SEA JAMM CROSSES HER WAKE!

WE DID IT!

CROSSED OUR WAKE in Grand Harbor Tennessee River where we started!

Official American Great Loop

GOLD LOOPERS!!!

We left Grand Harbor on the Tennessee River October 21st 2015.

We have traversed 2 countries, 17 states & 2 provinces

We have collected 237 boat cards from 237 Loopers and survived 2 hurricanes.

We have locked 166 times.

Since the last blog:

Tennessee River

Paris Landing State Park

Thursday night 27^th of September

Cruising in the fog

Got to trust the radar.  Couldn't see this railroad bridge until we were on it.  Pretty spooky.

Pebble Isle Marina

Friday night 28^th of September

Clifton Marina

Saturday night 29^th of September

Many dramatic rock over hangings.

General U.S. Grant's headquarters before and after the Battle of Shiloh in the spring of 1862. Savannah, TN

Sign entering the Pickwick Lock.  The waters were especially turbulent because of the floods on the upper Tennessee River.

Sunday night 30th of September, 2018

Grand Harbor

Pickwick Lake

We started the Loop here.  

Acknowledgements:

I would be remiss if I didn't introduce you to the people that love what they are doing and that have helped to make our dream a reality. They need no introduction because any boater east of the Mississippi knows them.

Captains Chris & Alyse who taught us so much the week we spent with them on their beloved Sandy Hook. I can't count the many times I've heard from my Captain Alan, “Alyse would yell at you for that!”

Another person that must love what he does is Curtis Stokes. This renowned Yacht broker gave of his time so generously that we felt like we were his only clients He helped make our dream become a reality when he found Sea Jamm.

Sherry, Curtis, and Gill, in Deltaville VA.

Thanks to Kim and AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association). For the tremendous support through seminars and rendezvous and our forum that has been like a Bible to all of us Loopers.  Also, thanks to Kim for getting a replacement looper flag for us in Chattanooga after we wore out the first one.

And, thank you Herb of Phanthom. Meeting you in Belhaven, NC was one of the highlights of our trip. You have constantly been encouragement ("Where are you guys?, I don't see you on NEBO",  or "Are you moving to Mackinaw City permanently?") and have added so much joy to our lives by your presence, stories, laughter and moon pies. You came into our lives as a friend, but we now count you as kin.

Thanks to our festival of friends, the many Loopers who have helped shape the experiences and process of our journey. Too numerous to name, but you know who you are. You are our treasure.

Kindness and encouragement of friends and family at home who have engaged in our journey has meant so much. You have been the fuel for our blog. Thank you.

And lastly but certainly no least, Alan has been my rock star. Having recently retired and then leaving home to cruise in a 15 X 50 space 24/7, many of you were concerned. Me too! You have remained steady and patient with me (for the most part) as we traversed over some very challenging territory together. You have taught me and trusted me with important responsibilities. And you have made me so many pancakes that I'm surprised I can still fit in my shorts.

We wish for each of you a life of engagement and whimsy layered with many adventures and God's richest blessings. Until our paths cross again. . .

We plan to take and leave Sea Jamm in Demopolis, AL in a week and drive home until after Thanksgiving.  Then we will come back and take her to Florida where we will put her on the market early December.  

What a fabulous journey.  Thank you for letting us share with you.  

Sunset at Paris Landing.

Saint Louis to the Tennessee river.

                  UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER

A screen shot of Sea Jamm cruising past the St. Louis Arch!

St Louis

Alton Marina

Alton, Missouri

(On the outskirts of St. Louis Missouri)

Sunday 16^th September – Friday 21^st September

Alton bridge taken from Sea Jamm at dusk.
We slept under this bridge.

After having had a week of very long and arduous cruising days, we have decided to stay here for 3 or 4 days of rest. Sea Jamm got a bath and an oil change (that's not necessarily resting). But we did have fruity drinks by the pool in 90 degree weather, hotter than at home in Georgia! Then we rented a car and saw St. Louis and surrounding areas such as St. Charles. 

Visit to St. Charles

Quaint and historic town

Getting ready for Fall.

Enjoyed Fast Lane Classic Cars, Inc tour.

Alan's dad had one of these in the 1950's.

Fast Lane had other merchandise other than classic cars.

Vist to St. Louis zoo

If you ever have an opportunity to go there, it is one of the best zoos we've been to, and it is free!

Many penguins,

One large, very large polar bear named Kali,

and zebras.

Back at Alton.

Many Loopers in Alton.
"There are good ships
And wood ships
And ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships
Are friendships
And may they always be."

Time to head on. . . 

Cruise to Kaskaskin

Locks are a challenge.  Most times it is because we are waiting hours for a large barge to pass, and they have priority.  But at Mel Price, there were other challenges.  See all the sticks and some logs we had to muddle through. Hitting a log can bend a prop or shaft>>$$$$$.  Most locks are clean.  This one not so much.

Kaskaskin, Lock #118

Friday night 21^st September

17 miles away from Chester, IL where Popeye was born.  Tied to a lock wall overnight.

Cruised in the rain all day. Wet mingled with fog.

A little scary when you can't see what's on the other side!

Barge coming at ya!  (This is a little one)

Here is a bigger one.  We have passed many like this.  Can throw a 4 foot wake.

You too can cruise the Mississippi

Little Diversion
We anchored with 5 other Looper boats

Saturday night 22^nd September

Because we have to go 90 miles today, we awoke at 6am in time to see the “The eye of the tugboat.” He shined his huge ominous spotlight down in the canal where 5 boats were nestled for the night.

We have been going around 14 mph, 4 over the 10 that we usually cruise. At around 10:00, we turned onto the Ohio River where we will be for a couple of days. Our speed dropped to about 7.5 because we are now going upstream.  And, once again we cruised in rain and fog.

There are only about half a dozen houses on this part of the Mississippi. 

OHIO RIVER

Paducah KY

Sunday & Monday nights

23 & 24 September

Note the tall pillars.  The dock can ride up and down on them with the water level.  Gives you an idea about how big the river can be!

Still raining quite a bit.

Paducah had a wall around it, not to keep enemies out, but to protect it from flood waters.

CUMBERLAND RIVER

Green Turtle Bay Marina

Tuesday & Wednesday nights

25 & 26 September

The slip they gave SeaJamm was not quite long enough :-)

Cute little town.

with pretty little gift shops.

Friends, new and old.  Sonny and Phyllis (on the right, on Corkscrew) were the first loopers we ever really cruised with down the rivers to Mobile in 2015.  What a pleasure to run into them here at Green Turtle.  Herb (on Phanthom, left) and Ken and Karen (of Island Girl) have been our cruising buddies in 2018.

Totally excited.  We are getting close to home!

And next week, even closer as we finish our Great American Loop Adventure!!!

CROSSING OUR WAKE AND EARNING OUR GOLD!!!!

Celebration!

Down the Illinois river from Chicago.....

Down the Calumet river from Lake Michigan

CALUMET RIVER

An electric fish barrier in an attempt to keep Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

Catfish farmers brought Asian carp into America to help clean up catfish ponds. Flooding happened and they escaped to the river system. The government put up a fish barrier to keep them from getting into the Great Lakes.

Asian carp are large and jump very high if they're scared. They quite frequently jump into boats.

A carp jumped into the cockpit of Island Girl, another looper

We join 6 other Looper boats coming from Du Sable marina in Chicago.  

The Illinois river begins!

Joliet Wall

Joliet, IL

Monday night 09/10/18

Looper boats along Joliet Wall for the night.

It was a good thing we met all the other Looper boats. Dealing with barges and locks, it gave us a bit of power. At each lock there is a queue of barges that are slated to lock through. They have priority. But because we are a fleet of 10, they put us on their roster to lock us through. After all, with that number of “pleasure crafts,” we could “be in the way”.

We got to the Dresden lock early, rafted (that's when one boat secures itself either by anchoring or docking against a wall and other boats tie up to the secure one) and had hotdogs for lunch, pretty much a party.

We had to wait for the engineers to survey the lock with this drone taking underwater sonar  pictures of the lock floor and wall.

Spring Brook Marina

Seneca, IL

Tuesday night 09/11/18

The Bistro of Spring Brook opened up just for us.  Service was slow but food was delicious,  and company was even better!

Cruise to Ottawa Illinois took 7 hours and we only traveled 10 miles! Once again, we rafted, had lunch and waited on the lock to call us through.

A towboat captain took a video of us leaving Marsailles lock.   Sea Jamm has the green top! (Click on the little box icon to see the video in full screen :-)

Patches of white pelicans of the Illinois.

A lot of white pelicans!

Heritage Marina

Ottawa, IL

Wednesday night, 09/12/18

We are now a fleet of 12 Loopers!

As we were pulling into the marina, Sea Jamm had our first encounter with Asian carp. I suppose all the noise from our boat engines excited them. None landed in our boat, but they were jumping over the fender of the dock!

IVY
 (Illinois Valley Yacht Club)

Thursday night, 13^th September

Bar Island

Beardstown, IL

Friday night, 14^th September

Our view from Sea Jamm for the evening.

We anchored between Bar Island and the east shore of the Illinois. Alan got to use his new anchor windlass which worked flawlessly (easier than winching it up by hand.)  It was the perfect anchorage for being out of the way of the barges and had swift enough current that it kept the boats from swinging. Alan and I grilled steaks on Sea Jamm. Ken from Island Girl launched his dinghy and taxied everyone over to our boat for after dinner drinks.

On our cruise, we passed the most western part of the Great Loop at mm 60.

Grafton Marina

(Key West of the Illinois River)

Saturday night, 15^th September

We got lucky. Grafton was having a crab and shrimp festival for the weekend. Party goers were rather loud on Saturday night, but we were so tired they didn't keep us awake.

Colorful and pretty little town.

We had breakfast in the place.  Pretty eclectic decor.

We have reached MM 0 of the Illinois River.  It is here that the Missouri River joins the Illinois and together they form the Mississippi.

The Mississippi

At this point, it doesn't look like we will get any weather from Florence.  Although we are not certain of flooding she could cause on the lower rivers.  But, we pause, remember, and pray for those on the east coast who weren't so fortunate.