Farewell Tennessee River

We woke up to a chilly 49F morning with fog, and took our time letting the mist and temperature lift before pulling up anchor.

Today (Monday) was our shortest travel day so far, only 5 miles, to Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN. We have been border-hopping the last two days, crossing between Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee waters. 

At Mile 215, we said goodbye to the Tennessee River and turned onto Yellow Creek, the beginning of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. After more than 700 miles, including our side trip to Chattanooga, it was a bittersweet farewell. We have thoroughly enjoyed cruising this beautiful river, but are excited to head south again, towards warmer weather and new adventures. 

We’re spending two nights at Grand Harbor, so this afternoon we relaxed, chatted with fellow boaters, did laundry and played music—Kathleen serenading the transient dock with her concertina, then a passing tow with her fiddle.

Florence, AL to Panther Creek

Our stay in Florence Harbor again coincided with a big fishing tournament—apparently there’s one just about every weekend. This was the morning scene at the docks:

Not wishing to depart in this madness, we borrowed the marina’s courtesy van and went out to breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast, a cool diner in Florence with a Cessna airplane body on the wall.

After breakfast, we got a few more groceries, filled up Dragonfly’s fuel tanks, said goodbye to Steve, Darci, Andrew & Susan and got underway. After so many nights in marinas, we really wanted to anchor out again and Pickwick Lake has many good options. Our first choice, Cooper Hollow, was crowded, so we ended up in Panther Creek at Mile 218, which was quiet and beautiful, and we had the eastern cove all to ourselves. We watched the sunset, cooked dinner, buttoned up the cabin against the cold, read and eventually fell asleep to the sounds of birds, frogs and insects.

The Shoals

One of the pieces of advice we received at the Fall Rendezvous was to slow down and enjoy the Loop rather than rush through it. We gave that a try, decided to stay an extra night in Florence Harbor and ended up having one our most enjoyable days on the trip. 

This area consists of Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals, AL, but is simply known as The Shoals.  On Saturday morning, we went for a walk, then joined Pat & Gary from Nauti-Dog to drive across the river to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, a small, unassuming building that is a monumental piece of musical history. Opened in 1969 by four local musicians, the studio attracted artists such as The Rolling Stones, Cher, Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, Linda Ronstadt, George Michael, Wilson Pickett, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Helen Reddy, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Lynyrd Skynrd, Willie Nelson and more. The official name of the four musicians was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, but they soon acquired the nickname “The Swampers” and became music legends. Bonus question: What 1974 hit song has an entire verse about The Swampers? (Answer at end of post). We had an excellent guided tour through the modest facility—which has begun recording music again—and definitely could feel the energy and magic that happened in this unique little building.

That afternoon, we paid another call on Steve & Darci aboard Balclutha Too, this time with our musical instruments. Their friends Andrew & Susan were visiting from St. Louis, and planned a dinner and jam session for the evening. Darci made us an amazing meal, and we sang, played and listened to music, including Susan’s own compositions. While not new for Kathleen, this was my first jam session, and it was a blast!

Bonus Question Answer: Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. “Now Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers…”

Wheeler & Wilson Locks to Florence Harbor, AL

We had lovely weather while attending the Fall Rendezvous, and just knew that it wouldn’t last through our departure day. Sure enough, it was cool, grey and rainy as we got underway this morning from Joe Wheeler State Park. Kathleen and I have an informal agreement to avoid traveling in rain, but we had to pass through Wheeler and Wilson Locks and knew that our best chance of getting through both during daylight hours was to be in a group. Wilson Lock has become a major bottleneck on the Tennessee River after its upper guide-wall was damaged and sunk in a 2021 storm. This left commercial traffic without any assistance to steer long barge rafts into the lock, and without a convenient place to moor barges when splitting a tow, and has considerably slowed down throughput and created long delays. The 40 or so boats leaving the Fall Rendezvous divided up into flotillas yesterday and today to lock through together to reduce the demand on the locks.

Wheeler Lock is only three miles from the park marina, so our group of eight boats waited at the docks until the Lockmaster told us to proceed, then locked down 48 feet without any problems, despite the light rain.

Wilson Lock was next—the Lockmaster told our group that we could pass through after they finished with two tows. We stepped on the gas to cover the 15 miles to Wilson and hold our place in line, only to arrive and discover that the 12 boats from the flotilla that left Joe Wheeler marina three hours before us was still waiting to lock through, and we waited another 1.5 hours with them. In addition, there was a fishing tournament going on and ten bass boats were also in the queue. The Lockmaster said not to worry, there was enough room for everyone in the 600 x 110 foot chamber, and our 20 cruising boats and the ten bass fisherman fit into the lock with room to spare. Dragonfly was rafted up three-deep in the middle, and had a smooth ride down 94 feet to the bottom.

After exiting the lock, we cruised single-file down the three-mile approach canal to Florence Harbor Marina. The Harbormaster and marina staff had their hands full directing our flotilla to their slips in the midst of the fishing tournament based out of the harbor. After getting settled in, we had drinks aboard Wild Goose with Kim & John, the first Loopers we met and exchanged boat cards with back in Davenport, IA, then the four of us had dinner at the River Bottom Grill at the marina.

Two Steps Forward - One Step Back

KG here - Greetings from Rogersville Alabama where we attended yet another day of our “Looper” conference.  We have been furiously taking notes about the route from here down to the Gulf, around Florida and all the way up to Norfolk, VA.  Additionally we’ve been answering lots of questions from attendees who have not started the loop yet, and are trying to figure out whether they can-or even want to-do it.  I’ve been impressed  by the wealth of knowledge of our presenters and have enjoyed helping people figure out whether this is the right adventure for them, despite the fact that a little over 2 months ago I barely understood what I was in for.  

We are enjoying this lovely park - here are some of our favorite views from today:

However, both Tony and I are eager to get underway and back to our adventure.  We miss the chance to see new vistas every day, and the teamwork that comes with relying on each other to get through a day with a sense of accomplishment sans major stress.  

This week I have had a few reminders of the lessons the universe is trying to teach me on what I like to think of as my year of transition - those being: 1. embrace the slow life 2. you have to take care of yourself in order to be useful to others and 3. be present it whatever you’re doing now - stop living in the past/future.  

I was trying to get too much packed into our conference day when luckily I spotted this snail moving slowly across the road.  It stopped me up short long enough to take its picture: 

but I was too jazzed to reflect and so the universe decided to be a little more forceful.  I started off on a run through Joe Wheeler State Park hoping to see a new section of this amazing park where they have a whole host of facilities for day use.  One of the things I’ve been really careful of in running this fall is to watch the path in front of me because often there is very uneven ground at the sides of these rural roads I’m running on and because of all of the large nuts that are littered along the roads/paths of these southern state parks.

As I was running, I was really feeling strong and celebrating the fact that as we started the loop I had a goal to be able to run a 10K by Thanksgiving (since my ACL reconstruction I have barely been able to run 3 miles). I ran my first 10K last week, ahead of schedule.  Instead of maintaining my usual vigilance I attempted to multi-task, daydreaming to try to come up with my next goal to start on tomorrow and suddenly my heel came down on a very large nut on the side of the road, twisting and spraining my ankle pretty significantly.  It’s bad enough to injure joints when you live in a “dirt home” where you can walk (or limp) on level ground but the success of our trip depends on us maintaining our health and strength so that we can clamber up onto the bow as we go through locks (we have 14 left to go through to get to the Gulf) and also to tie up the boat when docking. 

Thankfully my brilliant sister with her DPT is always available for a remote consult and as I learned with my knee surgery, the sooner you start the PT the better.  I’m also grateful to one of my new Looper friends who provided me with some amazing hands on therapy here during the conference.  I’m happy to say I’m stubbornly on the road to recovery.  We are getting underway tomorrow and we’re going to have to adapt our methods to get through the two locks that we will pass through on our way back to Florence, AL during the day. And all I have to say is:

OK UNIVERSE - MESSAGE RECEIVED.

Joe Wheeler State Park

We’re in another beautiful state park resort, complete with lodge, restaurant, marina, cottages, campground, golf course, trails and more. The scale of these southern publicly-run recreation facilities is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the Upper Midwest.

I must admit at being unfamiliar with the park’s namesake, and found the story of Joseph Wheeler to be fascinating. Born in Georgia to parents from New England, his upbringing was split between the north and south. A diminutive young man, he barely met the minimum height requirement for admission to West Point, and earned his commission in the U.S. Army, graduating 19th out of 22 in his class.

Despite his connections to the Union, he always considered himself a Georgian, and joined the Confederate Army when the Civil War began. “Fighting Joe,” as he was nicknamed, was seemingly everywhere during the war, and he fought in almost every major engagement until he was captured and imprisoned covering the escape of Jefferson Davis when Richmond fell.

After the war, he was elected by Alabamans to the U.S. House of Representatives and served eight terms. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Wheeler volunteered for military duty at age 61, and was appointed a major general by President William McKinley. He saw combat in both Cuba and the Philippines before retiring in 1900, and is one of only two men to serve as a General in both the Confederate and United States Armies. (Bonus points if you can name the other; answer at the end of this post). 

We spent the day both indoors and out, learning more about the Loop route, and our fellow Loopers. The weather is beautiful, with highs in the low 80s and overnight lows in the upper 50s. We had drinks aboard Balclutha Too with new friends Steve, Darci, Janette and Doug before an outdoor dinner, with games and a DJ. After, we got our photo taken on the red carpet: 

Bonus question answer: Fitzhugh Lee, nephew of Robert E. Lee, was the only other officer to serve as a General in both the Confederate and U.S. Armies.

Happy Birthday Kathleen!!

Today is Kathleen’s birthday, and her rich network of family and friends came through with well wishes via phone, text and social media. It’s challenging to be away from home on special occasions, especially when you’re in a new and unfamiliar place practically every day. It was our first day of programs at the AGLCA Fall Rendevous, and being with so many others who are having a similar experience is comforting. This is a very special group of people— whether they’re planning, in progress or have completed the Loop, the boaters in this community are among the friendliest and most supportive folks I’ve ever met. We’re grateful to have plugged into this association for our journey.

Kathleen took our inflatable kayak out for a late-afternoon paddle in the harbor before we went to happy hour and tonight’s dinner event. We have a full day of route briefings  tomorrow, presented by experienced Loopers who share their first-hand, local knowledge on what lies ahead of us.