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.

HOME AGAIN

The five hour drive from Columbus, MS to Murfreesboro was a piece of cake compared to the trips to Indiantown, FL or even St.Pete.  The trip to Columbus was great.  We moved the boat around 700 miles and did in in under a month.  We only had one breakdown and that was my fault for using a fuel tank that I knew had bad fuel in it. We were able to drop anchor and bleed the lines and get back underway and didn't even loose our place in line.  A fast boat passed us while we were sitting at anchor.  He ask if we needed help.  I told him we were charging our batteries and should be under way soon.  About two hours later we found the fast boat waiting at a lock.  He used all that fuel to get to the same placed at the same time we did.  You just never know on the river.  It seems a commercial tow had the lock in use and the fast boat had to wait.  Lifestyle II has a new home for a while and we can save up some money for the next leg of our trip back to TTennessee which we hope to make before the fall leaves change completely.  This will be our last BLOG for a while.  We will send out a message when we start our next leg so you can follow the fun along with us.

Mike, Denniese and Maggie Mae

Columbus Marina

Columbus Marina is 335 river miles north of downtown Mobile and a welcome site to the boater traveling the Tenn-Tom.  For the first 216 miles you are stepping back in time. That stretch has no marinas and few places to launch a boat.  No boats our size can be serviced along that stretch.  Demopolis is the first opportunity at mile marker 216.  At times we would travel along that portion of the trip and not see a person for 1/2 a day. Then we would see a lonesome fisherman sitting on the side of the river wetting a line and wonder where did he come from?  We could see nothing but trees and swamp for the first 50 miles, then just trees and some small hills.  We did see two good size gators and one large water moccasin. We accepted the fact that we were in their territory and we stayed on the boat and they stayed in the water. After Demopolis, we saw some summer homes and even a few nice residences. Yesterday was work day on the boat.  We are docked under a shed so we can work on the boat with some comfort even as the temperatures get into the mid 90's.  Denniese cleaned and I worked in the engine room. I replaced the starter, cleaned the strainers, replaced the fuel filters and one water pump impeller. Denniese broke out the sewing machine and made some more pretty covers for outside stuff.  Who said boating is boring? Today we start getting the boat ready to leave for awhile.  We will leave Saturday for Murfreesboro and our land home.

We will take this picture with us in our minds as we go back to the real world.

We made it!

When we were planning this leg of our journey back to Tennessee with Lifestyle II, we had hoped to get as far as  Columbus, MS, and we made it to the marina at 5:00 pm yesterday evening.  We pulled up the anchor yesterday morning a 6:30 am from a quiet, secluded spot in Sumter County, AL.  Sumter Recreation Area has campsites, restrooms, a playground and boat ramp.  All we needed was the boat ramp and a little bit of grass for Maggie.

We had anchored in the same place back in November 2011 on our journey down the river and it was deserted.  We fully expected the site to  be busy on a Sunday afternoon in June, but again it was deserted with the exception of 2 local fisherman.  It was beautiful and quiet and HOT!

We knew it was going to be a long day on the water yesterday and that proved to be true.  We went through 2 locks and then into Columbus Marina - a welcome sight!  As we pulled into the covered slip, the temperature on the boat dropped about 10 degrees.  It dropped even further when we fired up the AC.   Thank goodness for shore power!

Maggie likes to ride in the dinghy, especially when she knows we are headed to shore!

Demopolis

Demopolis is a major goal.  Why you ask?  Because it is two hundred miles of nothing in between Demopolis and Mobile.  We left Gulf Shores Tuesday morning and passed downtown Mobile about noon.  We anchored about 12 miles above the city in a little cut off.  A storm come up and rained as hard as I have seen it rain. Lightening struck close to the boat and alarms went off in the boat.  No damage could be found but we did find eight small tree frogs living in various parts of the boat. It took us three days to find all them and return them to the water.  It didn't rain cats and dogs just frogs.  The past two hundred miles have been beautiful, challenging and tiring.  We were up before the sun came up today and stopped the boat this evening at 6:30.  We have had some really long days and we still have a couple of days before we reach our goal of Columbus.  More later when we reach Columbus.  Mike, Denniese and Maggie Mae

Foley, Alabama

Our marina, Homeport Marina, is east of Mobile and south of Foley, Alabama, so today we had to make a trip into town to buy some supplies.  Foley was our choice.  We thought getting away from the beaches would result in lower prices.  Not exactly, the food bill was still high.  It was nice to get off the boat but then we discovered all the traffic and were happy to get back aboard.  It rained here most of the morning so it was good that we were tied to a dock, even if it was behind Lulu's Restaurant.  Tomorrow we leave for the river system.  Our first is the Mobile River which will take us past downtown Mobile and then on to the Tom Bigbee River which will take us to Demopolis.  That will be our next stop and it is about 4 days away.  We will be away from wifi until then so stay tuned. 

We had supper with Bob and Norma.  They have been such a big help to us. It will be the last time we see them for awhile.  Also joining us were Steve and Betty Fry, who live in the area.  I had not seen either of them in a couple decades.  I first met them when we were in the Navy in Memphis. There is something really good about seeing old friends again. Denniese enjoyed meeting my friends from another era.

Sweet Home Alabama

Friday morning we departed Panama City Marina.  We had arrived the night before and were surprised to meet Mary at the fuel dock who just started working there and is a cousin to Karen Jones at 3BC.  Small world!  From there we had supper at a local spot that I have been eating at each time I sail into Panama City.  It is called Bayou Joe's and some years back it was a fuel stop.  Fuel prices got high and they found selling fish to the tourist offered a better profit.  Besides if they continued to sell fuel they would have clean and fix the place up.  It's not much to look at and it is hard to find but the food is good and the ambiance is the best.  We sat on a floating dock under a shaded extension from the building which itself was on floats.  One wrong step and you could be in the water. By 1130 Friday morning we had already made the canal west of Panama City.  Traffic was light and we were in the rural part of the Florida pan handle.  By two we were on Choctwatchache Bay.  The bay runs almost to Destin but we saw very little traffic.  One tow boat and two airboats and some local fishermen. At 1730 we dropped anchor off Cobb point near Destin.  We had covered 62 miles today, which is a hard day.  We then had to mount the motor on the dinghy and take Maggie ashore.  Denniese had found a cove for our anchor and a local park was just a dinghy ride away.  Maggie found some new grass and even a chicken bone which Denniese had to pry from her jaws.  Back on board we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.  With no AC at anchor we depended on the breeze from the Gulf to cool us down.  About midnight it finally got cool enough to sleep.  Saturday we got an early start and brought up a muddy anchor at 0700.  Denniese drove the boat while I washed the mud off the anchor and the bow of Lifestyle II.  After that we had a good day on the water and stopped for the day off a sandy beach not far from Pensacola.  We dinghyed over to the sand dunes and walked to the Gulf.  Denniese took her last swim in the Gulf for awhile. Maggie does not like water and would have no part in the a/n swim.  Maggie took the attached picture but had trouble with the focus and just took a picture of Denniese leaving me out completely.  I guess its because she doesn't have thumbs. Back on board we had veggie burgers and were in bed by 9pm.  It was still light outside but we were ready for bed. The boat cooled off by 11pm and we were able to get some sleep.  Sunday morning we started off the day with lots of prayers.  The engine has been slow to start and I have it narrowed down to a bad battery or a bad starter. A diesel only needs electricity for the starter.  After it starts it is self contained. When I pushed the starter button it ground very slowly.  I stopped and let it rest.  Thank you Lord, it started on the third try. We raised the anchor and  by 1100 we were at the marina we had planned for a stopover.  We have some friends that live here (Bob and Norma) and they have been moving our car for us.  Bob is also an excellent mechanic and he came aboard and diagnosed the problem as a weak starter.  Tomorrow is maintenance day and I will evaluate our options. We will most likely press on but with lots of trepidation.  But tonight is supper at Lulu's the restaurant here at the marina. We will keep you up dated.
Mike Denniese and Maggie Mae.