ictures:

1. Leaving in the fog

2. The beautiful anchorage at mile 246 TnR

3. Mike and Pat at the Huntsville Botinical Gardens

4. Pat next to the SR-71 at the Space Center

5. Dennis and Jeanette Skelly


It is now October 21st, and we have had a great time at Joe wheeler State Park at the Great Loop Cruiser’s Rendezvous. There were interesting speakers, lots of food, a little drinking of adult beverages, and great weather. The best part though, was the people we met.

First of all, Dennis and Jeanette Skelly, Army friends from 25 years ago, and fellow boaters, came to the Rendezvous and stayed with us on Irish Ayes. They are great friends and having them aboard was perfect. They just sold their Marine Trader 44, and are in the market for their next boat. They also had a car, which is a Godsend to people who are cruising. They took me to the hardware store for parts when Irish Ayes popped a water line. They took us to the grocery store, and they took us to dinner a couple of times. We were sorry to see them leave Friday morning, but we’ll see them again in a couple of weeks when we get to Florida.

Next were Jim and Cindy McKay. They are friends from Knoxville whom we have known for a couple of years. Just to show you how small the world is, Cindy’s cousin is COL (Ret) Don Vinson, another old Army friend who I think I spent half of my career with. He was an attack Pilot in Cobra Gunships in Vietnam, and flew Apache gunships during the Panama operation as well as Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Don and I served many years in the 82d Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Corps, and he is a great friend. Too bad he doesn’t buy a real boat. Cindy and Jim finished the Loop earlier this year, and are thinking of doing it again. Cindy even fixed us a care package of great soup to take with us when we departed down river this morning. Considering that the temperature was 39 degrees, the soup was a great touch, and it was delicious I might add.

Then, we unexpectedly found that Lee and Brenda Jetton were there at the Rendezvous. They are friends we met three years ago at a Gulf Star Rendezvous. They have a Gulfstar 44 just like ours, and we had lots of fun with them. They checked out our boat from stem to stern, just like we will do to theirs when we see them again in New York next summer.

We met a bunch of great people at the Rendezvous that I know we will see again as we make our way around the United States. There were Loopers there who were completing the Loop, some like us who are just starting, and some wannabes who are gathering information for when they can start their great adventure. Pat and I look forward to seeing many of the AGLCA Rendezvous again along the waterway.

One of the highlights of the week was a bus tour of Huntsville, AL. We were loaded up on a very nice luxury bus, and we went to the Space Museum in Huntsville, which was spectacular. If you haven’t been there, you need to go. We were only there a couple of hours, but it was wonderful.

From there, we went to Huntsville’s Botanical Gardens, which even for someone who hates yard work, namely me, it was a beautiful place. It’s great to look at, but I sure wouldn’t want to work there. From there we visited the Huntsville Museum of Art, which we really enjoyed. Such beautiful paintings, sculptures, glass art, and interestingly, a photo display of New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was very difficult to look at those pictures, but impossible not to. I think everyone should see those pictures to remind us of what those murderers did to 3000 plus innocent Americans on that day. I think too many of us have forgotten already.

From there, the City of Huntsville hosted us at a barbecue at Ditto Landing Marina. The food was excellent and it was a great way to cap off a fun day.

This morning we departed Joe Wheeler Marina as the fog was lifting on a beautiful, if a bit cold, sunny day. Joe Wheeler Lock and Dam was two miles down river, and the lockmaster had the door open for us when we arrived. I love it when that happens. There were six boats in the lock, and we made it through uneventfully. Then, 15 miles later, came the infamous Wilson Lock and Dam. Wilson’s main lock chamber was damaged a few months ago when a barge that was being lifted in the chamber snagged the upper lock door, tearing it off its track and hinges. Those lock doors are huge since they have to hold back a gazillion gallons of Tennessee River water, so repairing the damage is taking months. Wilson has an auxiliary lock that is very small, and there are dozens of tow boats and barges lined up to traverse the lock, and they (commercial traffic) have priority, so we pleasure boaters cool our props and wait. Every three hours or so the lockmaster will allow a pleasure boat lock down or up, so that’s what happened to us. We arrived at the lock at 9am, and finally got into the lock at 12:10. After a drop of approximately 93 feet through two chambers, we exited Wilson Lock, and all I can say is farewell to you, mister damaged lock. See you next year when you are repaired.

We continued on down the river on a spectacularly beautiful day, and around 4:30pm we pulled into a little cove for the night. After dropping and setting the anchor, taking pictures of the colorful trees, and having a great dinner, we are about to pack it in for the night. Stay tuned.

Pictures:
- The "Rendezvous" boats at Joe Wheeler State Park
- Edwin and Gloria on Irish Ayes
- Edwin's 32 Plymouth


We arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park for the America's Great Loop Cruisers Rendezvous on Friday, October 13th. Yes, that's Friday the 13th, but thankfully we didn't have any of that superstitious stuff happen to us. It was a beautiful trip down the river, with perfect weather and scenery. When we pulled into our slip we were told there would be a happy hour at 4:30. You've got to love this boating stuff!!

After the happy hour we went to dinner with some folks who had a car, and had a great, if greasy, seafood dinner at a very popular eating place in Rogersville, AL. It wasn't much to look at, but the food was good, and I think everyone who lives in that county was there for dinner.

The next night, Satruday, was a pot luck dinner that was excellent. Everyone contributes their favorite (or in the case of boaters whatever they have aboard) meal. Calories and cholesterol don't count at potlucks, as everyone knows, so no guilt was had by all.

Sunday, friends from Anniston Alabama, Edwin and Gloria, came for a visit. Edwin is a high school friend of Pat's who has become my friend too, as has Gloria. We spent the day with them, riding to town in Edwin's 1932 Plymouth that he restored himself. Edwin is a gifted artist when it comes to car restoration, and it was a pleasure to ride in his work of art. the picture above is Edwin's car.

Monday, starts the Rendezvous, so I'll tell you more about that later.

I can't believe it has been four days since I last updated this blog.

The pictures are of Calypso (with the blue canvas), Pat and I in Cathedral Cavern, and the view from inside Guntersville Lock.

Today we are at Joe Wheeler State Park, where the America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association Redezvous will take place starting Monday. We arrived here yesterday at around 2pm.

Back tracking a bit, we had a great time at Goose Pond Marina. After visiting with our friends Carl and Sharlis, we also were able to spend an evening with Louis and Peggy Letson. Pat and I met Louis the first time we pulled our boat into a slip at Goose Pond 10 years ago, and have been friends ever since. On that day, he came out to help us get into the slip, and then offered me a cold beer. If you know me at all, that act is the seal of friendship. Louis is a retired surgeon, an experienced delivery captain (boats and babies too), and a former Navy doctor, Vietnam Veteran, with a very interesting history in that war. Louis took me to the hardware store and the grocery store, and then later he took us to his home where he and his wife Peggy treated us to the best salmon dinner I have ever had. They are great hosts and wonderful friends.

After we departed Goose Pond, we headed down river toward Lake Guntersville Lock and Dam. We had a very easy transit, with the lock door opened and the green light on when we arrived. It was a little windy so getting into the lock was a challenge, but we had no problems, meaning there are no new dings on the boat. The lockmaster gave us a slow, easy ride down, so the passage through the lock was uneventful. Guntersville is the last lock we will see until we depart Joe Wheeler.

After transiting the lock, we picked an anchorage on the Flint River to anchor in for the night. We arrived there around 2:30, set the hook, and got ready for a very relaxing evening on the hook. Then I heard a call on the VHF radio from a boat named Calypso, calling the Ditto Landing Marina. I recognized Calypso as the name of a boat belongng to some folks I had never met, but had communicated with several times over the internet. Rich Gano and his wife Mary own Calypso, and Rich had been very helpful to me several times when I had questions about some aspect of boating. Rich also sent me a set of CDs with some boating information that I needed, and he sent them at no cost to me. He even paid the shipping. I told him then that when we met I'd buy him dinner.

I called Calypso on the radio, and as soon as I identified myself as Irish Ayes, Rich knew who it was. Needless to say, Pat and I pulled up the anchor and made our way the five miles to Ditto Landing Marina. The dockmaster placed us on the same dock as Calypso, and we had a great evening with Rich and Mary. We called a cab and went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner, (yes, Pat and I bought dinner), and then we walked across the parking lot to WalMart for some shopping. The next morning Rich and Mary fixed waffles for breakfast, which turned out to be about the best waffles I've had in a couple of years. Since Rich and Mary were headed up River and us down river, was said farewell after breakfast. We will definitely see them again. Oh yes, since I raved so much about Rich's waffles, and since they had two waffle irons aboard Calypso, Rich and Mary presented us with a gift of a waffle iron before they departed. Boaters are pretty special people who will share everything they have. Even a spare waffle iron.

After we departed ditto Landing, the only event worth talking about is the train. Considering all of the possible obstacles I thought would, or could delay us on the river, I never thought we would be stopped cold by a train. But, there we were, coming down the river, passing under the I-65 bridge in Decatur, AL, when about 1/2 mile ahead I saw a very low bridge over the water, about 5 feet off the water. As we approached, darned if a train didn't come across the tracks, and got about half way across the bridge and stopped. He backed up off the bridge, and then pulled forward over the water again, and did that several times. I'm thinking this could last all day. Another boat that was behind us called th bridge tender on channel 16, but no answer. After about 15 minutes of turning in slow circles, the bridge tender called us on the radio and asked me to call him on channl 13 (the book we have says that he monitors both 13 and 16 - WRONG). So, I called him on channel 13, and he responded that he would move the train off the brige, raise the span, and allow us to pass, which he did. I think one must have great power to move a freight train just by telling them to move !! Anyway, after that event, we moved on down the river a total of 60 miles to Joe Wheeler State Park, and here we are. More later.

Today is the second day we have been at Goose Pond Marina, and this is a great place to hang out. The price is right, $25 a night for our boat, which included 50 amp power, water and cable TV. It gets more expensive from here on.

Since we departed the Chattanooga Yacht Club on 8 October, we have had perfect weather, beautiful scenery of Tennessee and Alabama, and no problems. On the evening of the 8th, we wanted to get through Chickamauga Lock and Nickajack Lock. We made it through chickamauga Lock, which is only 6 miles down river from CYC, but there was a towboat with 9 barges locking through, which delayed us getting through the lock until around 11:30am. By the time we got to Nickajack, about 55 miles down river from Chattanooga, it was 4:00pm. We locked through by 4:30, and I had selected an anchorage about 5 miles down river from the lock to spend the night. Great plan, poor execution.

The anchorage was a perfect location. Safe, protected, not far off the main channel, and wide enough for plenty of swing room, meaning th boat could swing around on the anchor without hitting the bank on either side. The only problem was, I couldn't get the anchor to set. We were in about 15 feet of water, and I was using my big Danforth, FX-55 Anchor with about 100 feet of chain. I tried for about 45 minutes to set the anchor, making about 8-10 attempts, but it wouldn't hold. The bottom was either rock or gavel, and the anchor had nothing to dig in to. Time to go to Plan B.

Plan B was to either find another anchorage, or go back up river, through Nickajack Lock, to Hales Bar Marina. By now we have about an hour of daylight left, which is just barely enough time to make it back to Hales Bar if we can get through the lock without much delay, which is not something one can count on. After checking the river chart for another anchorage (which I couldn't find in close proximity to our presentlocation), I decided we needed to go back up river to a the marina. First I called Hales Bar Marina to see if they had space, which they did. Then, while making our way back up the river to the lock, I called the Lock Master and asked about locking through up river. He said no problem, and there would be about a 10-15 wait. so far, so good. The I had a brainstorm. I wondered if the Lock Master would allow us to tie up on the wall on the lower side of the lock. I figured the answer would be no, but it was a for-sure no if I didn't ask. So, I called the Lock Master back on the radio and asked if he would grant us permission to tie up on the wall, and to my surprise, he said we could. There is an auxillary lock at Nickajack that was about 50% completed when they built the main lock chamber, and the Lock Master said we could go in there and spend the night. So, by night fall, we were safely tied up in the auxillary chamber, and eating dinner. Not a bad plan. We had a very restful, peaceful night.

The next day we were greeted with heavy ground fog, which delayed our departure from the lock by about an hour and a half. As we headed down river, the fog thickened, and after about 30 minutes of leaving the lock, I could barely see the river bank, much less anything in front of us. So, I pulled the boat into the same place we had planned to anchor the night before, and just did slow turns until the fog lifted a bit. After about 45 minutes of that, I thought I could see well enough to move on. We actually departed about a half hour before Pat really wanted to, but with good radar, a great chartplotter, and automatic fog signals from the VHF radio being blasted through the loud speaker, there was little danger. As we went along the fog continued to lift and within the next hour we were in bright sunlight, and a perfect day.

We made it to Goose Pond Marina, in Scottsboro, Alabama, at about 1:00pm CST. Goose Pond is a beautiful marina located at TN River Mile 377, on the right decending bank. It is part of a state park that also has cabins, a golf course, hiking trails, condos, etc. Here we met some of our closest friends, Carl and Sharlis Sutherland. I've know Carl for over 30 years, and we have been close friends ever since. Carl is a retired Army Colonel, and one of the smartest Army officers I ever met, and Sharlis is about the sweetest lady you could ever meet. We spent the 9th and 10th with them, just visiting and having fun. Th highlight of the visit was a tour of Cathedral Cavern, about a 10 mile ride from the marina. Cathedral Cavern is one of nature's anomalies that is breathtaking. It is beautiful beyond description, and if you havent seen it, you should. I'll include a picture of the Cavern in our next update.

That's it for now, stay tuned.

Long Day

After finally getting through Fort Loudoun Lock, (we were delayed by a gas barge for 4 hours), we only had about three hours of daylight remaining, so we decided to anchor out at Paint Rock Creek, Mile 577 on the TN River, and it is a very nice anchorage. Well protected from the wind, although the wind was high at about 25 kts, the anchorage is beautiful. There was only one other boat in the creek so there was plenty of room for us. I dropped the hook while Pat handled the boat. The big Fortress FX-55 anchor grabbed immediately, and we were set for the night.

Next morning I woke everyone up when I cranked the engines at daylight. We had about 100 miles to cover today in order to get to the Chattanooga Yacht Club, Mile 477 and I wanted to arrive at our destination in daylight. That's where we will drop off Louise, Pat's mother, who will drive our pick-up truck to her home in AL and keep it for us. We had a beautiful day to cruise, sunny with cool but pleasant temps. When we got to Watts Bark Lock and Dam, the door was open and the green light welcomed us in the lock chamber. Now that's the way to go through a lock! No wait.

We arrived at Chattanooga Yacht Club at about 4:30pm, with a pretty strong wind. It's always high adventure to dock a boat in strong winds. It wasn't pretty, but we got in with no damage to the boat, the dock, or my self esteem. Wind has blown all night so I tied extra lines at about 3am. Next stop is Goose Pond Marina, about a hundred miles down river. We're not in a hurry, so we'll take two days to make this leg. Rumor has it that a 9-barge towboat is going through Chickamauga lock this morning (8 October), so we may be delayed. More later.

6 Oct 2006: Today is the day we depart on what we believe will be a great adventure. It is now 6am, and in about two hours we will throw off the docklines and head down river. Pat's mother, Louise, will be with us to Chattanooga, where we will put her ashore at the Chattanooga Yacht Club. Not much more to say at this point since we haven't left the dock yet, but the day has arrived

This past month has been a blur. Getting one's life organized for cruising is a challenge, but the internet makes much of it easier. Getting the boat ready was an even bigger challenge. Being the type-A that I am, I want everything to be completed, and perfect, before we depart, and as anyone who owns a boat will tell you, your "to do" list is never completed and no boat is perfect. I'm working on that type-A thing.

Thanks to all of our friends in Knoxville and here at the Yacht Club who said farewell to us. Many of you took us to dinner, took us home for dinner, or came by to say goodbye. Many of you brought us farewell gifts which were very thoughtful. Thank you all so much for your friendship and kindness. Pat and I will miss you all very much.

More to follow as we make it down the river.