Browning Looper Boat Trip: Oct.19, 2011 Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, Ky to Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, Ala.

Site of Civil War Battle Above the Clouds; Tenn R. and Chattanooga below

It has been a busy month. It has been a hot, and, now,a cold month. We have to ask each other, each day, what day of the week it is, and what state are we in.

We left the boat at Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, Ky. on Sept. 25th. We said good bye to Jen and Mike on Nova; they were going to move at a steady pace to get to Mobile. We said good bye to Brown Eyed girl. Craig and Ginny were also going home, but for a shorter time. Skipper and I went home and Gene went to DC and Toronto for meetings. It was a busy ten days with visiting, app'ts, and tending to the house that needed a bit of TLC. Skipper and I met Gene at the airport in Nashville on the way back; we spent a couple of days touring Nashville and headed back to the boat on Oct' 6th. I was a happy camper!!

While at GTB, I did get to the Nat'l Quilt Museum, quite an experience. I was so humbled by the exquisite quilts, but the boys did not want to be bothered "looking at blankets!"

Our ride on the Tenn. R. was lovely; very few barges, beautifukl scenery, and fall foliage. After four days of travel, nice marinas, daily docktails each night with Loopers, we arrived at Grand Harbor Marina with Once Around, Moonstruck and Something Special. Here, the docks and water are in Miss.; the land is inTenn.; and, when you look toward the marina exit, it is a stone's throw to Ala.) We all loaded into a marina courtesy van, the next day, and headed to Shiloh Nat'l Park. A beautiful, but somber day. During the battle of Shiloh, 23,00 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. And, hating war, I wondered, for what!!

While at Shiloh, we left Skipper on the boat for the day. When we returned, the Captain gave him a much needed bath. We then left him for a couple of hours while we had dinner. Usually, Skipper lets us know he isn't happy being left by flipping all the pillows and mussing up blankets. On this day, I guess he was really miffed because he got into my yarn....and what a mess! I rewound it all since it was not cheap yarn......ready for the looney bin!

There would be three locks to get through before reaching Joe Wheeler. The Pickwick Lock and Dam, the first lock we encountered, was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1934, taking ten years to complete.A total of 506 families and 407 graves had to be relocated.Entire communities disappeared.One story has it that a family resisted the move because the fire in their fireplace had been burning for three generations. So, the TVA moved the family, their possessions and the burning fire to a new location!

Pickwick Lock and Dam, as it turned out, was a beast. The wind was howling; I had too short a line to catch the bollard, and it took several attempts before Gene could get close enough to the bollard. We then needed a stern line to keep the back of the boat from whipping us around. The lockmaster was a grouch and flew us up the 50 plus feet to the top. Since we were not the only ones with a bad experience there, we had plenty of sympathy. We came up with a better game plan for the next two locks, for sure!

On Oct. 17th, we arrived in Rogersville, Ala. Here, we would spend several days attending the Fall Rendezvous for the American Great Looper Assn. at the Joe Wheeler State Park Marina. There were 52 docked Looper boats and 200 participants. It was a blast with excellent presentations re: the Tennessee Tom Bigbee Waterway to Mobile and the ins and outs of crossing the Gulf of Mexico; both of which have their challenges. Info on the Bahamas was refreshing and the presentation on the trip down the St. John's River reminded us that we still want to do that.

While there, a large group traveled into the town of Rogersville on the one and only school bus for dimnner an an excewllent country western concert. The talent was incredible. Since it was a dry county, the treats were cigars for the men and chocolate smores.

After the rendezvous, about 15 boats decided to take the northeastern part of the Tennessee River to Chattanooga. This part of the river treated us to incredible fall foliage. The trip was 140 miles to Chattanooga, which we did in three days. The city offers a wonderful waterfront, a knock out aquarium, an incline train ride to the Civil War Battle Above the Clouds and great restaurants. We traveled with Brown Eyed Girl and Something Special, but spent pleasant evenings with other Loopers as well.

We are now back tracking to the Rogersville area and will go through the Guntrsville, Wheeler and Wilson (115 foot drop for this one) and begin our journey toward Mobile. If we can keep moving at our leisurely pace we could be in Mobile by the third week in Nov. (That is the plan at the moment.) We have many locks to traverse, and few marinas; so we will be anchoring out a fair amount.

Stay tuned...Ginny