Traveling the Tennessee River

After a wonderful time at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, Alabama we are working our way further south.

We spent 5 nights at the State park for the Great Circle Loop Rendezvous; also known as “loopers”.  The definition of a looper I guess would be best summed up as one that  travels the waterways consisting of rivers, the Great lakes, the Gulf, inter-coastal & the eastern coast of the U.S. this route is shaped somewhat like a circle. There are many side trips that can also be taken off many connecting bodies of water, yet the goal of the “looper” is to eventually end up back where you first started. As we all call it crossing your wake; once you do this you may then obtain the coveted gold GLCC burgee. The member burgee is white, the first completed loop is a gold burgee & the grand-daddy is the platinum burgee twice around! We have been just out enjoying ourselves so in 8 ½ years we are ohhhhhh about half way through our first loop. We have taken many many side trips. We so love the journey; we will finish it one day once we feel like heading north back up the east coast.

During the rendezvous there are educational lectures, informative propaganda seminars, demonstrations on safety equipment, fellow boater share experiences, many topics are also covered like anchoring in various conditions such as tides. There was also time for Q & A which was always very interesting & yes even though this one was held in a dry county a happy hour each night.

The town of Rogersville was so kind to our group they even sent one of their school bus’s out to transport us into town to shop, eat & attend the local concert. The town welcomed us all with open arms; they kept the stores open a bit later. They offered specials and at the concert they even had a smore bar with two fireplaces complete with all the fixin’s.

After the concert they bused all of us back to the marina. I have a feeling this poor bus driver had no idea just what she was in for when she signed up for this detail! However believe me we had nothin’ on her; she matched us one for one. I have a feeling she was real happy to see those kids the following morning. We met such wonderful folks in these parts you can bet we’ll be back.

The final night of the rendezvous we had a sing a long by the massive fireplace in the main lodge; we said our so longs, exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. I have no doubt that many of us will cross paths again as most of us share a love for a water way of life. There were folks from Australia, Great Britain, Africa, and Canada with the majority coming from coast to coast throughout the United States.  

Thursday morning was our departure time, we signed up for the first group to head to the Wheeler lock. Eleven of us headed out and locked down together. Everyone worked well together getting into the lock one at a time. Wheeler lock has eight floating bollards; we had eleven boats so we discussed with our fellow boater who was taking a bollard and who would raft. Everything went smooth once we were all secure in the lock our ride down only took 15 minutes. Wheeler Lock was a drop of 48 feet.

Once out of the Wheeler Lock we traveled 15 miles across Wilson Lake and into the Wilson Lock. We now had two more boats locking down with us. They were also “looper” boats they just travel at a faster pace than the rest of us. We followed the same routine getting into the lock we just needed to raft off a few more boats for this ride down. Our drop for the Wilson Lock was a HUGE 93 feet!

The City of Florence, Alabama is just 2 miles up from the Wilson lock; we pulled in there and spent a couple of nights.

At this point we are starting to make arrangements to find just where we should lay up our boat and pick up our rental car; for our road trip home. The fall colors are stunning reflecting on the river. The nights are cold & the days are sunny yet cool; fall is in the air. With Thanksgiving right around the corner we are looking forward to seeing our family again soon. This is a bittersweet time of the year.