Grand Harbor to Aqua Marine

Monument at Shiloh Battlefield

     Grand Harbor is a very nice upscale resort and marina. For us it was somewhat remote with little to do near the marina. It was not dog friendly so it meant long walks outside the resort for Sadie to get her exercise. We were however about a half hours drive from the Shiloh Civil War battlefield. The marina like most had courtesy vehicles, in fact they had two newer vans which unlike those at most marinas, they were safe. We shared a van with Chuck and Vicki of Patriot and spent part of one day at the battlefield. Since we only had the van for half the day we did not get to see it all and would love to return someday. Like all civil war battlefields, every company and militia have a monument to the men from their unit, who gave their lives in the battle. Above is an example of one such monument..

Old Methodist Church at Shiloh Battlefield

Inside of Methodist Church

     Grand Harbor Marina sits at the beginning of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. We would normally go south from here. We are however going to participate in the Americas Great Loop Cruisers Associations (AGLCA) Fall Rendezvous. This is being held at Joe Wheeler State Resort Park. Joe Wheeler is located 62 miles up the Tennessee River. Therefore we are making a detour to attend this event.

Pickwick Lake

     The Rendezvous begins October 13th, so we have some time to kill.It is only the 4th and we have seen all we can at Grand Harbor so we decided to move on the Florence, Alabama. On the morning of October 5th, we set out to cruise the length of Pickwick Lake to Florence.
     At a MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) picnic last winter in Punta Gorda, Florida, we talked with a couple who had completed the loop a few years earlier, they commented that the places you will enjoy the most are those you did not intend to visit. Florence, Alabama is one of those places. Florence is a very typical southern city with all of the charm and hospitality you would expect. The visitors center which is a short walk from the Marina is a very interesting museum unto itself. The Florence metro area includes Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals as well as Florence. We spent 3 days in Florence and could have stayed much longer. Tuscumbia was the location of "Ivy Green" the childhood home of Helen Keller which we visited.



Helen  Keller Childhood Home in Tuscumbia, AL

 Anyone knowledgeable of the music world knows that Muscle Shoals was the recording capitol of the world during the days of vinyl records. Recording artists of every genre came to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record their records. We visited the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. I never imagined that so many artists were either from Alabama or lived there at some point in time.

Rosenbaum House Florence Alabama

living room of the Rosenbaum House

       While in Florence we visited the Rosenbaum house, which is the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in Alabama. This house is of Usonian design with lots of Plywood utilized, even the furniture with the 3 legged chairs, made of plywood, reminded me of my childhood.
      On the morning of October the 10th we set out for Joe Wheeler Resort. It is only 26 Miles but with 2 locks it would take most of the day. The first lock is Wilson Lock, at 97 feet is the highest single lock east of the rocky mountains. The only higher locks are on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. It takes awhile to either fill or drain this lock, so if there is a tow in the lock the turn around time is about 1 1/2 hours or 3 hours if you have to wait for 2.

Approaching the Wilson Lock

From inside Wilson Lock as Doors Close

Above the Wilson Dam is Wilson Lake, it is only about a 2 hour run to Wheeler Lock and Dam. This lock nearly as high as Wilson. While we were waiting for a tow to be locked through we tied up on a wall near the discharge for the water when draining the lock. It was amazing the amount of water and it sounded like Niagara Falls.

Water discharge from Wheeler Lock

     After clearing Wheeler lock it was only about a 2 mile run to Joe Wheeler State Resort Park. We arrived there 3 days early which allowed for us to get caught up with laundry, cleaning of the boat and maintenance issues, as we knew once the rendezvous started we would be busy dawn till dark.
     We thoroughly enjoyed the Rendezvous. There were all sorts of seminars on lots of subjects. There were seminars with information on all of the different legs of the trip from this Rendezvous till the Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk, Virginia. Many of those attending were either in the planning stages or some just considering doing the loop, so there were seminars on picking out the right boat and how to go about buying a boat, what to take with you on the boat, etc. There were some fun events such as Dingy and Kayak Races and other fun competitions.  With 80 couples attending who arrived by boat the Marina was full. Many people had their boats open for viewing on two different afternoons. We had some awesome meals as well. The time spent with the other loopers was great. We shared our experiences with others as they shared theirs with us. I can't wait until May for the next one.
     The day after the Rendezvous was interesting to say the least. Luckily not all were leaving at the same time or going the same direction. As it turned out there were 14 boats in the first wave heading down river. With only 8 floating bollards in the lock that meant that 6 of us would have to raft off of other boats.


Our Flotilla headed for Joe Wheeler Lock

Sadie Too rafted off of Jobsite in Wheeler Lock

 

Inside Wheeler Lock

     As we were leaving Wheeler Lock we came across the only freighter that we saw on the entire river system.


Freighter below Wheeler Lock

    After leaving Wheeler Lock it was total chaos to cover the 15 miles to Wilson Lock before the tow that we had to wait for at Wheeler Lock.  The lockmaster would not lock us through ahead of the tow unless all 14 boats were there so we all had to make it.

Inside Wilson Lock

After clearing Wilson Lock we traveled just 1 mile down to Florence Marina. Since we had already spent several days here earlier, we only spent one night. The next morning we left traveling with "Elizabear" to Aqua Marine Marina. Aqua Marine is located near Grand Harbor Marina at the beginning of the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway or Tenn-Tom which it is what most people call it.
     While traveling on the Tennessee River/Pickwick Lake we came across a deer swimming across the river. At this point the river is approximately 2 miles wide.

Deer crossing the Tennessee River

Late in the day we arrived at Aqua Marine and reconnected with "Panda Bear" one of the boats we had traveled with earlier in the trip.