The fun continues. . . . .

Columbus Mississippi Marina is one of the best marinas where we ever stayed.  T Caldwell is the manager and an all around good guy.  After I replaced the starter, and the starting problem still persisted, I asked for help.  I told T that I didn't think it was a battery problem, although common sense would dictate we had a bad battery.  He came on board with one of his mechanics and tested the battery and deemed it borderline weak.  I told them to replace the two large start batteries and also service the generator.  The next leg of our trip would require lots of anchoring out and we would need a good generator. He finished the work and we didn't eve have to take a second mortgage on the house. We arrived at Columbus Marina on  Friday Oct. 7, 2013 after the 5 hour drive from Murfreesboro.  I had requested that T have the boat washed and he had it looking nice.  We made a trip to Wal-mart and stocked the boat for the two week trip to Nashville. Sunday we took on 50gals of fuel and said good- byes to the friends we had met and the workers at the marina that we had come to call our friends. We departed at 0900 and I quickly pointed the boat up the wrong canal.  Denniese came to the rescue and got me back on track. Our course would take us up the TomBigbee to the Tennessee River where we would turn north and go downstream to Kentucky Lake and the cut between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley then on the Cumberland River to Nashville.  The trip was about 450 miles and we stopped at two marinas other than Columbus and Nashville. The other times we anchored out. 

At Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN we took on an additional crew.  Duane Geib is the youth minister at our church and loves boats.  We had been talking about getting together on a boating trip and this one worked out just right.  Leaving Pebble Isle marina we encountered a tow pushing about a dozen empty barges.  After several attempts to raise him on the radio, I was told to switch channels and was able to coordinate a passing with him although it did cause some excitement on Lifestyle II.  Duane seemed to enjoy the excitement and just considered it part of boating.  During the next week we ran aground once and a strong storm pushed us toward shore and we had to relocated the anchor in the middle of the night. We had one flameout (engine stall) as a tow was approaching.  Duane got to enjoy and experience it all.  We even went through a lock and he took the boat in and I took it out.  We all worked as a team and even Denniese followed orders by not lifting anything over 5lbs since she was on light duty and recovering from surgery.  Well, there was that one time I caught her lifting the dog.

We pulled into Rock Harbor Marina Friday Oct. 25 at 1645.  We found we were just in time for a pre- Halloween party to be held that night in front of our boat.  We declined and invitation to join the party instead turning in to bed by about 9PM.  The next day we said our goodbyes to Duane and his wife, Amy, who had joined us the night before and headed off by car to Pebble Isle to pick up our other car.  During the two weeks we had traveled through 8 locks, traveled over 450 miles and used about 150 gallons of diesel. And we only ran aground once.

Rock Harbor is only about an hour from our home and it will be the home of Lifestyle II at least until spring, maybe longer.  Lifestyle II has taken some abuse during the past two years and almost 7000 miles, so she deserves a rest.  We have lots of bright work that needs a fresh coat of paint, all of the lines need work and the fenders are black from bumping against the locks.  Now we can just enjoy the boat and she can enjoy us. This is the last of this series of blogs but this adventure and others can be enjoyed in the book to follow.  We will keep you informed.  Mike, Denniese and boat dog, Maggie.