10/26 thru 10/27 Demopolis

Didn't do much these two days. It rained and rained. And rained some more. This is Marena getting her daily massage! lol

I did catch up on all laundry.
They have an herb garden up by the pool, so I picked some basil. Love basil.
Juliette visited us lots, she is a joy to be around. And she loves Marena. She is 12 and speaks fluent french.  Her family is very nice, mother is from France, father from Gallatin.
We will leave early in morn with a big group of boats.

10/25/15

Today has been a good day.............relaxed, cooked, walked and Sonny changed oil and filters!!!!!! Yay......
Have I mentioned how much I love this trip? Well, I do. More than I thought I would.
Now you know.

10/24/15

We traveled 63 miles to Demopolis, Al. We are staying at the Kingfisher Marina. Wow, there are so many loopers here (looks like a mini rendezvous)!!!!!!! Plus, we have met several people who are  not loopers, but are just traveling on their boat (going to Fl for winter)........
We are in a covered slip and plan on staying here a couple more days. At least. Rain coming..........
When arriving here saturday afternoon, I looked up and there stood Juliette with her Mom n Dad on the dock. Love having that girl around!!!!!!! She is a joy.......
Docktails was great, met so many new people.

10/23/15

Another early start..........I can handle it. Marena cannot. She needs her sleep more than me!!!!
I even think she like pizza more than me; did I just say that?
Cloudy day and easy ride down the river.....
We anchored out in Sumpter Landing; all by ourselves. It was nice. Shallow going in, but 9-10' once in.
This is a park area with a boat ramp and around 9:00 several vehicles arrived and guys set up some small tents. Saw all this through binoculars, although it was very close to us. The next morning we were getting ready to leave; Sonny handling the anchor and I was on the helm. I was facing the area where they were. Five guys were walking (marching) away from camp, all dressed in black, carrying some kind of stick about 8' long (except for the guy in the center). I thought it seemed very odd, to say the least. Wish I had a pic; BUT I was at the helm. No time. Obviously; it wasn't a secret or they wouldn't have done this with us right in front of them. Oh well; guess I watch tooooooo much Investigation ID!!!!!!!!!!!!

10/22/15

Went to grocery (they have a Kroger); then brought all that stuff back to boat. I say it that way because finding a spot for the supplies is an ordeal. Now........the real hard part is refrigerated items. Our fridge is 3/4, and doesn't hold what we need. We bought a Yeti cooler and that takes our overflow. Still; it's difficult.................sometimes I don't buy the right things, or enough things, oh well....................
Maybe some day I'll get it right.............doubt it!
Columbus is a town of about 25k, Kroger, Walmart, Starbucks............what more could a girl need?
Tomorrow we are outta here!

10/18/15 thru 10/21/15

Got up early this morning as we were leaving by 7:30 for Joe Wheeler Lock, heading south. We were one of 13 boats in this caravan........ The captains met the night before to plan a strategy for all of us. It became very apparent this was necessary. We were given a designated place in order, plus a specific bollard to tie up to (port or starboard), once we were in the lock (some had to raft together because there were not enough bollards for us all). We did the same for Wilson Lock. Most boats stopped at Grand Harbor, but we went to Aqua Harbor Marina. We sold the dinghy to a man who boated there; so we met him and dropped it off. We left the next day @ 11:00, and anchored out @ Cotton Springs Cove. Up early again (Marena hates this worse than I do), heading down the Tenn-Tom Waterway with 4 locks ahead. Anchored outside of Smithville Marina. Up early again (see a pattern here?), and 3 locks this day (21st). We arrived @ Columbus, Ms. Marina @ 2:00, settled in and went to dinner with Jeff n Susan (Act III). Day off tomorrow. Grocery!!!!!!!! And The Coffee House downtown. yummy...............

10/11/15 thru 10/17/15

Arriving at The Rendezvous...........................
We got here late afternoon and the drone was filming us coming into the harbor. This was a great idea; now we have these great aerial views of Corkscrew and a video too! He also filmed different activities throughout the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are free days. Sonny washed the boat, and we started meeting people as they arrived. BTW: Adopted a daughter, Juliette. She is 12.
She is a joy...........

Sonny's Birthday is the 17th!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Sonny!!!!!! Love of My Life................

Thursday, Friday and Saturday are sessions full of info for the trip from here to Norfolk.

10/5/15

We left out early on this Monday morning headed to Cedar Mtn. Cove. It was a great ride back
downstream past Chattanooga. Going through the Gorge was very nice, and the scenery is awesome..
The day was beautiful, full sun, which felt great after all those rainy days! We arrived at our cove around 2:00.........

10/6/15

Anchoring out is wonderful. Sonny always grills our dinner and we sit out with our wine........UNTIL the no-seeum's come to visit. Then you go inside as fast as you can. They are the only negative thing I can say about being on the hook.
After a good nights sleep, we awoke early to get headed to Nickajack Lock. The fog had lifted close to the boat, but as we got closer to the dam, it was so thick we couldn't see. We took our time and idled toward it and finally made our way in. We arrived at Goose Pond Marina at 1:00.

10/7/15 thru 10/11/15

We only spent one night at Goose Pond. When we arrived, Nancy got the courtesy car and we went to grocery.....We are the queens of grocery shopping!
The next morning was so foggy, we waited till 10:00 to leave heading for Decatur. It was a 73 mile trip back to Riverwalk Marina. Sonny's brother Dave brought us his truck after church and we kept it for 3 days doing all sorts of things.
It was grooming time again (Marena & Sonny) LOL, laundromat, Publix, Kohl's, Target, Staples, and eye doctor for me. Got my first pair of prescription sunglasses. Yay!
On Thursday night we went to an Italian restaurant, then to Sam's for dessert in Madison. Yummy strawberry cake and we LOVED her new home.
On Friday night Glenda, myself, and her sisters Sam and Melody went to Huntsville to a movie. We saw The Intern, very good!
On Sunday morning we went to church with them, then headed out for Joe Wheeler State Park where the fall rendezvous is held each year for the AGLCA members planning or doing The Great Loop.

My venting time......................

One thing I'd like to mention........................blogging is very frustrating! We updated my Ipad, which needed to be done, but if you don't have good wi-fi service; there will be no blogging!!!!! Being in rural areas is spotty. Here at this state park might normally be ok, but I think there are so many of us that we just don't get a good signal a lot of the time. So this morning I cheated and stayed at the boat to blog, clean and do laundry, (missing the session on going to the Bahamas).............Right now this is more important to me.
Also; I still am having issues with adding pics to my posts. I'm trying to figure it out. It's challenging when you just don't understand and everyone says it's so simple. I will add them when I figure it out.
I take photos with my phone, Sonny takes photos with a camera, photos are everywhere except where I can access them to put on the blog. Some are still on the camera, some are on my phone, some are in google photos, some are on the laptop in a file.................why can't they all be in one place. I'm actually getting really pissed.
 Enough said.
Almost.
Actually, there may never be pictures again on my blog.

10/1 thru 10/4

Spent several days at Island Cove Marina. We were supposed to go to Wine over Water in Chattanooga (and move the boat to downtown marina) with friends but it rained so much that week that we decided to stay where we were and skip the wine festival. On saturday night we did meet our friends (Don & Cielene and Todd & Dawn) for dinner at Hennan's. Great time!!!!!!!! Dinner was awesome AND chocolate martinis are the absolute best..................

9/30/15

Rented a car this morning to run errands around Hixson, Tn. I made a hair appt with Meagan at the Pink Pineapple, and got a super cut and color! I'm blonde again!!!!!! Got nails done, grocery shopped,  and other things........Plus; I went to an urgent care to check on a bite on my leg. It seems I was bitten by a brown recluse (a small one since I had very little symptoms). Thank goodness! But it wasn't getting better; so........... and then on 9/13 when we went to Whitestone Resort, I had fallen and did something to my left hand. I'm left-handed by the way! Anyhow; I really aggravated the arthritis that is in that thumb joint and I'm wearing a brace. Oh well.............

9/28 & 9/29

After spending two nights at Lowe Branch, anchored out (it was just too nice to leave after one night), we headed back downstream 54 miles to our same slip at Island Cove Marina. The next day (9/29), we just kicked back and did basically nothing,  settled in to our new home for about a week. This is a nice marina, good facilities and a good place to walk. We are in a covered slip, which turns out to be very nice in the coming days.........