Back On The Loop

We made our return trip from Chattanooga to Joe Wheeler State Park covering October 7-12 (Monday thru Saturday) without much fanfare.  A lot of repeat scenery, but beautiful all along the way.  Joe Wheeler Marina sits in an inlet off the Tennessee River and is in a setting that is really breathtaking (there are earlier pictures). 

We began our AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) Conference on October 13 (Sunday) with a little "get to know you" kick-off session that was so much fun.  It was a beautiful afternoon and an AGLCA sponsor had donated 25 bikes for youngsters from the local Girls and Boys Club.  We signed up for the activity and when we arrived on deck we were confronted with 25 bikes in pieces all lined up.  In order to gain the pieces to put our bike together we had to play Looper trivia.  Talk about a hoot!  As you can see, we were able to complete the construction of the bike successfully.  Watching all the kids get off the bus and run to find their bike and meeting our little recipient, Bentlee, was such a gratifying experience.  Of course, the weather was perfect and it made the outdoor activity very worthwhile.  The rest of the week, October 14-17 (Monday-Thursday), was spent in conference sessions learning about our travels to come down the river to Mobile and crossing the Gulf to Tarpon Springs, going down around the Keys, and starting up the east coast.  The days at the conference were long ones starting with breakfast, sessions all day, looper crawls in the late afternoon, a reception, and then dinner.  There are approximately 225 attendees at this Fall Rendezvous every year.  The breakdown is 1/3 Planners, 1/3 In Progress, and 1/3 Completers.  There is so much knowledge within this group and we learned so much.  WaterMarks was on the Looper Crawl the first afternoon of the Conference.  A looper crawl is where people attending with boats open their boats up to the other attendees for tour (and a cocktail and snack). There were 15 boats open for tour each of the three afternoons...that's lots of cocktails and snacks!  It's a great opportunity for the Planners to get a feel for what kind of boat they might be looking for when they get ready to do their Loop.  We actually had a couple of people come back two and three times to see our boat, one guy even asking if our boat was "for sale."

On Friday morning 19 Looper boats departed Joe Wheeler to get through the nearby lock.  Can you say organized chaos?  One of the boat captains took the lead and after calling a Captain's meeting on Thursday evening, we were confident that we all of us could get through the lock in an orderly fashion with little drama...and we did.  The lockmaster appreciates receiving a call from one person, rather than 19.  

We arrived in Florence AL later in the day on Friday (10/18) and stayed there until Monday morning (10/21).  At this point we are still on our "side trip" and have not connected back to our Loop route as of yet.  While in Florence we visited Muscle Shoals Recording Studio.  This is a small town of about 14,000 that has over 10 different recording studios.  The picture of the brochure shows all of the artists who recorded songs at this little tiny studio.  We learned about how the studio had a secret bar and booze had to be smuggled in so the artists could "relax" after a long day of recording.  This was a dry county back in the day.  There were lots of pictures of the various artists displayed on the walls and the guy leading our group through the tour said they still have had some of these artists from long ago stop back at this studio.

On to Aqua Harbor on Monday, 10/21, where we are finally "back on the loop."  The marina sits in Mississippi, but if you walk across the bridge, you're in Tennessee.  On any given day it can be confusing as to what state we're in.  We were able to use a marina courtesy car on Tuesday evening and Conrad finally got a pizza...he hasn't had one since we left in August.  Couldn't hold him off any longer.

Wednesday morning we departed Aqua and we are now on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.  This is once again great scenery as the trees are beginning to change and we are seeing some very pretty colors along the way.  We are also seeing more birds and wildlife. This was a long day traveling with 12 looper boats going down the river at the same time through 3 locks.  Wednesday night, 10/23, was spent at Midway Marina in Fulton, Mississippi. We woke up to fog (smoke on the water...) and all of the sudden we are once again in coordination mode with 13 looper boats going in the same direction.  Another very long day with four locks to get through.  One of the issues now is the fact that the days are getting shorter.  Both Wednesday and Thursday we pulled into the marinas right at dusk.  Absolutely don't want to be on the rivers after dark!

It is Friday morning, 10/25, and we are at the Marina in Columbus, Mississippi.  Tupelo, where Elvis was born, is 17 miles from here.  It is a full on rain day today...the first we have had since we left Sturgeon Bay.  A rain day is so nice...good for cleaning, washing the boat, catching up on chores, and updating the blog!

We love receiving comments from our blog followers.  Starting to get a little homesick for seeing family and friends!