So Much to See; So Little Time

The Looper Rendezvous is exhausting. There are three days of lectures where expert Loopers discuss their favorite places and stops along segments of the Loop. We covered from Joe Wheeler State Park south to the Florida Keys, over to the Abacos and then up the east coast to Norfolk where the spring Rendezvous will be held in May of next year. We were told of so many marinas, towns, anchorages, restaurants and “must visit” sites that there will not be enough time to see half of them in this next year.

On top of that we were given expert advice on everything from crossing the Gulf; to making reservations at favorite places; to reading the weather for an ocean crossing to the Bahamas; to moving form buoy to buoy in sections of the ICW; etc. So much valuable information; I just hope that we can remember when the time comes.  We have notes but will they be handy in a month or so??

We are now really, I MEAN REALLY, looking forward to getting to Florida.  There are still some neat places to see in Alabama, but we are anxious to get to the sandy beaches and take it easy.  We have a number of suggestions for extended stays and I think that we will take advantage of some of those.

The plan now is to leave here on Friday morning and to backtrack to the start of the Tombigbee waterway system near Pickwick Dam.  I figure that it will take us about 2 1/2 weeks to do the 400 plus miles to Mobile Bay near the Gulf.  Once we reach here, we plan on staying at a couple of marinas for a couple of days each and then heading into the GICW.  Reports are that the beaches are just fine and that there is very little evidence of the oil disaster in this area.  It will probably take us a couple of weeks to cross the Florida panhandle because there are some neat stops and towns.  From Carrabelle we will be dependent on the weather.  The Gulf crossing is 170 miles, basically crossing the widest part of Lake Erie or Lake Ontario and then back again.  We are not going to undertake the journey in any waves that are greater than 2 feet.  In the past two years, the best years in a long time, there are about 6 - 10 days in the months of December and January that meet this criteria.  Oh well, we will worry about that in December.

As I said it has been exhausting here.  The day before the conference, one of the Loopers prepared 30 pounds of shrimp for us boaters and everybody else brought pot luck.  What a feast.  The good thing though, once the conference started there were fewer and shorter 'Happy Hours'...because we had to go to the 6 PM cocktail hour at the lodge.  In truth the party was just bigger and cheaper.

We did get back to Muscle Shores today and played the "Fighting Joe" course at the Robert Trent Jones site.  Just excellent.  The holes are so pretty and interesting and the conditions are superb.

The tornadoes missed us by a hundred miles or so; so that was goodness.  We were prepared with a disaster plan here at the lodge and we had the boats tied down pretty good so there really was not anything else that we could do.  We were fortunate though as tornadoes touched down just east of us near Huntsville AL.

Well I must get back and get ready for our departure tomorrow.  We may be anchoring out periodically so updates may be sporadic for awhile.

I do have a concern though.  I may not be welcome back to my home marina, Westport.  Some of my friends have upgraded or are planning to upgrade their boats.  My dirty tired old boat may be out of place and unwanted when we return.  It is just too bad that there are not newer and bigger "Singer" type boats out there.  Our friends could use one.

Have a great weekend.