Oct 16 - 6 Month Looperversary - Decatur to Huntsville

Oct 16



WOW!!  It’s another Looperversary already!!  We’ve now been at this for 6 full months – half a year!! We have covered 3600 miles to date.  We’ve touched 14 states plus Canada so far - SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, MI, IL, MO, KY, TN, MS, and AL.   Really just FL and GA to go but it’s a long way around FL.  A few rough days where we asked ourselves “What have we gotten ourselves into”? But then the next day the sun comes out and the water beckons and off we go and start another day. Some days start a bit odder than others – like today - where we watched a  3 man crew swap out a porta potti off their barge.  Bringing it off the barge via a johnboat and returning with a fresh one.

We figured if these guys could travel in the choppy river we shouldn't have any issues.

One of Decatur's employers 

Just a short trip today. Woke up and a cold front had passed through overnight with a bit of rain. The front also brought windier conditions than we normally like, but the trip was mostly in protected inland rivers so no chance for big waves to develop.  Plus, the wind would be at our backs.  Traveling in moderate winds isn’t so much the problem, but docking can be an issue if we’re getting winds on our beam.  High winds pushing on the side of the boat and the flybridge enclosure can overpower our bow thruster and push us where we don’t want to go.  Not fun in a marina full of expensive boats.  Neither is it fun when you’re pinned against a dock trying to leave which was our initial situation.  We finally managed to push off without damage and that really was as much drama as we had all day.  Leaving Decatur required us to hail a railroad bridge and get a lift. That was done quickly and was the only short delay we encountered.  The rest of the trip was through the tail end of Wheeler lake which is in essence the Tennessee River.   We’re still going upstream so of course are still fighting a slight adverse current.  Very scenic with rolling state park lands on both sides. 

 Still waiting for more fall colors to start showing up.  We made it to Ditto Landing in Huntsville, AL where we have dockage for a week.  Then we’ll start our downstream trip to Mobile.

Journey for Oct 16