October 30 – In Fulton, Tennessee

We left Joe Wheeler and the AGLCA (Looper’s) rendezvous a day early to avoid what could have been a pack of boats vying for lock and dock space on the way down. Sleeping Bear has two hard dates to meet. First, we need to be at or near Columbus, Mississippi to pick-up Kerri on 11/1. The second is that we need to be in Mobile on November 10, in time to get Kerri to the airport to catch her flight back to Wisconsin. The distance from Columbus is only 335 miles downriver, in 8 days, with only 4 locks; how difficult can it be? Well, there are stretches with no marinas and no recommended anchorages. Also, for a river that is supposed to be flowing toward the Gulf, in the first hundred miles there has been little to no help from the current. Presumably this is because of the lack of rain all summer in the region. Hopefully, the current will begin to help as we move further south.

A couple of comments on the Rendezvous and the trip back down the Tennessee for now. As you know, the Great Circle trip or Great loop travels the interior of the country through the Great Lakes, the inland waterway system and inter coastal waterway for most of Florida and the east coast of the US. The inland waterway system interconnects the rivers and lakes through government sponsored engineering efforts to build and maintain locks and dams. This makes navigation possible. It has created huge economic benefit to the US, both for commercial and for recreational use. This waterway system also provides a means whereby large quantities of storm water can be managed to minimize the damage that would otherwise be caused by flooding. When one looks at a map, the course we are taking is over a 5,000 mile course that encircles the eastern United States. In this context consider the following:

·         When commissioned back in the 1960’s, the project to connect the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee had a very small commercial payback of around 3%. What was underestimated in the initial calculation was the impact that recreational boating would have on these rural areas. The impact on tourism has been huge. Everywhere boaters go, they are welcomed and appreciated.

·         Those of us who embark upon this journey are referred to as Loopers.  This is because we are traveling on this circle route or loop. It is not as one woman at the rendezvous suggested because "boaters like their cocktail hour(s) and get “looped” most nights."

·         Many of the Loopers were not heading south because of strange and varied boat Insurance restrictions. One person reported that their insurance was invalid if they were below the 35^th parallel (about the start of the Tenn-Tom) before November 1. Many others claim that they are prohibited by their Insurance companies from entering the Gulf of Mexico until November 15.

·         After experiencing this fine waterway system and reflecting further on the government invention of an interstate highway system, it is hard to believe that government could do any worse with the health care system than the insurance companies are currently doing with it. By the way the many Canadians who do this trip need to carry some form of US health insurance. However, they all say that they scramble back to Canada at the first hint a problem.

·         Finally, the trip back down the 96 foot Wilson Lock on Wednesday paled in comparison to the ride up. As such, the pictures of the trip down are probably not worth posting. Like most things in life, the ride up is more enjoyable than the ride down.