Log 54; Day 155; Oct. 23rd; Joe Wheeler

A shot of me getting ready to dive back into the aft bilge area and fix the shower sump pump

Lots of activity in and around the docks during the rendezvous

This is one of the events...a dinghy race...the only catch is the person driving the dinghy has to be blindfolded and the navigator tells him what to do. Lots of fun to watch.

John Mobley (captain Moe to his friends) and Debbie

This is where we have most of the Great Loop meetings

Log 54
Day 155
Thursday, October 23, 2008

8:15 AM CDT
Location: Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, Rogersville, AL.
Weather: 60* and clear; forecast is for 68* and mostly cloudy

Still pretty nice here at Joe Wheeler, although the next couple of days are predicted to be cold and rainy. It has been very nice since we got here last Friday, so we certainly can’t complain. The long range forecast for our traveling area is predicted to be lows down in the 30’s and highs in the 60’s. We better keep moving south to get ahead of the cold.

After I wrote my last log I got into a real mess with a shower pump that went bad. Part of my normal preventive maintenance program is to clean out the shower sumps because the soap scum builds up and starts to smell a little. This is normally not a big deal, it just takes time and Deb and I work together to clean these out. On Sunday morning we agreed to start at 9:30 to clean the aft shower sump...a fairly big deal because it is so hard to get to. Well I do not want to bore most folks by giving the play by play of what it took to get this done, but I will give the very short version. The first thing is in order to get the cover off you almost have to stand on your head in the back bilge area, but I got it off, and Deb helped clean it up which took almost an hour to complete. Then the fun began, because the pump would not work and pump out the water out of the sump. After another 4 hours of trouble shooting every piece and hose involved I gave up and decided the pump had gone bad, and I’d have to try to find a replacement. That night I slept on it and did some investigating and found out that the front bilge pump was the same as the aft shower pump, so on Monday I pulled out the front bilge pump and figured out a way to get in the aft shower sump. After several more issues (and lots of swearing) I got it to work...having spent over 8 hours getting it fixed. The good news is we can now use the aft shower again.

The rendezvous has been very good. Good seminars and we have met a lot of other boaters...each with a different story. As an example, here are the stories of the 3 couples who sat with us at our dinner table last night. One couple traveled from California to attend...they plan to buy a boat on the east coast and start the loop in about a year. Another couple is here on their 30 foot express boat and plan to retire later this year and buy a bigger boat and take off. The 3rd couple left on the loop 5 days ago...so far they have made it 83 miles and will be heading south tomorrow morning (like we are). And the stories go on from there.

John Mobley joined us for a couple of days here, and left yesterday. John’s wife Sue was planning to join us as well, but at the last minute she decided not to come, so John made the trip by himself. John is just a hoot. He is a great guy who should have been a concierge, because he is always doing something for others. He is like a celebrity here at the rendezvous because he helped so many of these boaters when they were stuck on the Illinois River during the floods in September. John works part time for Heritage Harbor Marina (you’d think he owned it, the passion he has for it) and was really involved in helping about 30 boats (many of them are here now) who were stuck in Heritage Harbor for up to 2 weeks waiting on the Illinois River to go down and re-open. Many people at the rendezvous recognize him and it’s like old home week. Others who have not me him, have heard of him, and when they meet him for the first time it’s like they are meeting a celebrity. It was fun to just follow him around.

Today is the last day at the rendezvous, and it ends with a dinner tonight. Tomorrow we leave and make our way south to Mobile, AL and across Florida, as we head for Ft. Myers, where we plan to arrive in early December. Lots of great cruising ahead.

I’ll keep you posted.

BK.