Mañana on the Loop: October 2015

Oct 26- We are late leaving today at 11:00 am as we are only going to Ditto Landing which is only 40 miles away. It is raining and has been all day. John and I got soaked at the lock tending the lines and we saw no other boats all day. We arrived at Ditto at around 4:30 pm and are on the dock with four other Loopers. If anyone is planning on staying at Ditto Landing I might suggest you order a pizza from the local place as it was the best pizza I have ever had.

Oct 27- A rainy morning and the wind is up a bit so we are debating whether to travel today or stay another day. John and Pat are getting a little anxious about getting on down to Florida so we are going to travel on down to Joe Wheeler State Park where their car is. We arrived at 4:30 pm and were surprised to find five other Loopers on the docks. It was going to be our last night together so we got into the car and went to Florence for dinner. As it was going to be an early start for John and Pat tomorrow we all headed for bed.

Oct 28- Today is a very special day for me as I have been married to my best friend for 43 years. I have loved Dave from the first day we met and I give thanks everyday that he chose me to live his life with. "Happy Anniversary Dave!" We were so sorry to see John and Pat leave this morning and I hope they had as much fun as we did. Thank you John and Pat for making this side trip an extra special time and we will see you when we get to Florida. It was another rainy dull day but the other Loopers have left to head down anyway. Just when we thought we were all by ourselves on the dock we were happily surprised to see Gemini arrive. We got together and had docktails until almost dark then we decided we would leave together the next morning.

Someone came calling

Manana and Koby on a empty dock

Very peaceful

The only boat on the other docks

Gemini has just arrived

Quite a difference from two weeks ago

Oct 29- We left Joe Wheeler State Park along with Gemini this morning at 8:30 am heading for the Wheeler Lock just around the corner. We had a half hour wait there and another hour wait at the Wilson Lock. So instead of the run from Joe Wheeler to Grand Harbor taking 4 hours now its 5 1/2 hours. We arrived at Grand Harbor at 5:30 pm just in time for Dave to take Koby to shore by dingy and me to get the hydro hooked up before it was starting to get dark. We see on Facebook that John and Pat have arrived safe and sound in Florida. Thanks again for the great two weeks!

Leaving Joe Wheeler State Park

Headed to the Wheeler Lock

The colors are beautiful

Joe Wheeler Lock

Pretty shoreline

Highway going over the lock and dam

Shore before Wilson Lock

Wilson Lock

A revolving restaurant

View of shore at Florence

Almost to Grand Harbor

Oct 20- We left Goose Pond at 9:00 am as we had to pump out before we left. We caught up with the others and continued up the Tennessee River towards a free dock at Scottsboro. We arrived at 2 pm with Blue Haven and Gemini. We all got on the dock and there was another wide open but no one else came. We took a walk into the campground and saw many Halloween decorations throughout the park. There were washrooms there but not well looked after. When we all got back from our walks we had docktails until it was almost dark.

A little home along the Tennessee River

An abandoned nuclear site

The land is starting to go up

Pat enjoying the trip along the river

There were five other boats going to Chattanooga

This is a working nuclear power plant

John and Dave discussing the trip

The hills are plentiful

John and Sue handling lines in the lock

A free dock at Scottsboro

John strolling in the park at Scottsboro

A view of the park

Gemini, Blue Haven and Manana on the free dock

Camping area at Scottsboro

The park was decorated for Halloween

A blue heron on the shoreline

Dave and John walking Koby

John and Pat out for a walk

Oct 21- We were all up and at it at 8:00 am the next morning and were surprised we were surrounded with fog. It burnt off pretty quickly as we traveled along the river.We are headed to a marina called Island Cove which is on the other side of the Chickamauga lock as there is no space on the waterfront at Chattanooga. There was no one answering at the marina as we arrived so we just pulled up to the gas dock. Dave went looking for someone to find out where our slips were. We finally got our slips and settled in for the night.

A morning of fog

The fog has burnt off

Hales Bar is an old abandoned lock

The gang headed to Chattanooga

A lot of boat houses in this area

It just gets prettier

John taking the helm

Pat as co-captain

Dave getting some zzz's

Tour boat out of Chattanooga

Almost there

A military establishment

The highway into Chatanooga

Bridges at Chattanooga

The Aquarium

Several Loopers on the docks

Some downtown businesses

Homes of Chattanooga

Island Cove Marina

Oct 22- We have decided to get a rental car so that we can go back to Chattanooga to do some sight-seeing. We finally got our car after much waiting and headed for our first destination the Chattanooga Aquarium. It was a very large complex consisting of two buildings - one for ocean the other for fresh water fish. It was very interesting and we took many pictures there. That is all we went to that day because we were so late getting our car. We had a quiet evening as we had a big day planned for the next day.

Self explanitory

A spotted stingray

A couple of parrots

A hammerhead shark

My favourite part (penguins)

A huge sea turtle

Jellyfish

Pat and I discussing something

Upside down jellyfish

Just mezmorized

Can you see the sea horse?

These are sea horses from Australia

Another sea horse

They look like weeds but are fish

Beautiful star fish

Perana

I'm inside a tube of perana

The motley crew

Something we will be seeing soon

Gigantic turtle shell

Odd looking fish

Jim and Moe from Gemini

Oct 23- We are off to Lookout Mountain which you can only get up to by an incline railway. We entered the car and went to the front.- big mistake as you have your back to the mountain so you can see the ground below as you are being pulled up -scary! The last section you are almost standing up its so steep. Once you get off the car you go through a building and head down the street to a park and from there you can see all of Chattanooga and surrounding areas.We watched a film describing the battle that took place on the mountain in which 34,000 men died. We traveled back down in the railway car, this time sitting at the very back. Our next destination was Rock City. This was very cool! You walked through rock formations sometimes the walls so narrow you were hitting your head against the rock walls. At one area there was a waterfall cascading down from the rock into a pool below. They had an area with deer roaming around and a massive rock that was balancing on its edge. At the lookout area which is 1700 feet above sea level you could actually see 7 states from this point. We were quite tired after a couple of hours of walking around here so we left to find a good restaurant and heading back to the boat.

The beginning of incline

Views from the incline car

A view from the deck

John, Pat and myself on the observation deck

The entrance to the park

Where we watched the movie on the battle here

John getting into character

Views from the park

A monument to the battle

The cannons are at the edge of the mountain

Someone actually stood on the rock on the right

There is a museum in this building

Boats heading toward Chattanooga

This was a private home on the mountain

Our view on the way back down

This is Rock City

A little narrow

Beautiful grounds

The couple who donated this beautiful area

This is where the Carter's live

One of the lookouts

A view of seven states

This is made of aluminum

John and Pat at Rock City

Another lookout

A top view of the falls

Looks too narrow

A great view of the falls

This huge rock is balancing on its edge

Very pretty

Oct 24-We are returning the rental car back to Enterprise and heading out today. We stopped and got groceries and stopped by a antique car show on our way there. They drove us back to the boat and we cast off our lines. We stopped at the Chickamauga Marina to put on diesel which by the way was the cheapest we have found at $2.02 a gallon. We went through the lock and headed to a free dock on the other side but it was not is a good place and was too small for our boat so we got out of there and continued on down the river looking for a spot for the night. As we got closer to downtown Chattanooga I called the waterfront marina and asked if they might have a spot and we were lucky they did. We tied up and went up town looking for a place to eat. Just as we were heading uptown a large paddle wheeler called American Belle came down the river playing music. I would have had a movie of it but I didn't turn the camera on. Stupid, as it was quite a sight and only comes in once a year. I could have kicked myself. Sorry everybody.

This is the American Queen

We took the last spot here

A view from the marina office

Manana at Chattanooga

Oct 25- We left at about 8:00 am as the boaters in front of us wanted out so we had to get out of their way. We headed down the Tennessee River heading for the free dock at Scottsboro that we had stayed at going to Chattanooga but it was early so we decided to continue onto Goose Pond. We had done 90 miles when we pulled in there. We all had quick showers and we got the courtesy car and went for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, came back and went to bed.

Back at Goose Pond

Oct 26- We are late leaving this morning at 11:00 am as we are only going to Ditto Landing which is only about 40 miles from here. It is raining and has been all day. John and I got soaked tending the lines in the lock and we did not see any other boats all day. We arrived at Ditto at 4:30 pm and are on the dock with four other Loopers. I have only been off the boat to take Koby to shore today. We called and had pizza delivered to the boat, it was great pizza and I have been working on the blog all night trying to get caught up.