We are moving a boat and training her owner’s to become proficient with their boat Nauti Paws, a 390 Mainship, just like what ours was.

Yesterday we crossed the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa Bay area to Panama City. When you have too many hours sitting at the helm and your are not a writer, you make an attempt to be poet and clever. So here is my take on our travels of 254 miles at 9.2 knots over 27.5 hours. Enjoy.

The Crossing of Nauti Paws

Weather triple checked, ditch bag packed, food is prepared for a Gulf Crossing from Tampa to Panama City.

Land is left behind as the sun turns the water into a sea of shiny diamonds, God’s artwork, never to be equaled by man.

The sunset is unobstructed in her full glory

With darkness come the anticipation of the rising of the moon, only to be thwarted by the tiniest sliver of the moon becoming visible as it too sets into the same path of the sun.

It is now dark. The stars, oh the stars! Never has one seen so many in the clear moonless darkness.

The only sound is the thrum of the engine and the swishing of the water as the hull parts the sea. No cell service, no radio chatter, the feeling of peace on earth. In the middle of the Gulf the silence is broken by the call of the Loon startled by the boat.

Tiny red light off in the distance give new meaning to “two ships passing in the night.”

Three hours shift seems just about right.  A bit too long for the captain and a bit too short for the sleeper.

Land Ho…she deceives you so… but brings us assurance.  So close yet so far.

Panama City Beach with her white sand, lures us into the inlet.

Another hour to our anchorage seems so small after our long crossing of 220 mile of the Gulf.

The chatter of the chain means rest is in reach. But wait not so fast…the anchor won’t bite.  Alas we finesse her into the mud.  Looking forward to slumber tonight in our bed.

10-5-18 10-13-18 Marina Time and Treasured Friends

We have been on the Tennessee river for a while. There are still locks to tend with, but we have been lucky with no long waits.  We also have had the opportunity to call the locks before leaving to limit our waits in the current on the river.  We anchored out one more night with Eddie and Linda before crossing through Pickwick Lake.  Friends, Charlie and Robin whom we met on our first loop live in the area. They were so excited that we were there they invited us over that very night. Eddie and Linda hadn’t met them, but immediately hit it off.  Both very fun couples to be with.

Charlie got out the blender and many different kinds of alcohol.  He made the most delicious frozen drinks called Bushwackers. They went down so easy. If you had couple of these, I’m sure you would feel it.  It was nice to be in a home and not on a dock or on the back of a boat.  We went back to the boat after the dark.  The four of us got into our dinghy as Charlie and Robin aimed the headlights on it so we could find our way down the dock. It was so good to see them.

The next day we went through Pickwick Lock. The corner of three states, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi meets on the water, that is where Spriritus (Eddie and Linda) cross their wake for the second time. Making them Platinum Loopers. We were honored to be there at that monumental moment for them. We drove along side and took photo at just that moment when they crossed.  Crossing your wake means you complete the great loop.  You have crossed your wake where you started.

Once we got docked the second bottle of Loop wine was broken out to celebrate.  They were so cute, they kept saying “Did you hear? We’re Platinum”

We had dinner at Robin and Charlie’s again. Charlie is in his glory now that all the Loopers are coming into the marina.  He gathers them up and brings them home.  Robin is a saint! He brought home an extra 5 people. The boys ran to the store for more burgers and the gals made more fruit salad and got our more dishes.  We had quite a group. Herb is a famous Looper.  He is a colorful, friendly, inviting person.  He handles his 50+foot boat all by himself and has completed the loop one and ¾ times at this point.  He always has “Porchtails” on the back of his monster boat.  We had a very fun evening with so many old and new friends.

The next day we took our boat to Lee Spry Boat yard to have Last Call pulled to have her dripping, dripless shaft seal replaced.  It is a common maintenance that needs to be done periodically.  The part hadn’t arrived yet, so we had to leave her on the hard for the night.  Charlie and Robin were so gracious and invited us to stay at the house.  It felt great to take a shower that wasn’t a sea shower and to have lots of room to move around and good internet.  The next morning Charlie and Scott went back to finish up with the boat, Robbin had to go help her mother-in-law while I stayed at the house by myself.  I was so thankful for the peace and quiet to work on our presentation for the AGLCA at the Fall Rendezvous. I needed the outline turned in that day and the presentation was due in two days.  After practicing the first time we decided to completely change the format, so it was a ton of work. I am now getting pretty good with the basics of power-point. By noon Charlie took me back to the boat as she was ready to be splashed back in the water and I needed to help Scott get her back to the Marina. The work went well, and she no longer drips.

Someone organized docktails and a potluck dinner at the marina pavilion. There is Grand Harbor marina a short way away.  Charlie got his pontoon boat out and picked up the loopers at Grand Harbor and brought them over to Aqua Yacht Marina.  Food was great as usual, and we met many new loopers.  We all stood and told where we were from and what boat we were on. It is always interesting to see the differences in how people do the loop.  Some boats huge and other not much more than a runabout.  It was another great Looper night in the books.

We spent some time cleaning the dirty boat and prepared to depart the next morning.

We took off with no particular plan. Our next destination was Joe Wheeler State Park, where the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous will be held. We had two big locks coming up.  We had to push to get to the first lock, but got right in.  The next lock was not far, but there was chatter on the radio about an hour and a half wait and it was already late afternoon.  We chose to scoot up and offshoot and anchor for the night.  We had no desire to try navigating in the dark because of a lock.  The next morning, we called the lockmaster before pulling up the anchor.  Lock was clear, so we departed and had no wait when we got there.

Stay tuned for the Rendezvous doing.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

10-2-18 10-3-18  Cinnamon Rolls and Friends.  What more do we need.

Sites along the Tennessee River.

Pebble Isle Marina on the Tennessee River in Johnsonville, TN. I can’t really tell you what this is close to because there isn’t much close by.  It is North of Savannah, TN

It is hot and sunny as we pulled into Pebble Isle Marina. Billy is the dock master and he is the epitome of southern hospitality.  He is friendly, helpful and best of all he makes free, fresh Cinnamon rolls every morning for his guests.

We worked hard all day, doing laundry, shopping, washing the boat so by evening we were ready for a little R&R.  There were quite a few loopers there and in true Looper style we had docktails on a floating pontoon that had tables and chairs set up just for this purpose.  Billy was so glad we used it, that he took photos to send to the new owners of the marina.  Great to meet new and already known Loopers.  It is always fun when we get together. We have never been involved with a group quite like this.  Everyone is so friendly, partly because we are all in the same boat… Pun intended

Later that night a huge yacht came in that dwarfed the marina building.  They took on ONLY 2000 gallons of fuel.  Glad I don’t have their fuel bill.  The boat was being moved from Chicago to Florida for the winter. Billy told us they come every year.  This marina has a great fuel price and it is fresh because they sell a ton of it.

We heard about the delicious fresh cinnamon rolls at the marina 2 years ago, but never made it here.  So, after 10 days at anchor we needed a marina stop so why not go where they have fresh cinnamon rolls every morning.  I have to say that I have had a hankering for a good Cinnamon roll and have been disappointed every time I have had one.  But Billy and his staff came through!  Warm fresh and amazing. That craving is satisfied at least for a while.

We are doing a talk at the AGLCA Fall rendezvous about  “The Best Stuff is at Anchor”  Here is an example of why to believe this to be true.  We were cruising the river with an anchorage in mind, but about half way there we hear our boat being hailed on the radio by a familiar looking boat anchored ahead.  It is Spiritus with Eddie and Linda asking if we wanted to join them at anchor.  We cut our day short and anchored close to them behind Swallow Bluff Island.

This Island is known to have goats on it.  I was hoping to get a glimpse and a photo. Spritus invited us over for cool drinks and fellowship which we were happy to accept as it was very hot that day. After visiting we invited them to come for dinner as I had put lasagna in the crockpot that morning.  We needed to get back and turn it down so it didn’t get over cooked.  We both had the same idea to get relief from the heat….swimming of course.  However, we are on the river with a fair amount of current.  No problem, just tie yourself to the boat and float behind.  The water felt wonderful and cooled us down.

Eddie and Linda came over for dinner toting a very special bottle of wine to share with us.  They bought it in Chicago and it was called “The Loop”  Great wine, great food, lots of laughs with amazing people made for one of those unforgettable days on the journey.

You are probably wondering about the goats.  None, not even a glimpse, but the friendship was so special I didn’t even care.

Sorry I am so far behind on the blog, but my usual excuse of poor internet is true.  We are traveling down rivers with not much around us.  Many days we can barely get a text out much less load photos and text to a blog.  I do have to admit we did have a few days where I could have worked on it, but we were playing and that was more important.  Life is too short to not play when the opportunity arises.

I have committed to getting caught up soon. Keep tuned.

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

9-19-18   10-1-18 37^th Anniversary at Anchor and Racoon Wars

There were really no restaurants in the area we were in to go out for dinner for our 37^th Anniversary. It is more important to us to have some special time together.  I know ,we live on a boat together; how much closer can we get.  We planned our favorite meal, Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp found a secluded anchorage, swam, paddle boarded and reminisced about our wonderful life together. We have so many great memories!  Once again it was scorching hot, so we opted to put the camp stove on the back of the boat and cooked outside, so we didn’t add any heat to the cabin.  We do have a regular stove on board, but we also have the camp stove just in case we ever have an issue with the generator, we can still eat at anchor.  It came in handy that day.  Dinner and wine were divine then back in the water to cool off again.  We truly had a wonderful day!

Off to Pisgah Bay on Kentucky Lake. There is a peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Barclay lake. It is called the land between the lakes and there are no house or towns on the upper part, so it will be difficult for me to tell exactly where we are.

Pisgah Bay is a large bay with two boat ramps on it. We stopped here on our last Loop and enjoyed dinghying to the Quarry.  The weather this time did not cooperate.  It rained for days.  We had one break in the weather, so we dinghied to the quarry.  But we didn’t get a chance to get out and explore as we wanted to because the rain started again.

Osprey Bay on Duncan Bay has half of the area marked off as a restricted wilderness area and does not allow anyone in the area for the winter months.  The bay was so beautiful.  We watched a buck and doe feed off the shore in the distance. Tons of fish, many of which were Asian Carp, but bass and panfish are prevalent as well.  We did some romping around when it wasn’t raining.

One night we heard terrible screeching, let’s say many animals screeching. There was a terrible fight happening on shore.  Scott got out his high-powered- flashlight. When we had gone ashore earlier that day there was a huge dead carp on the shore.  We expected it was animals fighting over it, but we were wrong.  Not a single animal on the carp.  Panning the light rays to the right a tree on shore lit up with about 15 pairs of glowing eyes.  There was a racoon war going on.  Our light disrupted the war and we had peace the rest of the night.  We couldn’t believe how many there were! Osprey Bay might be my new favorite bay…the wilderness was raw and breathtaking.  My paddle board has a saying on it which holds true for me. “Nature is my muse, she inspires me to be a truer version of me.”

Higgins Bay extruded the true meaning of “Boat Life.” The bay itself didn’t but the situation did.  We had some important main that needed to get out THAT day, but we are in the middle of wilderness, and loving it by-the-way.  It has been so stinking hot that after 10 days at anchor we could not keep up with making ice for the cooler for cold drinks. We looked up Cozy Cove Marina and Resorts nearby and tried to call to see if they had ice and could take our mail.  Of course, the call dropped because we have almost no signal in much of this area. About a half an hour later, the owner called me back to see if he could help me.  The signal held, and we were clear to come in for ice and mail service. We anchored, dropped the dinghy and drove it 5 miles to Cozy Cove. There was a small covered dock for fishing boats and pontoons and a few cottages, but no sign.  According to our map this was it, so we tied up and walked up to the office.  It had a sign on the door at 11:55 “Gone to Lunch” UGH!!!!! Luckily it left the guys phone number on the sign.  At first, we were going to be patient and not interrupt the guys lunch, but it was warm and we have spent considerable amount of time just getting there.  Scott is Mr. Patient, but me……not so much.  I kindly called the guy and said I called him early for ice and he said “I just left for lunch just take a bag on the house. Don’t worry about it.”  I asked how much Ice was and I was happy to leave the money in an empty brochure box, but what I really needed was to get an envelope mailed.  He told me where the mailbox was.  I hiked up to the top of the hill to the entrance of the resort and easily found the mailbox, placing this important piece of mail in it with the flag up.  The thought crossed my mind that the mailman may not even stop here if there was no mail for Cozy Cove.  But then I remembered junk mail.  It may be my only saving grace.  We grabbed our ice threw it in the cooler and headed back to Last Call.  Mission accomplished…….I hope. BTW the mail arrived and on time.

When we got back we had a quick lunch, then headed to shore where there is a forestry road.  It was easy to find and led us to several very secluded campsites.  We hoofed it through the woods hoping to catch the road at the top of the hill.  Scottactually got signal at the top of the hill to see on his phone where this trail leads.  Our plan was to hike to the other side of the peninsula but once we saw the halfway mark with the trail taking a steep descent we decided we didn’t want to climb back up that thing.  Remember our legs are out of shape from many days sitting on the boat in the rain.  That’s my excuse anyways.  On the way back we marveled at the deep muddy ruts in the clay road.  I asked Scott what kind of vehicle would you need to get through this?  He said, “I guess it’s a Jeep Thang.”  Swimming cooled us down and paddle boarding warmed us up so we swam again. I think we got our exercise that day. The deck was getting some great lawn chair use by us after a busy day.  Close to sunset, I kid you not, a JEEP pulled onto the point.  We were laughing and said “Yep it was a Jeep Thang” They had a tent that went on top of their vehicle, a small enclosure that was probably their toilet, a hammock and fire burning in not time.  We were impressed!  Just like that they were gone in the morning.

Next stop: Richland Creek. This was a nice big anchorage, but it had houses and 5 boat ramps on it.  We looked back in our records and remembered staying here on our last loop.  We remembered the fleet of Bass-boats that came flying by at full speed just before 5pm.  There was a tournament and time was of the essence.  At least we only got rocked a short time.  This was more of a work stop for us.  We cleaned the yellow river staining off the back and sides of the boat and scrubbed the green algae off the bottom.  Fun times wish you were there.

We were at anchor for 12 days and thoroughly enjoyed the Land Between the Lakes. We desperately need a marina stop.

Thanks for reading,

Scott and Karen

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

9-17-18  9-18-18 Missing Mail and Thirsty Turtles,

It was suggested to me to say what city we are near so my readers can find us on the map.  Great idea except that there aren’t many towns that you could find easily but I will try to give you something close.  This area we are in is the North End of Kentucky Lake. Near Barkley Dam and Kentucky Dam. Close to Paducah, KY.

We anchored our first night in the area in Nikkel Bay on Barkley Lake with Bob N Along.  As usual it is hot again, but this time we get to swim to cool off.  It felt so good.  We grabbed our Noodles and a drink and Bobbed on over to Bob N Along. They joined us, and we sure had a nice time being cool and talking while floating around.  Doesn’t get any better than that.

We are only a short distance from the Green Turtle Bay Marina, so in the morning when we get in we have a full day to get the dirty deeds done. We reserved the car for 11:00 am.  Because we shared with Bob and Natalie, we had the car for 4 hours.  Not only did we grocery shop but ran many little errands and got everything done we needed.  We were expecting 3 pieces of mail but only had one at the desk when we checked in.  While we were out I received a call from the desk telling us they found a piece in the office.  We stopped on our way home to get it, but they said it wasn’t there and told us to try the store.  I went to the store and found #2 of 3, then checked back into the marina. Yes, in fact the third piece should be at the office. The guy from the office who told me it wasn’t there happened to be in the marina and offered to take me back up in the golf cart as it was a little hike.  Low and behold there it was. Three parcel all address to the same place and they all ended up at different locations. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Did Laundry, traded books at the lending library and headed right for the pool. We met some locals who shared some of their knowledge about the Bahamas. There were many Loopers there, but it was just too darn hot to stand out on a dock to enjoy each other’s company. It was decided to try the next day, but we would be gone.  We knew quite a few already but would have liked to have met more.

That evening I got a text from Kirt and Pam our high school friends we have bumped into once in Key West, and once in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin. They asked if we were in Paducah which they saw on Facebook. They were going to be there that night and wanted to catch up with us.  We had to leave the marina because they needed our slip. We said so long to Bob N Along. We anchored around the corner in the Bay where the Thirsty Turtle is located. Turns Kim and Kirt’s campsite was 5 minutes away.  We dinghied in, met them for dinner and drinks and had live music outside.   None of these encounters were planned, we just keep bumping into each other and we couldn’t have planned them better. Love this couple they are a lot of fun and are traveling by Motor coach.

Will move to Kentucky Lake tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

9-15-18 9-16-18 Big Muddy to the Big Muddier

We left our anchorage and were flying down the Mississippi River. Our cruising speed is about 8 miles per hour. If we push the engine we can maybe get 11 mph, BUT with the current it pushed us to 13 miles per hour.  Whoo Hoo! Saving fuel.  That was great until we got to the Ohio where we were going UP river.  Our speed immediately dropped to 5 mph.  Not saving fuel anymore. In fact burning more than normal.

We were looking forward to getting on the Ohio to have less debris.  Two years ago, when we turned up the Ohio the water was clean with very little debris.  This year we went from the Big Muddy (Mississippi) to the Big Muddier (Ohio.) The water line was brown instead of clear as we crossed from one river to the next and much to our dismay, there was tons of trees and debris.  Worse than the Mississippi.

The Ohio is flooded and very wide.  We had a funny comment from a tow driver.  We called to ask where he wanted us to pass him.  He said “We got lots of water. Pass me bank to bank, just don’t hit me.”

We anchored at Bean Branch Creek.  I didn’t even recognize it the water was so high.  Bob N Along was with us and they couldn’t believe this was the anchorage.  We anchored well off the channel, and fortunately were in a spot that the debris field was just off where we anchored.  We heard of some boats having debris hit their boat all night and had a large collection of wood tangled on their anchor line.  We lucked out, we both had just a tiny branch from a willow tree and no bumps all night.

On up the river is a new Municipal Dock in Paducah. We had power to run the air conditioning.  It has been blistering hot everyday.  High 90’s. Ugh.  We walked into town.  It looks like this town died but is being revived. Many empty storefronts are being renovated.  There are neat old buildings that when redone, will be quite attractive.  It was Sunday and we didn’t have much time so we didn’t go to the National Quilt museum, which is supposed to be impressive.

The town has a flood wall, which is a cement wall apx 12” tall with closing doors to keep the water out of town. The wall was beautifully painted with mural depicting the history of the area.  There was a guy on scaffolding painting one of the panels. Turns out he is the original artist and comes each year to restore two panels. That way it isn’t such a big project.  It takes him about a month to do one panel.  It was neat to meet him. He is quite gifted.

It was so hot we wanted to get back on our boats for some reprieve from the heat.  That evening three other boats came in.  I was washing dishes, Scott ran out to help catch lines and there were other people there also to help so I kept at my dishes.  Spectators would come down on the dock periodically.  I happened to notice a couple standing near our boat when suddenly their eyes got as big as saucers and mouths dropped open.  I turned to see what was up just in time to see a fellow looper coming into the dock, who got caught in an unexpected current and missed hitting our boat by inches.  Glad I didn’t see it coming.  Due to great skill,the Captain of that boat punched the power while his wife frantically tossed lines to people on the dock. They landed like they planned it that way.

On the dock we all met exchanged cards with the new people and talked about our travels the next day.  We have two options because we are at a fork in the river.  Option 1) Take the right fork onto the Tennessee River to the Kentucky Lock  or Option2) Take the Ohio a short ways and take the Cumberland River to the Barkley Lock.  Both of these locks dump you into the Kentucky Lakes area. Option 2 is 24 miles longer than Option 1, but Option 1 is notorious for getting stuck hours at the lock due to commercial traffic. The group decided that first thing in the morning, I would call the lock master at Kentucky Lock and use my womanly wiles to see if I could sweet talk the Lock Master to let us all go through if we all came together so It was only one lock.  I called him he said he didn’t have any tows waiting up or down so the prospect of us getting through in timely manner is good.  He said the most he can make us wait is 3 lock throughs. New rule?  In the morning, we had a captain’s meeting on the dock. I filled everyone in on the details I was given, like stay below the bridge until you are cleared to come up or you may meet a tow, tie up to the wall assignments etc.

Two of the boats decided to go the other way seeing it was supposed to be more scenic.  Four of us headed for the lock with Last Call leading the way.  When we arrived, we waited 5 minutes for them to get a diver out of the way and bam we were in and locked through in no time.  A few days later we were anchored near the other lock and noticed the door stuck partially opened and didn’t move all day.  Come to find out many Loopers were stuck on the other side for 8 hours and had to come into the marina in the dark.

Kentucky Lake Ahhh.  Clean water, no debris. Happy to be here.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott,

m/v Last Call

9-14-18 9-15-18 Riding the Raging Mississippi

We left out of Alton with 3 boats with a promise of getting right through the lock.  Well that didn’t work out we had to do the dance.  3 boats doing the Dosido with each other waiting for the lock that was supposed to be ready for us.  Luckily it wasn’t a terrible wait, but still annoying when the lock tender says come on down, I’ll put you through.

The Mississippi was muddy thus her nick name “Big Muddy” and flowing like crazy with lots of trees to dodge.

Our cruising speed 8 mph, but with the current we were going as fast as 14 miles per hour.   You do need to shave some of that time off for all the zigs and zags we did to dodge logs.  Luckily the boats we traveled with and we did not sustain any tree damage.  Phew.   I give Scott tons of credit because it was some tense driving, watching currents, wing dams, trees and tows that may be hiding around the next bend.  I did some driving too, so I can appreciate the tension behind the wheel.  He’s great at it and trusts me to drive too.  I guess we are experienced after 10,000 miles behind the wheel.

Shortly after getting on the river we went by St. Louis.  What a shame that that city does not have a marina.  The famous arch is right on the river.  Many boaters would love to stop there.  I took Pictures of Sea Tiger and Bob N Along as they went passed the Arch.  The sky was an electric blue and they turned out great!

We put in a long day and went to Kaskaskia Lock where we could tie up on their wall.  There were only 5 boats there.  There are very few spots to stop along the river so we were thankful to tie up here for the night.  We had docktails in the tiny bit of shade cast by the wooden slatted wall. It was so hot again.  Argh… Then back to our boat where we turned on our generators and flip on the air for some relief before bed.

Next stop was Little Diversion canal off the Mississippi where Bob N Along and we anchored.  We were feeling adventurous, so we dropped our dinghies and instead of heading up the canal like most sane people we decided to go UP 3 miles on the Mississippi river in our dinghies to a small town Cape Girardeau.

I think we might be a bit dinghy to do this.  We started off with all of us in our dinghy…..too much weight we couldn’t get up on plane.  The we took both dinghies and Bob and Natalie couldn’t get up on plane with 2 people.  So in the middle of the raging Mississippi Natalie crawled into our dinghy and we were off.  All was going well.  Bob’s motor is smaller than ours, but we kept him insight.  Under the bridge we go on our approach to the town wall, the three of us were scoping out our best place to dock.  We found the perfect spot designed just for this.  But with our attention on our docking, we neglected to watch for Bob.  We tied up and immediately turned around to make sure he was right on our tail……oh oh no site of Bob.  We were just getting ready to take off to go find him when we saw him under the bridge.  When he got there, he told us he ran out of gas despite having a full tank.  Thankfully we are all smart boaters and brought extra.  But he did admit it was exciting flowing backwards out of control down the river while filling the tank.  Going against the river eats up the gas. They have a tiny tank on their motor, so this was not a huge surprise.

The town was small but did not fail to provide us with a brewery.  Best part was they were tapping small batch IPA at 4pm.  Bob and Scott couldn’t wait.

We roamed the town and started to head back toward the dinghies to get dinner.

On the corner was a company or two of firefighters that came out of the ice cream store.

We yacked with them and they were amazed at our trip.  We gave them our cards and headed for the dinghies.  Next thing we know they all followed behind us.  I am sure they thought they were in for some entertainment with these crazy people in their dinghies on the Mississippi.  We are glad to say we had no “shitshow” for them.  But what they didn’t know was that Bob ran out of gas again down river and couldn’t get the engine started right away.  We towed him up river.  Scott may have gotten a little carried away with his speed and Bob’s dingy went over our wake and he almost went in the river.  Yes, we all had life jackets on.  No harm no foul.

The engine primed and started and off we went back to our boats.  We kept going up the canal to scope out a dog potty place for some boaters.   The water was like glass. Along side the canal was a soy bean field that was flooded.

We may have taken a few fresh soy beans and had Edamame for our appetizer.

We have the best fun at anchor.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of the Day:

9-6-18 to 9-13-18 Alton waiting for the flood

We pulled into the Alton Marina in Illinois a day earlier than planned due to the predicted heavy rain from the Tropical storm.  St. Louis was predicted to get days of rain and there was great potential for flooding on the Mississippi.  We had a long day but were happy to get pumped out fueled up and put in a covered slip. That night and the next day it did rain steadily.  Thankfully it didn’t rain as much as they predicted.  In anticipation of the rain, they lowered the river. Then they didn’t get as much rain so the river is “wide open” but no major flooding.

Alton Marina is a lovely marina which is designed to take the rising waters.  We felt safe there if the river did rise significantly. They have a pool which we have enjoyed.  Many Loopers are here and more coming in every day.

We rode our bikes out to the dam and to the Pharmacy (Uphill both ways as always) twice. We have enjoyed docktails, haircut for Scott, laundry, wash and wax boat, went to church and a fabulous lunch at Fast Eddies.

Fast Eddie’s needs its own description.

All patrons must be 21. You must eat all food on premises. You must purchase a beverage.  But….they have ½ pound fantastic hamburgers for $1.99.  Brats, Hot Chick on a Stick, Steak or pork on a stick and fries. All 1.99 each. Some of the best shrimp I have ever had at 35 cents apiece. Man, what a place.  I can see why the rules.  They have to make up for the price of the food with a drink and I can see why they don’t do take out.  Very interesting concept and they are busy all the time.  Fun Lunch! On our last day in Alton 12 Loopers went there for dinner.  Great night! If you are looking for a salad forget about it, but they do have a diet plate.  1/2 the food, 1/2 the calories, Full Price. 🙂

We enjoyed our stay in Alton.  At first we didn’t know if we would stay the 6 days which is their special, buy 3 nights get 3 nights free.  Due to the possible flooding and the river supposed to crest on the 11th, we relaxed, yet were busy all the time.  We needed to get back on the river for a rest.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott,

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

9-2-18 9-5-18 Lower Illinois River to The Big Muddy

There aren’t a lot of stops along the lower Illinois River. The scenery changes from beautiful wilderness to industry.

We still have locks along the river but they are becoming fewer and fewer. The wait, however still remains.  We had waited several hours for a lock when The American Queen showed up.  She certainly was treated like royalty.  There were three boats doing the dance waiting and the lock master sent the lock down empty to get her.  He wouldn’t even wait 10 minutes for us to zip in and tie up.  He finally locked us through after the queen but now he was really backed up with a tow behind us a  “Light Boat” in front.

Fun Fact:  a “Light Boat” is the pusher alone without any barges.  There is no left or right or port or starboard on the rivers.  It’s all 1’s and 2’s.  Pass me on the one or pass me on the two.  You better know which is which or he just might take you out in the corner.

There is no left or right or port or starboard on the rivers.  It’s all 1’s and 2’s.  “Pass me on the one” or “pass me on the two.”  You better know which is which or he just might take you out in the corner.  We have AIS on our boat.  It is a piece of equipment that emits and receives signal from other boats with AIS.  All the Tows have it.  It has been extremely helpful because we can see them on AIS before we can physically see them.  We call and ask how they want us to proceed.  Sometimes they say something like “stay below the bridge because I will take up all the space.”

Some of the tows push 15 barges at a time.  When they lock through the pusher pushes in about half of the load.  It comes up in the lock.  Then this small thing with a cleat on it runs along a rail and can pull these immense load out of the lock and hold it until the pusher and the rest of the load comes up.

We anchored behind and Island one night.  It was a Sincarte Island.  It was a very long island which left a small river between it and the mainland.  It was beautiful.  We dinghies a long ways up and saw tons of birds.  It was like a bird sanctuary. Egrets, Herons, White Eagles, Golden Eagles and many small birds. There were interesting things to see along the river. Enjoy the photos.

We got back to the boat and were enjoying sitting on the back when this Egret worked its way down the shoreline snatching up fish. We wondered how many can that little body hold?

We finally finished the Illinois River and entered the Mississippi AKA “The Big Muddy”

The scenery immediately changed to cliffs.  They are really beautiful.

A short distance across from the cliffs is 50″ Shrine “Our Lady of the Rivers. It was built after the disastrous flood of 1951 as gratitude for the water stopping just short of flooding the village Portage des Sioux.  Mid July, each year, the blessing of the fleet is held at the shrine. (Skipper Bob’s Publication)

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

9-4-18 Caterpillar and Thyme

It has been so hot that we decided to stay one more day and utilize the air conditioning. That also meant we could go to the Caterpillar Visitor Center.  Caterpillar not the crawly things but the heavy equipment company.

We arrived and were getting our tickets.  The clerk asked if we were Loopers.  How could she tell?  Aren’t there all kinds of tourist through here?  She said we were tan and we were either boaters or tennis players? This is the third time in various cities that we have been asked this.  I guess we have a look and didn’t even realize it.

Caterpillar makes the huge Mining trucks. We first watched a movie in a theatre build in the bed of this truck.  This truck is made from wood with plastic tires. A real truck would crush the concrete floor. It was great that we could see the size of these things.  Fun fact…most of the drivers of these monsters are women with a PayScale around $250,000 a year.  They are 16 gear automatics with many computers in them that report right to headquarters. The driver never knows if something is wrong until they pull the truck off for repairs. Often times they have parts already waiting.

On that note, Vernon Unk drew a cartoon in 1930 depicting a flat screen TV video chatting with a person at Caterpillar, which sent his order to a fully automated parts picking system and air dropped by balloon.  Today this is almost exactly how it works.  Except they sometimes use a drone.  It is almost like he could see into the future.

The 797F Mining Truck Stats:

• Payload: 400 tons = 800,000 pounds per load
• Cost $5 million
• Tires: Changed every 3 months costing 1 Million dollars in one year.
• Fuel Tank size: to order up to 2000 gallons
• 4,000 horsepower
• Operating weight 1,375,000 pounds
• Ht 25’ 4” with the body down, 5 stories with the body raised
• Length 46’6”
• Width 32’
• It takes 13 separate trucks to deliver and is assembled on site
• Used to haul ore, copper, iron, goal, coal and oil sands

  

  

  

  

  

  Truly a marvel to see something that big.  We learned they only stop to fuel once a day that is why they offer different size fuel tanks. They are run 24/7 and often make up the cost of the truck in a very short amount of time. The volunteers at the center are mostly retired Caterpillar workers.  They were extremely knowledgeable and still have a passion for their company.

Caterpillar has been involved in the car racing scene for 26 years.  A young man, Kory Russel has an extensive collection of CAT car racing items and has them on loan to the Center for others to enjoy. I was impressed, and I don’t really know anything about car racing.

There were simulators there, so you could try your hand at driving various pieces of equipment. It first told you which thingy to push or pull etc. then let you go at it.  Natalie and I got one scoop of dirt moved before it said to please allow others to use the simulator.

I don’t think I would get a job doing that, nor do I want one, but driving an ore truck might be fun. The guys continued to “work” while Natalie and I went off goofing around taking silly pictures.

I hope I labeled those correctly or my son will let me know.  He was telling me the names of this stuff when he was four-years-old.  Smarty pants.

We had heard that this wasn’t that great of an exhibit, and without taking the time to listen to the volunteers, I might have looked passed many items, that had great stories. We loved it!

For those of you who know Milo, I had to send him a picture of the excavator and tease him that mine was bigger than his new one.  Hee Hee.

Next stop Rhodell Brewery that was highly recommended to us. It didn’t open until 2pm. What??  We moved on and found the Thyme Kithchen  and Craft Beer. We had great food. They had interesting décor including hundreds of bottles of different types of Whiskey, Bourbon and Rye. It made for a great display on the back of the bar, however a ladder was needed to get to most of the bottles. Once again it was steaming hot.  We are ready for some cooler weather.

Thanks for reading.

Karen and Scott

m/v Last Call

Unique Random Photo of The Day: