Quarantining on a Boat

When I was talking a fellow Looper, Charlie McVey few months ago, he mentioned that he and a friend were planning on a boat trip he was calling The Down South Loop. (see the post, Rain, Race, Sunshine for part of my travel with Charlie and Robin). The trip plan was to leave his home marina at Pickwick Lake and travel down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River down to the Mississippi River. Take the Mississippi to New Orleans. Cross the Mississippi Sound to Mobile Bay. From there it is just a short trip (470 miles) up the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Pickwick Lake. Wow, that sounds great, I said. Well if Jim backs out, let me know, I would love to go.

Guess what, In January I got the call. The timing wasn’t going to work for Jim. Sorry for his luck.

I immediately jumped into planing mode. We want to get ahead of the rainy (and mosquito) season of the far southern part of the Mississippi River basin (late April and May). We figure finishing up in mid April is the best option. We estimate that 1,800 mile trip should take about 18 travel days, add a few weather days and we are at 3 weeks. Weather permitting, our plan was to depart March 20, It could be a chilly start, but we can watch the weather and adjust departure accordingly.

We broke the trip into roughly 100 mile segments, looked at marinas and anchorages at the end of each segment. Since we are a little ahead of the boating season, we needed to make sure we can get fuel at a few key points. Yep, the marinas are open for fuel. Some of them may not have water turned on yet, we we can get fuel and tie up for the night.

In the meantime, Charlie is getting the boat ready. Oh, did I mention this trip is going to be in his pontoon boat? He put a new engine on the boat and added a second bimini to cover the front of the boat. We both purchased a cot with a canopy over it for sleeping. It is going to be like being on a three week primitive camping trip, except for most nights you cannot get out and walk around.

All this planning was pre-COVID-19. We debated the the go/no go, but decided that we could self quarantine on the boat. We would have very little contact with other people. So, March 23 we left from Aqua Marine on Pickwick lake and headed out for our three week adventure.