Annie has just returned to Florence after her second annual fall color cruise up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga which is about 200 miles up stream.
On this trip we were joined by our good friends Larry and Diana Spereckelmeier from Cinncinatti.
They drove down and we met them in Chattanooga and drove them to Florence in our car. We left Sunday and headed up the river to view the spectacular fall colors along the river. The weather has been cool and the trees have lost their green and turning red and gold. The weather was splendid the whole ten days out with the daytime temperatures in the 70’s and dipping down to just below freezing every night. Made for great sleeping and there was no need to run a generator at night. Our first day out we introduced them to the Tennessee River locks at Wilson and Wheeler Dams.
This has been Hillary’s first extended period on the boat and she has adapted admirably. I take her ashore twice a day for walks in the woods along the way and she loves to go for dinghy rides. During the day she has been the center of attention and enjoyed all of the rubbing and scratching she received by our guests I think she must be in doggy heaven.
She had discovered geese and deer and ducks and beaver and all kinds of critters. Unfortunately I have to roll out the warm cozy bunk at 6AM to take her ashore. But it has become routine. I get dressed, fire up the generator and make the coffee and turn the heater on to warm the boat up, put a towel in the drier so my charming bride will have a hot towel to dry off with after her shower while Hillary and I brave the ice and fog and frost to find relief ashore. One memorble day when we were nearing shore the surface of the water was covered with a very fine layer of marine vegetation that is called duck weed. It forms a solid coat of green on top of the water and Hillary must have thought it was grass and jumped out of the dinghy before we had landed. She was rather surprised that there was water underneath the green stuff but scrambled ashore rather undaunted by her bath. The mornings were very foggy and we freguently had to wait for the fog to lift before we could get Annie underway. The trip upstream was very pleasant and uneventful. Annie performed admirably. We anchored out in secluded coves along the river every night. The days are pretty short and it is dark by 5:30 so we had to find a place to anchor and get secured for the night before it got dark. Diana and Carol are both great cooks and needless to say we ate very well.
When we got to Chatanooga we found that there was and intercollegiate rowing regattawith colleges from all over the south competing. There were about 500 teams involved and it took up the whole Chatanooga waterfront. The waterfront was lined with pleasure boats that had come to watch the competition.
This picture was taken fro the old railroad bridge which has been converted to a pedestrian bridge over the iver. In the other direction sitting on the bluff is the museum of Fine Arts overlooking the River .
Our guests left on Saturday morning and Carol and I headed back downstream. There were half a dozen boats we met in Chattanooga that were making the “Loop”. The “Loop” is a big circle that starts in the Great Lakes. Boaters come down the Ohio or Mississippi River and come up the Tennesse as far as the Tombigbee Waterway which takes them to the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the “loopers” as they are called will continue up the Tennessee River and see the sights along the way. The remainder continue on south and winter in Florida and the Bahamas and then head north along the east coast in the spring up to New York and up the Hudson River and back to Canada and the great Lakes completing the “Loop”. We hooked up with this group and stayed with them most of the way back to Florence. Met a bunch on interesting people that enjoyed the boating life.
Annie did very well on the trip with only a few very minor problems. Most of the problems were operator errors and not boat problems. It was good to get here out on the river again. We got back to Florence to take care of house issues. There are decisions to be made, bills to be paid and meetings with the various contracors. When we left the sheet rock had not been started and when we got back it was finished and the taping and floating had begun. The exterior brick work is nearly finished. Only one end of the house and the outdoor kitchen remains.
Front of the house
Kitchen Family Room
Breakfast room
Carol at the Front door
Aches in the hall way leading to the Foyer
My Trophy Bride
And so our new life in Alabama goes. Everyday is an adventure. The house will be done in maybe two months so we can start our new life here. Currently living on the boat is like being on vacation everyday. Vera is all settled in in Merrill Gardens and seems to be adapting to her new home and meeting new people. At least since Vera is here Carol will be able to spend most of the time here with me. We will be returning to League City for trips to bring our things up here. We will be returning next week as Maribelle is about to drop a baby and she is as big as a barn. I want to wait for her to foal before I bring her up here. I don’t want to stress her with the long trailer ride until after she foals. We will need to try to get out house on the market as soon as possible. Hope to see a lot of friends when we get back.
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