We thoroughly enjoyed our week of respite at the Green Turtle Bay Resort. There were many projects on the boat that we hadn’t had the time to tackle and, in our free time, we swam in the indoor pool and baked in the sauna. What a life!
My faucet in the galley had been leaking since we purchased the boat and at our last “Wally World” stop, we bought a new one. When I went shopping with the ladies in Paducah one day, Flint installed the faucet and it is wonderful. I don’t have to keep it wrapped in a towel anymore.
After running the rivers for a couple of weeks, Flint had to clean out the sea strainers for each of our engines and the air conditioner units. We bought a small wet/dry vac to do the job and it was amazing the amount of mud he drew out. He also changed all the breather filters and air filters in both engines. It was great to get these jobs completed so that we could have good clean engines for the remainder of our journey. Flint has become very adept at doing the engine work himself and it is a great savings, as it would be very expensive to hire the jobs out.
We didn’t work all the time and there was great fun to be had in the local town of Grand Rivers. There were about fifteen “looper” boats in the resort when we were there and we normally met at the gazebo overlooking the slips at 5 PM for “cocktail” hour. We had all been in contact with each other through our email group and it was so nice to finally meet some of the loopers we had only heard about previously. We all shared experiences and future plans. We had traveled with a non-looper 36 ft. sailboat from France for a number of days, whose crew consisted of mother, father, two sons and a daughter. They speak some English and we were able to communicate pretty well. Their trip across the Atlantic took forty days and they have been traveling our country and Canada since they arrived. They home-school their children and needed to stop in St. Louis for some testing for their older son. The loopers had a cookout on the beach one evening and invited many boaters we had met on the dock. There were about 40 participating, including the French family. They had never cooked hot dogs and marshmellos on sticks, so the children loved the experience. We played Bocci Ball and Leslie’s team won. We have included a picture of the group.
We went out to dinner the first night we were there at a restaurant called Patti’s, which is a greatly expanded version of Cracker Barrel. They have numerous little shops adjacent to the restaurant and a stream and bridge in the center area that is often used for weddings. The food was very good, but in the middle of the meal Flint said, “Uh, oh!”, and proceeded to take the fractured portion of one of his molars out of his mouth. We went to the Chamber of Commerce in town the next morning and they called all around to get an appointment with a dentist for the next day and for some reason all the dentists in the area take Fridays off. The one dentist who was open was booked up but they put him on their waiting list and thankfully they had a cancellation and could take him and do the repair. He was able to fill it, but said that Flint would have to get a crown eventually. Hopefully later rather than sooner!
My faucet in the galley had been leaking since we purchased the boat and at our last “Wally World” stop, we bought a new one. When I went shopping with the ladies in Paducah one day, Flint installed the faucet and it is wonderful. I don’t have to keep it wrapped in a towel anymore.
After running the rivers for a couple of weeks, Flint had to clean out the sea strainers for each of our engines and the air conditioner units. We bought a small wet/dry vac to do the job and it was amazing the amount of mud he drew out. He also changed all the breather filters and air filters in both engines. It was great to get these jobs completed so that we could have good clean engines for the remainder of our journey. Flint has become very adept at doing the engine work himself and it is a great savings, as it would be very expensive to hire the jobs out.
We didn’t work all the time and there was great fun to be had in the local town of Grand Rivers. There were about fifteen “looper” boats in the resort when we were there and we normally met at the gazebo overlooking the slips at 5 PM for “cocktail” hour. We had all been in contact with each other through our email group and it was so nice to finally meet some of the loopers we had only heard about previously. We all shared experiences and future plans. We had traveled with a non-looper 36 ft. sailboat from France for a number of days, whose crew consisted of mother, father, two sons and a daughter. They speak some English and we were able to communicate pretty well. Their trip across the Atlantic took forty days and they have been traveling our country and Canada since they arrived. They home-school their children and needed to stop in St. Louis for some testing for their older son. The loopers had a cookout on the beach one evening and invited many boaters we had met on the dock. There were about 40 participating, including the French family. They had never cooked hot dogs and marshmellos on sticks, so the children loved the experience. We played Bocci Ball and Leslie’s team won. We have included a picture of the group.
We went out to dinner the first night we were there at a restaurant called Patti’s, which is a greatly expanded version of Cracker Barrel. They have numerous little shops adjacent to the restaurant and a stream and bridge in the center area that is often used for weddings. The food was very good, but in the middle of the meal Flint said, “Uh, oh!”, and proceeded to take the fractured portion of one of his molars out of his mouth. We went to the Chamber of Commerce in town the next morning and they called all around to get an appointment with a dentist for the next day and for some reason all the dentists in the area take Fridays off. The one dentist who was open was booked up but they put him on their waiting list and thankfully they had a cancellation and could take him and do the repair. He was able to fill it, but said that Flint would have to get a crown eventually. Hopefully later rather than sooner!
The town of Grand Rivers was having their Hunter’s Moon Festival the week we were there with a parade, music and plenty of great food. We met a lady named Linda Ray who owned an antique shop on Main St. She was such a sweet southern lady and was so gracious to us. She rode on the fire engine in the parade and we have included a picture of her. The vehicle of choice in town is a golf cart and everywhere you go there are dozens of golf carts running the streets. They chose a little girl and boy to be the prince and princess of the festival and they rode in a convertible in the parade. The local high school band wore black bib overalls and a red tee shirt for their uniform and there were about twenty band members. It was great fun being part of the festivities.
There was a local food establishment in town called Sugar & Spice where you could purchase baked sweets. In the evening, the lady who ran the store would prepare a German dinner for up to twelve diners (because she had only one bathroom). A group of us attended her dinner on Friday evening and were treated to an exceptional meal. She started with a liver pate, homemade bread and salad. She made four different meats, including lamb, a couple of schnitzels and a wonderful rolled beef. We had a red cabbage dish, seasoned potatoes and sauerkraut. All of her dishes were very sweet tasting and not sour, as we expected them to be. For dessert, Flint had Apple Strudel and I had Pumpkin pie. For $20 a person, it was an extraordinary meal.
We are often one of the largest boats in the marinas we stay at, but Green Turtle Bay was quite the exception. We were surrounded by 60 and 70 foot cruisers and houseboats. We have included a picture and we are the little boat at the end of the row of monsters. One of the cruisers, which is actually doing the loop, was a 75 foot Lazzara called Leap of Faith. The crew included a husband and wife, a licensed captain and two large lab/poodle mix dogs. I’m not sure how they negotiated some of the tight spots we encountered along the way.
We were getting anxious to get going again so we joined with three other looper boats and started our journey down the Tennessee River on Sunday morning. The river is much wider than we anticipated and the trees are just starting to turn colors, so it is very enjoyable to cruise at 7.5 knots and watch the world go by. There is very little commercial traffic on this river so far, which takes one of the hazards out of the journey. Our first anchorage was in Panther Bay, which was quiet and beautiful until about 10 PM. There was a small boat with a large generator and two spotlights combing the shoreline. One of our friends thought he saw a bow and arrow in the hands of one of the crew in the boat. We have no idea what they were doing and were glad when they completed the shoreline and left our area.
We will have a mixture of anchorages and marinas this week as we travel a couple of hundred miles on the Tennessee River to Joe Wheeler State Park where we will attend a rendezvous of loopers and wanabee loopers. We will have seminars on various subjects pertaining to the next leg of our trip to Florida and up the east coast to Charleston. Stay well and we’ll be back to you soon.
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