We have actually made it back out to where the Tennessee River intersects with the TennTom Waterway (follow the yellow brick line)….a retrospective summary follows:
8/18 Yes, we are back at it. We did 55 miles and one lock for our opening day – made more challenging by a serious rain for about an hour of it. But after our 6 hours on the boat, we put in 6 more in the car. We borrowed the marina’s courtesy car, took it to pick up our car where we had left it after driving from Debi’s 40th high school reunion over the weekend, and then delivered it to Florence, where we will arrive in less than a week (we will soon ditch the car).
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| Good morning, Cha-La-Kee! |
The next day, we went another 24 miles downstream - past Emily's Cha-La-Kee camp, where she spent many weeks over several summers…making friendships that still exist. And then to Guntersville Marina, where we had made plans to visit with our friend Bob Lane's sister and her husband.
8/21 The visits with Laura (Bob sister) and Bill Bender were very nice – one night on our boat for drinks and the next night on their boat for drinks and a very nice dinner in town (forgot to take any pics!) - courtesy of the courtesy car the marina provided. We really enjoyed meeting our new friends and we had plenty of boat adventures to compare, not to mention learning more about Bob from the family side.
We also used the car to explore a bit, including a stop at the Guntersville State Park Lodge, which provided a great view of the the river - where we had traveled and where we were headed.
After two nights at Guntersville Marina, we continued westward. Toward the end of our day's journey, trying to beat impending afternoon storms, we came across two boaters in a small boat waving their arms. Debi thought she had slowed enough for them to not be waving about our wake, so she slowed more to ask if they needed help - they did, of course. So, since we have been on the receiving end of many boaters' kindness, we quickly offered to pass it forward. They needed a tow "just around the bend"…which ended up being a few miles. Debi gave them very specific instructions on the bridle we would create and how we wanted it tied to our boat and their boat - they eagerly complied and then sat back and enjoyed the ride. Delivering a disabled boat to a side spot on a small inland cove channel, without getting Sea Fever too close to the shallow edge, took some planning on our part, but I must say we executed the plan without too much drama and the rescued boaters were duly impressed and grateful.
We made it to Joe Wheeler State Park before any rain – a very nice marina in front of their lodge. This is the site of last year’s Looper Rendezvous – but this year things were a LOT quieter without the 57 Looper boats.
We did catch up with Wayne and Rhonda McManus (boat name – Help Me Rhonda), who we met last year in northern Michigan. They were living near here after completing the Loop – but an April tornado that roared down the Tennessee River (see first picture, right) did SERIOUS damage to their condo, boat, car and truck. Consequently, they have been living in the state park lodge since then – their condo is just about to be habitable again, boat and car are fixed, truck destroyed.
We know what you are thinking - how did we bring on this natural disaster? But, we were nowhere near this area in April. So, not our fault - this time.
We had dinner with Wayne, Rhonda and some other folks – both Looper beginners and Platinum Loopers (have done the Loop more than once) - we did not know them until Thursday.
Thank goodness the marina/lodge had a pool. 2012 was the year we were in D.C. for extended
days of 100+ temperatures around the 4th of July. Last year we hit the multi-100+ heat wave on the Illinois River. Now northern Alabama is having its hottest days of the summer. Not 100 yet, but quite a stretch of mid-high 90’s. The pool felt great.
Debi got up early the next morning (which she does several times a night for various reasons - that's another story)… noticed a slight glow at the horizon, so she took a pillow and blanket to a chair on the bow and watched the sunrise progress. We really try not to take the almost daily beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the water, for granted. They are two of the (many) treats of this lifestyle.
We did catch up with Wayne and Rhonda McManus (boat name – Help Me Rhonda), who we met last year in northern Michigan. They were living near here after completing the Loop – but an April tornado that roared down the Tennessee River (see first picture, right) did SERIOUS damage to their condo, boat, car and truck. Consequently, they have been living in the state park lodge since then – their condo is just about to be habitable again, boat and car are fixed, truck destroyed. We know what you are thinking - how did we bring on this natural disaster? But, we were nowhere near this area in April. So, not our fault - this time.We had dinner with Wayne, Rhonda and some other folks – both Looper beginners and Platinum Loopers (have done the Loop more than once) - we did not know them until Thursday.
Thank goodness the marina/lodge had a pool. 2012 was the year we were in D.C. for extended
days of 100+ temperatures around the 4th of July. Last year we hit the multi-100+ heat wave on the Illinois River. Now northern Alabama is having its hottest days of the summer. Not 100 yet, but quite a stretch of mid-high 90’s. The pool felt great.
Debi got up early the next morning (which she does several times a night for various reasons - that's another story)… noticed a slight glow at the horizon, so she took a pillow and blanket to a chair on the bow and watched the sunrise progress. We really try not to take the almost daily beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the water, for granted. They are two of the (many) treats of this lifestyle.
8/23 Arrived this afternoon back in Florence. Last year we had a brief one-night stay here, but did not have time to explore the area. For a fairly small area, it has a lot of culture and history.
Today, we went to the stone wall memorial being built (over the last 35 years) by Tom Hendrix, in honor of his great-great-grandmother, Te-lah-nay (Woman with the Dancing Eyes), who was marched from her Alabama home on the Trail of Tears to be re-settled in Oklahoma.
She wasn’t fond of the plan, and immediately turned around and started walking home, to the land of the "singing river". At age 14. By herself. Without a GPS. And she made it –after 2 years.
The wall is between 4 and 5 feet tall, between 6 and 20 feet deep (yes, 20 feet deep in places), and would be 1.25 miles long if it were straightened. Instead, it meanders through the woods, representing her journey.
He put every one of the 9.5 million pounds of rock in a pickup truck with his bare hands, removed each rock from the truck with his bare hands, and has stacked the entire wall (actually a series of walls) by himself – with the help of only a wheelbarrow. Actually, he said he has been through 27 wheelbarrows, if I remember him correctly. Along with 8 pickup trucks.Now at age 85, he received a pacemaker implant just this week – but was back out at his site 5 days later. The doc says the pacemaker is good for about 20 years. He thinks he ought to have “one heck of a wall done” by then.
He also told us that Roseanne Cash recorded a song about the wall - looked it up and the song is about her whole visit to Florence and surrounding area - "A Feather's Not a Bird"- enjoy at the link below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdUcI9SdAPA
The rest of the day was spent dealing with a laptop crisis - all of my documents and pictures were "gone" (not gone gone, but inaccessible). The details are only of interest to those of you who enjoy computer crisis stories. Bottom line - a new laptop, two days of transferring data, anxiety and uncertainty, etc. All fine now. New faster, lighter, bigger machine. Just getting used to the touchscreen of Windows 8.1.
8/25 – Tomorrow is Debi’s birthday, but since I will be flying out for work, we celebrated her day today.
This included a visit to Helen Keller’s childhood home and museum… extra meaningful to Debi because she played HK in the Miracle Worker in high school - she reports to much critical acclaim! You can compare the photos of Patty Duke's and Debi's performance (from her high school yearbook) of a meal scene with HK and her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
Debi refuses to demonstrate the guttural sounds she used on stage, but I think there remain some remnants of the blindness and deafness she had to master. When you inhabit a role like that, it’s hard to let it go, I guess.
We also went out to eat, at a nice restaurant downtown - City Hardware.
Another great stop was the tour of FAME Studios – the first of the two famous Muscle Shoals studios that were the site of the most important recordings of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, not to mention the Rolling Stones and many many more. Although they ARE famous, FAME stands for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises.
The tour guide was pretty good, but between the documentary (DO see this if you have not) on Muscle Shoals and other reading, I knew most of the stories he told. It was interesting to hear how the owner and producer, Tom Hall, passed on the Allman Brothers even though Duane Allman was the session player on quite a few of these hits (he persuaded a reluctant Wilson Pickett to try his arrangement of Hey Jude) before the Brothers had established a name for themselves.
Standing in those studios, looking at the pianos and the Hammond that were used for these recordings, imagining them standing in these spaces…
8/26 First Loop break – Jim flying to Detroit to conduct a mock trial. Debi dropped me at Huntsville airport, on her way to ATL.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdUcI9SdAPA
8/24 Florence/Muscle Shoals has a remarkable number of interesting things to see and do, but only one of them is open on Sundays. So off we went to Rosenbaum - a Frank Lloyd Wright home that was designed to be affordable for the middle class. As with all of his work, a thing of beauty in its simplicity.
The rest of the day was spent dealing with a laptop crisis - all of my documents and pictures were "gone" (not gone gone, but inaccessible). The details are only of interest to those of you who enjoy computer crisis stories. Bottom line - a new laptop, two days of transferring data, anxiety and uncertainty, etc. All fine now. New faster, lighter, bigger machine. Just getting used to the touchscreen of Windows 8.1.
8/25 – Tomorrow is Debi’s birthday, but since I will be flying out for work, we celebrated her day today.
This included a visit to Helen Keller’s childhood home and museum… extra meaningful to Debi because she played HK in the Miracle Worker in high school - she reports to much critical acclaim! You can compare the photos of Patty Duke's and Debi's performance (from her high school yearbook) of a meal scene with HK and her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
Debi refuses to demonstrate the guttural sounds she used on stage, but I think there remain some remnants of the blindness and deafness she had to master. When you inhabit a role like that, it’s hard to let it go, I guess. We also went out to eat, at a nice restaurant downtown - City Hardware.
Another great stop was the tour of FAME Studios – the first of the two famous Muscle Shoals studios that were the site of the most important recordings of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, not to mention the Rolling Stones and many many more. Although they ARE famous, FAME stands for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises.
The tour guide was pretty good, but between the documentary (DO see this if you have not) on Muscle Shoals and other reading, I knew most of the stories he told. It was interesting to hear how the owner and producer, Tom Hall, passed on the Allman Brothers even though Duane Allman was the session player on quite a few of these hits (he persuaded a reluctant Wilson Pickett to try his arrangement of Hey Jude) before the Brothers had established a name for themselves.
Standing in those studios, looking at the pianos and the Hammond that were used for these recordings, imagining them standing in these spaces…
8/26 First Loop break – Jim flying to Detroit to conduct a mock trial. Debi dropped me at Huntsville airport, on her way to ATL.
8/29 was kind of a crazy day. Started in Detroit (actually Dearborn) where I was up at 5:30 to catch my cab to the airport. Hours later I was in ATL for a 4 hour visit. Two of those hours overlapped with Emily who flew in for the weekend with Drew, for an Athens and UGA football weekend. At 3, Beth Wallace and Chris Sanor picked us up and we all drove back to the boat in Florence.
Being the busy holiday boating weekend, we waited awhile for dinner at the marina restaurant, but enjoyed the beginning of our first entertaining of friends on this leg of the Loop. The next morning Greg and Rebekah drove up from Atlanta as well – and we all met at the Muscle Shoals studios.
Unlike FAME, these studios are not currently in operation, but Beats has invested $1million to restore them to their original condition and make them operable again.
Still, wandering around the studios, standing in the isolation booth where Mick and Keith shared a bottle of bourbon while harmonizing on Wild Horses, soaking up the atmosphere while the outstanding documentary of this historic place was playing on another wall – very cool for anyone with an appreciation of American music.
In addition to the Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Paul Simon recorded his first big solo album, Kodachrome – full of hits – as well as the later Still Crazy After All These Years. Not to mention Dylan (Slow Train Coming), Otis Redding (yes, Dock of the Bay, right there), etc.
Our visitors split up to do some of the sightseeing we had already done, while Debi and I headed back to the boat. That night, we ate one of several delicious meals on board, played a game Rebekah brought that Jim sucked at and Debi won, hung out - the usual boat routine (except for the part where Jim sucked at a game!).
If we had known we were getting up early, we might have gone to bed earlier (probably not), but around 7, Debi was up looking at the weather forecast, and deciding our best window for leaving was RIGHT NOW. So people groggily bumbled around as we prepared the boat for departure.
Turned out to be a nice cruise – 41 miles west on the Tennessee to the junction with the TennTom.
Paused and drifted, for lunch on board.
The afternoon of our arrival was spent hanging out – some at the marina pool, some on the boat. Some napping, some reading….
For dinner, borrowed the marina’s courtesy car to get some seafood up the road – nothing too special, but it hit the spot. More card games, Bananagrams – none of these four had been on Sea Fever before, so everyone must get initiated.
Now we are visitor-less until the end of the month – so make a spontaneous decision to come join us!
Jim and Debi
Being the busy holiday boating weekend, we waited awhile for dinner at the marina restaurant, but enjoyed the beginning of our first entertaining of friends on this leg of the Loop. The next morning Greg and Rebekah drove up from Atlanta as well – and we all met at the Muscle Shoals studios.
Unlike FAME, these studios are not currently in operation, but Beats has invested $1million to restore them to their original condition and make them operable again.Still, wandering around the studios, standing in the isolation booth where Mick and Keith shared a bottle of bourbon while harmonizing on Wild Horses, soaking up the atmosphere while the outstanding documentary of this historic place was playing on another wall – very cool for anyone with an appreciation of American music.
In addition to the Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Paul Simon recorded his first big solo album, Kodachrome – full of hits – as well as the later Still Crazy After All These Years. Not to mention Dylan (Slow Train Coming), Otis Redding (yes, Dock of the Bay, right there), etc.
Our visitors split up to do some of the sightseeing we had already done, while Debi and I headed back to the boat. That night, we ate one of several delicious meals on board, played a game Rebekah brought that Jim sucked at and Debi won, hung out - the usual boat routine (except for the part where Jim sucked at a game!).
If we had known we were getting up early, we might have gone to bed earlier (probably not), but around 7, Debi was up looking at the weather forecast, and deciding our best window for leaving was RIGHT NOW. So people groggily bumbled around as we prepared the boat for departure.Turned out to be a nice cruise – 41 miles west on the Tennessee to the junction with the TennTom.
Paused and drifted, for lunch on board.
The afternoon of our arrival was spent hanging out – some at the marina pool, some on the boat. Some napping, some reading….For dinner, borrowed the marina’s courtesy car to get some seafood up the road – nothing too special, but it hit the spot. More card games, Bananagrams – none of these four had been on Sea Fever before, so everyone must get initiated.
We spent two nights at Aqua Yacht Harbor, basically at the intersection of the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi - this is where we headed east last year, to go to Chattanooga.
So, we are officially in new Loop territory and will head south from here, on the TennTom Waterway - will be in Mississippi for the next few stops, before a slight veer to the east – then south through Alabama, hitting the Gulf at Mobile 449 miles from here - in two weeks or less. We’ll be moving almost every day to cover that much territory – including 12 locks – and including two days off when I fly out for another trial in Houston next week.
Today Jim borrowed the marina car again to drive them back to their cars in Florence – about an hour in each direction. It was sad to say goodbye – it always is – but it was a successful visit on every level.
Now we are visitor-less until the end of the month – so make a spontaneous decision to come join us!
Jim and Debi
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| Leaving Florence - taken by a fellow Looper |
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