Rendezvous

Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, Alabama

This was a whirlwind week.The America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association Rendezvous was held at Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, Alabama on the Tennessee River.

Fifty-five plus boats as well as the entire lodge was full of dreamers, planners, those going round now, and those who have already gone around once or more!

Close to 300 strong of unique individuals with so many stories which unites us all through this incredible journey called The Great Loop. We enjoyed a scheduled of four fun packed days of fellowship, education, and eating too much!

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But oh, were we worn out at the end. It was our first encounter with more than one or two loopers at a time during our journey. It was amazing! The synergy was vibrant on the docks of everyone sharing where they’ve been or where they’re going. It was also nice to engage with the curiosity seekers of those who have not yet stated, may not have purchased a boat yet, or haven’t even committed to this adventure. The docks were abuzz all day long, come 9:00 pm or what is known as looper midnight, the docks were quiet as a church mouse. Everyone went inside, lights diminished, and it was time for rest.

And then we start the day again, some of us at first light (captain Dave), others (Tasha) just in time to walk the first pup (Remy) and get to the first briefing!

The crew of Now or Never have attended this rendezvous three times prior. However, it was much more enlightening and eye opening as we sat through the route briefings and a few of the oh no moments, of we’re really going to have to do this!

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The next couple of legs of the journey are very troublesome for the first mate. The first dog is her top priority and she’s struggling with whether we can manage this part of the journey with our old pup. The Tenn-Tom will take us 10 – 12 days to traverse and will only have the availability of about 3 marinas. That means anchoring out, and either teaching this old girl a new trick to use a mat on the boat, or the struggles of hoisting down our dingy, getting her on and off the boat and the dinghy, with a captain that isn’t feeling it in the back and hip right now. Oh, and did we mention the closer we get to Mobile Bay, the alligators will appear. Yikes!

Florida can be a bear to find a place to stay in the winter and the need to make reservations a year in advance is a must. We started calling in March/April (we thought soon enough) to find ourselves on waitlists. And we didn’t call enough places. Between, more boats (every one buying a boat and working remotely) and less dock space (the last few years hurricanes have destroyed a lot of marinas) slips are few and far to find. Many people anchor or use mooring balls. Again, with a pup this is a huge commitment and very difficult. At 14, Remy is still active. She loves to walk, rather insists on a couple of long walks, plus other times she wants to get off the boat to stretch her legs, we all do! And she deserves it! But she has arthritis in her back hips and she isn’t very strong or steady anymore.

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We are just not sure that anchoring and the logistics of doing so is very fair to our girl. We will need to anchor out of necessity at times, but it is not ideal or a long-term option for the Now or Never. We will continue to call, plead, and beg, and see what happens. (If any of our followers have access or know of access to a deep-water dock – let us know!)!

The rendezvous also re-engaged us with friends from home. Bourbon City Yacht Tenders was a sponsor and vendor at our rendezvous.

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Dustin, Bob, Kristi, Brooke, and Tom from Louisville and our Ohio River boating community arrived on Sunday cruising around in their Highfield Boats. We also received good news from them. As you’ll recall, we met up with Dustin in Lenoir City and started our new dinghy conversation. Only problem, like most of America, they were having troubles getting all the components for a new dinghy for us. We really wanted the new configuration (easier for Remy) to use traveling down the Tenn-Tom and Florida and were not sure it would come to fruition in time. Well, looks like our component is coming in next week and we should have a dinghy delivered to us prior to leaving Aqua Yacht in the next week to 10 days. Awesome!

We are hoping for a smooth departure from the rendezvous. Most of the boats will be headed down river over the next few days. Just outside the creek is one of two locks we need to traverse through in the span of 18 miles on our way back to the main loop route. The locks are close together for the number of boats heading to the Tenn-Tom at the same time. One of the lock’s, Wilson Lock, is having issues and only will allow you to lock through during daylight hours. Daylight hours are diminishing, and commercial traffic has priority. We’ve seen boats that have had to anchor out and wait all night for an early morning passage or wait all day for an evening passage. There is no set schedule and no way to predict, so David met with the other captains, and we are hoping to leave twilight Friday and get to Florence.

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Another, small world connection, as the crew was wrapping up lunch in the conference room during the rendezvous and while waiting for the next presenter, Dave from our marina walked in and greeted us. He was in the area for work, knew from our FB page where we were, saw the state park sign and turned in. Dave went to the boat first looking for us and got to see Remy and then came to the lodge to see us. Again, it is still a small world, the reach of social media, and the boating world, keep us in tune with our community from home!

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As Remy and Tasha walked the grounds at Joe Wheeler Friday morning pre-dawn, there was a flood of emotion. Years of being planners and finally making it to the rendezvous on our own boat, 18 days of tieing our lines at Joe Wheeler and we are leaving. The journey up the Tennessee is one we have truly enjoyed, two months in this one area. We’re off, and we many never pass this way again.

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We departed the marina pre-dawn with ten additional boats, one by one leaving our slips, the quiet morning, low fog, boat parade, leaving the marina and cove, and headed to the first lock. The crew would get up and watch this parade from our lodge patio in the past, it is quite a sight to see, and now we were a part of it. Pretty cool. We cruised into the first lock and had a nice ride down. New friends in their Ranger Tug (27 feet) rafted off us for the drop down. We all departed the locks and had an uneventful 15-mile cruise to the next lock and to our pleasure the wait was minimal. Others have had 5 – 9 hour or overnight waits. The stars were aligning. We all entered this lock, the Wilson Lock, for close to a 100’ drop. Again, the Ranger Tug, Long Recess, tied off us. It was a quick ride down; they pumped a lot of water out quick! We were in the far back and water spilling through the back gates looked and sounded like a rambunctious waterfall. It did not take long, and we were on our way. Just a few miles more to Florence Marina, across the river from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and a favorite stop of ours. About half of our flotilla entered the marina, the other have motored on to either anchor or Aqua Yacht, our next stop and completion of our Tennessee River voyage.

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What a fabulous week, new friends, new adventures, and while we loved the upper Tennessee River, it’s good to be back moving on the loop. There’s a great big world to see and we are ready to see it. We may never pass this way again, but we will remember it for always!

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Cheers! D, T & R