Someday we will get to leave this marina and continue on the loop, but it won’t be tomorrow or Thursday. If the stars all align properly, and parts come in when they’re supposed to, we might be able to leave Friday, but I’m not getting my hopes up. It seems like every time we think everything has been taken care of, we discover something else that should have been replaced earlier and wasn’t. I’m afraid to see how many boat units our bill will be!

We got the courtesy car late this afternoon and drove into Iuka to do some quick grocery shopping and pick up some BBQ for dinner. The courtesy car is actually a Dodge minivan with a key instead of a remote fob (how quickly we forget that cars didn’t always have fobs you could keep in your pocket) and the shifter on the dash. Yesterday they gave us an extended cab pickup because the minivan wasn’t available. You never know what you’ll get to drive!

We stopped at Lil Smokies, a popular local place, to get takeout BBQ for dinner. The inside was filled with coca-cola memorabilia, including this old cooler that they used for the counter where you pay.

And then there was the cackling broom that moved around like it had been mounted on a rumba!

Rich wanted to pick up some 3-in-1 oil and a special sealant and I wanted to pick up some salad greens and fruit, so we were looking for a hardware store and a grocery store. We saw a sign for Piggly Wiggly and Ace Hardware and thought how convenient that they’re next to each other. Turns out that Ace Hardware was INSIDE the grocery store! Again, not something that was on my bucket list, but definitely something I can say was a first time seeing.

As we walked through the produce section, I noticed a bin with pecans – and a sign that said $3.99/lb. Who can pass up pecans at that price? Certainly not me.

You pass over the Tenn-Tom Waterway on the way to Iuka from the marina. On the way back to the marina I made Rich slow down so I could take some pictures of it, which I hope we will actually be boating down in a few days.

     

     

 

Nothing too exciting has happened for the past two days. We got up early yesterday hoping some work might be done in the morning, but no one showed up. Lunch was leftover deep-fried pork wings with BBQ sauce, kind of like ribs but with a lot more meat on them, and bacon and cheddar Stax, Lay’s version of Pringles. Somewhere in there must have been some healthy, nutritional something, right?

Dinner was at the marina restaurant with three other looper couples, all of us from the Midwest – Ludington, MI, Cincinnati, Spencer IN, and us from Lafayette, IN. Pizza and beer for us – gotta keep the healthy food trend going 😂

By the time we got up today and thought about food it was lunch time so we headed to the marina restaurant – this time we each had some salad with our meal – we’re not always unhealthy eaters!

Dinner was simple – mushroom, Swiss chard, and  gruyere quiche (from the farmers market in Holland MI, which I had put in the freezer), grape tomatoes, and champagne! Life is good!

Some photos from our marina –

There are some slips here that are owned, rather than leased, so the owners have customized their space. It’s hard to see in this photo, but this slip has extended their dock space to include a sink, fridge, deep fryer, table and chairs, and on the other side a huge grill!

Among boaters there is another definition of “boat” – Break Out Another Thousand. When talking about how much major expenses are, fellow boaters will often discuss how many “boat units” it cost, as in “I heard it cost him 10 boat units to replace his transmission” ($10,000).

As yet more things have been added to the list of things to be checked out on the boat, I wonder how many boat units our bill will be. As the mechanic checked out our after coolers yesterday, he found some other things that needed to be replaced. So now the earliest we will be leaving here is Wednesday. It’s a good thing we don’t have a schedule to follow!

Yesterday was another rainy, cold day. Rich spent the day watching everything the mechanic did so he could understand how everything works -and I tried to stay out of the way. I bought some yarn at Walmart the day before to knit a scarf (have I mentioned it’s cold here), so I worked on that for a while. Later in the afternoon I walked down to the marina office to pay for more nights and watched as another Meridian 459 pulled in – there aren’t a lot of them out there so to see a sister boat is unusual. We swapped boat cards and I learned they’re leaving their boat here for a month. We saw them at the restaurant last night and had a long conversation about our boats – I’m sure there will be more conversations with them in the next few days.

It started raining overnight and continued all day and into the evening.It seemed ironic that it was pouring down water from the sky and yet we had no running water at the marina until early afternoon. When we checked with the service department this morning to let them know we would be gone for a couple of hours, they said they would be moving our boat to a covered slip to make it easier to work on it in the rain – nice! We’ve had the luxury of a covered slip a couple of times on this trip. It keeps the boat cooler when the sun is out and dry when it rains, but I always miss being out in the open with more light coming in.

It is supposed to rain intermittently all night and all day tomorrow. I may have to pull out my sewing machine and work on a couple of sewing projects since we will be stuck on the boat. We had hoped all the work would be done by tomorrow, but our new anchor chain has been delayed in shipping and won’t be here and able to be installed until Monday – we hope. I will definitely have time to do some sewing.

Our big outing this morning was to return the rental car and stop at Walmart to pick up a few things. We were under the mistaken notion that it would stay warm as we headed south, so we didn’t bring enough warm clothing for the very cool weather we’ve encountered – silly us. We each got a couple of long sleeved heavier shirts and I got some socks – how could I have not brought along at least a couple pairs of socks? Did I think I was a Purdue student who wears flip flops even when it’s below freezing???

Again, no photos today. Walmart’s all look the same and rain is difficult to photograph.

We awoke this morning to find that there had been a break in the early morning in a water main that supplies water to the marina. So we’re surrounded by water, but the only water we have available to use is what’s in the water tank on our boat. And we only have about 50 gallons in the tank. No one seems to know exactly when we will get water again, so no showers or dishwashing until it’s been restored – we need to save the water for the toilets on the boat which use water from the tank for flushing. I don’t mind not being able to wash dishes, but I really would like a shower!

I had already planned to go to a local laundromat today instead of using the laundry facilities at the marina. Fortunately there was water in town and I was able to get 4 big loads done in just 2 hours. There was a vending machine there with Moon Pies in it – we’re in the South!

We did some grocery shopping at a local supermarket and enjoyed seeing the different food items that we don’t see in the Midwest. Moon Pies, thick sliced bologna, different types of soda, shredded Velveeta cheese, different flavors of chips, and a handwritten sign that said “cheese done sliced”.

There was a huge looper docktails party at 5:30 tonight – I think I counted people from at least 15 boats there! We saw some people from the Rendevous and several new people. There are several boats here getting work done – this is one of the better service places on the loop so it’s really busy with looper boats trying to get things repaired before heading down to Mobile.

Since we still had the rental car, we drove into Iuka MS for dinner tonight. Rich had read about a decent Chinese restaurant there so we thought it would be a nice change from all the fried food that’s on the menus in most of the places around here. It was good and so much that we will have Chinese for dinner tomorrow!

No photos today – laundromats all look pretty much the same 😊

Our morning started out very foggy again. Several boats had planned to head out early this morning, but the fog was so bad they couldn’t leave until 10. This is one of the boats heading out at 10, with a thin layer of fog still hanging over the water. It cleared up completely soon after, and we heard they all had a safe trip down the river.

We headed into Corinth MS with a marina courtesy truck in the late morning to pick up a rental car for a couple of days. I took care of some banking and post office errands and found it strange to be driving again!

After a quick lunch back at the boat we headed out to the Shiloh National Military Park, which is about 20 miles away. We stopped at the visitor center to watch a 30 minute film about the battle that occurred there before driving through the park. The film was very well done and really helped us to have a better sense of the enormity of what happened there. It still was very hard to imagine tens of thousands of men battling over this immense area. There are tablets everywhere describing where troops were at various times.

Throughout the park were monuments to various regiments. Some were quite large and listed several regiments, like the Iowa one, and some had smaller ones for individual regiments. This Indiana one was one of three in a row for the state.

     

This plaque and map explain why this was such an important location for the Union to control. This was a major supply route for the confederacy, so they thought if they could cut off this route that would be the end of the war.

     

     

The photo on the left shows the place on the Tennessee River where Union gunboats provided protection for Beull’s troops to cross over and join Grant on the battlefield. The photo on the right is Pittsburg Landing.

Located within the park is the Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark. This site was inhabited around 1000 CE by Woodland/late Woodland people and later by Early Mississippian people until about 1350 CE. It was getting late in the day so we didn’t get to really explore this area, but I had to at least get a photo for my son.

     

We ended the tour at the National Cemetary, where the Union soldiers were eventually buried. Nearly 3600 soldiers are buried here, but only one third are identified by name. The remaining two thirds are simply marked with a rectangular stone column with a number on the top.

We weren’t sure of the significance of the coins on the top of this gravestone. We’re familiar with the Jewish tradition of putting stones on top, but have never seen money on top. Anybody out there know why coins are there?

     

It was amazing to us how well documented exact locations for various events seemed to be, as well as times when events occurred. Did anyone really pull out a pocket watch and jot down the time when troops advanced or retreated? And how do they know the exact ravine in which Gen. Johnston died?

As we were driving out of the park, Rich stopped the car and said “Armadillo!” There, just a few feet off the road, digging for some tasty morsel, was indeed an armadillo. That wasn’t really on my bucket list, but it still was cool to see.

We stopped for an early dinner on the way back to the marina and a full moon was already rising by 6:20 (photo on left). By 6:45 it was really dark and the moon cast this great reflection on the water.

     

We were up and dressed by 8 this morning because we were supposed to have work done on our boat today. I was hoping they would show up right away, or at least call to give us a time, but that didn’t happen. Rich walked up to the service department about 9:30 to make sure they had a list of everything that needs to be done, returned an hour later, and said there would be 3 or 4 guys coming by to work on things. Unfortunately it was 2:45 before anyone showed up – why did we get up so early? I hate waiting all day for workers to show up – I guess I’m not a very patient person. I’ve set the alarm for 7:30 for tomorrow morning and am hoping the guy will show up right after 8. Did I mention that I hate waiting around for workers to show up?

The fog was really thick this morning! Here’s what we saw at 8 a.m.

And what we saw an hour later

And what we saw at 5:30 p.m.

We’re going to rent a car tomorrow for a couple of days so we can do some errands, laundry, go out to dinner, and most importantly visit Shiloh Battlefield. It’s about 15 minutes from the marina and everyone says it’s a must see while we’re here.

Last Tuesday Elizabeth sent us a small box with our accumulated mail. It was sent fed ex, 2 day delivery and was supposed to be delivered to us at Joe Wheeler by 4:30 Thursday. It didn’t show up and tracking then showed it would be delivered by 4:30 Friday. Unfortunately we were leaving early Friday morning, so the big question became how to get the package. I decided to contact one of the Loopers we had become friends with who was staying at Wheeler until Saturday to see if she could pick it up. I thought we would see them in a few days and we could get it from them at that point. It finally arrived just before 6 on Friday and Rose was able to get it for us. She then found someone headed to the next marina who then passed it off to two other boats headed to our marina today. By the time it got to us it had been on 4 different boats! Looper friends are the best!

One would think that it would get warmer as we headed south, but cold fall weather seems to be following us. We brought a few cold weather clothes, but I thought we wouldn’t need them until we were on our way back to Lafayette for Thanksgiving.

9:30 at night, it’s 43 degrees, headed down to 37,and there’s a frost advisory – really???

We can only get PBS stations here, so there was no football to watch yesterday. We were able to get scores on the internet, though, and were so excited to see both the Huskers and Boilermakers were victorious. And the Colts won, too, so it was a good football weekend. Too bad the IU team didn’t win – that would have made it a perfect football weekend!

Since we had nowhere to go today, I decided to make pancakes for breakfast. When we’re traveling we eat dry cereal while underway – a snack baggie of frosted mini-wheats and a travel mug of coffee is our standard breakfast. So a sit down hot breakfast is special. This afternoon I baked a batch of Bisquik knish – it’s a recipe Rich’s mom gave me decades ago and is kind of quiche-like. It’s a great appetizer, freezes well, everyone loves it, and it’s great to have for docktails.

Tomorrow morning we will have to be up early since the service department is supposed to start our various repairs. Somehow this trip hasn’t allowed for too many mornings to sleep late!

 

We’re now in Iuka MS for several days while we have several minor issues taken care of on the boat. We had planned to leave Florence by 9 this morning, but it rained all night and was still raining at 9, so we waited for it to stop and were finally able to leave about 10:30. It only took 4 hours to get to the marina at Iuka, a trip of about 45 miles. It was cloudy all the way there so no pictures of the trip.

The captain who brought our boat from MN to us in Saugatuck when we bought it is here with his wife on their looper boat. He came over to say hi, see our improvements on our boat, and invite us for drinks on their boat. We ended up having dinner with them at the restaurant that’s at the marina. It was fun to finally meet his wife and swap looping stories. We got to tour their boat and quickly decided we would consider a trawler if we could have one like theirs. Of course we would have to win a lottery to have a boat like that, and there’s no place nearby to buy a ticket for mega millions which is now well over a billion dollars, but it doesn’t cost anything to dream 😊

Some pictures from a few days ago

This was our view from Grand Harbor Marina, Counce TN. We stayed here for 2 nights on our way to Rogersville AL. I was told we would be on the fuel dock when I made the reservation, but when we arrived they gave us a covered slip on the “boardwalk”with this great view! And it was the same price. Interestingly, we left Florence AL this morning and passed this marina (in TN) on our way to tonight’s marina in MS! Three states in one day and we only traveled 45 miles!

While we were at Grand Harbor we went to dinner at Freddy T’s. It was quite unique, with surprisingly good food.

      

A couple of of photos from Florence AL

     

We think this is a water tower????            And this is a very tame blue heron that hung around the transient dock. It apparently has appeared in some newspaper articles and has had surgeries to remove fishing hooks.

We spent 5 nights at Joe Wheeler State Park near Rogersville AL, attending a looper Rendevous. We met a lot of Loopers and attended seminars each day on how to travel from there through the Carolinas. Rich also attended a couple of presentations on basic boat maintenance and boat electronics – good info. The best part was all the people we met – they came from everywhere, including someone from Alaska! Some were on boats and some came by car because they are still in the planning stages.

We were so busy every day I didn’t get any pictures of the park or marina. I did manage to get a picture of a memorial to Joseph Wheeler and then googled him to figure out how he managed to serve in both the Confederate army and then in the US Army – a very interesting character.

We had long waits on locks from Florence to Joe Wheeler State Park, so when it was time to leave Joe Wheeler, we decided to be ready to go at the crack of dawn. This time we were able to get through fairly quickly and were back in Florence in time for lunch.

     

Sunrise at Joe Wheeler State Park                     and the cell we had tied up to just a few days earlier.

 

 

I think I finally have a strong enough internet connection that I can post some photos from the past 10 days.

When we tried to get TV reception with our over the air antenna, this is what came up on the screen

and internet and cell reception wasn’t much better.

How do you get power from one side of Kentucky Lake to the other side? With huge towers in the lake

This is for my friend Linda – we have a mermaid interest.

On our way to Clifton we saw several houses built right at the edge of cliffs like this.

Clifton was a very interesting little town on the banks of the Tennessee River. We got there early enough that we were able to walk in and explore a bit. The town is Civil War era and has some monuments to people and events from the Civil War.

     

It also had some interesting signs –

     

This one was in the bathroom by the marina office. We met Sonja and she was quite the character.

There were 11 looper boats at the Clifton Marina when we were there. The “restaurant” was just some tables in the marina office and a counter along one wall where they cooked in electric skillets, fry daddys, griddles, crock pots – burgers were cooked on a grill outside and were some of the best burgers we’ve had in a long time. Because their “kitchen”was pretty limited, they made a huge taco buffet for all of us that night. And one of the servers/cooks took a picture of all of us.

Cruising up the river the next day we saw some interesting houses

     

The houses in the left photo reminded us of villas on St. John. And I guess a man’s home really could be a castle!

This one was an interesting use of containers from container ships.

We couldn’t figure out where the cattle came from. Did they get loose from a pasture and wander down in search of water?

I’ll hopefully be able to post more photos tomorrow. We’re headed to a larger marina for a few days so I should have time and internet to be able to upload more.