Great Loop: Ditto Landing


Boat trips are about more than just visiting interesting places.  Of course that is the goal, but the boat itself, is a living creature and needs constant care and attention.  Every couple of days of cruising leads to a day of maintenance and repair.  For instance,  a couple of days ago we turned on the inverter and it showed an overload condition.  Most of the time the built in protections will provide a safety net and no damage will result.  We were not so lucky this time.  The surge of current damaged internal components and we now must replace the unit.  I found one online and am having it shipped to the marina we will be visiting in about a week.  

The latch that holds the refrigerator closed also broke.  Another online purchase to restore full functionality.  Online seems to be the easiest method for replacing parts as we are in locations that do not have marine chandleries nearby.  

Shopping.  When we need groceries or household items, we can often ride our bikes to do our shopping.  Sometimes we can walk.  Occasionally, we will rent a car for the day and combine shopping with sightseeing.  This works well, if you make lists and remember all the items we need.  The last time we rented a car, we forgot our propane tank was almost empty.  The locations which filled tanks were far away and on roads not suitable for biking safely.  So we will have to wait to get our tank filled and do a better job of anticipating what we need.  Checklists are a wonderful thing...



Surprises!  Tonight we had just poured a glass of wine and a loud explosion, accompanied by a flash occurred right outside our window.  We are near the Redstone Arsenal, so my first thoughts headed in that direction.  We hurried outside to find a fireworks show was in progress right at our marina!  There was a Chamber of Commerce events at the nearby pavilion.  We had seen event preparations all day.  We had no idea we would be treated to a fireworks show right off our transom.. A real treat!




So each day continues to bring new surprises.  Today we are going to traverse a TVA lock and spend the night at Duck Pond Marina.  Some weather, rain and wind is expected tonight.  We still have two days of travel, after Duck Pond, to reach Chattanooga.  It has a reputation as a town full of attractions, including restaurants and a world class aquarium.  We are going to rent a car while in Chattanooga and visit a friend in Nashville for a couple of days.  Our journey to look for America sails on! 







Comments

  1. Keith and LindaOctober 28, 2021 at 6:51 AM

    Enjoying your posts. Well written and great pictures. Updates are informative and makes us feel we are onboard too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike and Beth's AdventuresNovember 8, 2021 at 6:29 PM

    Glad you are enjoying the posts.

    ReplyDelete

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