Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Closing Our Circle!


A Bama Dream is now secure at her new home in Goose Pond Marina. We have decided to spend the next few months enjoying some quality time with our children and their families, especially the grandchildren and great grandchildren, before dropping our lines for another trip to the islands. This has been an amazing journey that we are so grateful that we were able to experience! Hopefully our blog has given everyone that has been following us just a little bit of an idea of what we have encountered over the past year. Many of our friends want to know what we plan for our next adventure. Well, while we don't think we will ever spend a whole year on the road, or water, again we are now preparing for our next great adventure by getting a new set of wheels and attaching a small camper to the hitch. As we have decided that there will be at least a few more trips aboard the amazing Bama Dream, she will wait patiently at Goose Pond for her next turn.

Just a few stats from our Great Loop adventure:

             Miles traveled: 7,512
             Engine hours: 1021
             Gallons of fuel: 2790
             Gallons per hour: 2.73
             Average mph: 7.36
             Total trip days: 364
             Days traveled: 195
             Nights on anchor: 164
             Nights at marinas: 156
             Mooring balls; 8
             Walls: 34
             Locks: 148

Untold number of new friends, too many stunning sunrises and sunsets to count, just a couple of bad days, caught some very nice fish, visited numerous charming seaside villages, and came home with a great tan!
 

Our favorite selfie of the trip!


Thanks to our son, Seth, who kept track of our travels on this map of the Great Loop, we are able to share this overview of our trip.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Homeward Bound!

Oct. 4-8

Days 327-331

Wow! I didn't realize how much trouble I would have writing this last post. After several years of planning and preparing for this adventure it is hard to believe we have closed our circle and come to the end of our journey. I won't deny that there have been a very few moments along the way that the thought ran through our heads, at least mine, that maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Those moments were few and far between and never lasted long enough to shed major doubts on our sanity. Before we began this trip, we both were apprehensive about all of the "unknowns" we would meet along the way. Everything that we worried about turned out to be absolutely "no problem". All in all, we have been captivated by our view from the waterways we have traveled, grown enormously in our confidence in our abilities, visited so many places we had never even heard of before, and met new friends from around the globe. Some of our new friends will one day become our old friends as we continue to include them in our lives. To borrow a phrase from one of those new friends: Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone!


A new bridge is taking shape over the Tennessee River where several years ago an unfortunate ship captain performed a slight, but costly, miscalculation as he rammed his barge into the bridge. His cargo was rockets on there way to Cape Canaveral. While there was no damage to the ship, or its cargo, the bridge did not fair so well.


Talk about having your own personal fishing pier. Obviously, this railroad bridge is no longer in service.


When the dams were built that backed up the water for Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake many structures, including a whole town, became covered or surrounded by water.


Another beautiful sunrise greets us as we look forward to another perfect day on the Tennessee River. While we are not in a hurry to bring our journey to a close, we are getting a little excited about seeing family and friends, so we are up at the crack of dawn again.


We have met quite a few tows plying these waters, but none of them come close to the size of the ones on the Mississippi River. 


As we have traveled the inland river systems, we have made a point of telling our fellow Loopers how much they will enjoy the Tennessee River. Views like this are why this portion of the Loop is a favorite for many cruisers.


So this is where river rock comes from! This dredge that looks like it has seen better day is harvesting river rock and then sending it to various markets by barge. 


Other than being a little warmer than I like, we have experienced wonderful weather these past few days. There are homes tucked into the hillsides all along the river. I must say that I much prefer my waterfront property to theirs. Our foundation is the water, and we can follow it wherever it goes.


Our days come to a close with tranquil anchorages and peaceful sunsets.


Although we experienced this awesome red sky in the morning, we were not being warned of an impending storm. It was just a stunning beginning of another glorious day on the water.


After a short wait for this tow to clear the lock, we were ready to enter our final lock before we would cross our wake. We still have three more locks to go, but Pickwick is the last one that we had not already been through at the beginning of our trip.


We have gotten a little better at selfies over the course of our travels. Actually, we just discovered that Jess's arm is longer than mine.


Just a few miles east of Pickwick Dam, the Tenn-Tom branches off to the south. After watching our white burgee wave on our bow for so long, it will soon be time to replace it with our gold one.


We did it! We have now "crossed our wake"! It seems like only yesterday we were just beginning our Great Loop adventure and now we are Gold Loopers.


If you have ever used the timer on your camera to stage pictures, you have some idea of how many times we had to move and adjust to get a few decent shots. I have to say that Jess has become quite understanding when it comes to me saying: "Just one more!" Off with the old...

 
On with the new! 


Our view of Bama Dream's bow has changed today. This time through Wilson Lock was a breeze. If you have been following our blog from the beginning you know what I mean by that!


Jess is pulling up the anchor for the last time on this trip. We are planning to stop at Ditto Landing Marina tonight, then on to our new home at Goose Pond Marina in Scottsboro from there.


Another memory from last year. This is the railroad bridge in Decatur that has to be raised for boat traffic. Slightly west of here is where we experienced our first huge storm on the water. Luckily, the storm we encountered on Lake George is the only other deluge we had to deal with.


These cliffs welcome us back to familiar waters. We have seen some breathtakingly beautiful places along this voyage, but we have to admit we may be slightly prejudiced when it comes to the Tennessee River.


Waiting patiently for the gates to open on Guntersville Lock. We are home!

Friday, October 2, 2015

Green Turtle Bay

 Sept. 26-Oct. 3

Days 319-326

These last few days have been slightly melancholy for us. My usual posts contain pictures of the places we have encountered as we travel from one place to another, not so this one. Green Turtle Bay Marina has provided us with the opportunity to visit one more time with many of our fellow Loopers that we have met along the way. Some we have not seen in quite some time, others we have shared many wonderful moments with along the way, and still others are new Loopers who are just beginning their great adventure. We have actually extended our stop here so that we would be here when our friends on Seahorse arrived, in order to celebrate with them as they complete their Loop. Then we discovered that Aunt Aggie would arrive here just after our scheduled departure, so what is a couple more days added to our trip. In case you can't tell we are just a little reluctant to bring our Loop trip to a close. We are excited about seeing our family and friends at home, but not necessarily ready to swap our white burgee for a gold one.


Green Turtle Bay Marina has been swamped with transient Loopers, as we all continue our trip south. They have done an amazing job finding every nook and cranny they have in order to provide dockage for us. We have felt right at home on the sale dock, enjoying the many wannabe boat owners who have checked Bama Dream out. Sorry, she is not for sale just yet!


Our timing was perfect. The yacht club sponsored a Seafood Boil on Saturday night and it sure didn't take much convincing to get many of the Loopers to join in the fun. I certainly am not going to turn down the chance to attend an event that includes all you can eat crab and shrimp. 


Our view of the lunar eclipse was hindered by a partly cloudy sky, but we did manage a glimpse every now and then. Oh well, Jess and I have decided we don't mind waiting another 18 years for the next one.


Dan and Angie from Seahorse arrive to an improvised song, and plenty of cheers, as we help them celebrate crossing their wake.


What better excuse than a "Cross Your Wake" party to cover the table with some scrumptious snacks. Cruisers always keep a few items in their cabinets just for these special occasions.


After all of the planning, then the excitement of each moment of the journey, it all comes down to the big moment when the white burgee is replaced with the coveted gold one. Dan and Angie can be proud that they have accomplished this goal, and are now ready to seek new adventures.


Even in the marina we were treated to an amazing sunset.


Jess and I enjoyed visiting with Don Britton and his wife, Janice. Don is my cousin's wife's brother. If you read that slowly you will get the relationship. After a nice visit with them, their cats, and a number of hummingbirds at their beautiful home on Kentucky Lake, we ended the evening with supper at their marina.


As a thank you to Loopers for visiting the Green Turtle Bay Marina, they graciously provided us with a Bar-B-Que meal with all of the fixings. We were even entertained by a quite talented musician who did a pretty good job adapting songs to meet the Looper lifestyle. 
 

Free food brings out the smiles at our table full of Loopers.


Sampling a little of each of the cobblers, Jess makes his way down the dessert table.


The newest Gold Loopers, Dan and Angie from Seahorse. We began our journeys at the Rendezvous last October. Our paths have crossed many times and many different places over the last year. We will miss these moments, but have promised to keep in touch and meet again somewhere along the way.


Our fellow Alabamians from Mobile, Donnadee and Wayne from Always Home. We first met at Half Moon Bay on the Hudson River. There have been several docktails since at many stops along the way. I am sure our paths will cross again as they continue their journey, and then move back onto dry land with an RV.


New friends, Clark and Evelyn on Sea Moss. We only just met at Grafton, Il, but we are already planning a cruise up the Tennessee River at least as far as Chattanooga. 


We really feel like we are close to home with all of the deer that wander the resort grounds.


We have had cloudy, rainy days, but hopefully this means we can expect some sunshine soon. We are also reminded that fall is here to stay, as the temperature has really started dropping.

The small town of Grand Rivers has a nice little grocery store, a dairy bar that has very large small dip cones, antique stores, gift shops, and this awesome restaurant. Patti's is famous for their 2 inch pork chops that are absolutely out of this world. After two trips to Patti's we can vouch for the fact that they have many other tasty items on the menu.

 

It didn't take long after our arrival at GTB for the crews from Always Home, Fryedaze and Bama Dream to make our way to Patti's. We were not disappointed in the fare or the amounts. All of us had plenty for supper and leftovers for lunch.


What better excuse to return to Patti's than welcoming our friends, George and Martha from Aunt Aggie. We were so happy that we could have one more short visit with them before we each complete our loop just east of Pickwick. We began this journey together at Joe Wheeler last October. We have met at many different spots along the route, but it always seemed that as we arrived they were leaving or vice versa. Never the less we have shared some great memories and look forward to visiting them at their new home in Atlanta.


One reason to take home half of your meal for the next day, is that that way you can save room for dessert. After listening to the very long list of scrumptious concoctions Jess settled on Coconut Cake and I have to admit the other chocolatey thing is mine and I don't even remember what it was called.


After a thrilling Crimson Tide win over Georgia, there was still time for a couple more very competitive marble games before bringing our final evening at GTB to a close.