Da Boys from Chicago and Wild Times at the Waterfall

Things started out peacefully on Saturday morning, but around noon Tena and Keith showed up with two of Keith’s “homeboys” from Chicago. We had met Tena and Keith, who live in this area, the previous weekend when everybody was pitching washers at the waterfall.

Now, when I use the term “homeboys” it is definitely a term of endearment. These guys (Paul “My Hubcap Man” and Mike) are brothers who grew up with Keith on the south side of Chicago. For those who don’t know what a “Hubcap Man” is (like us), we were told that it is someone who can get or find for you anything you would ever want or need. Did I mention that these two guys are very, very Italian - a.k.a. Paulie and Mikey? Did I mention that they arrived ready to cut loose? Did I mention that it got wet and wild? Did I mention that we pegged the fun-meter, perhaps even broke it???

Needless to say, the Captain hit it off with the boys from the moment they arrived on the beach and it didn’t take long for the Admiral to catch up. Well, the beer and Bloody Mary’s flowed stronger than the waterfall until about 4:00 p.m. when the storms they were predicting hit. Tena and the boys headed back home with the promise of seeing us in the morning with fresh supplies of ice, vodka, Bloody Mary mix, and plenty more cold beer.

After they left, we quickly set a second anchor to keep us from swinging into the shore because of the strong winds. It blew and rained for the next eighteen hours, and as the sun was coming back out, so did all our friends on Pickwick Lake, loaded with supplies, and Kelly and Melissa brought food for an army. Let the party continue! I’m not even going to try and talk about the day; I’ll let the photos speak for themselves The fun has begun!

L. to R. Roger (friend of Bud's from New Albany, MS), Paul (Chicago "Hubcab Man"), Cindy (wife of Steve, friends of Kelly's and Melissa's), Kelly, Melissa, Tena (wife of Keith), Steve (husband of Cindy, friends of Kelly's and Melissa's).


The girls built a fort while the grown-ups enjoyed the day. These girls are also responsible for all the face paint on the adults, it was our "warpaint"!

L. to R. Cindy, Carlin, Caroline, Hilary. Cindy and Hilary belong to Keith and Tena; Carlin belongs to Cindy and Steve; and Caroline belongs to Kelly and Melissa.
 

What are you looking at Melissa? Another nice pose Tena!



The Hubcap Man & The Captain... quite a team!



Just trying to enjoy ourselves!

L. to R. The Cap'n, Hubcap Man, Keith (Tena's husband) & Tena, and Mike (Paul's brother)


The Admiral gets in on the fun!



Are we having fun yet?

 

The Admiral & Kelly welcome Bo & Terri.



Da Boys from the South Side! Will we see you in Florida this winter?


Kelly gets sandwiched at the beach!



Is it Paulie or Bono?
















Though we didn’t get any photos of this particular event, it is important to note that my homeboys and I did experience the 25-foot rope swing on Sunday, so the guys now have bragging rights back in the Windy City.

Since the boys from Chicago weren’t flying back until Tuesday we decided that we should shoot for three days in a row, but trust me when I tell you that Monday was a much shorter and somewhat more sober day at the waterfall. I do, however, think that Paulie wimped out just a little too soon on Monday as he spent most of the day napping... for such a stud he sure was a candy-a** that day (Paulie - you were never there for me, man ). By Monday, all the Hubcap Man could do was snore... lightweight! :-) However Mike was still going strong... like a true Chicago Italian!



Needless to say we have made two great new friends up north and we hope to see them next fall when we go through Chicago. That or perhaps in Florida this winter where we hope that some (or all) of our many friends in this area will come for a visit.

Tuesday was spent “drying out” and working on getting “Life’s2Short” washed and waxed in addition to changing oil and filters for the upcoming trip back down the Tenn-Tom to Mobile and points south. About 3:00 p.m. our fresh water pump sprang a leak so I spent the afternoon trying to get it fixed; however, this issue will have to wait until I have access to proper tools.

The Iceman stopped by late in the afternoon and plans have been made to possibly meet him in Memphis on our way back from Missouri. Speaking of Missouri, Kelly will be taking us to the rental car company tomorrow morning and we should arrive at Lake of the Ozarks late tomorrow afternoon. We will spend five days with the Admiral’s parents and then head to Springfield, arriving sometime Tuesday afternoon, October 3rd, for four nights. After that we will head back up to Lake of the Ozarks for a few more days before returning to “Life’s2Short” on October 11th or 12th.

The nights have really begun to cool off and fall is definitely in the air. The water temps have also begun to drop so one now has to be careful of “shrinkage."  I want to end this session of the blog by letting everyone know how special it is in this part of the world. Not only is the scenery beautiful and the wildlife abundant (I’m not talking here about the people), but the quality of life around these parts is second to none.

Speaking of people, I don’t believe you can find better folks anywhere. As our friend Keith told me: “The type of people that live here would do anything for you at anytime, without hesitation ” It is this type of environment and attitude that is really going to be hard to leave; however, it will soon get cold here so we must continue our journey south and just look forward to getting back up this way sometime next year. I hope that all of you who are keeping up with our adventures are doing well and life is also treating you as good as it is us.  Live your dreams, Cap’n T

The Iceman Does Italian

Welcome faithful readers! It’s been another wonderful week aboard “Life’s2Short”. This past Thursday evening found us back over at Bud’s (Iceman’s) beautiful house for a home-cooked Italian meal that was out of this world! If I gave out his private recipes, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be invited back again... just trust me when I say that it was outstanding. We were also joined by Bud’s daughter, Sandy, who was visiting from Memphis. It was a late evening of cooking, vino, and stimulating conversation; we finally made it back to the boat about 11:30 p.m. where we found Buddy just about to burst, so a quick trip to the designated doggy area was in order.  Thanks again Iceman and Sandy - let’s do it again before we head south....please!!!

This is Chef Bud and daughter Sandy working in the kitchen.


Father and daughter cooking up a storm!


Bud's beautiful home on Pickwick Lake.


The point overlooking the lake behind Bud's house - what a view!!!


We woke up Friday morning to very windy conditions so we opted to leave “Life’s2Short” tied up to the dock and do a little local shopping for a few odds and ends. The wind finally laid down late in the afternoon so we untied and headed back over to Waterfall Cove for what turned out to be a very, very, very crazy weekend - so crazy that we couldn't get all the photos to load! As a result, a separate posting is in order. Stay tuned!!!

I know it has been a while since we updated the blog, but we haven't had Internet access since we got back to Pickwick Lake on September 13th. When we last posted, we were leaving Alred Marina in Guntersville Lake on September 10th. We traveled all of about six miles to an anchorage at Goat Island, just a few miles upriver from the Guntersville Lock.

While Todd was out fishing in the dinghy, he came across a very nice couple who wanted to look at the boat. Wade and Sue came on board and toured the boat and we visited with them for a while about what it's like to live on a boat. As with several people we've met, they want to become live-aboards some day and are always interested in looking at different types and styles of boats. They currently have a home on Guntersville Lake and invited us to join them for dinner next time we're in the area.

We continued downriver Monday morning, through the lock into Wheeler Lake, and anchored that evening in Goldfield Branch where we had stayed on our way to Chattanooga. Tuesday was forecast to be rainy and cool and we decided Goldfield would offer us adequate protection if strong winds accompanied the rain. We woke up Tuesday to a chilly, rainy day. By late afternoon, the rain seemed to have passed and we considered going a little further downriver but decided against it since the wind had picked up and the main lake was quite choppy.

We left Goldfield about 8:30 Wednesday morning planning to get through Wheeler Lock and at least get close to Wilson Lock before calling it a day. Wilson Lock is the one that is still under repair and we didn't know how long we would have to wait to go through the two-stage auxiliary lock. Somewhere around Decatur, AL we discovered that we had no fresh water. When we stopped to take a quick swim, Todd checked into it and found that a hose had come off the water pump and a good portion of our fresh water had drained into the bilge. We had just filled up at Alred Marina a few days ago and had 250 gallons on board at that time, but we didn't know how much had pumped out between the time the hose came loose and when Todd reattached it.

When we got near Wheeler Lock, we called the lockmaster who told us he was finishing up with a barge and would be ready for us in about 30 or 45 minutes. We told him we needed to stop in at Joe Wheeler State Park to get ice and refill our water tanks, and he said that was fine. Within a few minutes, he called us back on the radio and told us we needed to be down there by the time he finished with the current barge because he had another one coming upriver that needed to lock through. Since we didn't want to miss an opportunity to lock through ahead of the next barge, we quickly got ice at Joe Wheeler State Park and decided to deal with the water issue later.

Wilson Lake is only about 15 miles long, so we called the lock when we were an hour away to see how long we would have to wait to lock through. We were told that they thought they would be able to get us through in about two hours, so we decided to maintain our current speed and stop at a marina near the lock to refill the water tanks. After having done that, we arrived at Wilson Lock 30 minutes ahead of schedule and were able to lock through about 45 minutes later. At this point, it was about 2:30 p.m. and we knew we would either have to stay at the marina in Florence or make it back to an anchorage on Pickwick before dark, which was going to be close since we still had 40 miles to go. But we elected to go for it and finally reached Waterfall Cove about 6:30 Wednesday evening after a very long (10-hour) day on the water.

Kelly showed up at the waterfall Thursday afternoon. Prospector Bill and his wife Nora who live aboard their boat at Aqua Yacht Harbor arrived in a pontoon a few hours later. Below is a picture of Kelly's two dogs: Harley (Rat Terrier) is on the left and Lucky (Jack Russell Terrier) is on the right. They love coming to Waterfall Cove!



This is a picture of Bill's and Kelly's pontoons parked next to us, along with a big catamaran that pulled in for a brief visit.


This is one of the many barges that regularly pass by the waterfall.


As evening approached, Kelly called his wife Melissa and asked her to order pizza for all of us, so we left the waterfall in Kelly's boat and followed Bill and Nora back to Aqua Yacht where they left their pontoon and came with us to pick up Melissa and Caroline (Kelly and Melissa's daughter) and, of course, the pizza. On the way, we were all jamming to Motown music and having a good ol' time, as you can see by the pictures Todd took along the way!

This is Prospector Bill who may love to fish even more than Todd!


Below is a picture of Bill, his wife Nora, Kelly and me.


This is Kelly, his wife Melissa and their 12-year-old daughter, Caroline.


Todd and Nora were rocking the boat while sitting in the Captain's chairs on the front of Kelly's pontoon.


Kelly came out again Friday morning and resupplied us with cubed ice. Bill also stopped by and brought us three blocks of ice after learning from Kelly that the local grocery store carried them. Bill and Todd then went out fishing for a while but came back empty-handed - what's up with that?!!!

Bill headed back to Aqua Yacht and we had a relatively mellow day visiting with Kelly and then rode with him to pick up Melissa and Caroline later that afternoon. Caroline did some wake boarding on the way back to the waterfall and then Kelly and Todd grilled hot dogs for all of us before they headed home for the evening.

After they left, Todd and I entertained ourselves by watching a group of guys throw "washers" on the gravel bar in front of our boat. Washers is a game similar to horseshoes, but instead of tossing horseshoes you toss big painted washers and try to land them either in a box or, preferably, in a cup in the center of the box. At any rate, they were a fun group of guys who entertained us until dark.



About 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning, one of the big rental house boats came into the cove and promptly began blasting us with some pretty obnoxious music. By noon, the cove was full of boats, which is unusual for this time of the year, but the Darrel Worley Tennessee River Run concert was that evening at Pickwick State Park, and many of the boats were apparently just hanging out at the waterfall until it was time to go to the concert, which began at 4:00 p.m.

About 3:30, there was a mass exodus of boats from the cove. We had been invited to raft up with Bo and Terri at the concert but decided we would just hang at the waterfall instead since we aren't country music afficiandos. Bud (the Iceman) was also going to the concert but he stopped by on his pontoon to tour through the cove before joining the other concert-goers and to bring Todd some Bloody Mary mix and Louisiana hot sauce to spice it up with.

Bill came by again Sunday morning and brought more Bloody Mary mix and block ice, but we were still in pretty good shape with the block ice he had brought us on Friday, especially since Bo and Terri were planning to bring us more cubed ice later that morning.  Several boats gradually made their way into the cove, but it was much quieter than it had been on Saturday. The big rental house boat had pulled out Saturday afternoon, presumably to go to the concert, came back Sunday morning for a while, left again, and then came back that afternoon. They ended up spending the night in the cove Sunday evening and pulled out early Monday morning, but they were pretty subdued by Sunday evening.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon visiting with several of the other boaters who were pulled up on the gravel bar beside us. Bo and Terri brought us ice about mid-morning on Sunday and then came back late that afternoon to hang out for a while. Bud also came by again in his pontoon, towing his Sea Doo, which he promptly untied and went to check out the boaters in Panther Cove just across the lake.  It was getting late when the other boats started to pull out, so we invited Bo and Terri to join us for dinner and spend the night on the boat.

We had a nice evening visiting with them and woke up to a cloudy Monday morning. Rain was forecast to move in early, so Bo and Terri headed back to Aqua Yacht around 8:00 a.m. just as it was starting to rain lightly. The rest of Monday stayed cloudy and rainy, and I spent the morning in the kitchen baking a loaf of banana nut bread and a loaf of regular bread and preparing homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. Todd read a little, napped a little and cleaned on the boat a little between rain showers. All-in-all, a pretty quiet day at the waterfall.

Over the past week, Todd also started cleaning what we call the "moustache" off the bow of the boat. The moustache is essentially a brown stain that develops at the water line on the bow, similar to a milk moustache on a person. He had to use hull cleaner to get it off, which also removes the wax, so after getting rid of the stain he had to wax it. This required quite a bit of time and effort, so he did half of it on Friday and finished up on Tuesday. Hopefully, the wax will keep the stain at bay for a while.

Although many people were swimming in the cove and swinging off the top of the waterfall this weekend, the water has become noticeably cooler since we were here three weeks ago. Todd and I both took a dip on Monday and even though it felt good, if a bit chilly, it won't be long before the chill will keep us out of the water altogether. The nights have also begun to cool down to the point of having to occasionally add a blanket to the bed. At this rate, it appears the fall weather may arrive before we make it very far south. In fact, it is forecast to be in the upper 40's by Tuesday evening!

Bill stopped by again Tuesday morning but the Aqua Yacht chase boat he was driving was promptly called back to the marina, so we only saw him for a few minutes. About noon, Kelly came out and then Bo and Terri showed up in her 19-foot Tahoe about an hour later with all kinds of food and goodies in tow. We spent the afternoon chatting on the sundeck and then I went with Kelly to pick up Melissa and Caroline who were bringing pizza for dinner again while Todd finished waxing the bow of the boat. Bo and Terri went back to Aqua Yacht to put her boat in dry storage and then they returned in Bo's 31-foot Sea Ray. We ate pizza and visited until dark and then everyone headed for home.

The 40's that had been forecast for Tuesday evening didn't materialize, but it did get down into the 50's again. Bud called and invited us to his house for dinner on Thursday, so we will take the boat to Grand Harbor tomorrow, pump out the holding tanks, do some laundry, update the blog, get a few things from town and then leave the boat there for the evening while we go to Bud's.

Kelly came out Wednesday afternoon and graciously brought us more ice. We enjoyed a beautiful, sunny afternoon and then went with Kelly to pick up Melissa after she got home from work. Shortly after we returned to the waterfall, a rental houseboat pulled up on the gravel bar and began collecting wood for a fire. Kelly and Melissa left before dark and the houseboat crew started their fire shortly after that. We were kind of hoping they would invite us to join them but they didn't, so we spent a quiet evening on the boat. The houseboaters told us they were only staying until midnight and, sure enough, they were gone when we woke up Thursday morning. This is a beautiful sunrise photo Todd took this morning at the waterfall.



As many of you know, we plan to leave the boat at Grand Harbor Marina around the middle of next week and go back to Missouri for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends. When we return to Pickwick, we will spend a few days saying our good-byes to the many wonderful friends we've made here and will then begin heading south. We hope to spend several days on Bay Springs Lake and then continue down the Tenn-Tom to our home away from home, Demopolis, AL, where we plan to meet Todd's parents and boat up the Black Warrior River before they continue their journey to Orlando, FL to spend Thanksgiving with Todd's sister, Jennifer, and her two girls, Shannon and Sarah. We will update the blog again while we are at Grand Harbor next week, before leaving for Missouri. Until then, we appreciate your patience with the infrequency of our blog updates!

Friday, September 1st
The pier at Ross's Landing in Chattanooga was full by Friday evening. We explored downtown and had a great appetizer (crab and artichoke asiago chesse dip with toasted baguettes) and top shelf margaritas at Big River Grille & Brewing Company, a very popular downtown destination with a great menu.

The people from Marine Max, who manage the pier, came by Saturday morning to tell everyone they were going to have to move their boats so the Mississippi Queen would have room to dock when it arrived that evening. As I mentioned in the last blog update, the Mississippi Queen needs 400 feet of the 600-foot pier; fortunately we were docked in the first 200 feet of the pier and weren't required to move. But all of the boats behind us were forced to go somewhere else since the Mississippi Queen takes precedence over transient boaters, even though the transients had made advance reservations. Needless to say, many of them were unhappy about being asked to leave.

We left the boat around noon to go buy aquarium and IMAX tickets and decided to go to the IMAX Saturday evening and to the aquarium on Sunday. We then walked across the worldest longest pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river and poked around in the shops over there. Below is a picture we took coming back across the bridge. You can see the two aquarium buildings (with the geometric rooflines) in the background and our boat on the right, under the bridge.



We came back in time to catch the 6:00 p.m. IMAX, "Deep Sea" in 3D, which was really cool! After the movie, we went back to Big River for margaritas and free Diver's Dip (with IMAX ticket stub), a jalapeno spinach cheese dip served with tortilla chips. We then walked all over the downtown area again and stopped in at a little place called Buck Wild Saloon for a beer. The bar maid was covered with tatoos and body art and had on faded, torn, holey low-cut jeans with a tight black leather top that laced up the front with a 4-inch gap that afforded a nice view of her mid-section, from her belly button to her breasts. A few other employees showed up while we were there, and all were dressed similarly - pierced lips, tatoos, body art, etc. Interesting joint and staff!

When we got back to the boat we met Jason, one of the deck crew from the Mississippi Queen which was pulled in right behind us. We chatted with Jason for a while and Todd invited him over for a Bloody Mary Sunday morning. Jason came by for his Bloody Mary just as I was taking a shower. He then offered to take us on a quick tour of the Mississippi Queen since the passengers they brought to Chattanooga from Nashville had departed and the next group, which was going from Chattanooga to Memphis, hadn't yet arrived.

Below is a picture of me and Todd in the "staged" flybridge that passengers use to take pictures.


This is a picture of the main dining room.


Here is the Mississippi Queen tied up to the pier behind our "little" boat.

It was a cool boat and would be a fun way to spend a week on the river. About noon we left to go to "The River Journey," the first of the two aquarium buildings above the pier which houses the world's largest fresh water aquarium. There was a seahorse exhibit in the basement which was coolest exhibit in the entire building. Below are pictures of a few of these amazing creatures. This one is called a Weedy Seahorse.  There is also a Leafy Seahorse swimming behind it.



This is a better shot of the Leafy Seahorse, my personal favorite - like something out of a fairy tale!


We then went back to the boat to grab a bite to eat before going to the other building, called "The Ocean Journey." Jason came by and had a beer with us, and while he was there we saw a boat coming up alongside our boat to dock in front of us. Just as Todd was getting up to go out and help them dock, we realized that the boat had gotten caught in the strong current and was getting way too close to our boat. Todd yelled at the Captain to put the boat in reverse but he put it in forward instead and crashed into the rear port side of our boat with his anchor!

The boat, a beautiful 42-foot Sea Ray, then spun around in the current so that the stern was parallel to the pier behind us and the bow was facing out into the river. They somehow managed to get a line off the starboard stern to a guy standing on the pier, but the boat was essentially dead in the water behind our boat, wedged between us and the Mississippi Queen, being held in place on the port side by the huge ropes tied off the bow of the Mississippi Queen. In front of the Sea Ray was the Mississippi Queen's gang plank, which they raised as far as they could so that the Sea Ray could hopefully go under it and out into the river.

With some coaching from Todd and others on the pier, the Captain motored forward and the Sea Ray's flybridge cleared the Queen's gang plank by mere inches as it went under. We were all a little shook up by the incident, but fortunately the anchor hit our boat in the best possible place and we ended up with just a gash in the fiberglass. Had the anchor hit higher or lower, it would have made a huge hole in the side of our boat!

After making it back out into the river, the Captain took another shot at docking and all went well. Apparently, the Captain had originally planned to take the boat out for a cruise later that evening with some friends, but after the docking incident his wife, Robin, decided that wasn't going to happen! As we were leaving to go to "The Ocean Journey," the Captain, Argil, brought us a nice bottle of French white wine and offered to buy us dinner that evening at Hennen's, reportedly one of the nicest restaurants in town.

Below are some pictures from "The Ocean Journey." This colorful fish seemed to like us and stayed close to the window as we watched it.



There were lots of sharks like this one in the big aqaurium tank that spanned several of the building's floors.


These are some funky jellyfish that aren't nearly as impressive in a photo as they are in person.


We got back to the boat about 7:30 and joined Argil and Robin and several of their friends for dinner. The joke at the table was that Argil and Robin just happened to "run in to Todd and Brenda while in Chattanooga" and invited them to dinner! On top of that, a few of their friends commented that Todd reminded them of Mel Gibson. For those of you who used to work with Todd, you will recall that he has been told that before, usually by SOAR parents, and he of course felt compelled to gloat about it! It was a good time and a fun evening topped off with a visit to Ben and Jerry's with Argil and Robin for an after-dinner ice cream. They also insisted on paying for the damage to the boat, which was very gracious considering everything they had already done.

We visited with Argil and Robin some more Monday morning and headed out of Chattanooga shortly before noon. We wanted to go back to the Shell Mound Rec Area to spend a few days, which was only about 40 miles, so we weren't in any hurry to leave. Shortly before arriving at Shell Mound, we saw numerous boats heading upriver away from an approaching rainstorm. We hung out in front of Shell Mound until the rain lightened up and then docked for the evening. Todd promptly put the dinghy down and headed out to get some fishing in before the rain hit again. There was a 60% chance of rain all evening, so we figured it was just a matter of time until another batch of storms popped up.

We spent a quiet and somehwat cool day at Shell Mound on Tuesday and then made our way downriver on Wednesday, through the Nickajack Lock, about 45 miles to a nice little cove near Goose Pond Marina in Guntersville Lake. This turned out to be a popular bass fishing cove for the locals, and Todd spent quite a bit of time trying to entice the bass to come play with him, without much success. However, in talking with the locals who buzzed in and out of the cove all day Wednesday and Thursday, they weren't having much luck either.

Since we were out of ice by Thursday, we took the dinghy over to Goose Pond that afternoon to buy a couple of bags. While there, we saw a boat we had docked with at the marina in Columbus, MS, called "Kaos." Although Alan was in Peru on business, we chatted with Susan for a while and she spoke highly of both the marina and the restaurant at Goose Pond. After perusing the menu, we decided we would have to check it out next time we're in the neighborhood!

We left our anchorage Friday morning and arrived at Alred Marina, about 20 miles downriver, at 1:30 p.m. I spent the afternoon finishing dinner preparations, reading and getting cleaned up so we could make the dreaded restocking run to Wal-Mart after we ate; Todd, of course, had to check out the fishing - again!

This morning was spent doing laundry, so now all the chores are caught up for a while. We will leave Alred's in the morning (Sunday) and continue downriver, although we aren't sure how far we are going. There are a couple of anchorages we want to check out before we leave Guntersville Lake, so it may be a few days before we go through the lock to enter Wheeler Lake. We plan to be back on Pickwick by the latter part of next week and are looking forward to going back to Waterfall Cove and to seeing Kelly, Bud (Iceman) and Bo & Terri again.

Saturday, August 26th
We stayed at the Florence Marina Friday evening and enjoyed the seafood buffet at the marina restaurant. Todd and I consumed quite a pile of crab legs, among other things, and definitely got our money's worth! Todd started calling the lockmaster about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning to see when we might be able to lock through. Three hours and several calls later, we were finally told that they would be ready for us in about 45 minutes. So, we promptly untied from the dock and headed that direction. We arrived 45 minutes later, as requested, and were told it would be another 45 minutes to an hour, so we tied up to the main lock wall and waited until they were ready for us, which was about an hour later.

The two-stage lock was interesting - and not in a good way! The more locks we go through, the more I dislike them.  So having to essentially go through two locks at the same time, one right after the other, was just double the pleasure, double the fun. Anyway, we finally got through the Wilson (Florence) auxiliary lock about 12:30 p.m. and continued through Wilson Lake to the Wheeler lock, about 15 miles upriver. Keep in mind that it takes us nearly two hours to boat 15 miles, especially running upriver against the current.

When we arrived at Wheeler lock, they were bringing a barge down and we were told it would be an hour to an hour-and-a-half before we could go through, so we just shut off the engines and floated in the lake until we were given the go-ahead to enter the lock an hour later. The lock went smoothly and we continued another 10 miles before anchoring in Goldfield Branch near a houseboat that was supposedly spending the night. By then, it was around 5:30 p.m. and we were ready to kick back for the evening. Around dark, the houseboat pulled up anchor and left for some unknown reason, so we had the cove to ourselves.

Sunday, August 27th
About 7:00 a.m. a bass boat went zooming past the boat and woke me up, so we pulled up anchor and were on our way by 7:45. I told Todd I didn't care how far we went that day, as long as we didn't have to go through another lock! We didn't much care for the lower part of Wheeler Lake but after we went through Decatur, AL (the home of Meow Mix), the scenery started to improve.

We ended up going 58 miles before we tied up for the night in Paint Rock River, six miles below the Guntersville lock. Todd's parents had noted a beach on the navigation charts about a half mile up the river and we were able to pull up to the beach and use stern lines to secure the boat rather than dropping anchor. The downside of this method is that you generally have to tromp through weeds and brush to tie the stern lines to shore, and Todd managed to attract some chiggers in the process. Fortunately, he didn't get too many but he informed me that I was going to be the one to untie the ropes when we were ready to leave!

Monday, August 28th
It rained at some point during the night, so we had some cleaning up and drying out to deal with the next morning. Thankfully, the cabin windows were closed since we were running the air conditioner most of the night and only the flybridge and sundeck got wet. We weren't planning to go very far on Monday, so we took our time getting around and finally pulled out around 11:30 a.m. We got to the Guntersville lock 45 minutes later and had to wait about 15 minutes for the lock to empty so we could enter. The ride up was extremely smooth - the best we've had out of the 15 locks we've gone through since leaving Mobile.

Once we entered Guntersville Lake, we went about a half mile to Mill Hollow where we decided to anchor for the night. We dropped the anchor and Todd swam a rope to shore to secure the stern. However, it soon became apparent that the anchor wasn't holding, and each time the wind blew the anchor would drag and the stern would move closer to shore. We then decided to get the dinghy down and use it to try setting another anchor to supplement the main anchor off the front, but after several attempts it became obvious that the bottom was not conducive to anchoring.

We ended up tieing a rope off the front rather than trying to anchor, which worked fine, but we were also taking up the entire cove by being tied front-to-back across it. We didn't know what else to do, though, since neither anchor would hold. We tied some rags to our lines to alert anyone who might want to go past us into the back of the cove and kept our fingers crossed that no one would. Two hours after beginning the anchoring process, we were finally able to relax!

Tuesday, August 29th
Rain and possible thunderstorms were forecast for Tuesday afternoon, so we decided to untie mid-morning and head toward Alred Marina in Guntersville, about eight miles upriver. The primary reason we were going to Alred's was to deal with more engine issues, but we also knew we would be more secure tied to a dock if the storms actually materialized.

A few days ago, Todd had gone into the engine compartment for a routine check and found that the port transmission was leaking fluid. After making a few phone calls, the consensus seemed to be that the main seal needed to be replaced, so Todd ordered the seal and had it sent to Alred's. About a mile from Alred's, the starboard engine overheated and we limped in on one engine. It's amazing how many "issues" one can have with a boat! But, as a friend of ours told us, when you buy a boat that hasn't been used much and then you start using it on a regular basis, you can expect to have issues. His comparison was a person who does nothing but sit on the couch and watch television for a few years and then all of a sudden decides to go out and run a marathon - that person is going to have "issues!"

After pumping out the holding tanks and getting tied up for the night, we decided we would take the courtesy van into town to have Mexican food and margaritas. Discovering whatever caused the starboard engine to overheat would wait until morning. The storms that had been forecast did materialize but the line split and went around us at the marina, so we only got a little wind and a few sprinkles. We had a great meal at San Pedro and then stopped at a convenience store on the way back for an ice cream bar, which neither of us needed, but it sounded good at the time!

Wednesday, August 30th
Todd spent all day working on our latest engine issues. The overheating starboard engine turned out to be a split rubber fitting where the anti-freeze flows into the hot water heater and on into the engine. We had lost quite a bit of anti-freeze which resulted in the engine overheating. Thankfully, that was an easy fix.

The transmission seal came in about 11:00 a.m. and Todd spent a considerable amount of time trying to get the old seal out. He finally went to get the mechanic from the marina who was able to get it out and then Todd proceeded with the fix. He also changed the fluid in the new starboard transmission since we had put 50 hours on it and that's what the maintenance schedule recommends. So, a productive day but not a fun day for the Captain!

I fixed a meatloaf for dinner and we settled in to watch a DVD we had picked up at the Florence Marina book/movie exchange. For anyone who is considering watching "Open Water," don't waste your money or your time. The Captain said it would be more fun to watch paint dry!

Thursday, August 31st
We had planned to go about 60 miles to an anchorage five miles downriver from the Nickajack lock, but that didn't pan out. However, we got things ready to go and went to settle our bill with the marina as soon as they opened at 8:00 a.m. While there, we learned that if we put in at least 100 gallons of fuel we wouldn't have to pay for dockage ($80). Since we were going to have to get fuel before too long anyway, we decided that would work well for us. Todd also bartered with the manager to throw in the mechanic's time (another $50+) with the purchase of 200 gallons of fuel ($700) and we were on our way by 9:00 a.m. The people at Alred Marina were great and we look forward to stopping there again on our way back from Chattanooga.

We passed a few boats heading downriver throughout the day, but overall the trip was pretty uneventful. We did, however, see a small deer swimming across the river right in front of our boat, and the river was at least a half-mile wide at that point! About 6 1/2 hours into our day, we were able to see the Appalachian Mountains off to the east. To me they looked like a slightly larger version of the hills between Springfield and Branson, Missouri, but Todd disagreed with that observation. Since he was raised in Colorado mountain country, I suppose he's a better judge of what constitutes a mountain. I admit that they did get larger as we got closer to them.

We arrived at our anchorage around 5:00 p.m., but after two unsuccessful attempts at getting the anchor to hold in what appeared to be a very rocky bottom, we really had no choice but to go on to the Nickajack lock and lock through. We got to the lock about 5:45 and the second half of a two-part barge was on its way down. The barge finally pulled out about 7:00 p.m. and we were cleared to lock up. The lock went extremely smoothly and quickly and we were on our way again by about 7:15 p.m. Fortunately, the Shell Mound Rec Area was in sight once we exited the lock and we were able to tie up in a very nice area before it got totally dark. It was an extremely beautiful, highly maintained park area that we will definitely revisit on our way back downriver. A couple of pictures of the area are below.




Friday, September 1st
We continued the journey to Chattanooga Friday morning, boating through what is called the Grand Canyon of the Tennessee. We had about 40 remaining miles to go and the first 30 were very scenic with bluffs and mountains all around us. In one area, the water was 135-feet deep because the river runs along an old earthquake fault, and there were some really nice homes along the river with beautifully manicured lawns and mountains on both sides.




We finally arrived at the Chattanooga city dock around 2:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. Chattanooga time - we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone between the lock and Chattanooga) and got tied up. The dock is just below Chattanooga's famous aquariums and is very scenic. Several boats were there when we arrived and more arrived within a few hours, so the dock was full by evening. Below are some pictures of the dock and surrounding area, including one of the two side-by-side aquarium buildings.

This is the city dock. Ours is the boat on the far right.


These are some water canons on the upriver side of the city dock.


These steps are behind the water canons and lead up to Chattanooga's downtown area.


This is one of the two aquarium buildings above us. One is called "The Ocean Journey" and the other is called "The River Journey."


We spent the evening exploring downtown Chattanooga and had a really good time. There are a number of nice restaurants and other fun places to explore, so we will spend the next couple of days seeing what else we can find. The aquarium is first on our list for Saturday (after I update the blog!). Apparently, the Mississippi Queen is due in Saturday evening and she takes up 400 of the 600 feet of dock space where we are tied, so several of the boats are going to be forced to find other accommodations. We're hoping we will be able to stay where we are, though, since the Mississippi Queen should have room to pull in behind us (we are in the first 200 feet of the dock). We'll let you know how that goes in our next update. We may have a huge paddlewheeler sitting behind us when we wake up Sunday morning!

I tried, unsuccessfully, to add these photos to the previous blog posting, but if you've read it you'll understand the setting. This first photo is of Todd jumping off the top of the sundeck when we were in Whetstone with Dave Yurchak and family. Dave's wife, Cindy, took the photo.



This is a photo of us at Ricatoni's Italian Grill in Florence, AL.



This is a photo of us with Bud, the infamous "Iceman," at Cajun's in Florence. We were honored to have Bud as our first official overnight guest since becoming liveaboards.

When we last left you, we were headed back to Aqua Yacht Harbor to pick up our chest freezer that they had been working on and to settle our bill with them.  We arrived last Tuesday evening and when Todd went to settle the bill Wednesday morning, we weren't able to because the Shop Foreman, Tony, was off that day. So, we ended up staying at the marina until Thursday. Bud, the Iceman, called Wednesday afternoon while we were at the marina and we made plans to go to his house for dinner that evening.

We had heard that Bud had a nice place, but we weren't prepared for how nice it really is - wow! He has a spectacular house and a beautiful and spacious lawn right on the lake with an absolutely incredible view in all directions. Todd was disappointed that we hadn't thought to bring the camera so that we could post a picture on the blog. Hopefully we will still be able to do that before we leave Pickwick to head south for the winter.

After a wonderful evening of great food and conversation with Bud, we got things squared away with Aqua Yacht the next morning and were able to head back out to Waterfall Cove around noon. Kelly called as we were underway to see if we needed anything and said that he was on his way to the waterfall as well. Kelly's friend, Mike, followed the pontoon on Kelly's waverunner, and we spent an enjoyable afternoon chatting and hanging out. Todd even took the waverunner for a little spin before Kelly and Mike left to go home.

While we were sitting on the sundeck Friday afternoon enjoying the sights and sounds of the waterfall, a couple in a nearby boat swam over to our boat to chat with us. We had seen them in the cove several times but hadn't ever spoken with them. Bo and Terri introduced themselves and told us that they really want to become liveaboards, so we spent some time answering questions, talking about our experiences thus far and showing them the boat. We have since e-mailed with Terri and few times and hope to get together with them again when we return to Pickwick.

We left the waterfall Saturday morning to go to Grand Harbor to pick up Dave and Cindy Yurchak, Dave's daughter (Tila) and her husband (John) and their two boys, Will (12) and Reed (2). Dave's daughter lives nearby in Corinth, MS and Dave and Cindy had taken a long weekend to drive down from Springfield to pay them a visit. For those who don't know, Dave was my Senior Buyer when I was the Director of Procurement at Missouri State University and has been running the show since I left. We toured past Waterfall Cove, which was already filling up for another busy Saturday, and went down to Whetstone where it is a little less crowded for a day of fun on the water.

Will had a good time jumping off the top of the sundeck and even got Todd to join him a few times. We also took the dinghy over to find the waterfall that is buried in the back of Whetstone. It is smaller than the waterfall in Waterfall Cove and is not visible from the lake, but it is every bit as cold! Will and Todd were the only ones brave enough to stick their heads under the fall. We took Dave and family back to Grand Harbor Saturday afternoon and then headed upriver to a neat little cove we had stayed at last fall with Duane and Sue. We spent a couple of peaceful evenings there and decided to leave for Florence, AL on Monday morning.

Shortly after we got underway, the port engine began running hotter than normal and we were still having problems with the shaft overheating on the port engine, so we decided the prudent thing to do would be to go back to Aqua Yacht and get these issues taken care of. Once again, we found ourselves at Aqua Yacht for the evening. Todd quickly located the source of the overheating engine - a bad impeller - and was able to replace it. He had replaced the impeller while we were in Demopolis, but the impeller he installed was a spare that the previous owners had left on the boat and it dated back to 1989! Impellers are small rubber wheels, shaped something like a paddlewheel, and the rubber had gotten old and wasn't able to withstand the pressure of the water being pumped through it. As a result, the flaps (or paddles) on it had basically disintegrated and it wasn't pumping enough water to keep the engine properly cooled.

At any rate, we were relieved that the engine issue was an easy fix. Tony, the Shop Foreman, wasn't able to get down to the boat on Monday afternoon to look at the port shaft, so we decided to go back to Freddy T's for a quick bite to eat that evening. The next morning, Tony came down and helped Todd adjust the alignment on the port shaft - again - and by noon we were ready to go. We decided to go back to Waterfall Cove for the evening and start the journey to Florence on Wednesday. It was quiet at the waterfall, but then Bud showed up around 5:00 p.m. in his pontoon and we spent a few hours visiting with him before calling it a night.

We started out for Florence again on Wednesday morning around 10:00 a.m. and had an uneventful trip upriver, arriving at the Florence Marina about 3:30 p.m. We got situated in a slip and prepared to go eat at Ricatoni's Italian Grill, a place we have heard nothing but good things about from a number of people on Pickwick. The marina didn't have a courtesy vehicle available, so we called a cab since we were told the restaurant was about two miles away. After having gorged ourselves on fresh bread dipped in olive oil and Ricatoni's signature herb mixture, along with a fair amount of our main entrees, we decided it might be a good idea to walk back to the boat.

Neither of us had paid much attention to how we got to the restaurant, but we managed to find our way back to the marina easily enough and the walk did us both good, even though we were still stuffed when we got back to the boat! For the record, we think it was probably only about a mile from the restaurant back to the boat and at least half of it was downhill, which was good considering how full we both were.

Buddy, our nearly 15-year-old male Pomeranian, woke up Thursday morning with an issue that required medical attention. At some point during the night, his penis became fully unsheathed and it wouldn't go back inside! After calling around to several veterinarians to see what could be done, we made an appointment to take him to the animal hospital. Since the appointment wasn't until 2:15 p.m., we borrowed the courtesy van - a unique experience in its own right! - made our Wal-Mart run, came back and put the groceries away and then took Buddy to the vet.

While they were attending to our child, we went back downtown and visited Trowbridge's Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop. We had been told by the waiter at Ricatoni's that Trowbridge's has the best ice cream in town, and ice cream is a real treat for us now since our freezer on the boat isn't cold enough to keep it (and we probably wouldn't have room to store it anyway). Trowbridge's is an old-fashioned back-of-the-drug-store kind of establishment and, as promised, the ice cream was very good. Todd was quite enamoured with the place and ended up ordering a pimento cheese sandwich to complement his chocolate-strawberry malt. I stuck with a double scoop of chocolate marshmallow almond ice cream in a cone and it was delicious!

To backtrack just a bit... shortly after we arrived in Florence on Wednesday afternoon, Bud called to see if we were still at Waterfall Cove and, if so, whether we needed anything. We told him we were at the marina in Florence and invited him to join us here for dinner. He said he couldn't do it Wednesday evening but maybe Thursday. Before we left to go to Wal-Mart on Thursday, Bud called and said he was going to ride his Sea Doo to Florence - a 47-mile run - go out to Cajun's with us Thursday evening, and spend the night on the boat. Cajun's is another local establishment we were told we needed to visit while we are here, and it is one of Bud's favorites.

Bud cruised into the marina around 5:00 p.m. and we had a few cocktails on the boat before taking a cab to Cajun's where we feasted on both baked and fried crab claws and seafood gumbo while sitting at the bar watching the chefs work their magic on the grill in front of us. The food was wonderful, and we really enjoyed the neat environment and friendly atmosphere. It was a pleasantly cool evening, so we returned to the boat and sat on the sundeck for a while before retiring for the evening.

Friday began with coffee on the sundeck followed by a few Bloody Marys to start the day off right. We tried to talk Bud into staying with us another night but he decided he needed to head back to check on things at Pickwick, so I fixed breakfast and we sent him on his way shortly after noon. The main lock above Florence was damaged recently when a barge was locking through, so they are using a two-stage auxiliary lock until the main lock is repaired. Since barges take priority over pleasure boaters, we will need to call ahead to the lockmaster to see when he can get us through. However, I think the Captain has decided to stay here another night and head out in the morning, or whenever we get the green light from the lockmaster. Our next marina stop will probably be in Guntersville, AL which is about 100 miles upriver.

Cheerleaders, Friends & Doctors

Well it’s 6:00 a.m. on this Tuesday morning, and since the Admiral is still snoozing, the Captain thought he might take a shot at the blog, especially since it’s been another eventful week on the water.

Last Wednesday evening while we were still at Aqua Yacht Marina, we went out to dinner with our good friend, Bud “Ice Man” McNeal. Bud is the gentleman who helped us move trucks and boat trailers after Duane’s accident last fall, a true southern gentlemen! We had a nice dinner just a mile from the marina at Freddy T’s that included duck & seafood gumbo, which was out of this world!

The evening before our dinner with Bud, our other good Pickwick Lake friend, Kelly Greer, stopped by on his pontoon boat just as we were getting ready to leave for a Wal-Mart run. Since we were not really excited about driving the 20 miles to Wal-Mart, we ended up hanging out with Kelly on his boat for a late night of cocktails and boat rides, although some of us had a later night than others.

I guess we got started about 5:30 p.m ., drinking, chatting, and listening to music on the pontoon. Just after dark, since there was a full moon, we decided to take a pontoon ride back to Waterfall Cove. As we passed by Grand Harbor Marina, the marina that was so helpful during and after Duane’s accident, we stopped in to see if we could find Chip Lucas and his boat, “Chips Ahoy.” Chip is the gentleman who came out in his dinghy last fall when we got on the radio and May Day-ed for help in transporting Duane to the mainland where the ambulance was waiting.

Chip, who also lives aboard his boat, was not on the boat but we did find him on another dock driving around in his golf cart. We spent some time with Chip catching up and thanking him again for all his assistance last fall. I just can’t say enough good things about all the fine folks in this part of the world! After leaving Grand Harbor we boated the three miles to Waterfall Cove only to find that it had clouded up and we were not able to see the full moon. We enjoyed the trip, though, and arrived back at Aqua Yacht sometime around 11:30 p.m.; however, since none of was feeling any pain I can’t swear that the time is accurate.

The Captain had to call it quits about 12:30 a.m., leaving Kelly and the Admiral on the pontoon to tough it out until 2:30 a.m. Needless to say, the majority of the following day was spent recovering from the previous night’s adventures! We finally made it to Wal-Mart on Thursday morning and were joined in the courtesy van by another couple who lives aboard their 38-foot sailboat and were headed into town (Corinth, MS) to rent a car. This couple has put over 20,000 miles on their sailboat over the past eight years, spending time in areas from Canada to South America. I wish we could have spent more time with them; however, I’m sure we will see them along the waterway another time as I’m finding out just what a truly small world it is out on the water.

After returning from our Wal-Mart run and waiting out a rain storm on the docks, we were once again headed out to Waterfall Cove for more adventure on Pickwick Lake, and adventure we found! After a very quiet and cool Thursday night, I went out early Friday morning and caught some fish for another (future) fish fry. This photo is of a nice Pickwick Lake smallmouth bass caught and released within sight of “Life’s2Short” at Waterfall Cove.



Shortly after I returned from fishing, we started our Friday off with visitors from Memphis, and you could hear them coming down the lake from a mile away. We were blessed (some more than others) with the arrival of the University of Memphis cheerleading squad aboard their rented 70-foot houseboat... are you getting the idea of who was blessed and who was not? ;-) We counted at least fifteen folks on board the houseboat but it was hard to really tell how many were on board because they were never all together at the same time.

Now, for the record, there were both male and female cheerleaders and hard bodies abounded all over that boat! “Life’s2Short” had a front row seat for the next 48 hours of the cheerleaders partying and their air-show. After they got their houseboat anchored, which was an ongoing affair, the group had a big time jumping off the roof of the houseboat and swinging off the 25-foot rope swing at the waterfall. The music was loud, the Jungle Juice was cold, and by late afternoon I’m sure the group was feeling no pain, except those who managed to belly-flop in the water when they jumped off the waterfall and the top of the houseboat.

The group actually settled down a little bit about dinner time but I could tell it was going to get “ugly” after the sun went down and they got their batteries recharged... and they didn’t let us down. After dark the music went back up and the clothes came off. I won’t go into details as I’m sure your are getting the picture. :-) One of the nice things about “Life’s2Short” is that when you close up all windows and doors it becomes pretty soundproof so we were able to get a good night’s sleep.

The following morning I was up about 6:30 a.m., and lo and behold some of our cheerleaders were actually up. I’m not sure they had been to bed yet as a few of them were holding and drinking cervezas... ah, to be 21 years old and that tough again. Kelly and his dogs, Harley and Lucky, also stopped by early and were gracious enough to bring us ice - again! Kelly spent a few hours with us and then went back to pick up his wife Melissa and daughter Caroline so they could come back out to the waterfall for a BBQ.

Shortly before Kelly left, I heard that the cheerleaders were in need of some supplies and since I had fresh ice and Bloody Mary mix but no vodka, I rowed the dinghy over to see if I could make a trade. After a brief discussion, a deal was made - they had their supplies and I had a fresh quart of ice cold vodka. I love the barter system, especially when it involves cheerleaders!

The rest of Saturday was spent with Kelly and his family watching all the boats in the cove and enjoying a wonderful feast that Kelly put together. By Saturday night the cheerleaders were much more mellow and we were entertained by karaoke from the top of their houseboat. Lord knows, some of them could have used some singing lessons. :-) Late Sunday morning our weekend entertainment pulled out and then we were joined again by Kelly and Melissa as we enjoyed another leisurely day at the waterfall.

Before Kelly and Melissa left for the day, Kelly and I agreed to meet early the next morning to try our hand at some catfishing. About dinner time, as most of the boats were departing, our friend Bud stopped by on his Sea Doo and brought us a sweet treat from Memphis: two Krispy Kreme donuts. By Sunday evening everyone but “Life’s2Short” had gone home so the Admiral and I spent a quiet evening relaxing and reading in our now private cove.

As planned, Kelly showed up in his pontoon about 7:30 a.m. Monday morning and we headed up the lake to try our luck. After about an hour with no bites we came back to the waterfall and cast our rods off the back of the boat to see if we could catch some catfish right out our back door. After just a few minuets I had a bite and up came a small catfish, this was going to be easy... or so I thought. Well, the catfish had swallowed the hook and, in the process of trying to get the hook out, the fish slipped from my grip and the sharp, spiny, toxin-covered barb on the catfish speared my palm, driving the barb an inch into my hand. This was not going to be easy after all!

After a few attempts to pull the barb out while my hand and arm went numb, we decided it would be best to run to the doctor’s office to see about getting it removed. Kelly and his pontoon came to the rescue, and a short time later I was in Dr. Peters’ office getting the barb pulled out and receiving a prescription for an antibiotic to keep the wound from getting infected. It’s always an adventure on “Life’s2Short” and I am usually the reason for such excitement, much to the Admiral’s dismay. I now know why I don’t catfish much, but since I promised the Admiral a catfish dinner I guess I will still keep trying, either that or find a good catfish restaurant.  After paying the doctor bill, the Admiral decided a catfish restaurant would have been much less expensive!

To spare any additional trauma to my injured hand, the Admiral offered to row Buddy to shore in the dinghy late that afternoon for a potty break. It was rather amusing watching her rookie attempt at maneuvering the oars. Below is a shot of her as she neared shore. You can barely see the top of Buddy’s head in the front of the dinghy.



It is now Tuesday morning and we are once again enjoying our private view of the waterfall. The hand seems to be healing fine and we plan to head back over to Aqua Yacht Marina later this afternoon to pick up the chest freezer they have been working on and download this edition of the blog. After that, who knows what will happen next in this wonderful live-a-board life. All we know is that it’s a new day and we are blessed to be alive and healthy and enjoying each day to its fullest.

The final three locks on the Tenn-Tom went well, even the “big” one which is three times higher than the others, although we spent a few anxious moments fighting to keep the bow rail off the lock wall. That’s typical of many of the locks, but this one seemed to have more power behind it than any of the others. And I suspect it did given that it takes 46 million gallons of water to fill it compared to about 14 million gallons, on average, for the other locks on the Tenn-Tom.  Regardless, it was a great feeling to finally be in Bay Springs Lake when that whistle sounded and those lock gates opened!

As soon as we got out of the lock, we radioed “Miss Pip” to see where she was anchored. “Miss Pip” belongs to Chuck & Pip (a.k.a Jan), a couple we originally met on the water when we were limping into Demopolis on one transmission. Actually, we didn’t officially meet Chuck & Pip until later, but they passed us on the water and Todd and Chuck talked on the radio for a while. Shortly after we pulled in to Midway Marina last Sunday, “Miss Pip” pulled in behind us to get fuel. Unbeknownst to us, Chuck & Pip had been staying at Midway for several weeks and were getting ready to go to Bay Springs before heading up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga.  Anyway, we went over to see them last Sunday evening on their dock and made plans to get together on Bay Springs.

Upon entering Bay Springs Todd began to scout out some possible anchorages he had located on the map. We spent some time doing that and then headed to the area where “Miss Pip” was anchored, called Five Fingers Cove. We located “Miss Pip” and explored that area a bit trying to determine where we wanted to anchor. We were surprised to find the lake several feet higher than it was last fall when we were there. The lake is about six feet lower at winter pool than it currently is, so most of the sandy beaches we saw last fall are not currently exposed.

After some exploration, we decided to go to the spot where we beached our Sea Ray last fall, drop the anchor, and back in to shore so the swim deck would be close to the beach and we would be able to swim from the boat to shore relatively easily. Well, that turned out to be quite an ordeal. We dropped the anchor far enough out from shore so that Todd could back toward shore while setting the anchor and then we were going to secure the back of the boat by tying a rope to a tree on shore. After dropping 75 to 100 feet of anchor chain, Todd began backing toward shore but the anchor wouldn’t catch and he was getting too close to shore to continue. So, we wound the anchor chain back in and tried again.

In the meantime, storms are popping up all around us and the wind is not helping matters. We go through this drill three times before it appears that the anchor is finally holding. Of course, the wind is not allowing us to keep the stern pointed toward shore for very long and the anchor chain kept pulling us forward, so Todd wasn’t able to shut down the engines and get a rope tied to shore to hold us in place. Since I was not about to try to back us into shore while Todd jumped off the back with a rope, the only alternative was for me to take the rope to shore. When Todd got the boat positioned the way it needed to be, I jumped off the swim platform, rope in hand, and started swimming toward shore.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my visor off before jumping in the water, so I was swimming with a visor in one hand and a 100-foot rope in the other, trying to get to shore while the wind was blowing the boat around and the anchor chain was continuing to pull us forward. I also had to keep the rope taunt between me and the boat so that it didn’t get tangled up in the props and this turned out to be quite a challenge, all things considered.

I finally made it to shore and was trying to get the rope to a tree, but the darned boat just kept pulling away from me and I was screaming at Todd to “Give me some help here!” (among other things)! I know he was doing what he could, but I also knew I couldn’t hold a 15-ton boat in place with the wind and anchor fighting me. Todd finally got the boat back into position and I got the rope tied around the tree and then had to stand in the water panting for several minutes, trying to recover, before swimming back to the boat. As it turned out, the water below the swim platform was only about 5-½ feet deep so I walked most of the way back!

After recovering from the anchoring ordeal, we got the dinghy down and boated over to see Chuck & Pip. We spent some time chatting with them over a few cocktails and then invited them over to our boat the next morning for Bloody Marys. They arrived with a beautiful platter of freshly boiled shrimp in tow and we proceeded to spend a few hours chatting and drinking Bloody Marys and snacking on shrimp and grapes. Chuck toyed with the idea of taking his dinghy to the marina (about three miles away) to get some ice but since we were probably going to pull up anchor and move to a different location the following day, we decided we could wait.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, me reading and Todd scrubbing his dinghy. It had gotten quite a lot of river scum on it from the Tenn-Tom so he wanted to clean it up and put a coat of protectant on it. About 5:00 p.m., Chuck called and said he was going to the marina for ice so he brought his dinghy over and he and Todd took off (you can never have too much ice). When they got back, Todd informed me that Pip was cooking Chicken Parmesan for dinner and we were invited, so we got ready and went over to their boat for a wonderful evening of conversation, excellent food, drinks, and watching the stars from the upper deck of their boat. It was definitely one of the most enjoyable evenings we’ve had on the water.

Chuck & Pip were planning to leave Bay Springs the next morning (Wednesday) and start heading toward Chattanooga. Even though we had planned to spend several days on Bay Springs, we decided to go with them as far as Pickwick Lake and spend more time in Bay Springs when we head back down river this fall since the water will be at winter pool by then and more sandy beaches will be exposed. Besides, we learned that Chuck & Pip had never been to Waterfall Cove and we wanted to make sure they experienced it before leaving Pickwick.

About 10:30 Wednesday morning, we pulled anchor and started the 35-40 mile journey through what they call the Divide Cut which separates Bay Springs from Pickwick Lake. It was a very hot day and we were more than ready for the trip to be over by the time we reached Pickwick; however, we needed to make a stop to pick up a few essentials before going to Waterfall Cove. When we were on Pickwick last fall we learned about the Sportsman’s One Stop, a little convenience store just up the road from the bay outside Aqua Yacht Harbor.

Last fall we were able to tie the Sea Rays to the small courtesy dock just down from the store and walk up to it, but the dock isn’t large enough for “Life’s2Short” or “Miss Pip” so we had to anchor in the cove and lower the dinghy to get over to the dock. Todd went over and picked up Chuck in our dinghy, and Pip and I stayed on the boats while the boys went shopping. The owner of the One Stop was just bringing some people back to the dock in his golf cart when Todd and Chuck arrived, so they hitched a ride to the store in his cart, got what they needed, and then he brought them back to the dock.

We put the dinghy back up, pulled up anchor and headed to Waterfall Cove, which was about five miles away. When we arrived, there were several boats pulled up on the gravel point where we wanted to tie up, so Todd maneuvered his way around them and we got situated while Chuck & Pip waited for enough of the locals to clear out so they could come in next to us. By the time we were secure, several of the other boats had left and “Miss Pip” was able to come in. The photo below shows us nudged up on the gravel bar.



Waterfall Cove is a very popular local hangout and is a big party cove on weekends during the summer, so we planned to stay there through Friday and go somewhere else for the weekend. The cove itself is not terribly large, but there is a nice pea gravel point big enough for several boats to pull up on and the cove is big enough to accommodate quite a few boats and people. But, as you can imagine based on the photo below, the main attraction is the waterfall that cascades off a high bluff at the back of the cove. It is entirely spring-fed and runs year-round, and the water as you get closer to the waterfall is noticeably cooler. If you’re brave enough to actually get under the waterfall, you’ll see how truly cold the water is! There is also a rope tied to a tree near the top of the bluff that people of all ages climb up to, swing out on and drop into the water below. Todd swung off the rope several times last fall but the rest of us were content to sit back and watch!



As I mentioned, it was a very hot day and by the time both boats were secure, it had turned into a long, hot day for all of us. Cold drinks and rest were in order! As the sun began to get lower in the west, we sought out available shade on the fronts of our boats and chilled for a while. When the sun was finally behind the trees, we moved to the back deck on “Miss Pip” and spent the evening enjoying the cool breeze coming off the waterfall, which is one of the nicest things about being there on a hot summer evening. Since none of us had eaten for several hours, Chuck & Pip offered to grill some Bubba Burgers they had in the freezer. We contributed a large can of baked beans and had another great evening hanging out with Chuck & Pip, enjoying their company, the waterfall-cooled breeze and beautiful scenery.

Since we had been treated to dinner two nights in a row by Chuck & Pip, we invited them to dine with us Thursday evening. They told us they both love fresh fish, so our hope was to be able to have a fish fry. Todd had caught some fish about a week ago but needed to catch a few more to have enough for the four of us. Being the great fisherman he is, this turned out to be an easy assignment. He promptly went out Thursday morning and caught more than enough fish to supplement what we already had, so the fish fry was on.

Thursday afternoon, Kelly surprised us by showing up at Waterfall Cove in his pontoon boat. We had met Kelly and his dog, Harley, in Waterfall Cove last fall when we first met Mike & Mary of “WhatDazeIt.” Kelly has kept in touch with Mike & Mary and they told him about our plan to become liveaboards and gave him our blog site address. Kelly sent us a comment from the blog site when we first set it up, but we didn’t have a e-mal address for him and weren’t able to even acknowledge that we had received the blog comment, so we were hoping to run into him while we were at Waterfall Cove.

We spent most of Thursday visiting with Kelly, Harley and his new dog, Lucky, on the pontoon, and then we prepared dinner for Chuck & Pip after Kelly headed for home. Todd was in charge of frying the fish and I fried potatoes and made a salad since I didn’t have any cabbage to make cole slaw. Chuck & Pip contributed their world famous hush puppies which were made with onion and jalapenos and were outstanding!  Chuck & Pip were planning to leave Friday morning and spend a few days in Florence, AL, about 30 miles upriver, so we didn’t stay up long after dinner. Of course, it was after 9:00 by the time we ate, so it wasn’t exactly an early evening any way you look at it!

Chuck & Pip left Friday morning before I was even out of bed, although I did wake up as they were pulling out of the cove. Todd had suggested that they pull their boat over to the waterfall before they left so that he could take a picture of it with the waterfall in the background, and having done that, they were on their way. This is one of the photos Todd took that morning.



Kelly came back around noon on Friday and brought us some much needed ice for the cooler. He mentioned that there was a chance for rain that afternoon and sure enough, we got quite a storm a few hours later. We were on the sundeck on our boat, so we stayed nice and dry while the storm raged on the main lake in front of us. It looked like rollers on the ocean as the wind blew and the rain poured down, but we were nice and secure in our waterfall anchorage with bluffs protecting us from the north wind. After the rain was over we went with Kelly in his pontoon to pick up his wife, Melissa, at a dock near their house.  Kelly showed us some nice anchorages along the way before bringing us back to Waterfall Cove, and then he and Melissa visited with us a while longer before heading toward home.

By noon on Saturday, the cove started filling up with boats. We had originally planned to leave before that happened, but we had also planned to join Bud, a.k.a. The Iceman, in another cove that day and hadn’t heard from him, so we stayed where we were and watched as more and more people gathered in the cove. As with Kelly, we met Bud last fall at Waterfall Cove and after the accident with Duane, Bud was instrumental in helping us get our trucks and boat trailers from Saltillo, TN, where we originally launched the Sea Rays, back to Pickwick.

Bud is affectionately known as “The Iceman” because he travels around the lake on his Sea Doo and can’t carry much ice with him, so he reportedly asks people if they can spare some ice for his drink (Stoli & grapefruit juice) after his supply of ice runs out. Anyway, Bud finally showed up on his Sea Doo about 3:30 or so and was on his way to an annual gathering of Parrot Heads (Jimmy Buffet afficionados, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term) in a cove on the other side of the lake, but by then we were pinned in so we decided to just stay there and watch the festivities at the waterfall (see photo below).



By late afternoon much of the crowd has dissipated, and just before dark Bud pulled up in his pontoon, Sea Doo in tow, with several friends of his from the Parrot Head gathering. We visited with them for a while and bid them ado as it was starting to get dark and we hadn’t yet eaten dinner.

Late Saturday evening, a young couple in a small cuddy cabin with a Golden Retriever on board came in to the cove after we had gone to bed and pulled up on the gravel bar near us to spend the night. When they got up Sunday morning, Todd offered them some coffee, for which they were very grateful, and we visited with them for a while before pulling up anchor to find a new spot for the day. After spending Saturday in Waterfall Cove, we wanted to leave while we still could and try out another cove a few miles up the lake called Whetstone which we had been told was a good anchorage.

Prior to us leaving for Whetstone Todd was out picking up litter on the gravel point and found a $10 bill that someone had apparently dropped the day before. Todd commented that his old boss, Fred, would be very jealous of his find! We spent Sunday in Whetstone in relative peace and quiet, which was a nice change of pace after Saturday. There were actually a number of boats in Whetstone, but it was nothing compared to the masses in Waterfall Cove.

Late Sunday afternoon Bud came cruising through the cove in his pontoon with his Parrot Head group from the evening before, plus a few more, and they pulled over to the boat to chat for a while and tour “Life’s2Short.” Shortly after that, we pulled up anchor and headed for Aqua Yacht Harbor, where we are currently, to have some work done. I’m not sure how long we’re going to be here, but I’m hoping we will be able to leave by tomorrow afternoon.

Being back on Pickwick and renewing the acquaintances we made last fall has really brought back memories of our time here with Duane & Sue. Most of those memories are wonderful, but obviously many are painful as well, as this is where we lost Duane just a little more than ten months ago. In fact, we spent our final night together at Waterfall Cove before the accident that claimed his life occurred the next morning.

Even though the return to Pickwick and to Waterfall Cove is bittersweet, we also realize that we wouldn’t be here now, pursuing our dream, had it not been for the loss of our dear friend last fall. We don’t really have any definite travel plans at this point, but we want to spend more time at Waterfall Cove (during the week), and we also want to go to Florence, AL where we’ve heard there are a number of good restaurants to check out. However, we also want to spend more time with Kelly and Bud, and we still need to stop in to see Jason, the Dockmaster at Grand Harbor Marina who was so helpful to us both during and after Duane’s accident, and Chip Lucas who lives on his boat at Grand Harbor and who responded to our May Day call and transported Duane in his dinghy to the ambulance waiting at the Grand Harbor boat ramp.

So, we’re not sure when we will go to Florence or if we will continue up the Tennessee River toward Chattanooga once we get to Florence. Todd spoke with Chuck & Pip today and they are upriver from Florence and would like to meet up with us again at some point. The main lock above Florence is going to be closed for the next month or so to repair some damage caused by a barge and they are using an auxiliary lock to move traffic upriver, but the auxiliary lock is causing delays of several hours for boaters trying to lock through, so we may wait until the main lock is back in operation before trying to go beyond Florence.

At any rate, that brings you up to date since our last post. We plan to do laundry and restock with groceries while we’re here and then we will decide where we’re going, probably on a day-by-day basis. We have not been able to access the Internet while on the water since we got to Pickwick, so unless we get lucky and happen across a really good signal on the Cingular air card, we probably won’t be able to update the blog or answer e-mail for a while. Please check in from time-to-time, though, just in case!

Well, we are making progress, albeit slowly! We arrived at the Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS on Tuesday afternoon of last week and left Thursday morning. We only traveled about 30 miles and went through one lock before finding a nice anchorage with a sandy beach just off the main waterway where we spent three nights enjoying some cooler weather and refreshingly cool water.

Since there are six locks in the remaining 46 miles to Bay Springs Lake, we decided to split it up into two days. If it was just the mileage, it would be easy to make the trip in one day, but the locks can really slow you down, especially if you have to wait an hour or two for a barge to lock through ahead of you. Even though we've had good luck with the locks so far, three locks in one day is more than enough for me!

We went 28 miles and through three locks yesterday and are currently at Midway Marina in Fulton, MS; we will go the remaining 18 miles and three locks today. The final lock before entering Bay Springs Lake is an 84-foot lift whereas all of the other locks have been about a 27-foot lift. I can't imagine how intimidating that's going to be!

We have our new Cingular wireless data card to access the Internet/e-mail while we're on the move, but it has been painfully slow and unreliable when we're on the water, even with a good cell signal, so we may not be able to update the blog again until we're at a marina with wi-fi access and I'm not sure when that's going to be. Or, maybe we'll get lucky and the Cingular card will actually work like it's supposed to! At any rate, stay tuned and we'll try to get some more pictures posted with the next update.

Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

It's amazing what a little change in scenery can do to help one's outlook on being a boat owner.  We finally got out of Demopolis this past Saturday morning and had a trouble-free cruise up the river where we found our very own island with a small sandy beach.


It ended up being such a welcome & needed event that we opted to stay there for three nights! I did some fishing and exploring in the dinghy each day and we both spent time reading and hanging out on our sandy point with quite a few cervezas ;-) The water at our island oasis was as clear as we had seen it since leaving Mobile so we also spent time swimming and keeping the Bud-Man wet.

Speaking of Buddy, he is now totally blind & deaf but still full of himself; however, his little head must hurt as he continues to “bump” his way around his new home! He's doing okay, though, and will hopefully be with us a while longer.

After leaving our island paradise early yesterday morning we continued north about 60 miles to our current location which is the Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS. We passed under a railroad bridge before our first lock just as a train was going over.



The next photo shows the Admiral as we were finishing locking through.

There are twelve locks between Mobile and Bay Springs Lake, and they are always an adventure in patience & strength. At the first lock of the day, Tom Bevill, there is a visitor center so we tied up and played tourist for a few hours touring the Snagboat “Montgomery” (see left side of photo below - our boat is on the right in the background) and the visitor center.

Here is a photo of the Captain at the helm of the Snagboat.

 After pulling away from the visitor center dock we continued to head north to the marina at Columbus, arriving about 4:30 p.m. This is a nice marina that treated me to a beautiful sunrise this morning, although the photo was too dark to post.

Well, I guess it’s time to go start the Admiral’s coffee as I expect sleeping beauty will be rolling out of bed any time (the Admiral doesn't enjoy getting up at 4:30 a.m!). We know there are a bunch of you reading this blog, please let us know if you have any questions.......or want to come for a visit as we are still waiting for our first guests.......not that anyone was excited about a visit to Demopolis, AL!

By the way, if you send us a blog comment, please include your e-mail address if we don't already have it since we can't respond to a blog comment directly. We love receiving your comments, though! We have 77 miles and seven more locks (ugh!) before we make it to Bay Springs Lake where we hope to spend a week just enjoying the boating experience. Wish us luck and keep in touch! Cap’n T & Admiral B

Since we haven't posted any photos for a while, we thought you might enjoy seeing a few. The first photo was taken last Thursday after we unsuccessfully attempted to leave Demopolis. Fred, the marina owner, had the boat hauled out so they could look at the drive shaft and try to figure out why the stuffing box was overheating. It's pretty amazing watching a 30,000-pound boat, and our home, get lifted up out of the water.....don't try this at home!
















The next picture shows the Admiral scraping barnacles off the drive shaft - it's important to keep those barnacles off your bottom & shaft!















And the final picture shows Buddy sleeping off a hangover after getting a little too juiced; he too is tired of the heat & maintenance issues!

It’s time for a different "poster-child" to write this edition of our blog, the Admiral has had enough "boating fun" so the Captain has volunteered to assume the duty this time.

Where do I begin? Let’s start with my birthday; thanks to those of you who sent cards & emails, for those of you who did not I’m still accepting gifts......preferably cash! :-) We went up to our favorite hangout, the New Orleans Bar & Grill here in the marina, to celebrate my 1st birthday as a live aboard. It was a pretty mellow event but the beer was cold, the food was good, the company was fun, and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" continued to be on the tube.

During happy hour (one of the few times we have been happy lately) I was invited to play golf the following day at the local course, it ended up being a great break from all that was happening with Lifes2Short. I actually hit the ball pretty good for not picking up the sticks for more than 4 years, I managed to keep my score under a hundred but only by 3 shots.

After returning from golf the marina owner, Fred, stopped by the boat and wanted us to come back over to his house on Wednesday for a "farewell dinner & swim", he promised to lift the curse of "Fred’s Triangle" and supply us with good mojo so we could get away on Thursday. "Fred’s Triangle" is a local phenomenon; like the Bermuda Triangle, once you get in you can’t get out!

After a swim & a nice dinner of the Admiral’s BBQ’d shrimp & veggie kabob’s Fred lifted the curse and we were ready to leave on Thursday, one month to the day of our arrival in Demopolis. I got the Admiral up early so we could get underway before the heat of the day, we cast off the lines and were on our way before 7:00 a.m. By 9:00 a.m. we were back in the marina and wondering what ever possessed us to take on this new lifestyle.

Without getting too technical the issue was that the seal that keeps the water from coming in from the drive-shaft (the stuffing box) was overheating. Fortunately we had only gone 4 miles when I decided to do a temperature check on this piece of equipment and noticed that the stuffing box was up to 195 degrees, it should run about 95 degrees depending on the water temperature of the river. So back we limped to the marina, visions of a month ago, for round II of "Fred’s Triangle".

This time they actually hauled the boat out, all 15 tons of it, so we could fix the issue......which we did the same day. I keep telling the Admiral "everything happens for a reason", even though she is VERY tired of hearing this, and the reason for this new problem was so I could see the bottom of Lifes2Short which I had not had the chance to see yet.

The bottom looked good, almost as good as the Admiral’s bottom! The Admiral got her first chance at scraping the barnacles off the bottom of the boat while I replaced some zincs on the shafts & bow-thruster. After doing these few items and fixing the stuffing box issue we put her back in the water and idled back over to slip number B-15, which has become our local address.

We have decided that we will spend another week here because we have had a nagging oil leak in our port engine ever since we left FL and we figure we might as well take care of that item too. I have ordered the oil pan gasket and expect it here early next week, perhaps we will get out of the triangle by next weekend?? I guess the positive in all this is that I have really learned a bunch about the systems on this "money-pit" so in the future I "should" be able to take care of these items.......I say "should"!

There are also some other positive items that have come out of our misadventures; the next few days are supposed to be 97 degrees and it’s great to have AC here in the marina (Buddy is really enjoying the cool cabin), we continue to meet some wonderful folks and hear about their adventures, and we have another date to go over to Fred’s house on Sunday afternoon for more BBQ & swimming! Hell who knows, we might just stay here and forget about the trip?

Actually I have been offered 2 jobs while I have been here; one job is working for the marina and the other job is filling in for one of the waitresses/bartenders over at the New Orleans Bar & Grill while she is out on maternity leave! At any rate that’s where we are for now, still in Demopolis and still waiting to head north. We enjoy getting the emails from those of you who are keeping abreast of our adventures, so keep them coming. Cap’n T.

As we mentioned previously, we have met many nice people at the marina. About two weeks ago, a couple pulled into the slip next to us in a 26-foot sailboat and in talking with them we learned they are from Willard, MO of all places! Pat and Karl live on their sailboat and travel to and from Willard periodically to spend time on their farm. They were big Lady Bears fans in the days of Melody Howard, and we spent a couple of evenings enjoying their company before they headed north toward Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River.

A few days later another Missouri couple arrived at the marina to do some maintenance on their boat. They are from St. Louis, their daughter went to SMSU in the 80's, and they shared stories of the fun times they have had wintering in south Florida and the Bahamas. Something to look forward to!

Our new transmission arrived at the marina on June 26th and they began installing it the next day. However, because it wasn’t the same kind of transmission as the one we were replacing, the installation process was a bit more involved than it otherwise would have been. When we saw that the transmission was not going to be finished in time to make it to the marina in Columbus MS for the 4th of July, we decided to rent a car and drive back to Missouri to surprise my mother for her 70th birthday (which was on July 4th).

We weren’t able to get a rental in Demopolis, so one of the marina workers offered to take us to Meridian, MS Saturday morning, July 1st, to pick up a car, about 50 miles west of Demopolis. The trip back to Missouri took us through parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas on the 650+ mile journey which ended about 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening at Lake of the Ozarks, but it was a good trip and a pleasant change of scenery for us.

Mom and I had a good time shopping the thrift stores in Camdenton, and Todd spent quite a bit of time bass fishing and he even went catfishing with my dad a few times. However Todd made the mistake one morning while bass fishing of taking a bathroom break on shore and he got into the chiggers, so now his mid-section is covered with dozens of nasty-looking bright red welts! He keeps trying to get me to scratch them for him, but as you can imagine I’m not too excited at the prospect - I think he has ulterior motives in mind when he says he wants me to "scratch his itch!"

The lawyer who lives across the lake from my parents’ cabin spends about $5,000 every year on fireworks and puts on a really nice show that we were able to watch from my dad’s boat dock. Usually a lot of boats gather to watch the show from the water, but since July 4th was on a Tuesday, there were only 50 or so that made it this year. It was a good time, though, and mom even made homemade black walnut ice cream for us!

We left Lake of the Ozarks around noon on Wednesday, July 5th, and split the return trip into two days, stopping over in Tunica, MS for the night where the slots did not treat us kindly! We stayed at the Grand Casino, which does not allow pets, so we had to smuggle the Bud-Man into the hotel in our carry-on bag which made for some tense moments since he was whimpering and whining and would bark when we tried to make him be quiet! Fortunately we had the elevator to ourselves and made it down the hall to our room without encountering anyone.

We continued south the next day and arrived back in Meridian, MS about 1:30 p.m. Amanda, one of the waitresses from the marina’s restaurant, picked us up in Meridian and drove us back to the marina in a blinding rain storm. Unfortunately, not much of the rain fell in Demopolis but the temperatures have improved since we first arrived. Of course, anything less than 100 degrees is an improvement over the first few weeks we were here!

The transmission was installed when we got back, but they were having some issues with the shifter cables. After making some additional adjustments, we finally took the boat out for a test spin late Friday afternoon. Everything seems to be working fine, so I think we will continue our journey north on Tuesday morning. Todd’s 48th birthday is tomorrow, July 10th, and we have decided to celebrate it with the many friends we’ve made during our month-long stay here. Since we got back, we have been cleaning up the boat after having mechanics tracking in and out for weeks, washing the outside of the boat, and Todd has been doing more maintenance in the "Holy Place," otherwise known as the engine room.

Once we leave Demopolis, our Internet access will be limited, but we will update the blog and check e-mail whenever we are able to get a signal. Our next stop will be the marina in Columbus, MS and then on to Bay Springs Lake where we plan to spend about a week before continuing on to Pickwick Lake. Hopefully, we are finished with boat issues for a while, although the port engine still appears to be leaking oil. That will be a project for another time, though, and may have to be addressed when we return to Florida where the engine was recently rebuilt.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to continuing our journey and hope you will follow along with us via the blog. We also enjoy receiving your e-mails and blog comments, so please drop us a note as we would like to know who is actually reading this! Until next time, T & B.