Sunday, Oct. 14

Yesterday, we woke up to a cloudy sky with cool temps, 45 degrees, but at least it stopped raining, which we'd experienced most of Friday. We quietly left Pebble Isle about 9:40am only to encounter swarms of bass/fishing boats zooming around the Tennessee River in every direction at high speeds. YIKES! It was then that we remembered it was a weekend! We’ve been warned that weekends can be a bit more treacherous for us slow-going trawlers. With the cool temps, it was interesting to note that every fisher-person was bundled up, including warm hats and sometimes face masks! Oh, those masked bass bandits – they never wave hello! We even saw a couple on a pontoon boat – he was fishing and waved, she was wearing what looked like a snowmobile suit with a warm hat, boots and her hands in her pockets, so she nodded to us – I don’t think she was happy.   

Shortly after that, a gorgeous, sleek, giant power boat zipped by us – OMG – no warning -super immense wake!  Since we couldn’t turn into the wake quickly enough, we took it mostly from the side and rocked side-to-side several times. Naturally, Bo immediately decided he was done with this boating stuff for the day and spent a lot of time trying to relax in his safe place (his crate) in the salon, or hiding behind Sue on the flybridge when he felt particularly brave.

When we entered Clifton Marina, TN, at 4:25, we were the 8th Looper to arrive on Saturday. Brian called on Thursday to request a transient slip, so they had a place for us but it wasn’t the one they’d originally mentioned. It is actually a better slip in a covered dock, so no complaints, especially with all the rain!

We’ve met a bunch of Loopers the last few days. Some are trying to get to the AGLCA Annual Fall Rendezvous next week in Alabama. We decided not to go since we didn’t know our schedule last spring when it was announced, and it sells out very quickly. So those that pay for a rendezvous reservation do everything they can to get there for the 4-day event.

Some boats left very early this morning to get to the rendezvous, but we will stay put for another day. No need to travel in the rain and hopefully Sue will get over this cough and get her voice back. The headphones we use to communicate while docking are great, but when all Sue can do is squeak out an occasional sound, Brian has to use his well-developed interpretive skills - more than usual!  ;-)