We left Florence after a couple day stay. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit at this very friendly marina. Late on the last day we had returned from shopping for groceries only to see that Salty Paws and Ookpik had arrived. It was good to see them again and we took the opportunity to partake in the Pizza special that was served in the marina restaurant . We had a blast and Frank and I resumed our verbal sparring positions. He is getting better and I can only hope that it is not Cathy that he is practicing on.
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| BOATS ALL SECURE AND AWAIT THE LIFT UP TO THE NEXT POOL LEVEL |
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| WE TOOK THIS PICTURE OF SALTY PAWS DWARFED BY THE LOCK |
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| CATHY FROM SALTY PAWS TOOK THIS PICTURE OF US DWARFED BY THE LOCK |
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| THE BIG DOORS CLOSE BEHIND US |
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| LOOKING UP THE FLOATING BOLLARD IN THE LOCK |
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| AT THE TOP OF THE LOCK |
We all (5 boats) left early the next morning and as we had two locks to lock through today we would all be travelling at the same speed. The locks again would be the great equalizer as we have learned in the past. It doesn't matter how fast you go because the lock master is going to wait for all boats possible to arrive regardless of the speed they travel. This fact has saved us a lot of money in the past as we have slowed down to a very tranquil 7 to 8 miles an hour thus increasing our fuel economy.
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| TERRI LOVES HERONS AND WE HAVE MORE THAN 1000 PICS OF THEM LOL! |
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| CAPT. BOB FROM SPIRIT DANCER GETTING KISSIES FROM SMUDGE. |
We have arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park reportedly one of the nicest stops on the loop. The AGLCA rendezvous had wrapped up yesterday. We opted out of this bash as we didn't think we would be able to arrive here on time after our side trip to Nashville. By all reports it was very informative and successful. But as we had only arrived one day late we expected to meet up with some other people we had missed. First we saw Spirit Dancer and a radio call to Bob helped us find a suitable dock. Salty Paws ended up right beside us and Ookpik not too far away. The weather was cool and because of that the dock party had moved indoors aboard Spirit Dancer. They are great hosts. Even Jenny from Sweetgrass was there. Her other half Jerry arrived late but it was so good to say hi to Jenny and to spar with Jerry. He's getting better at it as well. A few of us went out for dinner that night in the hotel and we almost laughed until we cried. These are fun people and we will miss them as we part again after we leave here. Spirit Dancer will leave their boat here for a week as they must leave to attend to business. They will then head down the river towards the Tenn-Tom and points South. Sweetgrass, Ookpik and Salty Paws plus a few other Loopers will continue on Tennessee River to Chattanooga some 200 miles away. Terri and I opt to start down the river as we have airline tickets for late November and I don’t think we could do both. We might get a side trip in to New Orleans instead. We shall see!
Mark
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