We took the boat out for a little tool this morning after we pumped out.  Pumping out, always such a fun thing to do, watching your poop be sucked out a hose and praying that the hose doesn’t pop off and spray poop everywhere.  Been there, done that, not too much fun :).

It was really foggy this morning but the weather man promises 85º for the next few days, apparently unseasonably warm for here, but we’ll take it.   Each fall they drop the water level here to what they call their “winter level”.  Some of the homes with docks, end up with their boats sitting in the mud.   One house we saw on the river, that is for sale, has his boat sitting in the mud.  Not a very good selling point :).

This time of year, the “Loopers” are all heading south.  It is fun to check out the transient dock each day to see who has landed.  If you are like most boaters, they love to look at other peoples boats, just to see what is out there, so we try to check out the transient dock and meet some of the people.  We like to see where they are from and where they are going.  Most boaters have a provision in their insurance policies, as do we, that says they can’t be south of 31 degrees, so about Demopolis, Alabama, until November 1st.  They have to find some place to hang out until that magic day.  So some of the anchorages and marinas around Demopolis get all clogged up with Loopers waiting for the day when they can head out.  Of course, then there is the flood of boats all heading south at the same time.  Makes for interesting boating as there are only so many bollards in the locks to tie up to and there is only so much room in the anchorages, or so I’ve been told.   I think I’d wait until the middle of November to make the trek.  Sounds too crowded for me.  Luckily that won’t be our problem this year :).

Well, we finally completed our last annual maintenance task on the boat.  Yah!  Just in time before we leave to check out the marinas on the Tennessee River.  So if you want to see how easy it is to change the zincs, check out the “From the Engine Room” page.

For those that don’t give a hoot about zincs, I offer some pretty sun rise picture (yes!  I get up early enough to see the sun rise, no matter what Gary tells you 🙂 )

Sunrise 1

Sunrise 2

Sunrise 3

Sunrise 1 and 2 are taken from the pilot door of our boat looking out at the dock in front of us.  Sunrise 3 is taken from the parking lot overlooking the bay our marina is on. It has been pretty foggy in the mornings, I guess fall is here to stay.

So we’ll give you an update of those Tennessee Marinas when we return.