So, the boat is finally ready. Oil and filters changed on both propulsion engines, (7 gallons each, wow!), oil and filters changed on both generators. Impellers changed on all engines. Stabilizer repaired. For the stabilizer, somehow on the trip down from Lake Michigan last year, a rod end on the hydraulic ram on the starboard fin had broken off. With the Mississippi River flooded such as it was, and with all the debris floating, Steve suspects they hit something rather large that popped the eyelet.
Steve installed an AIS transponder, (Automatic Identification System). This is just like an airplane transporter, transmitting information about our vessel to others. Location, direction of travel, speed, size of vessel, even our vessel’s name. In return, our vessel receives that same information from other vessels that are equipped, transposing that information onto our chart-plotter. This is not a requirement, but is a very nice safety feature. An example; on the Tennessee Tombigbee River, from the Tennessee River to Mobile Bay, there are some stretches along which out-of-the-way anchorages are really rare. In those cases, we must anchor in the main river, outside the navigation channel, but still very exposed. Leaving the AIS on all night, not only will we be seen on the tow’s radar, now they will actually see that we are a boat at anchor and not some false blip on the radar. Secondly, it will alarm if it sees that you are on a collision course with another vessel so that you can take appropriate action. You may be thinking, what idiot wouldn’t be able to see that he was on a collision course without electronics? Steve has an extremely good example. Last year, as Mike (Wehrle) and Steve were bringing the boat down from Lake Michigan, they received a briefing from the owner of Heritage Harbor Marina, on the Illinois River in Ottowa, IL. They were talking to him about their trip, and he offered to give them the same briefing as he gives Loopers as they come down the river in the fall. In that briefing, he told them about the major tow terminal in St. Louis. For a 5 – 10 mile run down the Mississippi, according to him, the waterway is busier than New York Harbor. Steve says that there were tows coming at our boat from every compass point, and it was constant. You may have a giant tow coming toward you, and as you’re meeting him, a tow is crossing the river right behind him. For that 5 -10 mile run, Steve says that he didn’t think he took a single breath, and his head was on a constant swivel. With the electronics, not only will we be able to see the tows on our chart-plotter, we will receive an alarm if a collision is becoming imminent. In addition to that, the tows will be seeing us, too. So AIS, while not a requirement, is a very NTTH, (nice thing to have).
Also, we had some canvas work done while here. We have a very nice flybridge, with great visibility, but… The heavy acrylic used for clear windows was probably perfect for the Great Lakes. Nice and heavy, durable and warm. As we come further south, however, the flybridge turns into a greenhouse. The acrylic windows are too thick to roll up or fold. There was a system to unzip them and snap them to the top of the flybridge, but the large panels were so heavy, they wouldn’t stay snapped and would come crashing down at the most inopportune times. Therefore, we had several large panels replaced with strataglass. This is a very nice clear material, but it can be rolled up and secured, opening the flybridge up almost completely, dropping the temperature inside dramatically. Hooray!
Lastly, but not least; we had the bottom cleaned and inspected. A couple divers came, suited up, went below and scraped and scrubbed all the algae from the bottom, the props, etc. They also did an inspection of the bottom paint and looked for any damage to props or fiberglass. We were holding our breaths as they came up after about 45 minutes. We were afraid of the dreaded words, “well you’ve got a problem below the waterline”. Steve approached, asked them about it while wincing, the reply was quick from both divers, everything was perfect!! No damages, no problems, bottom paint looks beautiful and can go at least another year before needing repainting! If Steve could’ve danced a little jig, I think he would have!
On August 27th , at the end of my yoga session, I received a lovely bouquet of flowers picked from my yoga instructor, Jeannie McAlpin’s, garden. It was very pretty and so special – it made me miss my former garden in Franklin, TN! I brought it inside the boat so we could enjoy it as we hunkered down for the arrival of Tropical Depression Laura into the Grand Rivers area on Friday, 08/28. We were a bit nervous because we’d been in touch with friends and relatives down in central Arkansas earlier in the day, when Laura plowed through there. Our daughter, Kinsey, said at one point she had to pull over to the side of the interstate, the rain was falling in such torrents. She said there were cars in the ditch and in the median, all having hydroplaned off the interstate and therefore waiting for tow-trucks. My brother, Steve, reported a 35 mph headwind as he was driving home from work to his home in Cabot. Some trees had even come down in the Little Rock area. I could hardly wait to ride out a tropical storm on a BOAT… But amazingly enough, Laura hit Grand Rivers with no more than a stiff breeze and some misty rain. Our boat only barely rocked a couple of times. Which, come to think of it, was a GOOD thing!
On 8/29/20, we made another errand run to Paducah. We went downtown for lunch and ate at Broussard’s, which is a tasty Cajun restaurant. As usual, they were only operating at about 50% capacity, but business did seem to be steady. After lunch we stopped at the Paducah farmer’s market for some beautiful tomatoes and some peaches. Steve found a Pioneer Woman peach cobbler recipe online, so after picking up baking supplies, I actually made us a cobbler! And of course we got some vanilla ice cream with which to top it. Steve exclaimed that the boating lifestyle has put me into a cooking/baking mood, but I assured him it was just a fluke, and NOT to get used to it. Lord knows we do not need any help packing on the pounds of late, so those special desserts will be few and far between, if it’s up to me.
On 09/02/20, we got up early and drove the Lexus down to Brentwood, TN, for a minor medical procedure for Steve and an eye appointment for me. Afterward, we picked up our first rental car of this new life, and then sold my beloved Lexus. 🙁 It broke my heart, but we are now carless! (I feel like I’m 15 years old again, as that was the last time I didn’t have my own car at my disposal.) We rented a 2019 Nissan Altima that I had to drive back up to Grand Rivers, because Steve couldn’t legally drive after the light anesthesia he’d had for his procedure. It was a perfectly good car, just not my baby “truckster”.
On 09/03/20, I attended my last Grand Rivers Yoga session and said goodbye to my new friends. I’m really going to miss my yoga and my girlfriends! But one of the things we’ll have to get used to on this adventure is meeting and leaving new friends on a regular basis. Totally different from our previous life! After yoga, we picked up our very first courtesy car to use when returning our rental car to Enterprise in Paducah. As I’ve mentioned before, most marinas have at least one courtesy vehicle available for boating transients to reserve and check-out for quick errand runs during their stay. We had read that these vehicles were not the fanciest of vehicles, but they get you where you need to go, and – as my mom always used to say – beggars can’t be choosers. The rule at GTB is to keep the car for a two-hour period or less, and replace any fuel you use on your run. Obviously, though, cleaning up after yourself is not a requirement, nor does the GTB staff clean the courtesy vehicles on a regular basis…(?) The vehicle we took this time was about a 10-year-old Dodge van which had recently escorted around a large dog, with long white hair, which did not coordinate well with my dark navy shorts. Note to self: Always carry along a lint roller when using the courtesy vehicles…
On 09/04/20, I carried my last load of bedding up to GTB’s laundromat, since we’re leaving GTB the morning of 09/08/20. I’ll have to go back to washing one bed sheet at a time in Legacy’s tiny washer until we encounter some more laundry facilities. I’ve been really spoiled by GTB’s facilities, though. I have a feeling it might be downhill after here; at least until we get to another large, full-service marina.
On the morning of Saturday, 09/05/20, we hopped into the dinghy and drove it over to the Kentucky Lake side of Grand Rivers to view and photograph the Trump 2020 Labor Day boat parade. We got there early, so there was very little boat traffic, but by the time the parade got underway, we realized – even though we were not IN the parade – we might as well have been, with the constant 3 to 4 foot waves created by all the boats and activity. We had originally planned to stay on the side of the lake, but I wanted to try to snap pictures of the event with my iPhone, which meant we had to get closer to the action. I spent the next hour bouncing up and down and all around in our dinghy and snapping away, fearing that 90% of my pictures would be nothing more than blurs. Fortunately, Steve was a master at the helm and worked to keep the dinghy pointed into all the waves, rather than allowing one of them to come over the side and swamp us. There were hundreds and hundreds of boats of every size, color and shape. Even jet skies participated in the parade! I wound up taking over 80 pictures, 2/3rds of which turned out well, considering the circumstances. Steve told me, as things started to calm down a bit, that if that hour-long “amusement park ride” didn’t make me seasick, then I must’ve overcome any seasickness tendencies I once had. I was so laser-focused on getting as many pictures as I could, it never even crossed my mind to get seasick, thankfully! It wasn’t until we decided to head back to the marina (passing through the narrow channel that connects Kentucky Lake to Lake Barkley) that we realized that we were the ONLY dinghy out on the water during all that bedlam. There were so many boats in that channel, that we were literally 6-8 feet from each other at certain times. The captain of one of the sailboats we passed leaned over and shouted for us to “be careful [in that tiny, 12-foot dinghy], it’s really ROUGH out here!” We assured him we were well aware of that, but it was too late for us to do anything but carefully weave our way through the chaos, trying not to get hit, or sink in the process. Once we got back into our marina, we could breathe a sigh of relief, since we didn’t lose anything overboard (an iPhone, for example) or neither one of us fell overboard, or – even worse – one of those waves didn’t end up swamping or flipping our little dinghy! We admitted we’d both escaped what could’ve been a disaster. We also fully understood why we were the only people out there in a dinghy! Another lesson learned. Once our pulse rates calmed, we lunched at the Turtle and then enjoyed our last dinner at the Commonwealth Yacht Club that night.
On 09/06/20, some new friends picked us up from our marina on their really nice pontoon boat. I had met Eileen Sacks at Grand Rivers Yoga and she knew Thursday was my last session, since we’re leaving GTB on 09/08/20. She arranged for us to get together for dinner at the Thirsty Turtle as a send-off. Other friends had been invited, including Libby and Ron Johnson, but since it was Labor Day weekend, it wound up just being the four of us. The weather was incredible – cool temps and low humidity – and the sunset was spectacular. Eileen and Larry live on Sled Bay on Kentucky Lake and we fully intend to meet up with them again when we return to GTB next year.
Position: N 37° 00.458, W 88° 13.628