Ground Control to Major Tom...Commencing Countdown!

OK...many of you might not immediately recognize this reference to an old David Bowie song, but we couldn't resist. We are officially in countdown mode for our departure on the Great Loop. We will be casting off the lines and leaving our home marina in Chattanooga on or about October the 8th.

Although we have been living aboard for the past 3 months, and we've cruised over 1,500 miles on Sandrobber in the last year and a half, we haven't officially been "on" the Great Loop per se. We have learned a lot in the last 18 months, and feel that both we and our boat are well prepared for this grand adventure.

So, in a couple of weeks we'll be heading down the Tennessee River, with our first major destination being the AGLCA Rendezvous. AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) holds it's semi-annual meeting about 200 miles down river from where we are now, and it will serve as our jumping off point for starting to head south as the weather turns cooler. There will be 50+ boats there, most of which are actively in the midst of their own Great Loop journey. And there will be a collection of former "Loopers" as well as folks who are thinking about it for their future. Meetings and seminars and how-to sessions will all be geared towards getting us even better prepared for the journey ahead. And, we are certain that we will meet many new friends and future cruising buddies.

For those of you still trying to figure out what the Great Loop is...here is the obligatory map that everyone posts as they begin this adventure:



You can see that there are a few spots where there are alternate routes to be taken, and we've got a pretty good idea of what we will do when we get to these spots, but we're also leaving our options open. The various colors roughly correlate to the seasons that are best suited for travel on the various legs of the trip...blue for fall into winter, green for the late winter and spring, and red for the summer months. This gives you a rough idea of where we are headed. Most folks plan to complete this adventure in about a year, but we are planning to take 2 years or so. Therefor, we will be doing some back-tracking for portions of the trip to coincide with the changing of the seasons.

So...stay tuned as we venture onward! We are both excited, and anxious (in a good way) to get started. Oh the stories we'll have to tell...

To Watts Bar Lake and Back

One of the hidden gems on the Tennessee River is Watts Bar Lake. It is far enough from both Chattanooga and Knoxville that it doesn't attract a tremendous amount of boat traffic on the weekends. And it is absolutely gorgeous! Any pictures we share will not do it justice. This trip has been on our list of things to do for some time now, and we finally made it happen.

We left on Friday morning the 28th of August and headed up river. Our first nights destination was an anchorage just up river from the Watts Bar Dam and Lock. This worked out to be a 54 mile travel day which is one of the longer trips we've made in one day. It was a beautiful day...not much river traffic at all. We stopped at Blue Water Marina for a doggy pit stop, which worked out to be about half-way. And then we stopped shortly before the dam at a random boat ramp for another dog break with the dinghy. Once we got to the Watts Bar lock, we had a short wait, but had the lock to ourselves. Here's a pic of what we see looking out the front window inside the lock:

 



 

Our destination for the night was an anchorage at Meigs County Park. There is a really nice cove here, with a lighted boat ramp and dock. It worked out great for us, and we had a pleasant evening after a longish day. 

Anchorage at sunset

Anchorage the next morning

 





Saturday was another pretty day, and we used it to explore Watts Bar Lake and the Tennessee River moving further upstream. Here is an assortment of shots that we took during the day:

Cormorants and White Herons enjoying the same piece of turf.

 

We're definitely in the land of the Tennessee Volunteers!



 

Our anchorage for the night was Whitestone Inn. We had thought we were going to spend the night at their dock, but found that it was a tad too small for our boat, so we found an anchorage just around the corner. Whitestone Inn is a family run Estate/Inn/Church all combined, and has a great reputation for outstanding food, facilities and service. Unfortunately the restaurant was booked full for the evening. BUT, we arranged for them to deliver a full 5-course meal to their dock for us. All we had to do was take the dinghy over to pick it up. It worked out great...the food was good...and best of all, we didn't have to cook!

 

A few shots from our anchorage for the night...

 

 

And of Whitestone Inn from the River...

The next morning brought a rather cloudy day, but we had the entire river to ourselves. It was awesome! We cruised further up river to the other side of I-75, which put us approximately 110 miles up the river from our home marina. We had already decided that we wanted to head to a marina for the night, so after about 55 miles of cruising we landed at Blue Springs Marina...still on Watts Bar Lake. We had a nice night, met a few of the local boaters, and enjoyed a quiet night at the dock.

Monday morning was gorgeous...sunny and beautiful. We had a long day ahead of us...70+ miles of cruising to get home, so it was really nice to have perfect weather for a long day on the water. We hit Watts Bar lock by 10 am, and had it all to ourselves again.

 

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

 

 

 

River Tow pushing a load of barges

 

 

 

Tired crew after a long day of cruising!

Girls Gone Wild! August 22-23

Well, maybe not wild really...but we did have fun!

Four of Sandy's friends from Atlanta came up for a visit a couple of weeks ago...we had Patty, Barbara, Essie and Nikki come join us for the weekend. Wow...what a crew! Saturday was a really nice weather day, so we took off for downtown Chattanooga. It was a little warm, but we all survived just fine.

We ran into the Brewfest, which is a big Beer Festival held right down by the waterfront. None of us were really interested in the Brewfest itself, but it made finding a "parking" spot on the waterfront wall a bit of a challenge. As it turned out, we found a spot within the fence line of the festival...which meant that we walked right off the boat into the swarms of beer tents, crowds, and right beside the big band stage. The only trouble was that we never bought tickets to enter the festival. So when the girls decided to go for a walk downtown, they had to exit the festival and figure out a way to sneak back in without paying admission. Otherwise, they couldn't get to the boat!

Turns out that in Chattanooga, all you need is a smile and the bribe of a freshly purchased Moon Pie to take care of such difficulties.

And boy did we have food...the girls came with coolers packed with home made goodies. We feasted while we were cruising, and had tons left over for later. Thanks to all for bringing so much wonderful food!

We got back to the dock at 7pm or so, just in advance of some incoming thunder storms. Everyone was staying in rooms right here at the Marina, so they decided to dash to the rooms to get freshened up. And to no ones real surprise, that turned into a "quick" stop at the on-property Mexican restaurant for a Margarita! Sandy walked up to the restaurant to meet up, and 2 hours later, they were all still trapped at the restaurant because of the heavy downpours...how convenient!

Not to worry though, the rain finally stopped and we capped of the long day with some chat time on the boat. A good time was had by all...Sunday morning everyone gathered at the boat to say their good-byes and collect much emptier coolers. Thanks again to all for making the trip and for all the laughs!