Heading Downbound

Because all the rivers we travel will twist and turn as they flow to the ocean, as boaters we say that we travel “upbound” or “downbound” rather than saying “north” or “south”.  On October 1 we departed Goose Pond heading to New Orleans for the winter, hoping to arrive before October 25, the due date for our son & daughter-in-law to present us with our second grandchild.

We enjoyed a slow easy trip down the TN River and half way down the Tenn-Tom River system, periodically checking with our son to see how things were progressing.  Around October 10, things were becoming more touch-and-go, so we decided to put the boat up for a week or two at Columbus MS marina & retrieve our car.  Four days later, we got the phone call, only this time the call was a joyous one.  We had a new grandson!   We jumped into our car & went to New Orleans for a week to begin to spoil our new arrival.  Mom & Simon were doing quite well, our son was a proud daddy, & Maddy (now 10 years old) quickly got used to being a new big sister.

Joining the mass migration.  Getting underway
before sunrise to lock through before another
towboat arrives.

By the time we returned to the boat, we were in the middle of the “mass migration” southbound.  We had been in this situation before, on the east coast in October 2014, when most Yankees start heading for Florida/Bahamas for the winter.  This time it was the Loopers (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association), who had just completed their annual fall rendezvous at Wheeler State Park on the TN River.

Playing "follow the leader"

In our 10 years of travel, approaching an estimated 20,000 miles on the waterways, we have normally travelled by ourselves.  Rarely would we travel with another boat.  But from Columbus MS downbound, we were constantly part of a group of anywhere from 3 to 11 other boats.  Quite a sight for us to be one of 12 boats all crowded at one time into a lock chamber.  We got a kick out of one boat named “Ladybug”, home-ported in Luling LA, of all places (we had lived in Luling, a very tiny town, for 30 years)!  They had lived close to our house, knew our neighbors, and we think that their daughter went to the local high school with our son!

Where the hell is Luling LA ?!?

Rafting at anchor with a Looper which we had just met

Leaving the anchorage early in the morning, not knowing
that we were about to run into think pea soup

We agreed to let a boat raft up to us in several anchorages, because he had mechanical problems with his anchor windlass.  Good thing we had heavy ground tackle (anchor & chain) to hold two big cruisers against the river current.  Each day on the river, we encountered fog (warm water with cool air), and ran into some pretty challenging encounters with towboats & barges in the dense fog.  They make quite a large “blip” on the radar screen!  Because there were so many boats travelling different distances each day, we kept running into the same boats at different days, all along the 300 mile trip to Mobile Bay.

Our travel companions take really good pics of us

Just north of Mobile, we had to wait while two tugboats
turned around an ocean-going freighter.  Then we had
to slowly follow him into Mobile Bay.

ZoBe on Mississippi Sound

At our anchorage, we frame the full moon
through the rigging of ZoBe

Once we made Dog River at Mobile Bay, we finally met up with our sailboat friends whom we had met a year ago, Glynn & Jenny aboard “ZoBe”.  They had come down from the TN River earlier & were waiting in Mobile to travel with us across Mississippi Sound to New Orleans.  After waiting 2 days in Dog River Marina, we jumped at a weather window that was unbelievably calm for our 3-day trip.  The first night we anchored off one of the sand barrier islands, let ZoBe raft up to us (a comical sight of a big power boat with a big sailboat rafted together), and enjoyed the full moon.  The thick fog the next morning delayed our departure into Gulfport MS.  Glynn & Jenny liked Gulfport so much that they decided to stay there for the winter, so we made the last leg of the journey to New Orleans alone.

ZoBe shoots the rising sun across our bow

Shortly after sunrise, the fog moves in across the barrier
island in Mississippi Sound

Once the fog finally lifts, ZoBe breaks away from us at anchor

We exchange photo ops

Mississippi Sound is unbelievably calm

This shrimper better catch lots of shrimp, cause
we're back in town!

We tied up at Seabrook Marina on New Orleans’ Industrial Canal, where we had been several times before.  Two days later, we were treated to a close look at a fully restored WWII PT boat, passing in front of our boat.  This boat is owned by the National WWII Museum downtown & was to be hauled out by Seabrook boatyard for annual maintenance.  Not every day you see a PT boat in front of you!

So now we’re done with cruising this season, and maybe longer.  The saying goes, “The happiest day in the life of a boater is when he buys a boat.  The second happiest day is when he sells the boat.”  We’re headed for another happy day.  But, as always, we have our Plan B to go cruising again in the spring, if we still have a boat to do so.  Between now & then, we’ll enjoy our growing family in New Orleans & plan our next adventure.

Our son & his wife took this Christmas photo,
& even provided the baby in the crib!

Enjoying Maddy’s visit

While we looked for another car to purchase (and thanked our lucky stars that we both made it through the car wreck safely), we enjoyed a week visit from our granddaughter Maddy.  We wanted to expose her to as much boating as possible, so we took her on 7 different types of boats that week, and she learned what she liked (kayaks) and what she didn’t like (rowboats).  But her real hot button was rock wall climbing, which we did in downtown Chattanooga.  Being so agile and athletic, she could climb the walls like a monkey.  We tired her out (as well as ourselves) and spoiled her as much as possible, before returning her to her parents.

Our other effort this summer was to begin looking for homes in either Huntsville AL or Chattanooga TN.  Our future boating days are numbered, and we want to begin travel by land to the National Parks in the western US.  The boat will go up for sale when we get to New Orleans this winter.

Cruisin’ with Barefootin’

Our best boating buddies, Clint & Leigh aboard
Barefootin'

In early July we finally arrived at Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro AL, which was to become our base of operation for the summer.  We chose this marina because our best cruising friends from 8 years ago (Clint & Leigh) keep their boat here.  We planned to finally put all our talk into action, to cruise together as far as we can, up the TN River into the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.  We all had heard how gorgeous the scenery was up there, and were determined to find out for ourselves.

At our anchorage at Little Cedar Mountain, the
morning fog ls lifting above the water

When we first arrived at Goose Pond, the marina office told us about another boater on the next dock, who claimed that he knew us & was looking to say “Hi” to us.  The only people we knew at this marina were Clint & Leigh, so we had no idea who this person was.  When we finally met up with the other boater, and asked each other a lot of questions, I finally realized that we had met this boat here at Goose Pond way back in 2009 on our first trip through this area!  In fact, this friend took photos of our boat departing Goose Pond, and I used his photo when I printed our boat cards.  This was the second time within a month that our past boating experience has come back to us!

Downtown Chattanooga waterfront, departing for dinner

We departed with Barefootin’ for our two-week cruise up the Tennessee River, with beautiful weather making the trip even more enjoyable.  The first couple days, we cruised through familiar waters, since both of us used to keep our boats at a marina near Chattanooga.  The farther north we went, the mo’ betta the river & mountain scenery became.  We were travelling through lands formerly belonging to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, and we took the time to learn about their history and how President Andy Jackson had them forced out of their land and “re-settled” in the Oklahoma “Indian Territory”.  Another dark chapter in American history.

Departing Chattanooga at sunrise

We're the little boat ahead of Barefootin'.
Let's see.....red, right, return

Approaching one of he locks, the size of the gates
can be intimidating

Once we locked through the last lock on the TN River, we decided to turn southwest to head up the Little Tennessee River, rather than continuing up to Knoxville.  The scenery and the multitude of quiet little coves in which to anchor, did not disappoint us.  Additionally, the couple marinas that we stayed in were super cheap, so we took advantage of this.  This entire area reminded Sue & me of our travels through the 1000 Islands area of the St Lawrence River, which we visited in 2015. 

Inside the lock chamber, it seems that we're inside
the bowels of the earth

As we exit the lock, the scenery is just plain beautiful

Passing one of the larger tows on the TN River.
Guess we'll let him have right-of-way

Photo Op at the end of the Little Tennessee River
at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains

Quiet anchorage in the morning mist

Our transportation to get the dog ashore
when at anchor

Flooded farm silos in Lake Tellico.  This was all farm land
before the TVA built the dam & flooded the area.
Creates a nice hazard to navigation

View from our dock at Goose Pond Marina.  Just don't
get much mo' betta.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable time with some of our best friends.  I get a kick out of how two dissimilar boats are able to cruise together, which we originally did together back in 2011.  We are a slow boat (a “crawler” as Clint says), while Barefootin’ likes to get up on plane & run.  So each morning, Clint & Leigh help us get underway before enjoying another cup of coffee, walking the dog, and finally untying their lines, only to pass us mid-way and beating us to the marina for the night.  Then they are there to catch our lines, help us fuel up & tell us where everything is.  For Fruition, it’s just like having our own portable concierge service!

While we were on the TN River, the hurricanes kept coming
into the Gulf of Mexico
(click to enlarge)

Once we finished our cruise together, we were back in Scottsboro only two days before Sue & I came within a second of both being killed in a car wreck, when another driver ran through a stop light & hit us at 55 mph.

Just 'cause you have a green light at the intersection,
that don't mean you're safe to proceed!

2017 Short Cruising Season

Some homes have watch dogs.  We have
Killer Blue Herons!

With all the on-going family activity, we decided to enjoy a short easy cruising season by heading back to the Tennessee River.  Family matters kept us busy through most of May, and then we had to finish varnishing the teak on the sundeck before we set sail.  By the end of May, we were ready to go, but then King Neptune sent day after day of thunderstorms.

At Demopolis Lock, the white egrets were
lined up along the chamber wall
like Gargoyles.

Finally on June 1 we saw a 3-day weather window (kinda), so we decided to make a run up the Tenn-Tom (Tennessee – Tombigbee River system) to see if we could get to Demopolis AL before the next round of thunderstorms came through.  We departed The Wharf Marina at Orange Beach AL (which had been a nice, but expensive, place to keep the boat) in the middle of a thunderstorm & got out onto Mobile Bay where the visibility was terrible in fog & rain.  We got indoctrinated quickly back into cruising, using radar & chartplotter & an occasional break in the visibility to work around the dredge in the middle of the Mobile Ship Channel.  We pushed hard, sometimes running 10-11 hours/day, and made the 250 miles to Demopolis in only 3 days, surprising even us.

Tying to the floating mooring bit
inside the lock chamber.  I think we're
starting to get good at this!

The night before making Demopolis, we got a real surprise when we anchored in the river, literally in the middle of nowhere, and looked across the river to the creek entrance to see another boat anchored for the night – one which we had met 8 years prior along the Tennessee River!  In addition, the home port of that boat was Put-in-Bay Ohio, one of the Lake Erie Islands only 1 mile away from the home port of our boat!  In fact, the owner knows my cousins on Put-in-Bay!

At Demopolis, one of the live-aboards had built
this radio-controlled sailing vessel from a kit.
When he sailed it from the dock, he had to retrieve
it using his dinghy because the wind was wrong.

After pushing hard the first half up the Tenn-Tom, we deliberately went slow the second half because the Wilson Lock on the Tennessee River was closed for maintenance until around June 20.  So we went to places which we had bypassed in our previous 3 trips along the Tenn-Tom & stayed a week at a time at different marinas.  We moved our car with us, so we could visit other sites in the area.  After a hectic year so far, we could actually go slow & realx.

In northern Alabama, one of the highlights to visit
is the Coon Dog Cemetery.  Ya just gotta go!

Who'd a thunk it !?!

Near the junction of the Tenn-Tom and TN River
is "Waterfall Cove", a popular place for the locals

Sunset at our anchorage.  This is what cruising is all about

Our week at Joe Wheeler State Park was very relaxing,
and they only charged us $100 for the entire week!

The Phone Call

For the past several months, we had seen a slow decline in the health of Sue’s mother, so it was not surprising to receive a phone call near the end of March, recommending that Sue place her mother into hospice care.  We began making preparations to spend a week or two or three in Chattanooga.

March 27, Sue got the dreaded phone call, but it came from Orlando instead, to say that her brother had died during the night!  We dropped everything, closed up the boat, & drove immediately down to Orlando.  On the way, we spent the night at boating friends Ken & Betsy’s winter home in Dunnellon.  In Orlando the next day, we took care of funeral arrangements early before going to the brother’s house to begin going through things.

Within an hour of arriving at the house, Sue gets another phone call from Chattanooga to say that her mother has taken a turn for the worse, and Sue should come immediately, if not sooner.  We drop everything; I drive Sue directly to Orlando airport, and put her on a plane to Chattanooga with only the clothes on her back & a credit card in her pocket.  Sue makes it to her mother’s bedside to spend the last 18 hours with her.  I drive back to Ken & Betsy’s to pack up our suitcases, then drive to TN.

The next two months are filled with activities which we all hate to go through, only they were multiplied by two for Sue.  In case that wasn’t enough to handle, Sue was still dealing with her uncle’s estate from over a year ago in Ohio.  The family all came together nicely for a joint funeral service (which the funeral home said they had never done before), and burial in Selma AL where 6 other of Sue’s relatives are interred.  Of note, the ashes of Sue’s sister had been kept by Sue’s nephews for about 12 years, but were laid in Selma next to her younger brother’s ashes, all above the casket of her older brother.  So, on one memorable day, Sue buried her mother, her brother, and her sister.

A sad time, indeed.

Early 2017 – Gulf Coast

We spent a lot of time early in 2017, visiting Sue’s mother in Chattanooga several times, knowing that her time with us was shortening.  But we also tried to take advantage of being close to other family members, especially the New Orleans crowd.  In January we brought our granddaughter Madeleine to Orange Beach to do some ice skating (for the first time in her life), enjoy the Christmas petting zoo, see the fantastic light show every night at the Wharf, and ride the giant ferris wheel.

The 100 acres of Bellingrath Gardens had so many
lights you couldn't count them all!

Sue & I made several trips to nearby Bellingrath Gardens, just south of Mobile.  This has always been a favorite spot of ours to tour the grounds & admire whatever flowers are in bloom at that time.  But for the first time, we went while they had their Christmas Lights on display, to the tune of a couple million twinkling little stars. 

New Orleans celebrates New Year's Day with cabbages

As we got into the month of March, we realized that we had a lot of work to finish on the boat’s sundeck, if we wanted to go cruising soon.  We had the wet bar rebuilt by a contractor who also laid new carpeting, but we ourselves stripped & varnished all the teak doors to the cabinets, salon cabin door, and side wing doors.  Sand, tack cloth, varnish, hang to dry for 2 days, sand tack cloth, varnish, hang to dry for 2 days, ad infinitum.  Very tedious & time consuming, and very much needed.

Helping out at the Boat Show in Chattanooga

Tape, sand, tack cloth, varnish

2016 Winter Holidays; Family & Friends

All through the months of Oct, Nov & December, we continued to put miles on our car, driving to New Orleans several times, to Orlando, to Chattanooga, to Birmingham & Selma AL (don’t ask), to Waco TX, and to points in between.  Our boat, meanwhile, enjoyed its stay at a nice marina, with us being aboard only about 50% of the time.

Sue's mother with 4 more generations of ladies

But we spent a lot of time with family so far this winter, with more to come.  We thoroughly enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving family reunion in Tennessee, during which Sue’s mother was the star of the show.  Each day, we drove her to the rented cabins for family time, Thanksgiving dinner, and gift exchange the next day.  Though she is now 94 years young, she was very alert and cognizant of her surroundings the entire week, even singing songs loud & clear.  She had all her grandchildren in attendance, plus all her great-grandchildren, and all her great-great-grandchildren, so she enjoyed them all!

At Christmas time, Sue & our granddaughter open
their "Christmas Cafe", with chef's hat & custom
made menus.  they do all the cooking, too!

The following week found us near Orlando at a nice resort for some sun and some R & R.  Of course, on the way down we stopped to see Ken & Betsy in Dunnellon FL, who were one of our boating buddies in 2011 when we lived on the Tennessee River.

Lynne shows off her "Lynnemas" shirt, with the
artist Madeleine standing by

Christmas time saw us in New Orleans with our kids, as usual.  The difference this year was that our side of the family celebrated Christmas on Dec 29, so that Ali & Chris could celebrate earlier with her family.  But then, there’s our daughter Lynne, who has a birthday on Dec 29, and has “complained” for 40 years that she never gets any gifts for her birthday because it is so close to Christmas.  So this year, on Dec 29, we celebrated “Lynnemas” rather than Christmas, so Lynne became the Christmas Diva!

The kids got me some diesel engine motor oil for "Lynnemas".
Is that a not-so-subtle hint that the oil needs changing on the boat?

As the song goes, "We went on down to the Audubon Zoo,
and they all axed for you"
Sue keeps threatening to buy a pink flamingo to put on the bow of the boat!

With our good friends Kurt & Susan in Panama City

Back at the marina, we’ve met a lot of current “Loopers” who stay at this marina for a night or two before continuing on their travels around the eastern US.  We’ve shared our local knowledge with them, and given them a ride to the grocery or marine supply stores.  We also drove over to Panama City to break bread with our boating friends from Baltimore, Kurt & Susan aboard “Irish Lady II”, whom we traveled with in summer 2015 along the Erie Canal & Lake Ontario’s 1000-Island area.  They will complete their Loop this summer when they get back to the Chesapeake Bay.

Other friends with whom we exchange Christmas cards include Pat from Bear, Delaware, who we met strictly by chance in the spring 2015.  We were walking the downtown area of Delaware City DE (on the Delaware Bay, natch) when Pat struck up a conversation about the history of the area & the C & D Canal.  She turned into our host and tour guide for the day, giving us a perspective of the area that only a life-long resident could provide.

Our granddaughter Maddy came to the boat for a couple days,
so she went ice skating for her first time at the rink set up at the Wharf.

On our return trip from New Orleans to the boat, we stop at
Bellingrath Gardens just south of Mobile AL.  This was one of our
favorite gardens while we lived in New Orleans, but we had never
seen their Christmas light displays.  Here, the lights are reflected
in their Mirror Lake

So now, we’re trying to get some projects completed on the boat.  Our big one for now is to strip & varnish all the teak wood on the flybridge and the sundeck.  In between the high humidity days & rain storms, we are slowly building up the coats of varnish, one by one.

The end of January we will head back to New Orleans for doctor visits, before heading north to Chattanooga (via Lynchburg TN to visit other boating friends from 2011).  While Sue stays with her mother for a couple nights, I’ll stay with some other boating friends & attend the boat show to help man the booth for the Power Squadron.  We gotta keep moving, so that we stay ahead of our mistakes!

In a New Orleans grocery store on January 1st,
they sell a lot of cabbage to go with whatever else