Preparing for Rolling on the River (one more time)

I was working out a crossword puzzle when I realized I might just be one. The clue was, “Has a longing for or impulse to travel”. Ten letters, “Wanderlust”. Hmmm…… Maybe I am since this reflection occurred while I was on someone else’s boat going down the Tenn-Tom Waterway with him. I was working on putting a bottom coat on Lesson Plan, when I hatched a plan to travel the Tenn-Tom on someone else’s boat. If you have been reading the blog for a while you may remember Herb Seaton, of the M/V Phanthom, from our time together on the Mississippi and Ohio River .

The plan was to drive from Demopolis to Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL and meet him there to get on his boat for the trip down river. I was looking forward to touring Muscle Shoals. Muscle Shoals has been the home of two prolific music recording studios since the early 1960s, FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Artist such as Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding recorded in Muscle Shoals. The house band of Muscle Shoals Studio was The Swampers (mentioned in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song “Sweet Home Alabama”). They worked with artist like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, the Rolling Stones and many others. Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally have also recorded albums in Muscle Shoals.

I guess I will have to visit Muscle Shoals another time. Because Herb called and said he was leaving Florence earlier than planned, could I meet him at Pickwick Lake. Just a small change for me, so I arranged to drop off the rental car near Aqua Marina and reprogrammed the GPS to take me to Aqua Yacht Harbor.

Phanthom Locking Through

It was a bit different being on a big motor yacht (20’ longer than Lesson Plan). It was a good experience. I handled the lines for most of the locks, but Herb let me pilot to boat into a couple of the locks. It is quite a bit different from piloting a sailboat with a single engine. We made it to Demopolis without incident and I said goodbye to Herb and went back to Lesson Plan.

I finished up putting the bottom paint on Lesson Plan and got her ready for the trip down the rivers and across the gulf. So today I start rolling down the river with the goal of reaching Tarpon Springs by December 15. I will have plenty of time to make a few stops along the way. Demopolis is at mile 217, so at 7.5 MPH it will take a few days to reach Mobile (since I only have about 8 to 9 hours of good daylight during this time of year). I found some fellow sailboats here at the marina to start the trip with. We cast off at 6:30 on Tuesday morning. I will keep you posted.