America's Great Loop Cruisers Assn Fall Rendezvous

Sunday, Oct. 20, I left Sally, my house guest Tom Treece, and friends Tom and Nancy Thomas before 8AM to drive to Rogersville, AL (northern AL between Huntsville and Florence, AL) for the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) Rendezvous  The Fall Rendezvous is held at Joe Wheeler State Park at MM278 on the Tennessee River, that's 278 miles from the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers.

The AGLCA holds two or three Rendezvous each year--the two big ones are the Fall Rendezvous and the Spring Rendezvous. These Rendezvous are held in northern AL and somewhere along the mid-Atlantic coast during the spring.  The Rendezvous in AL is held a 60 miles east of the Ten-Tom Waterway enterance at MM215 on the Tennessee River.  The Fall Rendezvous is held at this location because the Loopers heading south all congregate in this area because of the great fall weather and the fact their insurance companies won't allow them to travel south of Columbus MS during hurricane season which doesn't end until November 1.  Conversely, the Spring Rendezvous is held north of Charleston, SC the point where Loopers must be north of when hurricane season starts if they like reasonably priced insurance.

There were 50-60 Looper boats of all sizes and shapes at the Joe Wheeler State Park Marina which probably berthed 120-130 Loopers; the rest of the over 300 Rendezvous attendees were vendors, speakers, past Loopers, and wanna be Loopers stayed at the Lodge.  Joe Wheeler has nice hotel and convention facilities.  The Loopers were from any and everywhere--Yakima, WA, Joplin, MO, Brazil, Australia, and Canada--even Kansas.  Clay got an award at the "recognition" banquet for being the most tenured first-timer at the convention plus a cap and the table centerpiece!

During the two afternoon "Dock Crawls" events,  Loopers open their boats to others to admire.  This is great for the 100+ wanna be Loopers who haven't purchased a boat yet.  It gives them an opportunity to see what different models and brands look like inside and out.

I met Ric Robinson who has a 2003 Mainship 430 Trawler a year newer than SaSea Sally during the first Dock Crawl.  I spent over an hour looking at modifications and electronic upgrades Ric had made to his boat that day and another 45 minutes the next day.  Ric purchased his boat the NANSEANN in FL several years ago.  Ric is from south-central IL and kept his boat at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand River, KY.  I picked up some valuable information and tips from Ric which will save me more money than it cost to attend the Rendezvous.

The informational sessions were put on primarily by other Loopers who talked about safety, what to expect on various segments of the Loop, how to go to the Bahamas, etc.  Experts from various marinas also gave talks on topics like life raft use, medical issues on the Loop, new electronics, and boat electrical systems.  How many of us know that a refrigerator purchased from Sears will totally screw up your boat's AC electrical system?  That is because for home use, the neutral wire and the ground wire are connected?  On a boat, this connection must be cut to avoid shocks in the water around your boat.

No folks, that isn't a backdrop from a Sears portrait studio!

I had a chance to visit with John and Pat Pitney, friends from Kansas City, and their friends, Larry and Lois Wheeler, who also live in Kansas City but keep their boat in Portland, OR.  Larry and Lois are contemplating doing the Loop in the future (anyone want to truck a 50' boat from OR to the midwest?). The Pitenys started the Loop in early October from their home port in Grafton, IL and are proceeding down the Ten-Tom as I write this blog.

I've purchased three TVs for the SaSea Sally which we are in the process of mounting in the salon and bow and aft staterooms.  As soon as I can choose a satellite TV service provider, I'll order the satellite antenna and have the marina mount it like Ric Robinson's.  My carpenter touched-up some bad spots on the woodwork and I am in the process of starting the winterization process on both boats now.  The list of "to dos" is only three pages long now.

At the Rendezvous, I learned a lot about how inverter/chargers work and how to wire them into my boat--unfortunately, I need to add additional battery capacity which wasn't on my "definitely needs done" list originally.  I'll wait till the Miami Boat show in February before deciding on my major navigation system upgrades.

For wanna be Loopers, the Rendezvous are excellent opportunities to get a better feel of the boats, the people and the dream.  Right up my alley!

Home, finally!

Sept. 11, 2012.  Ty Nichols, a buddy from college days, and I brought the boat from Grafton to Louisiana.  We got through the Winfield and Clarksville Locks with very little delay and arrived in Louisiana around 4PM.  Mom (Mary Alice) and Sally were on our patio waving.

We pulled up to the gas dock and pumped out our holding tanks and proceeded to F-Dock where we backed into our slip.  Nephew Ben and his friend Elizabeth joined Sally, mom, Ty, and myself for a welcome home celebration.  We topped off the evening at Pikers restaurant as the Lighthouse Restaurant was closed on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, I'll run Ty to Columbia, MO, his home, and run a couple errands there.  Ty has been a great novice crewman.  Later this week, we'll start working on the next phase of upgrades to SaSea Sally.

I may make some blog posts during the next few months but the nest leg of our Loop trip begins next summer.  Stay tuned in for more posts then............

Grafton Harbor, Grafton, IL

Sept. 1, 2012.  We departed Illinois Riverdock after a great breakfast with the frozen, pre-cooked sausage Dave brought, biscuits, and eggs.  We warmed and browned the sausage patties in a pan.  Strangely, no grease appeared--Dave said, no, they are turkey sausage patties.  Quite tasty.

The four other Looper boats were had been traveling with had continued on the 21 miles to Grafton Harbor and were there when we arrived, plus a few additional Loopers who were already there.

Son, John, drover to Grafton after work to join us for a beer and dinner at The Loading Dock.  This was a great chance for him to see the boat and get a free meal.  He also picked up his 6-pack of Spotted Cow beer, a WI favorite!

After riding with Ty and myself from Chicago, Dave left the boat at Grafton to catch a bus from St Louis to Indianapolis, IN, his home.  Thanks Dave for the crewing and your sage boating advice!

Illinois Riverdock Restaurant - Mel's Diner

Sept. 9, 2012.  After a leisurely day cruising down the Illinois River through Pike and Calhoun Counties in Illinois, we landed at Illinois Riverdock Restaurant in Harden, IL.  Mel's, as the restaurant is known by the locals, is famous for good family cooking and home-cooked PIES.  We purchased a whole peach pie, made with fresh locally grown Calhoun County peaches and walked a few more blocks to a convenience store to purchase ice cream.  Yum, yum, yum!!!

Dave cooked several of Sally's marinated chicken breasts on the new grill which were quite tasty.

The next morning we awoke to find Mel's is closed Monday so no biscuits and gravy today!  Boat breakfast.

Logston's Tug Service at Beardstown, IL

We left Peoria early with the other 4 trawler's traveling the Loop at 6:30am.  All were hoping to get through the lock 5-6 miles downstream without a long delay.  Since we'd seen a dozen tows heading downstream while docked at the Peoria City Dock, we were anticipating a delay--fortunately there was none.

We passed a number of small river towns and grain operations that day and moored at Beardstown, IL, the only stop with space for us and enough depth to accommodate us safely.  At Beardstown, we stopped at Logston's Tug Service the only place where civilization could be accessed and where our draft could be a accommodated without anchoring along the river.

Two Logston hands met us and directed us where to tie-up along one of several barges moored at their docks.  All five boats were secured to locations along a barge.  We briefly toured the town and retired around 10am.

Around midnight the crews of all 5 boats were awakened and told we had to move because that barge had to be moved up river.  I had never driven SaSea Sally in the dark so being awakened to do so at midnight wasn't fun.  The move was made without incident and we were back in bed by 12:30PM.  I didn't sleep much after that incident.

The Loopers pulled out of Logston's around 6:30AM headed south.

Peoria City Dock

Sept. 7, 2012.  We experienced rainy weather this evening and early morning.  We fueled at Hamm's to be notified payment needed to be by cash or check.  Since the fuel bill was well over $500 we probably didn't have that much cash between us so I dug out a check I told Sally "I might need".

We proceeded the 15-20 miles through the Peoria pool, a huge, generally shallow lake to downtown Peoria arriving around mid-day.  We moored at the "City Dock" in downtown Peoria where s number of loopers we had traveled with the previous day were docked.  The Peoria city docks were meant for boats 30' and less but we were able to find one more "big" spot to dock.  We were able to get 50 amp power by connecting our "Smart Reverse Y adapter" to two 30 amp/125v outlets so we had 50amp/220v power. 

The skies were threatening most of the day but Ty ventured out for some bread and a few other supplies.  We had a very nice meal at Joe's Crab Shack at the Peoria waterfront. 

A First for 6 Loopers

Sept. 6, 2012.  After our last holding tank pump-out till Grafton, we left the excellent Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa IL and motored to the lock 5-10 miles south.  The only negative about Heritage Harbor was their fuel prices were $0.65/gal more than other marinas we would pass.

At the Starved Rock Lock and Dam MM 231, several tows and 5 pleasure boats, all Loopers who had stayed at Heritage Harbor the previous night.  They were rafted to a mooring cell above the dam so we jointed them by putting our lines on the "Toucan", a DeFever trawler from Ft Lauderdale, FL.  We were rafted up for nearly an hour (they had been there for well over an hour already).

The Lockmaster announced we would be locking through with a tow consisting of 4 barges and a "pusher" tow boat.  We were instructed to stay on the mooring cell till the tow entered the lock and was securely tied off to the lock wall.  Then the Loop boats were to enter the lock single file and with the aid of the tow deckhands, tie a line or two to the tow.  We did this leaving around 80' for the tow to disconnect from his barges and slip into the gap behind the 6 pleasure boats.  The locking was the best kind, expeditious and uneventful.

After leaving the lock, the gaggle of boats headed south.  All were headed to the Peoria City wall quite a distance even without the 2+ hour lock delay so they were going at fast displacement speed, basically plowing water.  SaSea Sally has a hybrid hull, both displacement and planeing, so we are efficient going slow (less than 10mph) or going faster on a plane (15-17mph) but not plowing at an in between speed.  We passed all the Loopers and went fast for several hours with mate Tyson at the helm much of the way.

As we approached Hamm's Holiday Marina we saw a sandbar covered with white pelicans, probably migrating south for the winter.  We entered Hamm's, an older, basic marina with old tows being dismantled, old casino boats, and other stuff.  At least fuel prices are much better.  Dick, the owner, told us via cell phone he was busy and couldn't fuel us as we entered.  He sent us to one of the few docks with 50 amp power and water.  After an hour or two he ambled down the dock to say high and let us know there wasn't much around the marina unless we wanted to walk 1.3+ miles up the road.

Entering the Starved Rock Lock with a tow.

Secured to the barges

Tow boat still attached to the barges

Tow after entering the lock chamber behind the Loopers

Hamm's Holiday Harbor from the river side

The Interstate highway bridge between Rockford and Bloomington, IL

White pelican's on a sand bar in the Peoria pool of the IL River

We ate one of Sally's great marinated pork tenderloins that had been in the freezer.  Also had it with eggs the next day.