Going Downstream- Tennessee River Part IV

Starting to get colorful

Scenery along Wheeler Lake

After spending a 9 days in Goose Pond, it was time to move on. We left early on a Saturday morning to make our way back to Ditto Landing Marina at Huntsville. Most of the scenery was a repeat of what we saw earlier, it was just a little more colorful. We locked through the Guntersville Lock immediately upon our arrival and then proceeded on to Ditto Landing. We listened to LSU and other college teams play on satellite radio and we fairly satisfied with the outcomes of most of the games. For supper we had a pizza delivered to the boat. We watched some TV and then called it a day.

More Wheeler Lake scenery

Nuclear power plant discharge

Ready for dinner

Let's eat!

The next morning we left early again to go to Bayview Marina at Athens, AL. At Bayview we would hook up with our friends Roy and Elvie Short aboard Roy El. We first met Roy and Elvie at a mini-rendezvous at Port St. Joe, FL two years ago, and have maintained close contact with them ever since. We had an added benefit to go into Bayview as we were going to go into a free, covered slip that was provided by another looper who were moving their boat. It's all good, baby! We got the boat secured and were invited to Roy El for happy hour, some football games on TV, and dinner. The next day Jane and Elvie took off to Athens to do some shopping. It's a wonder Roy and Capt. Larry have any money left as they left at 10:00 a.m and didn't return until 5:00 p.m. We were again invited to dinner aboard Roy El, after which we watched Monday Night Football. We left around half-time and turned in for the evening. The next morning Jane and Elvie went walking and then off shopping again. Capt. Larry remained on board and started preparing the evening meal of smoked tuna dip, grilled marinated chicken breasts, bean salad, and dirty rice. Roy and Elvie joined us for dinner, then we went to Roy El to watch the Republican debate (Bavarian Cream really needs a satellite TV dish!) and have dessert.

Getting together on Seemoore

With Dave and Joyce on Joysea

The next day we all piled into Roy and Elvie's car and took a scenic ride over to Decatur, AL to have lunch with Carlton and Becky Moore aboard Seamoore. We had first met Carlton and Becky at Port St. Joe a couple of years ago, and spent time with them last spring in Fort Pierce and Titusville. The Moores had just completed the loop and we were excited to see them again. We all went to a seafood restaurant for an extended lunch, an exchange of stories, and a loop completion celebration. It was a great visit. The next day we took Roy and Elvie to lunch at a really great mexican restaurant, and they took us over to Joe Wheeler State Park to meet some of the loopers who were there for the rendezvous. When we got to Joe Wheeler we were able to meet back up with Dave and Joyce Johnson aboard Joysea. We had first met Dave and Joyce at Sylvan Beach on the Erie Canal. Joyce had a medical issue while in Canada and had to leave the boat, and we met Dave again in Leland, MI and ran with him down to Grandhaven. It was good to see them reunited on Joysea and ready to move on. We talked about our schedules and determined that we were both open to running down the Tenn-Tom together later in the week. We walked past the rest of the transient slips and saw several boats that we had seen at one time or another in various locations. We spotted our good friends Lace and Dick Lacey aboard Confetti, but they were anchored out in the creek and we didn't have their phone number with us to call them to dingy over to the transient dock. Roy took us on a scenic ride back to the boat after a short stop in Rogersville for the ladies to grab some necessary items.

Dinner on Roy El'

Jane's decorated cake

The weekend started early when Roy and Elvie took us to a hamburger joint called Geez Burger for lunch. The hamburgers were some of the best we have had on the trip. Since Roy and Elvie's cell phone had just died, we did a side trip to Athens so they could visit a phone store. Jane found a second-hand store next door and took off to see what bargains she could find (and she ALWAYS finds bargains!). We returned to Bavarian Cream and had dinner and watched one of Todd's weirder movies. Saturday was our last day in Bay Hill and we got out to do some walking for exercise. Unfortunately, Capt. Larry overdid it and his knees were revolting. Roy and Elvie had two couples from their home state of North Carolina arriving, so a pot luck was in store for dinner. While Roy and Elvie went to Huntsville to pick up one couple, Capt. Larry and Jane started their cooking and went over to Roy El' to watch some of the LSU vs. Auburn game. LSU was victorious and we ended up with chicken and sausage jambalaya, homemade herbed-cheese bread, and a decorated chocolate cake thanks to Jane. We all got together aboard Roy El' and had a great evening. We ended the evening saying goodbye to  everyone and returned to the boat to turn in.

Happy hour with the Howards and Johnsons

Trading stories

Quite the ladies' man, Dave!

Docktails with a view

With the Symes

We left Bayview Marina and headed for Florence, AL again. We were delayed at the Joe Wheeler Lock for about 45 minutes, and again at the Wilson Lock for about another hour. This delayed our getting into Florence until mid-afternoon. We kicked back and listened to the Saints loose to Tampa Bay and then had dinner on the boat. The next afternoon Joysea showed up followed by Greg and Donna Howard on Lady in Red whom we met in Bayview Marina. We had happy hour on the marina dock and enjoyed sharing lies and libations, and then everyone came aboard Bavarian Cream for dinner. Capt. Larry tried a new recipe for Brunswick stew which everyone enjoyed. We took Dave and Joyce to Helen Keller's birthplace the next day and did a quick run to the grocery and liquor stores. Happy hour was aboard Lady in Red and then we all took the courtesy car to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner where we were joined by the marina manager, Eva, and her daughter.

Dinner in downtown Florence

As we were entering the restaurant we ran into the Canadian couple, Alan and Susann Syme, from the boat Kaos that we had met at the spring rendezvous last year in Myrtle Beach. Talk about a small world! It was a delightful evening.

We left Florence the following day with Joysea and Lady in Red and made our way to Grand Harbor Marina in Counce, TN and the start of the Tennessee-Tom Bigbee (Tenn-Tom) waterway. The Tenn-Tom and the Black Warrior and Mobile Rivers will eventually take us to Mobile where we will complete our loop. Lady in Red continued a short distance to another marina that had repair services to get a minor engine problem fixed. Joysea hosted happy hour and we were joined by two other looper boats. We celebrated the end of our travels on the Tennessee River and look forward to the final segment of our journey.

What are these things??