Upstream on the Tennessee River

OK – We’re back in  the saddle, or back at the helm, or back on the water, back to looping.  The break was great (Nashville, Atlanta, St. Simons) – but it’s good to get back to this life too. Our first day was simply a long day of driving, grocery shopping, car rental return, etc.

,

10/1  Made a beautiful trip down Kentucky Lake (actually the Tennessee River, but it is lake size in Kentucky).    High bluffs on both sides of the river, the beginning of leaves turning colors, industrial operations and this abandoned dock, which just sits in the middle of nowhere.  Our destination, a state park, was fairly undistinguishable.  We moved on after one night to get another leg in before possible rain later in the week.  We hear rumors of a tropical storm in the gulf that could work its way up to us early next week. 

Charlie is with us for the next few weeks – he seems to love the boat life.  Like us, he gets to explore new surroundings every day or two.   His only complaint are the long travel days – he’s pretty eager to get off when we dock. 

We’re  now in a new cohort of Loopers working their way south for the winter – and most to the Looper Rendezvous in Alabama in a couple of weeks.  Our previous cohort moved on while we were on land during our break, but we will hook up with them again at the Rendezvous. 

Two of our last three marinas have had the lovely amenity of a courtesy car – trips for groceries and supplies.  But I’m not sure where I’m going to watch Braves playoff baseball.  Not using my tickets is one thing, not being in Atlanta is another – but no TV??  Not sure how to handle this. 

One morning we woke up around 6:30 to the sights and sounds of around 100 bass fishing boats departing in orderly staggered intervals for a tournament.   Seems like a lot of effort for that hour of the morning – but I suppose they would say the same thing (correctly) about the road races I enter. 

Later that morning we biked through Johnsonville State Park, site of a Civil War fort and a couple of battles.  We’re in an area with a lot of Civil War history.  We would take the courtesy car to Shiloh Battlefield National Park, except it is closed due to that nasty little stuff going on in D.C.   Non-essential, I guess. 

10/6   We are at the point where Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi all meet.  You can probably see Pickwick Lake – we are just off of that lake – technically in Mississippi.  From here, the Loop goes south on the Tombigbee Waterway – but we will detour east on the Tennessee, stopping at Florence on the way to the Looper Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park, both in Alabama.   We will then detour farther east up the Tennessee to Chattanooga, where the boat (and we) will rest for the winter.

The beauty of the Tennessee River is one of the surprises of the whole Loop -  consistently beautiful, every mile. 

We found some of our old cohort of Loopers – celebrated with three of them for "crossing their wakes" (completing the Loop) - congratulations to Spiritus, Carena and Loop Dreams!   And, 11 of us went to dinner at a nearby establishment.  A huge building in the middle of nowhere with a restaurant, a large bar area with a good band, a second rooftop bar with an acoustic band, and a club with dance music where they were checking ID’s to make sure no one our age got in. 

We are here for 5-7 days – a nice respite in a nice marina after moving the boat 4 of 5 previous days – mostly lengthy days.  Today is the first cool day since we returned to the boat a week ago – a nice break with some rain.   We celebrated with Sunday mimosas on a neighbor’s boat – before returning to take care of business,

watch football, etc.

This place has cable, which solves the “where will I watch the Braves” puzzle.  A couple of nights ago I watched the game in the outdoor patio area of a bar at our marina.  The weird thing is, the bar closed, they locked the doors, everyone went home –and they left me alone outside (with a new little friend - see below) watching the game in total darkness, with not another living soul around.  Just me, my flat screen, my remote, and my Braves who held on to tie up the series.  I still don’t know if they forgot me, or just assumed I’d turn it off when I went to bed – we left before they opened in the morning.  Debi called me in for dinner and since we were docked next to that bar patio, we sat on our bow and watched part of the game from there (a TV Boat Drive-In).  The next night, new Looper friends Al and Charlie, from Always Five-o-Clock came over to watch Baseball on Sea Fever.

10/10   We’ve enjoyed the first long-term hang in one location since the 5 days in Leland in late July.  This time we’re doing a full week while waiting for the Dwyers to drive up to join us for a couple legs of the trip, ending at the Rendezvous. 


Strangely, or not, there still seems to be plenty to do to fill the days – taking care of some work, some business, some email, some exercise, some shopping, some chair re-finishing and boat polishing etc.   Oh, and some Docktail parties which now happen every night since all of the Loopers are coming together at this one marina on the way to the Rendezvous, which is just two stops down the river.  And lots of baseball.  No need to talk about how disappointing the end of the Braves season was…  but I’m still watching the remaining teams battle it out and hoping for the Tigers to carry on a smaller portion of my dreams.

See you at the Looper Rendezvous...

Jim and Debi