Chattanooga (Rock City)

OCTOBER 18, 2006 We got the van & headed for Chattanooga. On the way we had a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel. When we arrived in Chattanooga, around 3:00, we didn't realize we traveled back through the time zone into eastern time, so we lost an hour. It put a crimp in our schedule for visiting local attractions. We checked into the hotel as quickly as possible and headed for Rock City. Probably one of the best things we have seen to date. If you are ever in Tennessee, we definitely would recommend making time for this. Without boring you, it’s rock walkways, bridges, tunnels, crevasses, stairways, ledges, lover’s leap into a water fall, a swing bridge and observation decks. Truly amazing! You are so high up that you can see 7 states from the deck. After going to dinner, and being an hour short, we missed the second attraction we were supposed to see…Ruby Falls. We’ll get there tomorrow. There is also a Corn Maze, which you could see from the observation deck….it is HUGE! Hopefully we can get to it before we leave. The hotel had a great pool that was like a mote around an island. It had a water fall at one end with an island in the middle (that you get to via a wood bridge) with a Jacuzzi under a hut. Nice end to a day.

Pebble Isle Stay (New Johnsonville, TN)

OCTOBER 11, 2006 (Pebble Isle) A lot of the Loopers were gone when we got up. When we paid for the day they told us if you pay for 3 days you can stay the rest of a week for free (we’ll have to think about that one)! Took the loaner van into town to …. Walmart. Missy B came knocking on our boat to tell us they just got in and told us that 4 other boats are on their way here. We still can’t believe how many Loopers we keep running into. Jaycie went fishing and caught, what looked like, a small striped bass. Bald eagle flew over the boat, it was really cool. OCTOBER 12, 2006 (Pebble Isle) It’s 42 degrees…brrrrrr! The heat in the boat works great, nice and toasty. Another cold front is coming in behind this one, maybe it will snow (just kidding)? We paid for the third day, which allows us to stay the rest of the week free (nice deal). We’re thinking about staying. There is a pig roast on Saturday night- might stay for it. OCTOBER 13, 2006 (Pebble Isle) This morning it was colder than yesterday. There was “smoke” blowing across the top of the water. The air temp was 34 degrees. As the sun came out it warmed up pretty quickly. It got into the high 60’s. Wonder what kind of rough weather this sudden change will bring. OCTOBER 14, 2006 (Pebble Isle) Went to the pig roast and had a good time…lots of loopers and locals…all nice. Still cool, but sunny. Did work, school and business in the boat. Talked with Steven (our son), looks like he may come to cross the gulf with us (18 hours/overnight)- he’s very excited! Jaycie made friends with a local girl, Jade. Everyone here is very friendly. We’ve been offered more than one car and not just by the staff of the marina. We went for a bike ride into the Tennessee park (the paved part). We saw a trail (marked blue) going into the woods and decided to take it. It was very rocky, rutty and rough…but looked like a cool ride. There was a bench on side of the trail (as if anyone would need to rest this early in the trail). It started out by going down a huge hill which was so steep and long that I was the only one willing to ride down it (in slow motion) - Joyce and John decided to walk. With my hand on the brakes the entire time, every time I hit a rock or bump the back tire would go “light” and slide a little sideways because there was no real weight on it. When we got to the bottom there was a fork…we went left…then another….we went right… As we got deeper and deeper into the woods we started to wonder (a little late)…how long is this trail? It was getting late and we kept thinking it would come out “around the next bend” or “over the next hill”…but it didn’t. If it got dark on us, it would be blacker than black! It would be next to impossible to find our way out…so we cut our losses and turned back. It took over an hour to get out, and when we got to that first/last steep hill…it was so steep that Joyce couldn’t get up with her bike, so I took hers and mine…talk about cardio! I joked to John that his would be a bad spot for one of us to get a heart attack in! As we all sat on that bench we remembered when we had just started that ride…laughing at this bench….and saying, “ Hey cool, this blue trail looks like fun!” Next time we’ll check a map first or at least bring a GPS…duh! OCTOBER 15, 2006 (Pebble Isle) For a lot of reasons we’ve decided to stay here and go to Chatanooga by car. It would be 6 days in and 7 days returning (against current) by boat. We both (TT and us) hate repeating ground we already traveled especially 7 days worth! It’s suppose to be beautiful and we don‘t want to miss it, so we’ll rent a car and stay for a few days. We don’t want to arrive in the gulf too early (end of hurricane season), so we are stalling at the nicer places…like this one. OCTOBER 16, 2006 (Pebble Isle) We’re expecting bad weather (heavy rain and 35 mph winds). So we are glad we are staying put. We here that Texas and south of us are getting SLAMMED! There are tornado warnings in 2 states below us, but so far we have only gotten cool, overcast weather and rain. The wind picked up this evening and we definitely got the 35 mph winds. The bikes didn’t look safe on the dock so I moved them between the post and the power pedestal so they couldn’t “go” anywhere. The boat was moving around quite a bit off the dock and, since we were on the end, if we had a line problem we would swing out (or away) from the dock. I wanted to make sure we would be secure through the night, so before bed we checked the lines and decided to add an extra bow and stern line (to the opposite side cleat on the dock). It stopped just about all the motion of the boat and it felt more secure. OCTOBER 17, 2006 (Pebble Isle) Great nights sleep and woke up to a really calm and warmer (although still overcast) morning. When we came out John (TT) was fishing (with his boat hook). Overnight the wind blew his bike in and he was trying to find it. When he pulled it up, being that it was fresh water, it looked better than it did before it fell in! I told him, “See John, I was a little stressed about our bikes blowing into the water last night. You didn’t worry at all, woke up, fished them out and now you don‘t have to clean them! (I’m telling myself…watch and learn!) The weather cleared up nicely and got back up to 78. Joyce planned our trip to Chattanooga. We will leave tomorrow morning and come back on Friday. The rental car company will come here to the Marina to pick us up and bring us to their office (45 min away) but closer to Chattanooga, and at no extra charge. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Choo Choo and they take dogs.

Paris Landing to Pebble Isle

OCTOBER 10, 2006 (Paris Landing to Pebble Isle) Woke up to some serious fog. My brother Doug called, it was nice to hear from him (hopefully he’ll come visit down south-er). The water was beautiful, flat and glassy for almost the entire cruise (where’s a wakeboard when you need one!). The fog was hanging around and looked like it could return any minute. We figured it was a good time to practice with the radar. I pulled my “Blues hat” down low so all I could see was the instruments and electronics. I piloted the boat for a few miles (or more) without looking up (Joyce kept a close eye and confirmed everything I read off the radar). Except for a few stressful yelling matches, a lot of over steering and a last minute save (a buoy that didn’t show a reflection until I would have run it over) everything went…kind of… well? As time went on I got the hang of it, but I would much rather be on autopilot when the time comes. Along the way we noticed some really “bright” clouds ahead and some fog hanging low over the river. When we got there we realized it was a huge ground fire. The fire “smoked out” the river. It didn’t kill your visibility, but you new you were in smoke. The scenery was great (again) and when we arrived at the Pebble Isle entrance we had to pass it and make a “U-turn” back up and into the canal going in. TT radioed and asked if we were taking a short cut. It seemed I forgot about the last 2 markers a little further down river and decided to turn early (between them). I figured I was already ½ way there, so we kept going and waited to see if I grounded out…we didn’t. We got in to this really nice, secluded marina. Joyce docked again, but after making her approach the dock master pointed to a different spot around the corner. Which she did and another nice dock (o.k., I helped a little...but only with the throttles- for all you non-boaters, when you dock you don‘t touch the steering wheel, just the shifters). Jaycie’s turn is coming soon and she is REALLY excited. It’s amazing how confident a 9 year old can be wanting to dock a 42’ boat (when there no concept of the damage they can cause and the money it will cost to fix it!). We’re back to saying, “I really like this place”, again. So far the people of Tennessee are great. We needed to get something notarized and overnighted in town , but the loaner van was out… so the owner gave us the keys to their own brand new Altima (I still haven’t gotten used to it)! At the grocery store the clerks carry your bags out to the car. Back at the marina we had lunch and I can honestly say it was the best BLT I have EVER had. The owner took Jaycie to the dock and gave her bread to feed the fish…100’s of them! She said if you throw French fries in, the little ones try to eat them but can’t and then the big cat fish come up from the bottom and eat them…which they did! Really cool. A lot of loopers here that we know and some that we didn’t. We had dinner on the boat and called it a night.

Green Turtle Bay to Paris Landing

OCTOBER 9, 2006 (Green Turtle to Paris Landing) While going over to pump out the boat felt a little “funny”. We tied up and I went below. It was as I suspected…the stuffing box on the port shaft was too tight. I loosened it and we were on our way. It started out a little foggy, but by the time we were done pumping out, most of the fog burned off. It was a very calm & mellow cruise. Joyce did her first side dock today! Jaycie also wanted to try, but we told her Joyce goes first. Paris Landing is a cute little marina and everyone has really cool southern accents. People are really friendly here. We biked in to a nearby hotel and had dinner…it was a buffet. I saw some small pancakes and some syrup that looked really watered down and kind of reddish. I asked the lady what it was and she said, “it was vinegar“. She said, “Did you think that was syrup?”. To which I replied, “Yes I did!”. She said, “You probably thought that cornmeal bread was pancakes? Just yesterday another man thought they was pancakes and syrup and we laughed until he left the building!” We also got to sample; Fried catfish, collard greens, fried pork chops, hush puppies and more many more deep fried goodies! MMMMMMM!

Nashville Trip

OCTOBER 6-7, 2006 (Nashville trip) Our 2 day “stop over” in Green Turtle Bay Marina has turned into an 8 day visit. We were told to rent a car, drive to Nashville and boat to Chattanooga…so we did. It was a 2 hour drive and we found a hotel that would allow pets. Before we left, we contacted my Aunt Estelle and Bruce (who have been to Nashville over 30 times), they gave us all the key places to visit. Nashville is a party town… unfortunately….we are not partiers, but we took advantage of their advice for sightseeing. It was a lot bigger than I thought (a real city), but the main street was old fashioned and great. Interesting point; it was the first time sleeping on land in over 4 months…and we couldn’t wait to get back to the boat. The second day, we went to an aquarium restaurant for lunch and walked around in the Opryland hotel. The restaurant had a 200,000 gal. tank in the center, with over 100 species of tropical fish in it and tables all around it. It was really cool. The Opryland hotel was beautiful and huge. There are over 2500 rooms and 3 convention centers. They had a boat tour in the middle of the hotel (which is a 4 1/2 acre atrium), and although I didn’t want to do it at first, we were all glad we did. The man made river that the boat rides on has 5 gal. of water from over 1700 locations around the world. It is also filled with the local areas' known fish. Another interesting thing is that as soon as we got into the boat, I commented on how comfortable I was…we all thought so. Jaycie and I also drove in a simulated NASCAR Race. It was really cool! After all that, we headed back home (to the boat)...aah! Thank you Estelle and Bruce for making our trip to Nashville a most enjoyable experience....(GO METS!)

Green Turtle Bay Stay

OCTOBER 2, 2006 (Green Turtle) What a GREAT nights sleep (we needed it)! I want to tighten my propeller & rudder stuffing boxes on the port side. I also want to get an early start on that thermostat. We have a loaner van lined up for 1:30 to go to….Wal-Mart (our generator has been putting out 140 volts and fried our vacuum so we need a new one). This is interesting, we get the loaner van for 2 hours for free (not even paying for gas) but they also have golf carts to drive around town in… but you have to rent them?! Go figure? The prop shaft goes smooth. The rudder shaft, which I thought was a stuffing box adjustment, ends up the bolts/plate are leaking at the seams. It doesn’t seem to major, but to repair it the boat will have to come out of the water. I am hoping it can hold out until we lay the boat up to go home for Christmas. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. The bolts I was concerned about for the thermostat come out like butter….BEAUTIFUL! Two of the hoses are hard as a rock so I want to replace them (which I found on board….thank you Ward!). Everything goes smooth…except…when I put it together and refill the engine with antifreeze it is leaking from under the header tank…DOH! It’s time to leave for Wal-Mart, so I quickly drain the engine and will have to work on it again later. We race (and I do mean race) to Wal-Mart (about an half an hour away), everyone gets what they need and we race back. It takes 2 hours and 10 minutes total….not bad. I saw a bumper sticker that reminded me of my friend Todd, “I’m not speeding…I’m qualifying!”…nice (I know, it‘s hard to believe you‘re hearing that from a trawler person)! We passed a raceway on the way home. Maybe we’ll stay another day? We head down to the pool for swimming and relaxing. Beautiful evening so we had dinner on the dock by candlelight. OCTOBER 3, 2006 (Green Turtle) Another day in Green Turtle. I called American diesel (where I took the class). I have to redo the job only this time using a sealant (which you normally wouldn’t do). I start the engines and everything appears to be fine. Hopefully this will get that engines operating temperature up to normal. I guess I will find out next time we are cruising. We did some business, school and cleaning (and went swimming, played tennis and drove around town in a golf cart). You actually drive on the roads with the trucks and cars…it’s really strange (especially when you are only doing 4 mph with a car behind you. People have really strong accents here (I can imagine what we must sound like to them). There are millions of turtles everywhere (hence the name). When you walk down the dock, towards the rocks on land, you hear splashing everywhere as the turtles scramble into the water. This happens every time you leave and come back to the dock…it’s really funny. OCTOBER 4-5, 2006 (Green Turtle) Woke up late and went out to breakfast. Joyce, Jaycie and Linda went to town with the golf cart to go shopping (I stayed back and did some business). I was doing business in the boat when I heard a bang, like a rock hit our boat. I come out and 2 guys are bass fishing behind our boat. The guy says, “Ha” (that’s Kentuckian for hi!). I give him a friendly NY greeting in return…“Learn how to cast or go fish somewhere else! “. Taking the golf cart to town There are turtles everywhere

Kentucky Lock to Green Turtle Bay

OCTOBER 1, 2006 (Kentucky Lock to Green Turtle) Well, we’re still here! The anchor held beautifully. Called in to the lock and were told we had a 3 hour wait again (the wait is due to all the barge traffic which gets first priority). I did work, Joyce and Jaycie did some home school and in no time it was time to go. We pulled anchor (by the way the new windlass works amazing) and we headed to the lock (which was pretty much right in front of us). The lock is huge! Made for large barges, we were only able to tie to 1 floating bollard (usually we get 2 spots to tie). We went up about 40’ and it was nice and smooth. The doors open and there is a huge barge waiting to come in. We squeeze (not that tight) around the side and get out of there. As we near the end of the barge, there is another tug perpendicular to shore, with his prop wash meeting the other tugs prop wash (and I get flash backs of the Sanitary canal incident). This time a don’t care about waking either one of them and I power through. We get pushed around but get through without incident. Kentucky lake is beautiful. It’s nice to be in non-industrial waters (although there are still barges). The weather is beautiful and it is the weekend, so there are many pleasure boaters around and it feels great. We arrive at Green Turtle, fuel up and look forward to seeing everyone again. If you stay 3 days you get a 4th day free…so we will be staying. I also want to change my port engine thermostat (which includes removing the header/coolant tank and I am a bit concerned about snapping off a bolt. If that happens it would turn into a major job and I would need the extra days to not be rushed (I‘ve already been soaking it with penetrating oil for 2 days now in preparation. We take a nice relaxing night.

Mile 949 to Kentucky Lock

SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 (Mile 949 to Kentucky Lock) Sleeping was a bit uneasy. We have never slipped or dragged anchor before but this was a much stronger current and if your anchor lets go who knows where (or how far) you will end up. Even though you figure whatever happens… happens, it is still in your subconscious and a bit un-nerving that you might “un-hook” in the middle of the night and “float away“. I only woke up twice during the night, but it was definitely not what I would call a restful sleep. It was decided that TT did not have enough fuel to make our next destination. We calculated what we would need (we’re still burning about 3.2 gph) and we figured we had plenty to spare. I have my fuel polishing set-up (which is based on a diesel fuel transfer system), so we pulled anchor and moved up to raft onto his boat. Once secure we set everything up and started pumping over fuel as if we were a floating fuel dock (thank God for over preparing!). Once fueled we untied, he pulled anchor and we headed for the Kentucky lock. It was another long day of travel fighting the current and dodging junk, but as the day progressed the current got milder and the junk in the water disappeared! It was a nice sunny, warm day and although a bit boring, a nice restful cruise. We arrived at Kentucky lock around 3:00 and were told it would be about 3 hours. We decided 6:00 was getting a little late to be traveling on the river so we figured we would stay the night so we anchored outside the channel and told the lockmaster we would lock through in the morning. Had a little trouble on my first set. When I backed down on the anchor I would drag it (I guess through the bottom). Let out an extra 25’ of chain and let it set again. This time it “seemed” to hold (but I was a little concerned). We’ll have to keep an eye on it. We contacted our friends, Steve and Sarah (from Trawler Fest boat show in FL.) and they said they would come show us around, since they live around here. Although the current was less than last night, we dropped the second safety anchor to help insure that our boat would still be there when we got back. We dinghied over to the boat ramp, by the dam, and they picked us up. They drove us to Green Turtle marina so we could check on getting in tomorrow. When we arrived it was like a reunion again! Miss Liberty, Lady Hawke, Bonus IV, Muggins, Triumph, Ocean Flyer (and many more) were all there….it was like a big party! We talked for a while and told them we would be coming in tomorrow. About ½ of them would be leaving in the morning but we‘ll see them again somewhere else. We went out to dinner, they showed us around and we had a great time. They drove us back to our dinghy (which was still there) and we said our good-byes and headed for our boat (which was also still there). It was really dark and with all the barges around you feel REALLY small in your dinghy. Went to bed and hoped our anchor would hold. Woke up in the middle of the night (not sure why), figured I would check if we had moved, only the fog was so thick I could barely see the bow (let alone the land). I couldn’t even tell if we were moving?! So I went back to bed and hoped for the best.

Diversion Channel to Mile 949

SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 (Diversion channel to Mile 949 anchorage) Foggy, cool morning. Had to start the genset and put the heat on to get the chill out. Got a call from a friend we met at Trawler fest (from Kentucky). We’ll be getting together with them when we get closer. Can’t wait to see them. Once again traveling in the Mississippi was fast,…then we came to the Ohio river. You could see the water line of brown from where it merged with the Mississippi. The Ohio was mud brown…it was dramatic. As we turned and headed up the Ohio…WOW! Barges EVERYWHERE! It made the Mississippi look mild. I didn’t know where to go first…they were everywhere. But like everything else on the trip… you adjust and learn how to maneuver around them. Our speed slowed to an unbelievably slow (even for us) 5.1 knots (6mph). Talk about passing barges in slow motion. As time went on (slowly) our speed increased to 6 knots (which helped). Some other loopers are in full displacement trawlers and cruise at about 6 knots, that means they would be doing this at about 3-4 knots!). The other interesting thing is with the current against you the boat is all over the place. You are constantly adjusting the wheel. After hours of doing this your neck and shoulder muscles actually start to tighten and get a little stiff. We can’t use auto pilot because there is so much stuff (sticks, wood, logs-piling size, branches the size of trees) you have to keep dodging. You don’t want to hit anything especially when it is coming down stream and you are going up. We’re not sure if we are going to tie up to commercial mooring balls or go a little further to another anchorage. We do want to cover a lot of ground because the “wickets” are down, which means we don’t have to lock through (I think I told you that) and these particular locks have been known for holding pleasure boaters up for many hours. They will close the wickets this weekend so we want to get ahead of it. Unfortunately, we will have to put in a couple of 10 (or more) hour days-but there are worse things you can be doing J. Along the way we had a bunch of honey bees land on our boat (around 20). Don’t know where they came from… just happy they weren’t swarming. We had to anchor in the river (out of the channel), but the current was fast, water choppy and most definitely unprotected. Anchor hooked up pretty well, but was concerned so I dropped my Danforth anchor and left 50’ of line ready to “self-deploy” if our first anchor let loose in the night (I figured I would have a better chance of 1 of 2 anchors resetting while dragging). We were in about 15’ of water and had 100’ of chain out on our main anchor. Water color change at Miss/Ohio merge

Kimmswick to DiversionChannel Anchorage

SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 (Kimmswick to Diversion channel anchorage) Left first thing in the morning. Although I read the weather maps as not getting any bad weather, you wouldn’t have guessed it from the skies/clouds. It was overcast and cold. Along the way we got hit with a few raindrops, but nothing big ever materialized. We are seeing a lot more greenery lately and fewer and farther between industry. 5 wide x 6 long (plus tug) barges are becoming commonplace. We have passed or been passed, by 3 and for different barges in a row (I definitely have my 1 & 2 whistle passes down solid!). The current is cruising as we hit 11.5 knots today! That’s about 13+ miles per hour…for a trawler….INCREDIBLE! Since we were cruising at such high speeds we strapped everything down, told Jaycie to hold tight and I put my goggles on so the tears would stop streaming from my eyes J. We arrived at the anchorage and it was a narrow channel off the side of the river. Cutting through the current and getting into it was interesting as we moved forward (but the boat was at a 45 degree angle). After such a “fast paced” day, it was a nice to be in such still water. The anchorage fits about 10 boat (although we don’t see how). Muggins and Great Escape (we met them at Alton) were already anchored there. We got in and anchored. It was narrow enough that we put out a stern anchor to keep us from swinging into the shore. We took the dinghy for a cruise up the canal/stream for a few miles. It was really nice an “nature-ee”. Asian carp (we guessed) were jumping everywhere. Later we went to TT boat to watch “Grey’s anatomy” and finish the 2nd piece of apple pie we had (couldn‘t finish it all the other night). John went to bring Roscoe (his dog) where we went and got caught in the dark coming back (it was black!). It took him a long time to return…but the last piece of apple pie made it all worth while! (by the way, we also bought the recipe for the future). What a beautiful, dark, & peaceful night.

Kimmswick Stay

SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 (Kimmswick) The weather didn’t look good, with potential for severe weather again…and my internet confirmed it. So we stayed…and went to breakfast! We think it was the best breakfast we ever had. With tip? $75.00!! One wouldn’t think you spend that much on breakfast in such a small town….but we did! I think it might actually have been worth it too. We couldn’t finish it, so we took it back to the boat for another time. INCREDIBLE! The weather passed us and it turned into a beautiful day. We walked around town and bought some really cool wooden roses to send to our Moms. Since we have fallen about a week behind our other loopers, we have met a whole new crew. Incredible how many people are doing this.

Alton to Kimmswick

SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 (Alton to Kimmswick) Got up and left for Kimmswick. It is a beautiful day in the Mississippi. Traveling past the arch in St. Louis was really nice. We got to the first lock of the day and it was “barge” huge (but not a big drop 12 or 20’?) but there was a wall of logs and garbage from side wall to side wall at the entrance. TT went slowly through and we followed hoping not to hear the props hit anything. Nothing did. Today is a “mile marker day” as we hit 2,000 miles traveled. Hard to believe have gotten that far from home. We also passed the fork where Mohegan went the wrong way. There’s a big sign, but could use some freshening up. If he was following his charts he would have seen the preferred route bearing left at the fork. His misfortune has made everyone very aware not to make the same mistake. We wish him well. We arrived at “Hoppie’s” in Kimmswick. There’s a pretty heavy current running hear (about 4 knots). It’s a nice, very friendly, family run dock (of floating barges) which run length wise with the river. They have an awning with couch and chairs out on the dock for hanging out. When barges pass it really rolls the boats heavy (but not as bad as Newport, NJ). Since it’s a little narrow at this point of the river, the wake must rebound off the shores because it lasts for quite some time. We walked into town and it was really little and cute (again Christy missed it!). We found a place called The Blue Owl. It’s a breakfast and lunch place that sells amazing desserts. It is “famous” for having been on a TV gourmet show. Who would have figured in a little town like this. Anyway, they were just closing (3pm) so we only had time to buy their famous apple pie as a surprise for John (TT). It’s about 8-10” high (really). We passed John and Linda on the way back and told them we had a surprise for them later. When we got together later he told me he couldn’t wait for the apple pie. He said someone in town told him we bought apple pie for him!? Only in a small towns! We are leaving tomorrow or we would have loved to go back and have breakfast there.