Sweet Freedom

We have been very busy since the last post…covering hundreds of miles to get out of the river system, taking three separate road trips, and hosting a surprise 70th birthday celebration for Keith!

Our first road trip occurred at the end of September, when we left the boat and rented a car for the purpose of driving to Charleston, SC to purchase a new (to us) tender. 

Extra bonus…we got to see two granddaughters on this trip.

Road trips also offer interesting sites.  Have you ever seen tires this large?

This is our new tender to replace the Whaler.  While cruising in Canada, Keith fell in love with the aluminum boats, everyone seemed to have, there.  He searched online for several weeks, and located one (that would fit on our top deck) for sale in Charleston.  We drove there, bought the boat and left it at my daughter’s house.

Back on the boat, I was on a mission to get Keith to Chattanooga for a surprise birthday weekend with his oldest son and family.

After a few cold nights, the leaves quickly changed.

He seemed to be getting a little frustrated with me for pushing our travel schedule, but his impromptu road trip put us a little behind.  Finally, we walked into a restaurant on October 14, and surprise…we had a wonderful weekend of zip lining, touring the aquarium, and spending quality time with family!

Chattanooga is really an awesome town to visit, with plenty of outdoor excursion opportunities, interesting features, wonderful art, and great restaurants!

Where else can you see a wide collection of masonry art.  Alexis was happy to pose on each piece.

There are also plenty of examples of more traditional art.

Thankfully, the surprise weekend went off without a hitch, but not before Keith announced the need for another road trip to purchase a bigger outboard for the new tender.  I thought I might have to tell him about our Chattanooga plans, but luckily the guy we were scheduled to meet was going out of town for a week…phew!

We found a marina on Lake Chickamauga, and moved through this lock, just northeast of Chattanooga to get there.

The lock masters at the Chickamauga lock seemed to have a great sense of humor, and they went all out with numerous Halloween decorations.

With the boat safely tucked into a slip at Island Cove marina, we were off to Key Largo.

Have you ever seen this guitar shaped building in Florida?  I believe it is part of the Hard Rock Cafe franchise.

This is our new (to us) 40 hp outboard.  Keith brought everything he needed to start it, and hooked it up to his computer to read the diagnostic software.  The motor seemed to be in excellent condition, with only 125 hours.  Thank goodness Keith had the forethought to build this transport cradle, which made it super easy to load and haul without damaging the motor, or the rental truck👍  We delivered the motor to my son’s house in Fernandina Beach, FL, and returned to the boat for our next leg of the journey.  Extra bonus…we got to see a granddaughter on this trip!

Before this trip, my intention was to go farther northeast to Knoxville, TN

That plan quickly changed after spending one afternoon lounging and swimming in the beautiful clear, and warm, waters in Key Largo. Oh how I wished our boat was there at that moment!  

We returned to a very chilly Tennessee, and immediately headed southwest, with the intention of getting g out of the river system as quickly as possible!

Of course, we still enjoyed the beauty of the Tennessee River.

And cat fishing (NOT the online kind😉) became a bit of a hobby while at anchor.  I rigged 6 lines, to be tied along the sides of the boat, so the hook would hang about a foot from the bottom.  I used bologna (it was actually called salami in Turks & Caicos🤢) from the freezer, and they seemed to love it.  Just hang the lines, from metal rings, and walk away. 

When a fish gets on the hook its activity will cause the metal ring to clink against the side of the boat…dinner bell!

These American Coots appeared to be planning an evening on our swim platform.  I don’t want to sound mean, but we strongly discouraged that idea.  We did not want to be left with a swim platform full of Coot poop.

This is Keith making fun of my new anti-seasickness glasses.  They do look rather ridiculous, but if they work I will withstand the humiliation.  As I have mentioned before, I only get seasick in very rough conditions when it is dark…so, it will probably be awhile before I get to test them, but I will let you know!

Sooo excited to exit Coffeeville lock!  This is our last lock in the river system, and hopefully the last lock we will see for a long time!  Since leaving Troy, NY (in June) we have transited through 106 different locks, some of those twice because of our side trip to Chattanooga…for a total count of 111 lock passages.  Here are the totals

23 - Erie Canal

7 - Oswego River

45 - Trent Severn Waterway

8 - Illinois River

3 - Upper Mississippi 

1 - Ohio River

1 - Cumberland River

6 - Tennessee River (5 of which we passed through each way)

12 - Tombigbee River

 Passing through the Coffeeville gates felt like a huge step toward obtaining SWEET FREEDOM!!

Welcome to Mobile, Alabama, and the option of open water…yippee!

However, instead of open water we head to a marina, because another road trip is in the works.  

Keith drove to Texas to see his son compete in an off-road Rock Crawl event, where he won third place!  This was the perfect opportunity for him to have a boys weekend, and for me to stay on the boat and decompress from all of our travels these past 6 weeks.  Keith had a wonderful time, and I got several boat projects checked off my list.

And believe it or not…you are all caught up!  I am posting this from the marina, on Tuesday, November 15, and we plan to leave here tomorrow to meander around the Florida panhandle for a few days before putting the boat in a marina for a Thanksgiving road trip.  This should be the last one for a long time! Not only will we get to see family, but this is also the trip where we will retrieve our new tender.  It has been a busy, hectic, and expensive few weeks, but an extra bonus to all of this traveling is that we got to spend time with all four of our granddaughters, at some point, in the past 6 weeks!