Log 55; Day 158; Oct. 26th; Grand Harbor

Deb stays dry in her rain suit as we go through the lock.

This is Wilson Lock...80 foot drop. You can see how small boats look in this Lock.

It's always a great sight when the lock doors open.

One of the cemetary's at Shiloh

One of the Shiloh battle fields...amazing how these young men charged each other across this wide open fields

Log 55
Day 158
Sunday, October 26, 2008

5:15 AM CDT
Location: Grand Harbor Marina; Counce, TN
Weather: 48* and foggy; forecast is for 74* and sunny

It keeps getting colder each night now. Weather.com says it’s 39 out right now...but we’re on the water, so the temperature is never as cold as on land...we’re at 48. The forecast calls for it to get down to 29 tomorrow night...so it will probably be in the mid to upper 30’s on the boat. The high for today is forecasted to be 74 and sunny...tomorrow is forecasted to be a high of 55. When you’re on a boat...that’s cold.

Getting here...was cold and rainy most of the way. When I got up early at Joe Wheeler the rain was really coming down and it was cold and foggy. Our plans were to go about 40 miles and through 2 locks to Florence Alabama, so I started monitoring the VHF radio to listen to any activity at the locks (about 2 miles away). At first light I could see 2 boats making their way out of the marina, and soon after I heard them call the lock. It turned out one of them (L’attitude Changer) was heading down river, and the lock master said he had just locked through a north bound barge and had another one down river coming up...so if L’attitude Changer came right away he could lock through...otherwise it would be a while. Hearing that, I called the lock and asked if we head out in the next few minutes would he wait for us and take us down as well...to which he said he would. So it was kind of a fire drill to get the boat started up, and in about 10 minutes we were leaving the slip. It was foggy, rainy, windy, and cold as we entered the lock with 2 other boats. You can see the picture of Deb in her rain suit...and she had warm clothes on under them. I stayed inside in the warmth and kept dry so I would be ready to drive when the lock opened. We ended up getting through the 2 locks by mid morning so I called Florence Harbor and told them to cancel our reservation and called Grand Harbor and told them we would be there 1 day earlier than planned. We arrived at 3 PM.

Grand Harbor is a great marina. One of the best I have seen. First class docks; marine store; and condos. After taking on 50 gallons of diesel ($3.60 @ gallon...$1 a gallon cheaper than when we came through here 3 weeks ago) and pumping out we pulled along side the fuel dock...our home for the next 3 nights. By the time all this happened, the rain and cold front had passed by, and it was sunny and about 65 degrees. Very nice.

Yesterday...at about 11, we borrowed the courtesy car (a very nice 4 door Nissan truck) and headed for the Shiloh battle field. This historic battle field is about 30 minutes from the marina and was quite a place to see. It was a picture perfect fall day with bright sun and about 70*. We took a driving tour of Shiloh...which consists of getting a map; buying a $14 CD; plugging in the CD; and being directed to different locations around this several hundred acre battle field and listening to the moderator tell you about what happened in this 2 day battle that killed thousands. We really enjoyed the tour. As with many things like this...I never had any appreciation for what happened at Shiloh...but I do now.

After leaving Shiloh we drove to the grocery store to “top off” our grocery supply and then back to the boat by 4:30. After dropping off the groceries we walked the dock down to a 70’ Neptune boat call Mr. Chips. Bill is the owner of the boat, and I had met him a couple times on the dock, and he wanted to exchange cards. It turns out Bill is a 3rd generation owner/CEO of Vitner Potato Chips...a very popular brand in the Midwest and one we are familiar with. We met him and his family and their captain. They are taking the boat to Florida for the winter and wanted to exchange cards because he said “I know our paths will cross in Florida somewhere and we need to have a drink together”. Really nice guy...and beautiful boat. After walking back to our boat we passed a couple other boats we had been with at Joe Wheeler. They asked us to “bring a heavy appetizer...and let’s meet on the dock at 5:30 for cocktails”...which we did. There ended up being about 10 of us on the dock...and the appetizers ended up being our dinner. It was great conversation and a great time, but when the sun went down it got chilly, so we were back at the boat about 8...and I was in bed not long after.

Today...we will spend another day here at Grand Harbor. No real plans, except I want to watch the NASCAR race later this afternoon. We will probably use today to get ready for the next week of traveling. Once we leave here we will travel 450 miles due south to Mobile, AL...and hope to arrive there in about a week. The next several days we will spend in the middle of no where (winding between Mississippi and Alabama), with limited marinas and much more rustic accommodations then we have had recently.


I’ll keep you posted.

BK.