Day 11 – 13
We got a nice surprise when we arrived at the transient docks at Joe Wheeler State Park marina. There waiting for us were Dean and Janice Conley on Blue Barnacle! We knew they would be there but weren’t certain they would still be by the time of our arrival.
Dean and Janice came out to catch our lines as we pulled into our slip at Joe Wheeler. It felt good to be back, even though we were now in the transient area of the marina, rather than in our familiar slip down on Dock 700. Steve had already texted with Pat Erwin, one of our former Dock 700 neighbors, to let him know we were coming in. Pat invited us down to the end of Dock 700 for an impromptu gathering later that evening, to which we invited Dean and Janice to join us. It was great to see some of the old gang and catch up with them. Shirley and Stan Stephens have their boat for sale, as they’ve recently moved into a brand new dirt home in the area, while Julie and Toby Nicholls are making great strides renovating their boat, Restless T. Pat and his wife Brenda are still living aboard their boat, My Girl, and enjoying it. We had also hoped to see Dan and Phyllis Montgomery, on Patriot’s Dream II, but missed them this time. The weather had decided to turn dry and chilly that evening, so Steve and I had to dig out our long pants and jackets for our dock visit!
On Saturday evening, 09/19/20, we were entertained by a local outdoor wedding being held on the water behind the state park lodge, which gave us transient boaters a birds-eye view of the ceremony. Dean and Janice watched from Blue Barnacle’s pilot house and we watched from our flybridge. It was a typical, small town Alabama wedding, complete with a rebel yell shouted by the guests as the groom kissed his bride. After the reception dinner held inside the lodge, the guests all returned to the outside stage and dance floor to dance the night away. As our boats were right there, we got to listen to the loud and wide variety of musical strains played by the DJ, which was interesting at best, but ended commendably at 9:00 pm that night, which was just about our bed time. During a spectacular weather day on Sunday, 09/20/20, we walked around the park and took care of boat chores. The marina at Joe Wheeler has no courtesy car, so we were afoot during this stop. During our visit, we experienced some minor waking, but nothing like that at Aqua. However, that evening, Steve and I were settling in for dinner aboard and to watch our nightly episodes of Bosch on Amazon Prime, when Legacy was hit by a tremendous wake that rocked us heavily. A huge bottle of some very important liquid was knocked off the galley counter by the force of the wake, but fortunately did not break! As it was almost dark and we already had the drapes pulled, Steve looked out one of the front windows to see the culprit causing the wake was actually right there in the transient area with us, just one slip over. A 30-foot Bayliner was being “captained” from above, but in a very poor and erratic fashion. As the single-handed boat made multiple failed attempts to back into a slip, roaring in and out and causing continued waking, we soon realized the captain was most likely boating under the influence, which was alarming to say the least. Steve had been about to step out and ask the guy to calm his wake, but changed his mind once he realized the boater’s inebriated state. Fortunately, the Bayliner finally made it into its slip, things calmed down and the captain disappeared below decks. We noted he had arrived after the marina office had closed, so would have to wait until morning to pay for his night of rest and electricity in his slip. Oddly enough, but not surprisingly, the guy had completely vacated his slip early that morning before the marina office had even opened, which meant he enjoyed a free night. We pictured him drunkenly marauding and pillaging the TN River, going from marina to marina in that same fashion, enjoying a low-cost trip! We each said a prayer that he didn’t hurt anyone during his questionable journey.
Joe Wheeler
Position tonight: N 34° 48.714, W 87° 19.907
Distance traveled: 17.4 NM
Total distance traveled: 221 NM
Time underway: 3 HRS 33 MIN
Total time underway: 26 HRS 55 MIN
Total marina nights: 10
Total nights at anchor: 3
Locks today: 2
Locks Total: 3