Wed 10-26-16  Aquarium and Farmers Market.

We went to the Chattanooga Aquarium. It is unique in that it has two buildings one for fresh water and one for salt water. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. The Atlanta Aquarium was fabulous but this one may have outdone the Atlanta one because of the fresh water.  We never Knew there were so many unique fresh water fish. The paddle fish is found in the lakes of the Tennessee River.  I don’t know what I would do if I pulled one of those up on the line. We spent most the day there. It is worth going to.

Fresh Water Sting Rays

We took the bus to the other end of the city for the Farmers Market. They have one on Wednesdays from 4-7 so people can go after work.  We were disappointed due to the high prices and limited produce. We ended up not buying anything. Squash were $5 and $6 and they were little.  No thanks. I must say; we have been spoiled by Muskegon’s Farmer’s Market.  It is truly the best we have been to. I don’t know if I will be satisfied with any Farmer’s Market after having access to it all summer.

On the way back to the bus stop, we came across a store called Estate of Confusion.  It basically was a junk yard but had unique items.  My Pinterest mind was going crazy.  We walked and explored building after building and never saw anyone there.  About the time we were going to leave the owner showed up.  His response to seeing us was “Oh I forgot to lock the front door again” He told us a story where he had a woman come in once a day for a week and had a pile of things she wanted to purchase.  On the seventh day, he showed up after being on vacation.  He had left his store door open for a whole week.

We did a lot of walking and by the time we got back to the boat we were ready to chill. We ate on the boat and slept well.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

Unique Random Pic of the Day:

10-25-16 Day 1 of Chattanooga. Whiskey and Chocolate. How can we not like it here?

We arrived intentionally early afternoon to spend as much time playing as possible. Chattanooga has done a nice job making the river front spectacular.  We got off the boat and had to climb stairs up to the street.  Much to our surprise the stairs were a work of art.  They purposely made half of the steps into a waterfall.  Immediately our shoes came off and we were like kids running up the water stairs. It also had beautiful artwork on the walls. It was a tribute to the Indians that were removed from the area. Our first impression was a good one.

The town has free electric buses that go up and down the main street and across the river.  We thought we would hop on and take a spin through the city to see what they have. At the end of the line we saw the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

We got off to explore what it was about. We found out it was a hotel not a museum. Residents stay in the train cars as their room.  They let the public in to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo Train.  It was the first passenger train to provide nonstop service from Chattanooga to Cincinnati Ohio in 1880. The old station was the lobby of the hotel and has been beautifully restored. The main engine was nicely painted and they are working on upgrading more of the cars.

When we came out of the train station, across the street, we saw a sign for distillery tours. Why not.

It was a small distillery that recently opened. There was an old law on the books that prevented anyone from making whiskey in Chattanooga. First they got the law changed, then they opened Tennessee Stillhouse. It was a very interesting tour.

This facility is very small and is intended to be the place they try recipes.  Plans are already in the works to open a much larger distillery down closer to the river. When we were done with the tour we were able to do a flight of three whiskies and three whiskey drinks. I have to say, it was surprisingly interesting. 

As we left the distillery there was a store called Hot Chocolate right next door. We HAD to go in! We got a small piece of candy and a dessert for that night.  Best Carmel, Chocolate, Pecan cheese cake ever!

We hopped the bus back to the boat and of course there were other loopers there. Docktails ended up on Tidings of Joy’s boat.  It was quite funny that people were standing on the swim platform with the edged of the back deck the perfect bar height. When someone new came, they invited them to “belly up to the bar” We went to Tony’s Italian Restaurant with 2 other couples we just met.  Very good food.

Wow what a busy day. We had already decided Chattanooga is a pretty cool city.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

I am doing an addition to the end of each blog. Interesting things found along the way: I hope you enjoy these Unique Random Pic of the Day:

We woke up at anchorage behind Goat Island on the Tennessee River to this lovely bird bathing and preening right next to our boat. The show went on for about 15 minutes.

We couldn’t figure out what kind of bird it was, so we asked the locals. They didn’t know. We found out it is a Juvenile Pacific Loon. The difference in the coloring threw us off the identification trail. Once we found out it was a juvenile the colors matched. Enjoy the pics.

Yes that is his foot sticking up as he cleaned his belly.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott.

10-22-26  Batshit crazy

We left our anchorage and were headed to Goosepond Colony Marina.  We had quite a few boats with us as we went through Guntersville Lock.  This was Mallory and Marcelo’s first lock.  It is interesting the first time through a lock, but most are just a slow spot in the river for us seasoned boaters.  Oh yes, 7 weeks on the river and we are getting cocky and calling us “seasoned boaters” Really we aren’t that naïve.

When we got out of the lock a local boat hailed all of the boats in the lock to go to a channel that he could talk to us on.  He recognized quite a few of us as Loopers and wanted to share some local knowledge. He informed us that there is a beautiful anchorage behind Goat Island ( No we didn’t see any goats)  He also informed us that there is a carving in the cliff that was done by Ulysses S. Grant and his troops, but most interesting was there is a well-known bat cave which he pointed out to us. Being the adventurous spirits that we are we canned the reservations at the Marina and pulled into the Anchorage.

He was right it was beautiful.  Scott and I did some exploring by dinghy, while Marcelo and Mallory did some fishing. We heard from a local that since the cold snap hit NO fish are biting so good luck.  So fishing was a fail,so it was time to swim.

We had two other adventures to explore.  We cruised the shore line and never saw the engraving but hoped to see if from the boat the next day. The rocky cliffs were beautiful.

We still had the bat cave to look forward to.  We ate an early dinner and just before dusk the four of us crammed into the dinghy and took off out of the bay and down the river to where the fellow boater pointed out the cave.  We took a bunch of pictures in anticipation and waiting for the bats.  This is a protected bat colony and has approximately 60,000 bats in it and when they come out it is like an explosion.  We were all excited as the mosquitos and other bugs came out.  We were tucked in next to the cliff and……….cricket  cricket cricket. NO BATS.

We pulled out our phones and started researching about what time they come out only to find out they are already hibernating.  We sat freezing in the cramped dinghy for about an hour and half to NOT see the bats.  I think we must be Batshit Crazy.

Although nothing turned out the way we planned that evening, we still had a good time exploring nature and enjoying each other’s company.  The day wasn’t a complete fail, however. As we took the dinghy back to the boat it became quite dark and we were in a really remote area and the star were amazing. You could see the milky way and a billion stars.  Mallory and Marcelo went on the bow of the boat with blanket wrapped around their shoulders. They saw a shooting star and 4 satellites. It was a great end to a great day.

PS. We talked to some people in our marina from Alabama and they were out there waiting for the bats too. I don’t feel so bad that the locals didn’t know they were hibernating. However, we did find out that we were at the wrong cave. That just added insult to injury.

Thanks for reading

Karen and Scott

Wednesday October 19, 2016 Polo Match, Dinner and music by Uncle Schoals

Wednesday night at the AGLCA Rendezvous the Chamber of Commerce of Rogersville organized an amazing evening for us Loopers.

We all got on school buses to be transported, no booze is allowed on school buses so we had a booze van loaded with everyone’s stash to take to the Polo field.

They took us on a hay ride out to the most beautiful barn. They breed races horses so there is a race track there also.

They then took us back to the polo fields, yes they had multiple fields. They explained the game of polo and placed 3 Chukkers (like quarters) for us. Normally it is four but the sun was going down.

The gentleman who owns this farm is in the Guinness Book of World records as being the oldest polo player. He is 85 years old and played for us in the match we watched. He has a Jack Russel Terrier that never left his side. He stood at the edge of the playing field keeping an eye on his master. He would sit by him when he was off the field. We also noticed when we were dancing he was out there on the dance floor when his master was out there.

After the Polo match, we had a lovely dinner and a great time talking with the people from the barn and our fellow Loopers.

After dinner we were entertained by the amazing band, Uncle Shoals. They set up the stage right on the polo field behind us and everyone was out on the dance floor which was finely groomed polo turf.

This is the band setting up in the middle of the field.  Thankfully all the horse manure was kindly removed.

Muscle Schoals sound studio is in this area of Alabama.  This is where music of all kinds was recorded. Sonny and Cher, Many Country music bands, blue grass bands, Mick Jagger, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Skinner etc. Uncle Schoals played for us an amazing selection of different types of music to please everyone.   If you ever hear where they are playing, go hear them.

We truly had the time of our lives.

The Chamber of Commerce loves our group.  We spend a lot of money in the area and they show us their appreciation in so many ways.  That is how a town should welcome visitors. Way to go Rogersville.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

All Y’all have probably been wondering where we’ve been with not posts for a while.  We have been at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, TN at the AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) Fall Rendezvous.  Too busy to write the blog but also the internet was terrible.

This unique boat made by the owner was anchored as we entered the park.

These Families were on the bank as we entered and were having a great time.

Good friends Bob and Vicki Rehkopf met us here on their way to Florida.  This is just us girls. Teresa Lasker Vicki and yours truely.

The “class rooms” were pretty full. The seminars were well attended.

This is Patsy. One of my favorite speakers.

Continue reading AGLCA Rendezvous 10-16-16 to 1-20-16 →

Sorry for the delay in posting.  We have not had good internet for about 2 weeks.  Watch for more posts as I get caught up.

10-15-16 we are on our way to the AGLCA Rendezvous in Rogersville, Alabama. Our journey included two big locks. The Wilson is the most note worthy as it has the tallest lift lock east of the Rocky Mountains at 93 to 100 feet.

Because of the size of this lock there is a fair amount of turbulence when filling.  Luckily our lock master let us know that and told us to go to the first Bollard (the thing we wrap our line around to keep us from floating around the lock.

This lock was different than the others.  Most have doors that open and close.  On this one the water filled deep enough over the top of the railing for the boats to go right over the top.  Watch the progression in the following pictures.

On we go to Joe Wheeler State Park.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

Hi Ya’ll

Yes we are in the south.  We are in Corinth Tennessee at Grand River Marina.

We no sooner got in our slip and were told that there was going to be a Looper get together at the pool where we plan to grill our own meat and bring a dish to pass.  There must have been close to 30 people there. Robert from Over Ice and Brian from Valentine, fried up catfish, pan fish, onions, mushrooms, fries, eggplant and anything they thought would fry up. We mingles and grilled.  We met Max who is the crew from Lazy Susan.  He is from Traverse City.  When he heard we were from Michigan he ran back to the boat and got cards to play Euchre. We found Maria from Aqua Fennatic to play with us.  It had been many years since I played, so Maria’s husband, Mike and another gentleman stood behind me and helped me.  We had a blast! We peaked a lot of interest because most people had never heard of Euchre.  We decided it was a Michigan/Canadian game.  It was such a fun festive night.

Yesterday was work day but, today we planned to play. We woke up to thunder, lightening and rain. So what do we do? We go sight seeing.  A little storm can’t stop us.  We went to Shiloh National Park with Don and Elsa from Porte BonHeur from Michigan. There was a 45 minute movie which was amazing. What a horrible battle. Then we did the 12 mile car tour to see all the sites that were in the movie and many monument. Yes it rained the entire time, but we all agreed it was worth going to even in the rain.

And for lunch we went to Hagy’s Catfish Hotel. It is exactly what the name implies.  Delicious fried catfish, hush puppies in a rustic but clean setting.

For a rainy yucky day we sure had a great day.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

Blog 10-11-16 While it’s fresh in our “head” we wrote this tale of the “Shitter is Plugged”

Yes, they said it would happen and they were right. The “Shitter is plugged” (words from the wise Scott Haws from Jaycee Lynn)  It all started with chili last night. Note to self never make Chili unless we are at a marina. This morning the event happened. We didn’t have a plunger on board. That was a fail on our part.  All the planning we did and we missed the simple tool…the plunger. We pulled anchor immediately planning to make a hundred mile run to the Marina where we were going to stay, because two days without a head would not be fun. The conversation started about which buck or trash can would best be suited for the interim “head.”  That’s when reality struck….100 miles doing 8 miles an hour, and one lock may put us traveling on the river at night.  That could be a bigger fail than not having a plunger on board.  We were in a crappy situation. There was only one small marina before we were at a point of no return. The Mermaid Marina was nothing more than a few floating docks, which I might add some were tipped sideways due to the low water. Entering the marina, we entered our skinniest water we have encountered yet.  1 ½ feet under the keel. So if having a plugged shitter wasn’t enough to make you pucker your sphincter muscle, 1 ½ fee showing on your depth sounder surely will. The kind man at the marina allowed us to tie up so we could assess our conundrum and of course get rid of some of that morning coffee. We entered in the store in a rush to use the bathroom.  We were both doubtful this tiny store would have the proper tool.

Here is Scott’s version of what happened next:

On exiting the bathroom, I look down the aisle and what do I see?

Not one, but 2 plungers staring back at me.

In amazement, I give my forehead a slap

It must be a miracle. Holy Crap.

With my miracle in hand, I knew in a jiffy

I would be doing battle with the biffy.

With fear in my heart

I know I need to start

If this doesn’t succeed.

Full dismantling would be in need

I shut the door and take a lunge

With all my might I start to plunge

It only took a few

And the blockage went through

The smell of the backup hit me with a start.

It was worse than any foul smelling fart.

I didn’t really mind the smell

It meant I didn’t have to go through hell

As I put this issue to bed

I now know the sweetest sounds on a boat is a properly flushing head

Panther Bay is a remote and beautiful spot! We decided to stay 2 days.

We did some fishing.  Didn’t catch much it was quite windy and there were very few fishing boats out.  That should have been our first clue.  But what we did catch was an Asian Carp.  It fought like a bass and was fun to catch. It was 15 inches long but we didn’t keep it.  It is unusual to catch one using a pole because they are plankton eaters.  We tried to catch them on the rivers where there were hundreds of them feeding but ended up catching one in the middle of the bay right off our boat.

We saw lots of this type of structure. They plant the fry in these areas so the big fish can’t get in there to eat them.

There were also buoys marked fish attractors where they deposit stump and moss etc. for cover for the fish.

I was a bit concerned about getting enough exercise living on a boat but we are out and about all the time.  One form of exercise is displayed below.. This is what happens when husbands don’t get everything they want like a trolling motor for their dinghy 😉

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We did a lot of hiking at Panther Bay. We heard there was an old cemetery up and old road off of one of the points.  We took the one that looked the most likely and were walking quite a ways up a two-track road. There, tacked to a tree in the middle of no where, we see this:

We knew we were on the right path. We took the path leading that way.  It was in farther than I would have thought when we found this:

The cemetery must have been the Bailey Family cemetery.  We only found about 8 head stones and they were all plain, no writing on them. The majority were in a row. Surprisingly you could see the indentations in the ground where the bodies were buried.

We didn’t find any house foundations or proof of civilization.  We suspect the cemetery was placed on the hill to prevent flood damage. The town is probably underwater.  The Tennessee river was flooded by the Barkley Dam back in the 60s. to make the huge Barkley and Kentucky Lakes.

I’m not done with cemeteries yet.  We found yet another one, again on top of a hill but this one was in the middle of a camp ground with a wire fence around it. There were carved head stone and some like the ones  we saw with no markings. Most of the carved ones were for Children 3 to 5 years old.  How sad.  The dates were from the 1820s One adult we saw was definitely in the Civil war era.  It was quite odd that someone put PVC or bamboo crosses by the unmarked stones.  One unlucky find was a dead possum in the cemetery.  Yuck.

We found some great hiking trails and put on some miles.  I haven’t spent that much time in the woods since we camped with our kids when they were young.  We sure slept well that night.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott