Brenda

We started our week off with a pre-dawn lock adventure.  Our next lock near Florence, AL was recently damaged.  The floating wall that guides boats into the primary lock had separated and sunk.  Oh no!  They were operating on a restricted schedule and only locking thru pleasure craft right as they open (near sunrise) and then […]

This week we continue our inland rivers explorations, headed south on the Tennessee River, which is actually a tributary of the Ohio River.  The 652-mile-long Tennessee River is formed near Knoxville, TN and flows southwest through Chattanooga, crossing into Alabama, near Huntsville, back near the Mississippi border then back into Tennessee, running north into Paducah,

As we were getting ready to depart Clarkesville (and no, it wasn’t on the last train), DeeDee (Murphy’s BFF on War  Eagle), me, and Murphy went for a walk and some ball playing.  Murphy was off leash as we headed back to the marina.  I don’t know if you can tell in the picture, but

After spending a delightfully quiet night at anchor off the Mississippi river in a side canal, the crews of Slo Pace and Betty Gail awoke to a foggy morning.  Although departure was planned at 7 a.m., Captain Dave wisely delayed our departure as we waited for the sun to peek through, dissipating the steam fog. 

Our river adventure continues, from the Illinois River onto the Upper Mississippi River.  Our first two stops, Grafton, IL and Alton, IL were very similar marinas.  Grafton is on the Illinois River and just 17 short miles away, Alton is on the Mississippi River.  Both marinas had their entire infrastructure on floating piers…not just the

It’s River Time!  Traveling on the river system is our next learning adventure.  We departed Chicago and headed south down the Chicago River to the Illinois River.   Prior to arriving to our first overnight stop, we went through two locks, the first at the entrance of the Chicago River from Lake Michigan and then one

During our last week cruising down the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, we visited: Sheboygan, where we went out to dinner at the yacht club with two couples who are just starting their loop and also, once again, had great Mexican food in Wisconsin; Port Washington, which is home of the Duluth Trading Company, was

While navigating the Erie Canal, Dave and I heard a loud thud under our boat.  It knocked us out of our enjoyment of quietly cruising down the canal.    We had hit something submerged, typically it’s a log, which can cause substantial damage to a boat.  Unfortunately, our boat’s design has both props entirely exposed behind

This week we moved on to Sturgeon Bay, WI where we met up with fellow loopers on Betty Gail and War Eagle.  We enjoyed “docktails” in the marina’s boaters lounge, which had two large seating areas, a large screen TV, kitchen, and fireplace.  I felt as if I was in someone’s nicely decorated house and

And the loop continues… Before arriving in Door County, while still in the upper peninsula of Michigan, we stopped at Fayette Historic State Park, recommended by several locals we spoke to.  It was a great history lesson.  Fayette, in the late 1800’s was the site of a productive iron-smelting operation for over 24 years.   The