picture.  In case you are wondering, it is ME.

Tomorrow I am off to Pebble Isle Marina in Kentucky.

HUNTER’S MOON FESTIVAL

October 8, 2011  Dateline:  Grand Rivers, KY USA

Last Thursday, Rich and Carol went to a restaurant in Grand Rivers called Sugar and Spice.  The restaurant is a converted single family home. It is operated by Marilyn, a female chef, who only serves dinner by reservation and the maximum number of people she will serve in one evening is 6.  You eat in her very large kitchen and she sits and talks to you during your meal.  The evening’s course was an Octoberfest of German food beginning with appetizers followed by five different meats (Sauerbraten, Beef Roulades, Chicken paprikash, Lamb Shanks, and Wiener Schnitzel ). The side dishes were roasted potatoes, spätzle, homemade sauerkraut and red cabbage.  The meal was incredible. Rich commented that it was the best German food he has ever had. Considering how much time he spent in Germany that is quite a statement.  During the meal, Marilyn commented how she had worked in large restaurants but that they were not her cup of tea and that she much enjoyed the small meals where she can talk to her customers and cook only what she enjoys.  Besides operating the restaurant she also gives cooking classes one night a week.

On Saturday, October 8^th Carol, Rich, Francine, and Wayne went into the town of Grand Rivers for the annual Hunter’s Moon Festival. It consists of craft and retail vendors as well as food vendors and inflatable slides and bouncing chambers for the children.  There is also a very large parade down the main street of town. The parade began with the usual line of fire trucks and EMT vehicles followed by a local high school band, many decorated floats and cars carrying important individuals. The riders on each float threw hands full of candy to the children along the route. The little kids had a ball collecting the candy off the pavement. It ended with a Christmas float carrying Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. They threw stuffed animals to children along the way.  The parade lasted for at least 45 minutes.   During the parade the main street of Grand Rivers was completely shut down.  When you consider that there is only one road passing through the town, the impact of shutting down the road was very significant. 

The mayor of the town rode by sitting on the back of a convertible smoking a big fat cigar. The cigar made him look like the stereo typical politician.

In the evening, Rich and Carol along with Wayne and Francine Sam and Lee went to Paducah for dinner.  They met with Gordon and his wife.  Gordon operates the BOATUS franchise on Lake Barkley and is based in Green Turtle Bay.  The dinner at Max’s was very good and the company even better.

Carol noticed this lady standing on the corner as the Statute of Liberty.  She could only hold her torch up high for so long and then her arm got tired. She then began to twirl her arm for a few seconds then assumed her statue position. But while she was posing she looked good.

On Wednesday October 12, I begin to move again.  The three weeks in Grand Rivers have gone fast

OF TURTLES, FRENCH LICK AND HOTELS

October 5, 2011  Dateline: Grand Rivers, KY USA

Green Turtle Bay Marina, where I am docked, is named after the green turtles that live in the water.  Back in the 1950’s one of the pets that children had, including Rich and Carol, were small green turtles.  Most of the turtle died in the polluted water that they were forced to live in.  On a positive note some of those turtles got released into Lake Barkley and lived very well in the cove that became known as Green Turtle Bay.  The good news is that they were not invasive and have not forced out other species of animals. 

Once again I sat, watching turtles, while Rich and Carol went traveling by car.  On Monday, Grianan’s and MY WAY’s owners along with Rich and Carol went off to Paducah.  The ladies did what they like to do best, they went shopping, Rich and Wayne, of MY WAY, went to the Heritage Marine Museum.  The museum is located by the Paducah water front and tracks the development of four rivers from the time that the first Europeans floated down the Ohio through current times.  There is a tow boat simulator which gives the participant the opportunity to navigate a tow and its barges through several scenarios.  The video display wraps around 180 degrees and if the wheel on the tow is spun fast it begins to feel like the floor is moving---it’s only a trick that your eyes play on you.

There is also a railroad museum in Paducah that Rich did not get there but did get a picture of one of the steam engines.

Yesterday Rich and Carol went with Wayne and Francine to Evansville, IN to visit friends of Wayne’s, Sam and Lee, who keep their boat at Green Turtle Bay.  Sam took us to a place called French Lick, IN.  The town contains two very old very high end hotels and a casino.  In the late 1800’s people went to the West Baden Springs Hotel, named, as play on words, for Wiesbaden, Germany which was a source of world class mineral springs, and the French Lick Springs Hotel for the benefits of the mineral water that came out of the ground there.  It was important to see and be seen at the hotels.  Trains would bring in patrons from Chicago, Louisville and other wealthy cities in the Mid-West.  People believed that water from the springs would cure almost every aliment known to mankind. The Great Depression brought the decline of both hotels and the West Baden Springs Hotel was eventually sold to the Jesuit Brothers for $1and later was abandoned and fell into disrepair.  The hotel was later restored with a significant donation from a local doctor. The significance of the West Baden Springs Hotel is that for more than 40 years it contained the largest unsupported dome ceiling.  The elegance of these hotels can be seen in the pictures below.

French Lick Hotel

West Baden Hotel Dome

Under West Baden  Dome

Oh, I forgot, where did the name “Lick” come from?  Salt/mineral springs were present there and bison and other mammals would come to get their required salt intake.   At one point in time the Federal Government thought about taking the site under its control to supply much needed salt for the preservation of meats required by early pioneers, but changed its mind when it realized that it could not extract enough salt to make it economical.

After returning from French Lick everyone went to the Evansville West Side Nut Club’s annual festival.  The event is the second largest street party in the US after the New Orleans Mardi Gras.  The event, which started in 1924, draws more than 150,000 people and lasts for a week.  Four city blocks are closed to traffic and lined on both sides with food vendors including ones selling brain sandwiches.  The food vendors are service organizations including churches, fraternities, Kiwanis, Shriners, Boy and Girl Scouts and everything in between.  There are also carnival rides and games of chance.  It was a great place and it looked like everyone was having a wonderful time. All profits will be donated to charities for the under privileged.

This morning Rich and Carol had breakfast at the Donut Bank.  Rich asked Sam, their host, if one could make deposits at the Donut Bank and get interest on a deposit. For example, if you gave them a donut with a hole it in would it come back in a month without the hole.  Sam said if you deposit dollars they give you donuts.  As Rich pulled into the “Bank” there was a Brinks truck entering the park lot as well. This brought more significance to the “Bank” concept.

Remember all pictures can be increased in size by ckicking on them.