The Fall Rendezvous

We arrived last Thursday night at Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina just in time for 'dock'tails...with this group, it's always 5 o'clock somewhere! --On Friday we got caught up on cleaning and boat work plus made a run to get groceries thanks to the graciousness of another Mainship owner, SeaMoore! Carlton and Becky won't be starting their loop until next October...we told them they bought the perfect boat for looping! Well, 3 loads of laundry later at the Rogersville launderette, then onto a pool party Friday night hosted by the boats from the Florida Keys! A very funny gave of darts, Key West Style, that I will definitely have to remember for the next fun pool party at home...a conch blowing contest...and a 'Pin the label on the Bud girl' competition. Yours truly came in first place, thank you very much, and won a really neat Conch Republic flag! (see picture inset) Of course everyone else was trying to get the label on the boobs or butt...I aimed for the Bud bottle of course...Sheesh, where else would the "LABEL" go?

Our neighbor on the dock, "Bombay Lady" has parents who live on the beach in Naples! We enjoyed meeting them and talking about all the great restaurants we love back home...Imagine being at a state park in Alabama and docking directly next to a boat with close family in Naples? It is a small world!

The Rendezvous started on Sunday--over 200 boaters were registered! The seminars were fabulous...really informative and interesting...the food was great, every meal...and, of course, all the loopers were fun-loving, warm friendly people...some who have already completed their loop, others like us still looping...and quite a few in attendance who don't even own a boat yet, but they have a dream, and that's how we all got started! Speaking of dreams: we bought our charts and cruising guides for the Bahamas...that's next on the bucket list! It really is amazing when you get together with a group like this and realize how few people actually circumnavigate the entire eastern United States in a year...We are so blessed. For a view of the week's activities, please click here to see the videos I posted on YOUTUBE!

Mom arrived on Tuesday...we are so lucky to have her on board. We told here she's the only crew allowed to stay for more than three nights! She loves that we make her feel so special! She's here for the last week of this leg of the trip. We have reservations to fly home from Columbus Mississippi next week...today we are hunkered down at Grand Harbor marina, right at the beginning of The Tenn-Tom Waterway--there's a storm expected to blow through pretty hard so it's a good thing we had a weather day provided for in our cruise plan...

Yesterday's trip through the locks provided us with some excitement...we locked through on the Wheeler Lock with 11 other loopers. A few had to actually raft together because there weren't enough bollards to go around! Then, because of the water levels, our drop in the Wilson Lock was over 90'! It was cold, and pouring down rain, but it was great, and having mom on board made it even more fun!

We have enjoyed the month spent on the Tennessee River; from Kentucky Lake to Chattanooga, it has been one of our most favorite part of the entire loop! ~and, as always, Life is Good on Ithaka!