October 9, through October 13 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)
The first night we were in Grand Rivers KY, we had dinner with the crews of Encore, CAVU and Grand Plan, the boats that we had been traveling with for the last few weeks. In the next few days many of us will be going our own ways and we really wanted to celebrate our accomplishments of navigating the rivers locks and barges of the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. We ate at a famous Looper restaurant, Patti's 1850 resort. Dinner was amazing and the companionship could not be beat.
I think one of the things that has surprised me the most about this trip is that you could bring together a group like ours, who never met before, were from totally different backgrounds and make immediate friendships that will last well beyond this adventure.
I always enjoy walking the docks of any new marina and seeing the multitude of different boats and some of the incredibly creative names that people come up with.
We also found out, talking to other loopers that if we wanted a place to stay in Florida this winter, the time to make reservations was NOW. So I spent a day calling marinas and arranging our haul out for when we come home for the holidays. I was also lucky enough to find a MONTH long slip in Marathon Key for the of February. Once again, I am so glad we are in a smaller boat, because if Patriot did not fit into a 35 foot slip, we would still be on a waiting list.
We also made plans with the crew of Encore to visit Nashville via the Cumberland River after we attended the AGLCA Rendezvous.
Sunday morning we woke up to pea soup fog so we had to wait awhile before we slipped our lines and headed to the south end of Kentucky Lake for the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) rendezvous at Paris Landing State Park where we will spend 4 days getting route briefings for our upcoming travels, and hanging out with people that have finished the loop already, those planning to do the trip and like us, people that are in the process of doing the loop. Internet and phone coverage will be spotty, so I will have to wait awhile before posting this update.
Sunday, we traveled down Kentucky Lake to Paris Landing State Park for the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous. 4 days of spending time with people that are planning their loop, those that are doing their loop and those that have completed their loop. It was an amazing 5 days of route briefings from where we were for the meeting all the way to Norfolk VA. The information was invaluable. We even got a briefing on one of our most anticipated side trips BAHAMAS. After we leave the Keys in February the goal is to cross over to the Bahamas for 3 or 4 weeks and the briefing that we got was like drinking from a fire hose for 90 minutes. And the most amazing part of it was that the lecturer didn't ask for a dime for their guides or any information that you asked for. They were simply paying it forward. This was a common theme throughout all of the presenters.
On several afternoons of the Rendezvous they held what is called a "Looper Crawl". It did NOT involve drinking, but many loopers opened their boats to other attendees that were looking for boats to do their loop and wanted to walk through other people's boats because you can learn so much from looking at pictures on the internet. We opened Patriot on 2 separate afternoons and we were SHOCKED how many people wanted to see our little boat. We had at least 50 plus people walk through each afternoon to see our little, and I mean little boat. As we are getting used to, Patriot was one of the smallest boats at the rendezvous.
But I think that the most amazing aspect of the meetings was the people. I have never met a more welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable group of people. Over 350 people that at any given time we could sit down with and have an extended conversation with. Every time we sat down with a different group, within minutes it was like we were old friends.
On Wednesday night we were treated to dinner for over 300 sponsored by the local chamber of commerce, and deserts by a local store and food truck by the name of Sweet Jordan's The cookies and ice cream were great, but the backstory was even better. They named the company after their son that was born with Downs Syndrome and they focus on hiring "differently abled" people from the community. They do mail order, so if you are looking for a great present that you can feel good about, check them out. www.sweetjordans.com
Friday we will be headed back up the lake back to Green Turtle Marina to begin our first side trip down the Cumberland River to Nashville and to see a Dolly Parton Tribute show at the Badgett Playhouse in Grand Rivers TN. But we will cover that in our next installment. (That is called a tease)
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Hi Gert and Christine — Marsha and Eric here from Nashville. So nice to meet you at Paris Landing. Thank you for your conversation regarding your Tug! Sounds like you had a good time in Nashville — hope some of that BBQ was Martin’s. His is the best in town! Best of luck going south!