The Florida Panhandle and Crossing the Gulf

The end of the red line shows that we are in Tarpon Springs (for December 5-8)

(Printed with permission from Raven Cove Publishing Co.)

1. Crossing the Gulf

2. Sunset anchorage near Pensacola



3. Back yard and dock belonging to Carl and Greg, Panama City

4. Carl, Roy, and Charlie doing some male bonding at Carl's home dock, Panama City

5. A Thanksgiving Feast in Greg and Carl's home (center) with Roy, Elvie, Linda and Charlie

6. Downtown Apalachicola

7. Great place to eat oysters at Papa Joe's, Scipio Creek Marina, Apalachicola

8 Charlie sliding his raw oysters down at Papa Joe's

9. Linda's Christmas corner above her galley sink

This blog entry begins with today, goes back to two weeks ago and ends with today.

It is bright and sunny on this Friday afternoon of December 5, 2008. The temperature is 74 degrees; the winds are at 5-10 knots and are coming out of the northeast, and the waves are 2 ft or less. Charlie and I have the big blue sky and the vast amount of ocean water all around us. 1*

We are in the Gulf of Mexico about 13 miles off shore, about 20 miles north of Tarpon Springs, Florida where we will stay at their city marina for two or three days.

Ahead of us is another boat named ‘Golf Cart’ who we have the pleasure of traveling with for the past two days. “Golf Cart” is a 35 ft Nordhaven trawler. The owners are Bruce and Susan who will finally finish their Great Loop and arrive home in Naples in just a few days; having been on and off the loop for five years! They cruised on the loop for several months, left their boat somewhere along their way and came back home for a few months then back to the boat again to travel the next leg of their trip. Charlie and I have met several people who do this. We have also met several couples traveling on the Great Loop (we would guess 1 out of every 6) who sold everything and are living aboard their boats for an unspecified amount of time!

The color of the water today is now more of a beautiful blue green color than we have seen as we head more south; and it is more transparent here compared to the cloudy, blue grey color of the northern Florida Panhandle waters. We now need to wash down the boat more frequently due to the salt deposits forming on everything on the outside of the boat. The only excitement on the water today so far has been a few sea turtles we saw just floating in the water by our boat and the commercial crab boats tending to their hundreds of pots. We have been dodging these small red or white domed pots all day.

Two Weeks Ago: The Florida Panhandle

When we left the Tombigbee River in Alabama at Mobile Bay, we looper boats had different schedules with the holidays coming so we all split up as we left the bay. Not saying good-by, but see you later. We enjoyed the city of Fairhope where Linda got a short hair cut and we picked up our mail.

We left our marina in Fairhope on November 23 with our friends we had met in the past few days on the river - Roy and Elvie and their boat ‘Roy El.’ They had about the same game plan as us at the time. Since they had traveled the area before, we followed them for the next four days into Florida’s protective Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and the area commonly known as the Panhandle. The day after Thanksgiving, we said good-by to Roy and Elvie in Panama City. We had an absolutely wonderful time while with them. More about our wonderful Thanksgiving a bit later.

Back to entering the Florida’s Panhandle. I remember taking a nap just after we left the Mobile Bay. We had noticed the water there had been a brownish blue and the sandy shorelines a tan color. Then we were heading towards Pensacola on the ICW. I woke up and noticed the sand was white and the waters much more blue! And then we saw the sign welcoming us to Florida.* Another leg of the trip had just begun! Highlights included our first sightings of dolphins swimming in the wake of our boat and we passed a colorful and famous restaurant on the water named Lu Lu’s which is owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. We could have pulled up to their dock to eat but it just didn’t work out. We anchored out and rafted to ‘RoyEl‘ our first night near Pensacola and took in a beautiful sunset. 2*

The ICW runs inside many white sandy barrier islands and is quite attractive with numerous other islands. There are lots of woods with oaks and pines with Spanish moss draped over everything and scrubby palmetto palms. Not the tropical look you’ll typically see further south but unspoiled of commercialism and distinctly pretty in its own way. The land here looks sparsely populated from our boat view. We frequently saw the diving pelicans feeding on fish and enjoyed several sightings of dolphins.

We spent the next night with Roy El at the free city dock in Ft. Walton Beach. Ate a great seafood lunch here and retired early after walking around and had supper on the boat. It rained hard that night. There was once a Colonel Walton who commanded the Confederates who lived here in the 1860’s and they named the town after him. The word ‘Fort’ was added in the late 1800’s and the word ‘Beach’ was added just 20 years ago as a tourist attraction. My main memory here will have to be me walking under a palm tree and felt something wet on my face and neck. A bird had done his business on me!

It was now two days before Thanksgiving. Roy and Elvie had been invited to their boater friend’s home (Carl and Greg) for the holiday in Panama City and were heading there next. Their friends have a private dock right on a bayou there. Guess who got to stay also and enjoy three lovely nights of being guests for a cocktail party, free dockage and a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings? 3,4,5*** We felt so wanted and comfortable and will never forget the hospitality of those lovely folks. We were delighted to get a call from our daughters and son-in-law and we spoke to my mother. All of them had a place to go for their turkey dinner and we felt like all was right in the world. We said good-by to everyone on Friday to keep going on our own. The next stop was Apalachicola.

One week ago: Apalachicola

According to the town’s tourist pamphlet, Apalachicola is known as a favorite stop by many as a small town of old Florida; a town with all the charm of a laid back fishing village and beautiful homes from the past. Entering the harbor there at near dusk, we felt a warm glow coming on as we observed a small village on the water with a gentle dose of Christmas lights. We could barely make out the gathering of people who seemed to be around a big tree with lights on it also. It was definitely a feeling of Christmas for us; not being around any seasonal displays or shopping malls. The next day we visited the village in daylight. 6*

In the early 1800’s Apalachicola was a major cotton exporting port, a lumber port at the turn-of-the-century with the cypress tree logging, a sponge industry and now seafood is the main business of the town specializing in oysters for those seeking one of the best places in the world to eat them. We did our part eating plenty of them, much to Charlie’s absolute delight. 7,8**

The Apalachicola River and Bay basin is part of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System which covers approximately 21,794 square miles in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. Within Florida, the watershed extends about 2,400 miles, containing the state’s largest forested flood plain, with more reptilian and amphibian species than in any other area north of Mexico. (This information was taken from a poster of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection displayed in the marina’s store)

There is an adventure to share from Apalachicola!

From Charlie: We had made arrangements with the harbormaster at the new city docks to spend the night. The price and location were right. After calling the city dock master we decided to tie up at the city docks ($25) at the pier; he assured us our 4 foot draft would be no problem out on the pier. We got in, tied up, electric, and noticed 4 foot depth and it was high tide! We would be on bottom at low tide! After scouting around I found another city dock on the outside (14' depth) near the bridge without electric. We spent the night there and moved to Scipio Creek Marina the next morning. It seems to be quite nice (restaurant and ships store) but about 1/2 mile from downtown; we'll live with that. Not as nice or hospitable as the Thanksgiving resort, but acceptable! We'll stay here a few days and move over to Carrabelle for crossing around Wednesday, if the weather clears as forecasted.

That night, after we got our docking problem cured, we met a single handing commercial fisherman from Panama City (Dan). He is a tug captain by trade, but fishes in his off time. He had just come in with a load of grouper and kept a few black/white snapper. He cleaned the snapper and had a local restaurant do the cooking for all of us. It was delicious. Another gentleman, Al King, had also befriended Dan, so the 4 of us ate together for about 2 hours. Quite a conversation, politics and all. When we got back to the boats, Dan took off for Panama City at about 10:30 PM. He phoned us the next morning to see if we got in to Scipio Creek and to let us know he made it to Panama City and got his grouper turned in. Quite an evening! By Charlie.

Three Days Ago: The Gulf Crossing

By the time we finished the Panhandle and the ICW we had traveled nine days, close to 250 miles east and a bit south to a town called Carrabelle. There we entered what is known as Florida’s big bend: the curved part of the state that goes south. This is the time when everyone plans their trip to cross the Gulf. “The Crossing” is one of the most talked about and planned parts of the entire trip. Your imagination can make this a fearful thing if you let it. The smart thing is to study the weather very carefully with other boaters and go for it based on the best information you can get.

It was December 2 and we were preparing to do our ‘crossing’ over the next day with four other buddy boats from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee.

Everyone traveling via boat in this part of the Gulf has to make their “crossing” one of two ways. Either you do the “elbow” which means taking several days visiting the sleepy little towns along the way, hugging the shoreline about 20-40 miles out where the minimum depth is about 1 ft for every mile OR make crossing the Gulf a direct, 24 hour cruise during all day and all night to go from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs, about 181 miles. Either way, you try to travel with at least one “buddy boat.”

Freedom’s Turn made her “big bend” journey successfully on Wednesday, December 3 from 7 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. with the boats “Highlander, Golden Lilly, Baby Grand and Golf Cart. Approximately 235 miles. Longer distance but all in daylight.


The day was predicted to be not perfect but one of the best two days in the week to go. The 2-4 ft waves with a 10 knot wind out of the southwest did not appear to be a big problem. So we went for it.

But the waves increased to 3-4’s with a 5 footer every so often and the winds increased to 15-20 knots from 10-15 hitting us directly on the bow. The length of the trip ( 6 hours of the bigger waves) was really the endurance test. We made it safely but not without some major stowing away of many items that would have been flying all over if left in their normal places. Charlie and I stayed put at the upper helm and kept looking out at the horizon, not wanting to read or write and only ate bananas and pbj sandwiches and lots of crystallized ginger candy to settle the stomach. We kept alert by talking to the other boats frequently on the radio. Whenever Charlie or I would go down below, we took our CB radios in case we needed to check in with each other. We drank very little because it was an ordeal to get to the cabin and to the head! But we made our crossing! I guess this was another one of those highlights of the trip that we had signed up for!

Yesterday, Freedom’s Turn and Golf Cart finished our day at Crystal River where we stayed at Twin Rivers Marina. We pulled in just before dark with about 90 miles under our belt coming from Steinhatchee. After a quick cocktail with Golf Cart, we cooked us some dinner and went to bed; but first managing to stay awake watching C S I.
We decided to leave again today and head for a reserved slip at the Tarpon Springs Marina, about 70 miles further south. We had read and heard about the manatees at Crystal River but only saw one (Charlie did see one stick its nose up out of the water to get air and then submerge) as we entered and left the channel.

We haven been traveling south in the Gulf of Mexico for the past three days along the western coast of Florida and are heading to St. Pete Beach in a week. That is where our good friends Demetri and Val live and have found us a slip in their marina for Freedom’s Turn to stay a few weeks while we take our trip back to Okemos for the holidays. It has been over a year since we last visited with Demetri and Val at our home port of Duncan Bay in Cheboygan, MI. Charlie and I look forward to seeing them and sure do appreciate them for finding us the slip!

From Charlie: This blog needs an ending so we will end it with today arriving in Tarpon Springs. First one more story about today. Let’s go back to the part at the beginning of this blog entry about the bright sunny day with no commotion except the crabbing boats and all the crab pots bobbing in our path. Weaving in and out of crab pots is not a fun way to navigate. Basically a crab pot is a mesh box on the bottom of the ocean (typically in 10-20 foot depth) connected to a small float (6-8 inches diameter) on the surface by a ¼ inch line. If there is a lot of slack in the line, it tends to float near the surface, and can extend quite a ways from the float. Needless to say we snagged one shortly after our traveling companions also caught one on their propeller. This necessitated me going under the boat to get the crab pot line off the prop. Only about 15 minutes, but quite an ordeal in the 60 degree water!

We’ll sign off now for the upcoming holidays. Charlie and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2009. 9*

We'll get to blogging again in January.

Love to all,
Linda and Charlie

Approaching Mobile Bay - The End of the Rivers

Oldsmobile curved dash from 1890's

A long underwear day in southern Alabama!

Map of the Tenn-Tom and Tombigbee Rivers

Locking with a barge in the Coffeeville Lock, Southern Alabama


Elevation changes of the Tenn-Tom and Tombigbee in the locks to the Gulf
(For all of these photos, double click on them to make them bigger, then to get back, click on the 'back' arrow upper left of screen)


Eagle spotted in the bayou of Aberdeen, Mississippi




Waverly Mansion, Columbus, Mississippi



Birthplace of Elvis, Tupelo, Mississippi








1983 Camarovett, the only one every made, Tupelo Automobile Museum



1934 Ford hot rod



Approaching Mobile Bay, Alabama!




Cruise Ships everywhere, loading up



A big boat being serviced (see cars in right corner for scale)

Today is Saturday, November 22 and Charlie and I are at the Eastern Shore Marina in Mobile bay, AL in the city of Fairhope. We have made it to the Gulf of Mexico! We will leave tomorrow after a three day stay here and head southeast to the panhandle of Florida! Freedom’s Turn is getting her first taste of salt water!

A few days ago, we anchored in a small inlet off the Tombigbee River 100 miles north of Mobile with three other boats and experienced our first tidal change. One of the boats we are traveling with is from Traverse City, Michigan and named ‘Kismet’ (Jim and Lisa) which means ‘so be it’. The other two are named ‘Our Turn’ from Texas and ‘Roy El’ from North Carolina. Coming into our little inlet off the river, we had a minimal depth of 6.5 feet in the center of the channel, just enough to get through. The draft of our boat is 3ft. 9 in. but loaded down like we are, we think, are more like 4ft. Draft means the lowest part of the boat under the water. Jim pointed out that the water level on shore told him that it was low tide for the day in that area. This is all new to us! Good thing we came in on low tide! The next morning going out, the depth in our channel was 8.5 ft.

The weather has been the biggest surprise lately, getting down to 28 degrees a few of the nights. We experienced our coldest night on the trip last night, with the temperature dipping down to 25 degrees F. This morning it was 49 F in our state room and 46 F degrees in the salon. We were happy to make it through the night with what we had; enough layers to keep us warm enough to sleep. We have a portable propane heater but do not like to have it on while we sleep. We run the boat’s generator off and on a bit before we go to bed and a bit in the morning; not all night. This lets run the boat’s heat pump. From an economical point, running the generator means using about ½ gallon per hour of fuel.

The water temperature was about 55-60 F degrees which keeps the hull of the boat from freezing. The water lines inside the boat have been OK so far.

So as we peeked out our portholes this morning, at our flat, sandy shoreline, covered with still greenish cypress trees and saw that everything had a crystalline surface. The air was still and the cloudless sky was a bright blue. There was a low lying fog on the water. It was surreal like. The only thing moving was a long necked white crane flying by us. We turned our generator on to warm up and make coffee. Before we could pull anchor and untie from Kismet, we had to put our portable propane heater up in the upper helm to thaw the area out. It was the first time we had frost on our strata glass windows!

When we left to go out on the main river, the fog became apparent and the scene looked almost unreal with the coldness. We took a picture of Kismet ahead of us. Photo is at the top*

We both really love anchoring. (I confess I am proud I can handle this weather on the boat because it is awfully cold to get up in the night!) My Captain appreciates me going along with it all and knows that I will be really happy when we get to a marina in two days and can have heat continuously! He also knows I’ll be looking forward to some shopping wherever I can find some! (Boater women invented the phrase “retail therapy!”)

We see on the internet that everyone up north is experiencing a lot colder weather than we are. We appreciate our weather here for the most part and hope we do not come off as complaining (55-65 F daytime)!

We left the Tennessee River to go further south on the Tenn-Tom Waterway November 8. About 450 miles later we ended up in Mobile Bay. The 10 day journey took us in remote areas and offered a few marinas and fuel stops. We mostly anchored out. The facilities are minimal everywhere we stopped. We have had a few days with no cell phone or internet coverage and that is why we travel with at least one other boat!

The barge traffic is heavy at times and makes up for the lack of commotion otherwise. From our vantage point, seeing our country’s southern bayou is amazing. This part of the country looks much more flat than we have previously seen on the river. The banks are somewhat wild and rugged; a Jurassic Park look with heavy, jungle vegetation, vines and strange animal sounds! (Or maybe I have imagined them to add to the intrigue!)

When will I see an alligator? I ask anyone who will listen. Too cold, I have been told by the locals. If it warms up to the seventies, they say I might see ‘em! I keep my eyes glued to the shoreline, especially when we anchor in a small bay or inlet. One night, out at anchor with those same three boats I mentioned before, there was a boat landing with a garbage container. Charlie volunteered to do a dinghy run to the other boats to pick up their garbage and take it all to shore. It got dark before he came back, and even though I knew he would be ok, I kept on the lookout with my flashlight for an alligator head to pop up! Anecdotelly, after Charlie made the garbage run, one of the boats, with 3 retired FBI agents, called him G-man and Charlie thought this meant Government man. Later at ‘happy hour’ they explained it meant ‘garbage man’!

The river turns and twists every mile it seems. One day we were in Alabama, the next few days in Mississippi, then back into Alabama again! (Navigating around several bends each hour with the big barges coming at you makes one stay on alert) As for the twists and turns, yesterday we took on a river bend shaped like a U that was three miles long before it was over. The distance on land between the U was only 1000 yards! (Quote taken from “The Tenn-Tom Nitty Gritty Cruising Guide” by Fred Meyers.)

To add to the local flavor, it was fun to read the charts and find interesting names of places along the river in Alabama such as Choctaw County (wasn't there a song about Choctaw Ridge and the Tallahassee Bridge?) Other names I remember were Liberty Landing, Wildcat Landing, Mitchell's Woodyard, Bobbie's Fish Camp, Christmas Landing, Lover's Leap, and Promised Land Landing. I bet there is a story behind everyone of those names.

I recently read in one of this area's local magazines called "Life on the Water," Fall 2008 issue, about the deep south's orgins of state names by the Native Americans that lived here years ago. For example, "Alabama" is a Muskogean Indian word meaning "campsite" or "clearing." "Mississippi" was named for the Mississippi River from the Chippewa Tribe meaning "large river." "Tennessee" was named for a Cherokee community in the region, 'Tanasie." And "Kentucky" comes from the Iroquois Nation word for meadow lands.

The information I have written below is from an article “Going South” and the book “Honey Let’s Buy a Boat,” both by Ron and Eva Stob.

The Tenn-Tom (combination of Tennessee and Tombigbee) Waterway is man made and begins in the northeast corner of Mississippi for 234 miles and travels to Demopolis in western Alabama, where it joins with the natural river named the Tombigbee River. We have included a map for you above. The dotted part is the Tenn-Tom Waterway.*

From there, it covers 217 more miles emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. There are a series of 12 locks total that all boats have to go through; keeping the water levels fairly consistent. At our last lock before Mobile, we were granted permission to lock through with a barge which doe not happen very often rom what we have heard.* Sometimes a pleasure boat has to wait 1-2 hours before it can go in. We were lucky! There is a 341 ft. drop in elevation from the beginning of the Tenn-Tom to Mobile Bay. *

The Tenn-Tom is actually a man made project; the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers cut out a channel 300 feet wide and a minimal depth of 9 feet. Nothing else man made except the Great Wall of China can be seen from a satellite.

The idea of creating a way to connect the rivers in the Midwest with the Gulf of Mexico, and eliminating the extra 800 miles from going down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, dates back to 1874 when the U.S. government granted $1.7 million to create the new route. But it wasn’t until 1946 when Congress got around to authorizing it. (They usually take a long time but this was long) Construction did not begin until 1972. It was finally completed at a cost of $2 billion. It remains the largest project ever undertaken by the U.S Army Corp of Engineers. More land was moved for this project that for the Panama Canal.

In the past week, we have visited marinas with towns rich in southern history and hospitality. We stayed in Aberdeen, Mississippi where we entered the marina by going through a long and narrow moss filled channel with tree stumps close to us on either side. We got a good look at a beautiful bald headed eagle going in.* That was only the beginning of the adventure. Before we left the next day, we had eaten the best fried chicken ever (cooked right at the marina by the harbormaster’s father in law), got filled up with fuel (the best price of the trip by far, $2.69), shared moonshine with a local man, and had breakfast cooked by the same man as the night before. Mouth watering homemade biscuits, gravy, grits, eggs, country ham, and cinnamon rolls better than our favorite Cinnabon ones back home. It appeared that many locals come here to pick up food; we saw some taking out the bar-b-que. The truckers come here too because they have another set of fuel pumps on their street side plus eating the food. Always a good indication to eat at a place like that!

We toured the lovely Waverly mansion and cotton plantation grounds given by the current owner, (who lives there with her father) while we stayed at a marina in Columbus, Mississippi. It was built in the mid 1800’s by a Confederate war general and was completely self sufficient to sustain 1,000 people that worked and lived there.* The house appeared to be in great condition, being made of cypress wood we were told. Every room was furnished with the most beautiful antiques I had ever seen in one home, a fine example of old southern elegance. In the parlor, there was a niche carved out on one wall where the original owners displayed their deceased relatives as well as making it an altar for the family weddings.

Rock and Roll was born in the towns in this area. In Tupelo, Mississippi, Charlie and I, along with good friends from the boats Bella Luna (Louis and Diane), C-Life(Robert and Kay), and Wandering L & M (Larry and Margie) toured the small birthplace of Elvis Presley. * The house was built by his father Vernon Presley in 1934, who borrowed $108 to purchase the materials to build it. Elvis was born in 1935 and when he was 13, he and his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. While still in Tupelo, Elvis began singing as a boy in his church choir. On his 11th birthday, his mother took him to the local hardware store so he could pick out his gift. He wanted a bike but his mother said he could get hurt. And then his mother told him no on the rifle because it was too dangerous (sounds like some friends we have!). The store owner suggested a guitar and Elvis said yes because there was nothing else he wanted in that store!

We toured the Tupelo Automobile where there are over 100 cars from the 1800’s to the 1990’s on display.* Linda liked the hot rods and Charlie wanted a curved dash Oldsmobile from the 1890’s. *

This area of the country has many bird sanctuaries where many species migrate from the north every winter. For the local birds, we saw many blue herons and white cranes on the rivers and now see many kinds of pelicans and sea gulls flying around our boat here in the Gulf.

Entering Mobile Bay was a milestone for us after hundreds and hundreds of miles of river traveling.* Everything is on such a large scale here it seems. We saw cruise ships getting ready to go on their trip.* The service areas for the big ships are huge.*

Since arriving here, we have taken the marina’s courtesy car into the city of Fairhope and shopped, have done laundry and gone out to dinner with boater friends. The fresh seafood is fabulous!

It is Saturday morning and we need to get chores done and get ready for another important thing we do on the boat. Make popcorn and settle in for the MSU-PSU game on ABC.

Oh, I will certainly let you know when I see an alligator.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

We say a special thank you to Carrie’s in-laws Dennis and Teri for having Carrie and Jody and even our Christa over for their Thanksgiving dinner up in Farwell Michigan with the rest of their family.

Linda and Charlie

Trip Statistics and Life While Cruising

Trip Statistics

Today is November 16 and we are currently at a marina in Demopolis, Alabama,

on the Tenn-Tom Waterway

Trip statistics: August 8, 2008 from Cheboygan, Michigan to
November 9, 2008 at Pickwick Lake on the Tenn-Tom Waterway,
Northeastern Mississippi

Total days: 93

Total nights:

In a marina: 68

At anchor: 16

Nights tied up to a free dock or wall: 5

Other nights: 2@ home and 2@ hotel

Total miles traveled: 1,819

Total fuel purchased: 423 gallons diesel

Price of fuel: Lowest $2.69/gal. at Aberdeen, MS Highest $4.50 at Grafton, IL

Laundry costs: $93

Linda’s favorite meal to date:
Cajun shrimp and cheese grits, Harvey’s Restaurant, Tupelo, Mississippi

Charlie’s favorite meal to date:
Fried Chicken at Aberdeen Marina, Aberdeen, Mississippi

Weight gain: Don’t have a clue and don’t want to know

Number of happy hours: At least 80

Weather: Past six weeks - mostly sunny days in mid 60's; nights in the 40's or 50’s. This week’s forecast for eastern Mississippi and western Alabama: nights in lower 30’s and days high of 50.

Biggest surprise: Cold weather this far south

Finding a way to watch MSU football on a boat or at a bar/restaurant: priceless!
(Go MSU –beat Penn. State November 22)

Life on the Water

When we wrote the first two postings on this blog last summer, we explained to all of you the events that lead up to how our Great Loop trip became a reality for us. Leaving Cheboygan, Michigan on August 8, and taking a year long boat trip seeing the eastern United States by water was way too big of an event for us to imagine. To leave our home and not see family and friends for an extended time was difficult to accept. Our children were very supportive. My mother made me feel the best, though, when she said to just go and enjoy it. ‘If not now, then when?” were some of her words and she also states that the best days of her and Dad’s married life was during retirement when they traveled. (after we four kids finally left the house)

Now we know that it is good to just take one day at a time and the trip doesn’t seem too overwhelming. Charlie and I are now approaching our 100th day on the water and cannot believe how fast the time has gone. We wake up every day excited to go to another new place; always feeling so fortunate to be living our dream. And we can’t thank you all enough for reading our blog. Keeping the blog going is a challenge at times but it certainly makes us feel a little closer to you by getting the information out there.

We knew about the waters of upper Lake Huron before we left and got acquainted with the many faces of Lake Michigan as we headed south on it to Chicago. Now, we are about to leave the Midwest river system for the salt water on the Gulf; getting there in about a week. We thought perhaps before the ocean, it might be fun to give our readers a look at what it is like for us - living on the water.

We have learned how to navigate rivers, go through locks, and talk to tow boat operators.
Deciding on our timetable and checking the weather, either on TV or internet or marine radio, we know how to factor in how far we want to go each day, the most economical fuel usage vs. speed of our boat and how much time it will take to get to our destination. We understand better the several kinds of chart books and we know a bit more about following weather patterns. We have learned to handle our boat in many different docking configurations and we know how long we can be out on the water with the sun and wind and how long it will take to get to our daily destination without being too tired to be of any good when we stop for the night. (Speed x time = distance.) On the rivers, we factor in possible holdups at the locks and the speed of the currents on how long it might take.

When we are underway, we most generally sitting at the upper station (helm) under a protective canvas enclosure called a bimini. It is comfortable and dry and we can see far down the water. In inclement weather, we can choose to steer the boat inside at the lower helm as well.

Both stations have a duplicate set of instruments where we set our course for the day by putting specific computer software chips into a computer called a chart plotter. We have computer chips for all the waterways for the entire trip. We set up our course each day on the computer and constantly read the screen. The chart plotter shows us many things and has a GPS (Global Positioning System) so we constantly know exactly where we are. An auto pilot steers the boat and keeps us on our course until we make a change. There are many gages that tell us such things as water depth, fuel usages, engine hours, etc.
Besides the electronic charts, we also read our paper charts to follow up with more details. On the river systems our books look entirely different; showing us every mile as we go along. At both stations we have a marine radio that is on all the time, broadcasting information to us from other people on the water. We talk to marinas either by cell phone or as we get closer, by radio, to make a reservations.

For marina nights, we check out our preferred port of call ahead in our books to see what is offered and what we need to do while we are there, like getting fuel, pump out, buying groceries, doing laundry, or site seeing. (Sorry to say our extent of shopping has been very limited; mostly to Walmart with a courtesy van from our marinas.) Being in more populated areas could mean we may have a better chance to communicate on our cell phones and get the internet. Marinas like reservations over the phone; luckily we do not need to call ahead very far in advance, (unless we happen to be traveling with several boats) and then when we arrive, Charlie talks to them on the marine radio; listening to the harbormasters’ instructions how to come in and where to tie up.

When we get to our marina, we get out our electrical lines and plug them to our outlets on the boat and into the outlet on our dock, giving us 110 volt electricity. Our electrical panel in the main cabin has two columns at 30 amps each for 110 volt direct current. Once all set up with shore power, we can turn on either heat or air conditioning, hot water heater, TV, coffee maker, lights, microwave, stove, etc.

There is one column on the panel that always runs off of the 12 volt battery. Some things always use power to run from the 12 volt battery, such as the toilet (the head), the fresh water pump, the stereo, and some of the cabin lights. While anchoring or cruising, we can turn the 8000 watt generator on and get the 110 watt power. The generator makes some noise and we generally only run it if we need to such as briefly for heat or to cook with. We actually prefer anchoring many times to docking and look forward to “roughing it” off the beaten path. The refrigerator runs off of either the 110 volt or the 12 volt.

Freedom’s Turn has a 350 hp caterpillar single engine with two main or house batteries. These two batteries and the generator battery all get continuously charged while the engine is running.

We have one holding tank with our toilet (the head) that holds 40 gallons of waste. We can go about one week on a pump out while anchoring and longer if we use marina restrooms. Pump out stations are found at mostly all marinas.

For our water usage for drinking, cooking or showers, we have two 70 gallon water tanks on board. If we do not want to take water out of our water tanks, we can hook up our drinking water hose directly from the dock to our water inlet.

Freedom’s Turn has a capacity of holding 300 gallons of diesel fuel. We try to keep at least 100 gallons at all times. We generally get about 3-4 miles per gallon.

Our boat’s dimensions are 39 ft in overall length and 14.5 ft on the beam. (the largest width on the side) Besides the main cabin where the kitchen area is (the galley) and the sofa, TV area are (the salon), we have a master stateroom, a guest stateroom and the head. And that is it. Besides the outside upper helm area, we live in an area on the inside of about the size of a room measuring 10 by 20!

We communicate with our world back home and to others by the internet and our cell phones. If there are towers nearby, the cell phones actually work better on water then on land. But coverage can be sparse in low population areas. The air card which plugs into our laptop computer works about the same; coverage is dependent on the area. Some marinas have free wi-fi but generally we just use our card. When we have signal, there is a scramble to send emails, publish the blog, and pay bills on line. Sometimes it is a week before we can do all of those things!

By now, we are both accustomed to our roles and do our jobs smoothly. On any morning as we begin to go, I am mostly down below in the main cabin, securing the lockers and drawers, and making sure everything is put away that is necessary for safe cruising. I feel like a stewardess getting the plane ready to take off, securing everything on the boat I can for safe cruising. I only wish I could tell someone about the fun adventure that is in store for them!

Everywhere we go we meet so many people that share with us the excitement of seeing our great country. Sometimes families come down to the docks with their children and point out our boat and explain to them what we are doing. People are always kind and helpful. We collect boat cards from all the boaters we meet so we can keep track of them.

Life on the water so far, has been very agreeable, with us, for the most part. We feel healthier and more grounded and centered then we ever had. We have to work hard at making it good. We respect each other’s differences and for the most part do whatever we can to make it better for the other person. I guess we can say that the mutual respect goes a long way to having so much in common. It actually makes things quite simple.

The new places we prepare for and think of each day as we wake up make our life on the water almost bigger than life itself. Now if all of you could just come to us for mini vacations so we would not miss you so much, we would have it made.

A special hello to the folks at the Meridian Senior Center back home. I heard some of you read our blog and that’s just great.

Take care until next time. Some advice from us to anyone out there might be: live more simply, more deliberately, and you will find out more about yourself. It has been a liberating experience for us.

Linda and Charlie

Cruising the Tennessee River Part 2

Butterfly on Linda's bike

Charlie on his bike at the Joe Wheeler Rendezvous, Alabama
Huntsville Space and Rocket Museum



Scarecrows at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens



Game day brownies- Victory over U of M


Happy Hour


Not so happy hour next morning

Anchoring all alone in a gorgeous cove

Following a friend going back down the river -Lookout Mountain in distance

Charlie on top of Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, one mile above river

Pamphlet photo of the Tennessee Aquarium at the downtown Chattanooga riverfront

Rowing Regatta, Chattanooga

The photos above are mentioned within the blog text wherever you see an *.

Today is Friday, November 7 and we are back at Joe Wheeler State Park Marina in northwest Alabama after leaving our Looper rendezvous here on October 25.* We arrived back November 3 after cruising up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga, TN. It was 250 miles up and then 250 back down the river to get here again. We had a delightful three days of sightseeing in Chattanooga and seven beautiful cruising days; a side trip that was technically out of our way for heading south. But we had read all about this cruise as a “must see” part of the trip. Other than a rather expensive boat repair we encountered in the first few days, (more from Charlie on that) we are very glad we took the time to go with our friends on this beautiful and historical side trip.

If we would have had more time, we would have gone all the way up the river to Knoxville which is the beginning of the river, another 400 mile round trip. Since we lost about 10 days during the flood in Grafton, Illinois at the end of September, we need to keep on somewhat of a schedule so we will leave here tomorrow. Our next leg will take us to Mobile, Alabama and to the Gulf of Mexico. This next part should take 10 days to two weeks. Our goal now is to average enough miles each day (around 50) to get to somewhere around Ft. Meyers, Florida by mid December. We want to come home for Christmas for a visit with family and friends. Our primary goal, like all the other Loopers, is to always follow the good weather. Getting to the Gulf coast around Dec 1 means that the hurricane season is officially over (although there is a tropical storm in the Gulf as we write this!). We will winter in Florida; with a one month reservation at the Marina Del Mar in Key Largo from January 15 to February 15 and then and take a month side trip to the Bahamas. Then we hope to head north on the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway around mid March.

I would like to include a note about Charlie’s sightseeing trip to Huntsville he took with other boaters the day before we left Joe Wheeler State Park on October 25. (I was feeling a little under the weather that day and did not join him) He toured the Space and Rocket Center, the Huntsville Botanical Gardens and the historic center of Huntsville.

The Space and Rocket Center is the focal point for tourists and students to visit as part of the Redstone Arsenal. The arsenal was first started after World War II as an area for the US missile program and later the space program was added. It was from here that German scientists were voluntarily (trying to avoid Soviet interests) brought to help the US missile program catch up to the level where the Germans were at, near the end of the war. The rocket and lunar landing programs were also housed at the Redstone Arsenal. A full scale replica of the space shuttle is also found here.*

The weather cleared enough in the afternoon for them to go to the Huntsville Botanical Garden; which is known as an oasis of peace, beauty and tranquility. At the time of Charlie’s visit, the center was featuring a scarecrow trail throughout the gardens.* He also enjoyed the Butterfly house there. It is the nation’s largest open air butterfly house.

On our way up the river, we stopped for one night at a marina in Decatur, AL. where we saw a grave marker and plaque at the edge of the parking lot. It represented the many Native Americans who were forced to leave their land in this area long ago during what is known historically as “The Trail of Tears.” It was here where we discovered their only restaurant –bar could get the MSU-Michigan football game! Watching MSU bring home a victory was a highlight of our week!*

The next night we tied up along side a free city dock in Gunthersville, AL with our group of six boats and enjoyed happy hour.* The next morning was not so happy. We hit something under the water at the dock with our propeller and had to leave the group. The boat propulsion system was vibrating heavily at near normal cruising speed, an indicator that the propeller was damaged. We were told by others that it would take 3-4 days to pull the boat out of the water, remove the prop have it fixed and get the boat back in the water. When Alred Marina, where the work was done, found out that we were a Looper and were trying to stay up with our traveling friends, they put in place a 24 hour repair job! * This involved Linda and I driving (1.75 hrs.) the prop to Chattanooga, TN (actually a small town near there called Soddy Daisy, love that name!), spending the night while the prop (fyi, 4 blade, 26 inch diameter with 1.75 inch diameter shaft and 65 pounds) was straightened and then returned to the boat. We caught up to our friends a day later. We had unbelievable help, hospitality and friendliness during this time. We also bought a spare prop to have on board in case this should happen again! Our boating friends said they have all been through this before at one time or another.

Back on the river and now traveling solo, we anchored in a beautiful, isolated cove and enjoyed an extended quiet time enjoying the view.*

Soon we began to see the famous Tennessee River Gorge about 20 miles before Chattanooga. Visitors flock here from all over the world (especially in the fall) to see the panoramic views of tree covered mountains and steep cliffs unspoiled with homes or industry. This river gorge, also known as the Grand Canyon of Tennessee, features ‘Lookout Mountain,’ the tallest peak in the gorge; coming up out of the water close to 2,000 feet.* As tall as the hills are, the river runs deep, following an ancient earthquake fault, reaching depths of 176 feet. Our depth usually averaged 50-70 feet which is still amazingly deep for a river.

I distinctly remember the day passing through this gorge area. It was a crisp, sunny day of 56 degrees. Bundled in four layers on top, I sat comfortably outside on the bow of the boat directly in the sun and took in everything all at once. I took photos while Charlie, at the upper helm, steered us around bend after bend. Being down at the lowest elevation when traveling in a boat, the views can be much more magnificent at times. Looking up and far, we took in the grand peak colors of autumn, spread out like a colorful blanket on the mountains as far as the eye could see. The sparkling waters flowed gently taking their time, with only boats seeming to change their surface. The abundance of the fresh, natural smell in the air, gave us the feeling that all of our senses had just filled to the brim! I remember thinking at the time that Henry David Thoreau would have approved of this experience.

Later that day on October 30, we arrived at one of the riverfront marinas in downtown
Chattanooga, where we joined our friends and settled in for a delightful three day visit.
After tying up, we walked up the riverbank from our slip and toured the Hunter Museum of American Art which is perched on an 80 ft bluff overlooking the river. The relatively new museum is mostly contemporary but has the distinction of being built around a Civil War mansion where they house their art from 1700-1850 in the mansion.

Twenty years of progressive thinking and $129 million dollars invested , the revamping of the downtown and it’s river front, and a solid partnership of city government and private investment, has made a thriving tourism in Chattanooga, known as the showcase of the Tennessee River. Today Chattanooga, according to the September 2008 issue of National Geographic’s Adventure magazine, is known as one of “America’s top 50 New Great Towns for living and playing.” This area is also unique because of the temperate climate creating a wonderful environment for the diverse 900 animal species; second only to mid China in the entire world.

On our first full day we took a one mile trip up Lookout Mountain on the Incline Railway; America’s steepest passenger railway. At the top we toured Point Park which is a National Park honoring the Civil War battle site “Battle Above the Clouds.*” Here on the top of Lookout Mountain, Union and Confederate armies totaling 150,000 clashed during the fall of 1863. The prize was Chattanooga, key rail center and gateway to the heart of the Confederate. This was a Union victory, a turning point for General Grant and an opening for General Sherman when later he used Chattanooga as his base for his march to Atlanta.. (Taken from a sightseeing pamphlet.)

Charlie visited the nationally acclaimed Tennessee aquarium on Friday afternoon also right on the riverfront. It features two buildings: one named “River Journey and other “Ocean Journey.”* That same evening, during "happy hour" with the other loopers, a yellow and black butterfly landed on Linda's bicycle* on Freedom's Turn. One of the other boaters pointed it out to Linda and she immediately circled in to get the perfect picture. After several different angles of pictures, she realized that the butterfly was a fake! This is quite a group, you have to watch your back all the time! They will also do anything for us!

Before we left Chattanooga on November 1, from our marina slip we watched the beginning of the 2008 “Head of the Hooch” Rowing Regatta! The kind of boats used here are known basically as sculling boats and the activity is basically known as “crewing.” Only second in size to another rowing regatta in Boston, this event draws rowing clubs from all over the United States; both from universities and private clubs. The theme was “Row for the Cure” and all monies collected from clubs and spectators go for the Susan B. Koman Foundation. When we left on Saturday, the race had started but all six boats in our group got out fine. It was quite a site to see, especially from our boat. *

We wished we could have done so much more but we needed to leave. Next time, maybe we’ll come by car. One place we want to come back to is the famous Terminal Station, home of the museum of the “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

Thank you for reading this long blog. I can only imagine how much time you all need to take to read it. We try to be brief but we have so much to tell.

We’ll see you on down the river. The song “Take Me to the River” is playing in our heads. It is time to go.

Linda and Charlie

Cruising Up the Tennessee River- Part 1

Linda at the helm

A typical view of limestone cliffs, Tennessee

Getting ready to go up 93 feet in Wilson Lock, Alabama

Little Crooked Creek River inlet, Tennessee



Confederate battleground victory site, New Johnsonville, Tennessee

Cherry Hill Mansion view from our boat, Savannah, Tennessee



Back entrance of Cherry Hill traveling by car, Savannah, Tennessee

Union cemetery site at Shiloh, Savannah, Tennessee

We apologize for our delay in posting this blog. We are presently just outside of Chattanooga, TN (on a 400 mile side trip!) at anchor and will be there by noon tomorrow, Thursday, October 29th. We have been on the go every day and have had limited computer access as well. Then we finally got our entry finished, only to lose it before we saved it properly. Here we go again!

Leaving Green Turtle Bay Marina in Kentucky on October 5, Charlie and I cruised south on Kentucky Lake until it became the Tennessee River again. We traveled in a downpour that day where the rain was so heavy it looked like a blanket of fog and we used our navigation lights in the daylight for the first time. Three foot waves, which are not very common in this area, were easily handled by Freedom’s Turn! We all stayed two nights at a small, friendly marina named Pebble Isle, located in New Johnsonville, Tennessee. We’ll remember this marina because we were treated well and the morning we were leaving they gave us all (eight boats) free, freshly baked hot cinnamon rolls (from scratch no less) at their friendly harbormaster- restaurant-gift store building.

While there, we also enjoyed a lovely, two mile Autumn walk from the marina to the historically significant Johnsonville State Historic Park; our first Civil War site to visit on this trip. Here, on the banks of the Tennessee River, on November 3, 1863, a Confederate Calvary attacked and defeated a Federal Naval force; the only time ever recorded in all of US war history that a Calvary defeated a naval force. We walked through these woods close to the river and observed several marked spots where soldiers had fought and died. We were somber and felt humbled during this walk. We stumbled on a few family cemeteries as well; one was named the Crockett Cemetery. We wondered if these folks were any relation to Davy Crockett! When we read our river charts for this area earlier in the day, we had noticed that along these river banks there were several old family cemeteries.

I would like to point out that during this time we are going up the Tennessee River, we are geographically going south on a road map. That is because the Tennessee River begins in Knoxville, Tennessee and flows southwest and then north as it curls up towards the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky and empties into the end of the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. When one goes up river, one is returning to the beginning and when going down river, one is going toward the end of the river. When going up river, the red buoys will be on the right in most cases; as in the navigation rule “red right return.” That should explain why, in the photo of me piloting, (Which Charlie secretly took of me while I was giving him a break) that as we go up river, we have our red beanie baby on our right to help us remember!

Heading further up the Tennessee towards another anchorage, we were intrigued to see a stately old house on top of a river bank in Savannah, Tennessee. The house was Cherry Hill Mansion, built in 1830 by landowner and planter David Robinson. The house was a wedding gift to his daughter Sarah and her new husband W.H. Cherry. We first saw the home by boat, and then later, by courtesy car loaned from our marina, Grand Harbor, near Savannah, TN, we had the opportunity to go to it by land. We were interested to learn from our pamphlet that the walls are 18 inches thick and were built by slave labor with bricks made on the riverbank there. The historical significance is that this home was the southern headquarters of the Union Army under Major General U.S. Grant in 1862 which he occupied during the battle of Shiloh.

W.H. Cherry was sympathetic to the Union and thus granted permission for the Union to operate out of his home. Grant was eating breakfast here on April 6, 1862 when he heard the distant dull thud of artillery fire as Confederate forces suddenly attacked his army at nearby Shiloh. Cherry Hill Mansion became a hospital as well during the Battle of Shiloh where both sides came to be treated at the same time!

Besides seeing the mansion first by boat, we also passed the river banks where the Battle of Shiloh began. We continued our sightseeing of the Shiloh Military Park by car. The Union and Confederate soldiers plus the Union gunboats TYLER and LEXINGTON were involved. The battle of Shiloh was named after a church on the battlefield. We were fortunate to have an audio guide as we drove through this park which has 151 monuments, 217 cannons and more than 450 historic tablets on 4,000 acres. I quote from a cruising guide titled ‘The Tennessee River Cruising Guide’ written by Fred Meyers, “By the time the battle had ended, nearly 24,000 men were dead or dying. At such quickly named places as Bloody Pond, Hell’s Hollow and Hornet’s Nest, much innocence and enthusiasm was replaced by grim reality as those who had come to defend their cause discovered the horror of war.” This battle was a turning point for the Union because it permitted Grant to launch a relentless nine-month campaign to capture the so-called “fortress city of Vicksburg” and recover the Mississippi River. All casualties were buried in pits after the battle. Two years after the Civil war ended the US government reburied the Union casualties in individual graves; the Confederate casualties were left in the burial pits, a continuing sore point with our southern friends. The spoils of war, I guess.

On this same day in Savannah we found the Buford Pusser Museum home. Sheriff Pusser fought and defeated a grizzly bear but the most important thing about him is that he led a successful campaign against moonshiners, organized crime and prostitution in the mid 60’s. His unusual methods of law enforcement (he was known to have carried a big stick) made he and his wife targets of many assassination attempts which did take the life of his wife in 1967and left him scarred. He died in 1974 when his car went off the road and crashed. There have been four major motion movies made about him including “Walking Tall”. Citizens of this area of Savannah honor this famous man every year with a three day festival.

On October 16 we pulled into Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, Alabama and settled into our marina slip for a ten day stay. By the way, that meant ten days of guaranteed laundry opportunities and hot showers, electricity and cable TV; wonderful things! Everyone on the docks had raccoons on their boats every night but lucky for us, they did not find anything to get into of ours. During that time, we attended our cruising association’s fall rendezvous ( we filled up the transient docks with our 65 boats), drove our friend’s, Warren and Debbie, truck round trip 1300 some miles home to see the MSU defeat against OSU, and visited with our good friends both in Alabama and at the game in East Lansing. Because we were only home very briefly, we apologize to everyone that we did not call or could not see. We especially wanted to see our girls but they were out of town, which was very much understood. While at Joe Wheeler, Charlie visited the city of Huntsville with other boaters where he saw the Space and Rocket Center, botanical gardens and many historical sites.

Currently we are heading up to Chattanooga for a 10 day side trip on the Tennessee River. The panoramic views of these river banks look like another Grand Canyon and are magnificent. One amazing thing we did was go through the Wilson Lock in Tennessee. The water there raised Freedom’s Turn up 93 feet, our second biggest lock we will have on the whole trip!

We will pick up here next time.

Sorry this is a long blog and long in writing. I will close and assure you we are safe and well and still happily living together! A special hello to my brothers Larry and John and their families, my sister Jennifer and her family, my mother Nancy, and to Charlie’s brother Bud and his family! We miss you and are trying to come up with a plan to come home at Christmas. We miss all of you very much!

Happy Halloween and Happy Fall,

Linda and Charlie

Land Between the Lakes - Kentucky

Today is Tuesday, October 14 and Charlie and I can't believe our trip has surpassed the two month mark already. Currently, we are cruising up the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama and are heading for a week's stay at Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina and then on to Chattanooga, TN. If you look on your road atlas, find the intersection of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee and go east just before Florence. We are not far from there. The park we are going to is located just east of Florence on Wheeler Lake.

Once we get to Joe Wheeler State Park, we look forward to several things planned. On Monday, October 20 through Thursday, October 23, we will be attending the annual fall rendezvous of our cruising association with an additional 60 some boats. There will be several sessions every morning and afternoon hosted by leading cruising authorities and authors of cruising guides and magazines in the park's lodge. All of our meals will be provided in the lodge but we will stay on our boat. The focus will be on navigation tips, rules and regulations from Joe Wheeler Park to Mobile, Alabama and then extensive sessions on Florida and the Bahamas. To see what is in store for us you can go to http://www.greatloop.com/ and click on the rendezvous information.

Before then, in the next day or two, we look forward to visiting our good friends Warren and Debbie who live about 20 miles from the Wheeler State Park on a farm (ranch!). Another thing planned is to drive home this coming weekend before the rendezvous to go to the Ohio State-MSU football game and tailgate with our other very good friends, Dave, Marcia, Jeff and Kathy, and then drive right back to the boat in Alabama! (Besides family, visiting with one's good friends tops all the activities a person can do, in our opinion! There is a saying that one's good friends become one's chosen family!) Did we mention that our nephew (actually second cousin) Patrick plays trumpet in "TGDBITWDL".

If I can, I'll go back to get everyone up to speed as of September 29. Freedom's Turn tied up at a transient dock that day for a one week stay at the Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers, Kentucky; the town also known as the 'Village at the Land Between the Lakes.' This charming little tourist town is southeast about 20 driving miles from Paducah, Kentucky. It is noted for it's wonderful restaurant called Patti's 1880 Settlement Restaurant, the original landmark spot for the settlement of the area. They feature two pound pork chops so you know Charlie had to try one. I ordered the one pounder and we both had plenty to eat the next night as well. We "loopers" sure know how to spot the good food wherever we go.

The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers run roughly parallel through western Kentucky. Both have had dams constructed near the village of Grand Rivers for flood control and power production. The Tennessee River was dammed to make Kentucky Lake and the Cumberland River to make Lake Barkley. A canal between the two lakes was dug at Grand Rivers, creating an island peninsula. The federal government purchased all of the land between the lakes from the canal on the north to US 79 in northern Tennessee to create "Land Between the Lakes," a 170,000 acre national recreation area. The entire area, both land and water is heavily used year round and offers a special beauty all it's own.

Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers is a mecca for pleasure boaters to come to, meet up with and move on. Plentiful slips and services for boats and it's location near so many rivers and lakes makes it a very popular spot for "loopers" to come and recharge both their boats and themselves after the tough Mississippi River! There is a yacht club on the premises where they let transient boaters like us eat in their club restaurant, which we did. Boating is enjoyed year round here! The weather was beautiful the entire week and everywhere you looked you'd see the changing colors of Autumn. Every morning the ship's store up on a hill would play the National Anthem which was an inspiring way to start our day. The marina's several courtesy vans were available anytime to go into town for provisions or take a side trip to Paducah, Kentucky, which we did. Several of us had our picture taken at the marina's gazebo, in celebration of the "river rats" making it to Green Turtle. I asked the dock hand to take the picture with my camera and it is going to be published in a waterway guide magazine! After we posted it on the Great Loop web site, the publisher emailed Charlie to ask for permission to use it in his magazine! The photo of our boat in a slip is at Green Turtle also.

Other highlights of our visit to the area were going to Paducah, Kentucky, wonderful bike rides into town and I got my hair cut in Grand Rivers (very nice outcome to my delight). On our last night, a bunch of us went to the local playhouse and were wonderfully entertained with the play "Bus Stop," adapted from a movie from the 1950's starring Marilyn Monroe.

Paducah, Kentucky, was founded by General William Clark of Lewis and Clark. Legend has it that General Clark named the city in honor of the "Padouca" Indians, a subtribe of the Chicksaw, who lived and hunted in the area until Andrew Jackson purchased the lands between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers in 1818. The city prospered greatly with river commerce due to the great location at the site of the two rivers. We parked our van in the city's historical district downtown. Paducah has a wonderful long river flood wall with lovely hand painted murals to learn about the history of the area. There is the National Quilt Museum which brings hundreds of quilters and tourists alike from around the world into the city every April when they host their juried quilt show. It was Charlie's birthday that day and we, along with another couple who came with us, enjoyed a delicious dinner and free birthday dessert in a renovated 19th century warehouse restaurant called Max's.

Freedom's Turn left Green Turtle Bay on Monday, October 6 with five other boats to soon start cruising another river - the Tennessee. We eagerly awaited to tour Civil War battlegrounds at our next two marinas in New Johnsonville, Tennessee and near Savannah, Tennessee. The battlefields near Savannah are very famous. It is here where the battle of Shiloh took place; the biggest battle on the western front of the civil war in which there were 24,000 Union and Confederate casualties in just two days.

More on the Civil War history of this area in the next blog posting.

The biggest photo above is at anchorage in an area known as Panther Bay, just off of Kentucky Lake, after we left Green Turtle Bay heading up the Tennessee River. The map shows a bit of the area we have been talking about.

For now, hope all is well with you and yours.

Linda and Charlie

Go Green! Beat OSU!