Huntsville, AL to Hales Barr, Tn

After a late night drive to Huntsville, AL, the crew rallied Saturday morning.  Clay and Ty swabbed the deck and made the boat ready for the trip to Chattanooga while Caroline and Sally made a Wal-Mart and Kroger run to provision for the trip.  Sally swung by Enterprise to return the VW Jetta on her way back to the marina.

Tyson relaxing.

Caroline piloting the SaSea Sally

A nice Saturday afternoon cruise found us tying up at the Guntersville City Park Marina, free overnight dockage without electricity and water, but a beautiful location. We tied up with a couple other Loopers, one of which, Rickshaw, Clay and Ty had encountered on their trip from Chicago to LAMO last spring. Jim and Belinda had walkd the downtown area of Guntersville and gave us the one and only recomendation for dinner, a place called the Bridge Cafe. We were pleasantly surprised by the ambiance, the menu, and the good food!

Bluffs near Guntersville, AL

The TN River valley hills become taller.

Sunday we awakened to chillier temps and a cloud cover which still had enough promise for some patches of blue later in the day. Clay, Caroline and I walked, challenged by some pretty hefty hills. We departed after watching the 3rd boat at the dock being towed by Towboat US away from the sea wall...one engine out impaired the captain's ability to maneuver his boat away from the wall. Thank goodness for his, and our, policy with Tow US. Clay tells me we also have a policy with Sea Tow; let's hope we don't have to collect on either policy! John called and/or texted periodically to give us updates on his move which was near completion. He is fortunate to have a wonderful girlfriend and many friends who are so very loyal!

Winding entrance through hydrilla plants.

Entering Jones Creek anchorage

Sunset at Jones Creek anchorage.

Sunrise at Jones Creek anchorage

Thirty miles on the river, we anchored out at a recommended 4 star anchorage (according to Active Captain, a software program for boaters) called Jones Creek. I stoked up the crock pot for a repeat of the Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken recipe, and we had a nice meal and some quality time together reminiscing. Clay had set the anchor with my help (no worries at this point; I think we have anchoring down pat). Then he showed us his cell phone app that tracks the boat's movement while anchored; an alarm (OH JOY! Another boat thing that goes BUMP in the night) will sound if the boat breaks the radius set on his phone.
I'm learning that the boat has so many possible noises and lights, some to be of concern and some not; some came with the purchase of the boat but many my techie hubby has installed.

A real "boat house" and dock.

Awakening without incident overnight, we four are enjoying morning coffee and conversation as I finalize this email to send. Ty and Caroline will be with us thru Thursday morning when their friend Randy will pick them up in Chattanooga. Clay plans for us to be in Chattanooga a few days while some repairs are made to the boat, most importantly the leaking canvas top of the fly bridge.

Strange cargo on some barges.

A post script...we are now underway toward Hales Bar Marina, Guild, TN. We departed our anchor site at noon after pulling up a very heavy, mud encrusted anchor.  Ty and I had to be scrape most of the "mud ball" off with the boat hook and then hosed off the rest with river water. Still not a smooth retrieval process with the anchor; I think Clay better put a couple anchor parts on the fix-it list for Chattanooga! Ty and I high-fived when it was in place on deck! Clay coached me driving the boat out of the embayment (learned a new word) dodging the hydrilla (learned another new word) plants that hid the entrance channel. I used the gears and did a good job avoiding the markers and the hydrillla. But I was anxious to turn over the captain duties to him!

Ty and Sally wash mud off the anchor.

Sally maneuvering through the hydrilla plants.

In Gntersville, AL we encountered the trawler, Rickshaw.  In September of 2012, Tyson, Dave, and I had traveled from northern IL to St Louis beside Rickshaw, owned by Jim and Belinda Wolfe from Maryland.  They left the boat in southern TN late last fall and now are resuming their Great Loop trip with a side trip to Chattanooga, TN.  While in Chattanooga, the owners of Seabatical, who completed the Great Loop late last fall, drove from Atlanta to visit Jim and Belinda.  We also traveled with Seabatical in WI last fall.