Good day for a boat ride

The weather has finally changed. We got some rain and this weekend the temps were in the high 70's. Beautiful!
So beautiful in fact that we decided to make a run to the lake and take Istaboa out for a spin. We motored down to Waterloo, Alabama where thousands of motorcycles were ending the annual Trail of Tears run. It's about a 15 mile ride to Waterloo then we decided to head back to the State Park for the really big festivities. All in all about a 35 mile day. Nice little ride on this beautiful day. This weekend was the Tennessee River Run weekend. This is quite an event for the locals. Sponsored by the favorite son of Pickwick, Darryl Worley, who donates the proceeds to many good causes in the area.
For the River Run Video... Click here

They have the stage set up close to shore so the boaters in the area drop anchors and listen to the music. Besides Darryl, there was several other country acts including Charlie Daniels.
As you see... a good time was had by all.

Till next time...

Happy days

Normality

I seem to be quoting Mark Twain a lot these days. I relate to the iconoclastic old southern riverboat captain... He grew up on the river not far from Memphis and he also loved hoppin on a boat and traveling to his favorite places. He once wrote in a letter to a friend, "There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a cheerful, careless voyage." and God knows we felt that way leaving the islands and returning home.
But... Home is our favorite place to come home to and work furnishes us with the most excellent justification to escape to that cheerful, careless voyage - again.

Things are getting back to normal for us here at Rocky Point. We're both back in the gym trying to sweat off some of that island fun we consumed while enjoying the Abacos. Kind of a do it yourself rehab. Work is good. It's nice to be back in the saddle and fighting the good fight. (Creating that most excellent justification)

The pain from losing Sadie is getting better and slowly turning into an itch to find a new pup. We're trying to resist but we're not sure if Radar will let us. He's been awfully lonesome.



It's been incredibly hot and dry around Memphis. 100+ degrees for a couple of weeks now. We put out water for the critters in the woods - they really seem to appreciate it.
The deer have become fairly comfortable with us. They're cautious but they don't mind us getting close. We posted earlier about the deer that didn't want to leave Rocky Point. Now we see why. This is her fawn.
We see Lucy (Yeah... Mel named her.) every evening when she brings her fawn by for a drink and a nibble of the freshly watered green grass in our backyard. Radar is our deer alarm... as soon as he spots them he gives a throaty little growl to alert us of their presence.
It's fun watching the little one grow up.

Moving on.....

Life is what we are living and the past is just that... the past. No matter how dark it gets... the sun will eventually rise and life is good again.

We will miss Sadie and cherish the memories everytime we come across a Sadie hair in the boat. (which is often)

We cannot thank everyone enough for all the nice things that were said about Sadie. She was a sweet, sweet, beautiful girl. We were priviledged to have had her in our lives.

But now it's back to life and planning our next adventure. We are becoming more comfortable and confident with Istaboa so for our next trip we may push the limits a bit.

We are working out the plan now and will keep all our friends posted.

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -- Mark Twain

We love that quote.

Happier days, God bless Sadie (whichever God you prefer)

Bob, Mel, and Radar

Istaboa

Sad times

It is with very sore hearts that the crew of Istaboa must post the passing of our beloved mate Sadie.
Sadie, the Grande Dame of our family for almost 13 years, has been laid to rest. We hope there is a special heaven for dogs because we know Sadie and Sam, her brother we lost 2 years ago, are running through the woods, fields, and beaches...together once again.
We are thankful she made this last cruise with us and gave us all the warm memories we will cherish forever. We believe it was her big heart and sweet soul that got us all home together.

She was the sweetest dog we have ever been lucky enough to share time with.

Sadie

02-02-1995

07-31-2007

That's all folks

So that's it... We did what we set out to do.

Left Tennessee, took the waterway down to the Gulf of Mexico, crossed the Gulf, went down to the Keys, up to Ft. Lauderdale, across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, across Little Bahama Bank to the Abacos, hung out there and had a great time, then turned around and reversed the whole trip. That's it... The whole rambling trip in one rambling sentence.

A picture taken from inside our sun room of the little deer that doesn't want to leave Rocky Point

It's nice being home and seeing all our friends in Memphis. I have enjoyed being back at work except for having to wear shoes. I may have to go back to wearing flip flops. This could be our new corporate look.

Mary, who was kind enough to keep our house while we were away, has stayed with us for the week. Today she is closing on her new home. Congratulations Mary!

Richard on his horse Little General came by to say hello.

We will probably do another trip this fall. Cruising the beautiful Tennessee river in the fall is always fun.

We have really enjoyed doing this blog and thanks everyone for all the kind comments.

Hopefully, if we are as fortunate as we have been, there will be an Istaboa's cruise 2008.

Here's to everyone's health and happiness,

Bob and Melonie and Radar and Sadie

Happy days...

We have changed the format of the archives to show start to finish. If you care to see how this little sojourn started goto archives and click on Catching Up

So until the next cruise...

That's all folks

The final leg

On this last day of our trip I woke up early and the weather was beautiful. I took the dogs out for a walk at Bay Springs Marina then quietly untethered Istaboa from the dock and we slowly poked away. Heading home. After a couple of hours Melonie woke up to find we were underway. She took this shot of Radar and Me running the boat then readied things for Grand Harbor Marina.
Soon we passed the last marker on the waterway. It's been a long run up the waterway 450 miles. But this time I have to admit it wasn't so bad. This time of year it's a lot prettier than in the dead of winter or after the ravaging spring floods.
Then we see Grand Harbor. it's really over and we feel like we've won the marathon. Nothing harmed, we have all our fingers and toes, and the boat came through without a scratch. Once again we beat the waterway.

It was nice pulling in. Our good friend and boat neighbor Ben on Lady Sadie was there to help us tie up. We looked at the view from our slip and remembered why we always come back here for hurricane season. Then we broke out the celebratory bottle of champagne and made a toast to Istaboa and to being home. Ben said he had been reading our blog but still wanted to hear some stories. So we told a few unabashed tales of the trip and the new friends we made along the way.

And that was it. We settled back into our normal Pickwick lifestyle. We had dinner with our friends Ruth and Lea and their friends Bob and Emily. It was 4th of July coming up and it was good seeing all our other boat neighbors. But then we decided we would rather be home at Rocky Point in the woods than deal with the crowds at Pickwick on the 4th. So we loaded up the pups and went home.

Happy days

next up: epilogue in pictures

The run to Bay Springs

Early in the morning when the sun has just come up it paints the waterway in it's fresh light and makes for some beautiful images. These white cliffs reflecting off the mirror like water is one of prettier spots along the way.

The approach to Whitten Lock. The last one.
And when these doors close it's symbolically the end of the locks, the end of the waterway, and the end of Istaboa's cruise. This is where it started... this is where it ends.


We pull into Bay Springs marina to stay the night. It's been only 70 miles but we had to lock 7 times which makes for a long day. We could have made it to Pickwick today but we are still not ready to go home. We will wait one more day.



Next up: Pickwick, home, the end

Columbus Marina

In an earlier post we mentioned the Fishing tournament. We decided to stick around to try out the new restaurant Chuck had mentioned so we had to endure the crowds that the tournament drew. It was interesting to watch the process of the whole thing. The sponsors of the tournament went to great lenghts to keep the fish alive. Special bags, special fluids to keep the fish in, and a tube to release the fish through. (Unfortunately for the fish it didn't work very well. Later that day after the tournament was over and everyone was gone there were dead Bass floating everywhere.)

We were walking around the marina looking at the facility and the boats when we met this delightful lady. Her name is Mo and she's 72. She and her dog Honey live aboard her boat Motu. She has been a liveaboard for over thirty years. We enjoyed her company and her stories so much we invited her to dinner at Woody's on the Water. It was a great meal and Mo made it even better with her stories of sailing the world. She is heading to Pickwick so we are sure we will see her again.
After dinner we walked the pups and met a few more.

Next up: Almost home... Bay Springs lake.

Demopolis Yacht Basin

As we left our sailboat friends at Bobby's and made way for Demopolis it was a beautiful day. No wind made the river reflect like a mirror.

We have never seen so many Herons as we saw this year. Maybe it's because we have never done the waterway this late in the summer.


When we left the lock at Demopolis the lockmaster called us on the radio to point our these deer on the bank next to the lock. The lock operators on the waterway are the most courteous, kind, and friendly we have ever dealt with. They go out of their way to be helpful.

We took on fuel and water in Demopolis and ate the best Dominoe's pizza we had ever tasted. (Maybe because we were tired and hungry)

At first light we left Demopolis for Columbus.... a long run... 135 miles and 3 locks

Next up Columbus, MS.... Mo and Honey

Now for page two

Ok... we've made it back to Pickwick and we're proud to say we did it with no loss of blood. The waterway can be a grueling run if you get in a hurry and because we had spent so much time in the Bahamas we were pushing it kinda hard.

Now to fill in the blanks.

When we left Pensacola we only went as far as Orange Beach, AL. We stayed at the Wharf Marina and had dinner at Ginny Lane's....A very good restaurant.

Woke up at the crack of dawn and pushed out of Bon Secour Bay and into Mobile Bay.
On this day we ran through Mobile and up as far as mile marker 39.2 which is a nice quiet little anchorage. (pictures of the anchorage in the previous post called The Waterway)
We left early to make it to Bobby's Fish Camp and ran through the fog for a while. Finally pulled into Bobby's at around 4:oo. The pups were glad to see grass.

We had passed these sailboaters a couple of times in the last 2 days and now they were coming around the bend heading for Bobby's to spend the night.

Very nice folks.

Jay and Nancy on Serendipity were from Oak Ridge, TN

Lee and Susan aboard Restless from Jonesville, VA.

They had been living aboard for the last 2 years and were heading for home in Tennessee.

Oddly enough another sailboater was already tied up at Bobby's and later when we all started talking we found out Jeff and Elizabeth on Decisive were heading for the same Marina as the other two boats. Blue Springs Marina on Watts Bar lake, The Tennessee River.

We are heading for Memphis tomorrow; the 4th of July. To our home in the dirt and the woods at Rocky Point. We have a lot more story to tell and a lot of nice pics of the waterway. We will post more tomorrow when we have full blown high speed internet.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Happy days