Admiral's Log: 7:20 am, 10/11/16
Air Temp: 55 Water Temp: 72
Winds: calm
Speed: 10.6 mph
We had another long day planned to get to Grand Harbor Marina. We met up with Lazy Suzan yesterday so the 2 boats easily went through 2 locks. We had heard of several Loopers having to wait several hours to get through some of the locks. So far we've been really lucky and were able to go right through with no waiting other than for the lock master to fill or empty the chamber preparing for us to enter.
 |
| Rowe Boat in the Wilson Lock |
 |
| Lazy Suzan at the top of the Wilson Lock |
 |
| After the 90 foot drop. |
Grand Harbor Marina is the last good marina for miles, a lot of Loopers stay for a few days to provision and chill. Many Loopers also hang out here before heading to the annual fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park. But since we went last year, we decided to skip this one.
We arrived at 3:00 and prepared for a Looper Pot Luck Dinner. We were glad to see Over Ice and Aquafinatic, the Canadian couple we had met earlier in the summer. We docked next to Sweet T, whom we had not seen in a while as well. They are going to head south down the TennTom Waterway with us Sunday.
 |
| We are the blue dot straddling 3 state lines; Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. |
 |
| Docktails Pot Luck |
Wednesday, Mike and Tonya from Sweet T, took us to Corinth Mississippi to pick up a rental car then we drove to Shiloh National Military Park. Shiloh is in both Tennessee and Mississippi.
 |
| There are memorials all along the route from many states. |
 |
| Canons are everywhere. |
We watched a 30 minute movie before we drove around the park. The movie was very informative and quite moving. After the movie you can either walk, bike or drive a car through the 8 mile military trail. Two of the most important railroads of the Confederacy passed through Corinth, thus the reason the Battle of Shiloh was fought. The battle lasted just 6 hours, and over 25,000 men were either killed, wounded or missing; more than were lost in the first to World Wars!
 |
| It was kind of surreal knowing we were walking on hallowed ground. |
After touring the battlefield we took the 1 mile walk to the Shiloh Indian Mounds. Not much is left, but we did see several mounds that were said to have existed some 800 years ago.
 |
| Never thought about this, but makes sense. |
 |
| One of the 4 obvious mounds we saw. |
 |
| View of the Tennessee River from the Shiloh Indian Mounds site. |
We had a nice Docktails and Looper Cook Out at the Marina pool pavilion. There were about 20 boats in attendance. We knew most of them, but did meet a few we had missed over time and couple that had just begun their loop from Wisconsin and Michigan. We all took turns giving them advice and suggestions and concluded they were in for the time of their lives!
Thursday, we said good bye to Shell Belle. They started the Loop a couple of weeks ago and are going to the Rendezvous. Mike and I took the rental car and headed to see 3 things we did not get to see when we were in Florence a few weeks ago.
First up was the Coon Dog Cemetery in Cherokee Alabama. I later found out that it was featured in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. It's the only one in the world and only verified coon dogs are allowed to be buried there. It was established in 1937 when Key Underwood buried his coon dog and best friend Troop.
 |
| There were all kinds of head stones, from this nice professional carved stone, to... |
 |
| a wooden cross with the deceased Coon Dog's collar. |
 |
| The cemetery's first resident, Troop. |
Next we went to Ivy Green; Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia Alabama. It was built in 1820 by her grandparents. Her father was a Captain in the Confederacy and the home was used as a hospital during the Civil War. The home was made a permanent Shrine in 1954 and contains much of the original furniture when the Keller family lived there.
 |
| The actual water pump where Helen learned to spell "water". |
 |
| The 2 room birthplace. |
 |
| Some of Helen's and her mother's dresses. |
 |
| Helen at 8 on the left, Annie Sullivan on the right. |
Time for a lunch break at Champy's Famous Fried Chicken in Muscle Shoals Alabama. Mike and Tonya told us it had the best fried chicken. Mike had chicken livers, (yuck) and I had a breast. He said the livers were very good. Mine was pretty good, but still not as good as the fried chicken we had in Brunswick Georgia. The restaurant is very retro; retired license plates from all over the country and the old metal tables and diner type chairs I remember as a kid.
 |
| Notice the diner table and chairs, love it! |
 |
| Mike and Mr. Chicken |
After lunch we went to our last stop; the Rosenbaum House. The only Frank Lloyd Wright home in Alabama. We love the simplicity of Wright homes and have seen several and hope to eventually see them all. This is one of the few in the country you can tour. The Usonian design was built for everyman, with room to add on if needed. It was purchased by the city of Florence in 1999. Wright's homes are usually made of 4 main components; this one was built with cypress, concrete, brick and glass. Some of the furnishings were also original Wright designs.
Fajitas for dinner and a sunset at the Marina.
Friday, Mike and Tonya went with us in the courtesy van to return our rental cars. We had planned to have breakfast first. They suggested Abe's across the street from Enterprise, they had been there before and said it was a must see. And boy where they right, what an experience!
This place is just one long bar with about 20 round bar stools. That's it, no tables or chairs. You walk in and Abe tells you to stand there until someone leaves, then you take their seats. He might go ahead and ask for your order so it will be ready as soon as you sit down. There's a big jug of oil the cook constantly pours on the griddle to fry sausage and eggs and cook pancakes. The bacon is cooked in the oven. Seems everyone gets biscuits and gravy and fried potatoes whether you order it or not. It was crazy!
When it's time to pay, you don't get a receipt, Abe just sort of pulls a number out of his head and that's it. Seems 17$ was about average for 2 people. We noticed a few boat cards on the wall, Abe was to add ours once he had time. If you ever find yourself in Corinth Mississippi, you have got to visit Abe's and look for our Rowe Boat card.
 |
| Mike and Tonya waiting to sit down. All those people on the right are sitting on bar stools. |
 |
| Abe is to the left, his son is on the right. |
 |
| A few Looper boat cards, hopefully ours will be there next. |
It rained all day. But it had not rained here for nearly a month so it was most welcome to the locals. The four of us stopped at a grocery on the way back to the marina. I cleaned the inside of the boat and Mike did his engine room check. We pretty much were lazy the rest of the day. We watched an old war movie, read and I caught up on my Blog. We had sausage on the grill and baked beans for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment