Great Loop: Day 1- Launch Day

Amy Marie is in the water!  We've traveled 3840 miles from Everett Washington to splash Amy Marie in the waters of the Tennessee River.  The Alabama hills are green and lush with trees down to the water.  The mornings are cool and crisp.  Days have warmed to the high 70's with winds rising in the afternoons.  

The biggest treat has been southern hospitality.  Beth had contacted a gentleman named Bill, the local AGLCA Harbor Host, whose role is to be your local concierge.  He made our first day much easier.  We arrived after driving 330 miles from Little Rock Arkansas. He and his neighbor Hal met us at the launch ramp and helped us get the boat in the water.  They then drove me over to the marina so we could see our slip assignment.  This greatly simplified moving from the ramp to the dock.  We returned to the boat and motored a short distance to the marina.  Upon arrival we pumped out and then tied up in our slip.  Bill and Hal gave us a complete orientation of Joe Wheeler State Park to get us started.  

The next several days will be classes to provide us with the information we need to move from Joe Wheeler State Park to Norfolk Virginia.  We are enjoying meeting all the other boaters who will be travelling this portion of the Great Loop.  In addition, may people are here to take the classes as part of their planning process in preparation for taking this journey at a later date.

Everyone is anxious to gather the information on the initial half of the Loop and get this adventure started.  You can tell people just want to get going.  There is another 27' Ranger Tug on our dock.  The owners are retired educators and boated to the rendezvous from Ripley Ohio.  They travelled 750 miles by boat to get here.  The couple on the boat next to us are from Virginia and are a home build 26' boat and are on their second time around the Loop.  The owner has a big Santa Claus beard and talks with a deep, deliberate, baritone voice.  We also met a nice couple from San Diego who are also planning on boating up to Chattanooga prior to heading south.  So many boats and each has their own story.  What a crew.  

There is no requirement ot travel as a group.  People can buddy boat if they like, but each boat travel at their own pace.  There is no doubt that we will encounter boaters that we met here this week over the course of our trip.  However, all are travelling at their own pace.  Some already know they are only going to do  a portion of the trip.  Other say they are on a 3 year plan.  We are on a one year plan.  Already we can tell that is not going to allow in depth exploration of some areas.  It is easy to see why some people take years to complete the Loop.

So stay tuned.  We are ready to un-tie the dock lines and begin the adventure!