Dry Docked in Guntersville, AL

A note from Bob and Lois's daughter, Becky

Bob and Lois are A OK. The boat however has a bearing that went out in the main shaft. They are dry docked, waiting on a part. Apparently, the boat has the original bronze shaft in it. They were going to pick up supplies and out to eat today. The marina has a loaner car that they were able to use. Dad is polishing the boat. He also had to buff the scratches out from the locks so far. It's looking pretty good, and only has a little to do on the port side yet. The rest of the 6 boats they were traveling to TN with, went on to Chatanooga for sightseeing. They will stop on the way back to check on them. Hopefully, Bob and Lois will already be back at Joe Wheeler by then. They do have cell phone and email service, so we have been able to talk with them. Around Guntersville Lake there were floating condo's, very large pontoons with buildings on on them all in a row. Nice looking, low buildings right on the water. How about that? It has been a little on the cold side at night as they are out of the water and have to use space heaters. Will be happy to be back in the water and using regular boat power, it'll be much warmer then. Hope to have everything back together and in the water by Weds lunchtime, if the part is available in the am.

Update 10/16 thru 10/24

Joe Wheeler Lodge

Some of the loopers

More loopers

The games have begun

Authors of "Honey Lets Buy A Boat"

Marker to Joe Wheeler

The Admiral tending the lines in a lock, She is good.

Pearl farm in Tenn.

At the pearl farm

Going There at anchor

10/16/08
We had rain most of the day. We arrived at Florence, Alabama and had a very nice floating dock next to a 40 -50 ft. House boat decorated for halloween. We borrowed the marina vehicle and went to town and out to eat.
10/17/08
We got up and left early to get through Wilson and Wheeler locks. Wilson is 93 ft. lift and the largest so far. We checked into Joe Wheeler State Park and started to meet other loopers here for the Rendezvous. We are not the smallest boat but, we are small compared to most of the boats that are here. Oh well, everyone seems to be very friendly and our opinions are just as valuable as theirs. This is a great organization. I calculated that we have gone 2970 statue miles to this point. We have used 875 gallons of fuel so far. We are at the half way point. The most we paid was 5.95 per gallon which was in Canada and was corrected to us gal. and dollars. We have seen prices coming back down and are trying to get the best price when possible.
10/18/08 - 10/23/08
We are getting to see people we have not seen since we started and the others we have met along the way plus many others who have either finished the loop and came back for the fellowship and the new members that are planning the trip. We have been attending the many seminars and enjoying the great food and gathering that were planned. We took a lot of notes and enjoyed hearing many people talking about their own trips. We met the couple that had written the book "Honey lets buy a Boat" and one of the authors of guide books for the Tenn. River was here and I got his autograph.
10/24/08
Today we are getting to leave in the morning for Chattanooga, TN in the morning. It will take 4 days to get there and we will stay 3 days and 4 days back to Joe Wheeler. We will then take a day or two to get ready to head south and also tour around here a little.

Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, AL

From Barb: Going There and her crew arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park in Rogersville, AL on Friday 10/17.

The crew is busy with a Looper's Convention and will hopefully be updating their blog late this week. They are doing well, enjoying the company of other loopers and getting to meet the authors of some of the books they've read about the Loop.

Filling in some of the blanks and updatting to the present

Coast Guard vessels getting ready to reset bouys after the flooding

Beardstown town dock


Beardstown from the town side

Flooding on the Illinois River

Lois tying to a floating bollard

St. Louis Arch

Top of pole show 11 feet of flooding

Seneca, Il.

Wind Farm

In the lock with a commercial tow

Flooded Lock


On October 1, we left Seneca, IL, which was our home for over a month, and set out again. The water level at Seneca was almost back to normal, but further down river, it was still at low flood stage. Two of the locks that we needed to go through were still underwater far enough that we simply motored over them. Tugs with their tows of barges were working in the Peoria area and we also saw them in other populated areas, but frequently, it seemed as though ours was the only boat on the Illinois River. We met two guys one evening in Beardstown who were traveling from Chicago to St. Louis in a 16 ft. motorboat with a canvas campertop which they put up at night when they anchored. For several days we saw them off and on, usually passing us. After 3 days, we entered the Mississippi River near Grafton, IL, which was something we were not looking forward to. The Mississippi has a faster current than any river we’ve traveled before, over 4 mph. We zipped along at the amazing (for us) speed of 12-14 mph., since we were being pushed by the river. The first night, we stayed at Hoppie’s Marina, south of St. Louis, but the next night we had no choice but to anchor in a creek off the main channel near the town of Cape Girardeaux. We had company-there were 6 or 7 other boats as well. As we traveled southward, we saw plenty of tows, the biggest one 5 barges wide and 5 barges long. We almost always talked to them on the VHF radio and asked the captains which side we could pass or meet them on. This was especially important at curves in the river, because they have to do some maneuvering to round a curve. The water was full of swirls and eddies which made it hard to steer. On Monday, October 6, we turned northeast into the Ohio River at Cairo, IL and immediately, the water was much calmer and steering became easier, even though we were pushing into the current and our speed dropped to 8 mph. At the first lock we encountered, we were told to simply pass over the dam, which was underwater-not because of flooding, but because they were manipulating the water level. However, approaching the second lock about 4 PM, we saw close to 2 dozen tows nosed into the banks of the river, motors running to keep them in place, waiting for their turn in the lock. Bob called the lockmaster to let him know there were 2 pleasure boats waiting, since we were traveling with Wanderin’ L & M, another Looper. We expected a long wait, possibly even having to anchor for the night and go through the lock in the morning. However, we were allowed to go through less than an hour later, finishing about 5:45 PM. We aimed toward Paducah, KY, hoping we could reach the mouth of the Cumberland River and anchor nearby before dark. Didn’t make it till after dark-not a good idea, folks. It worked out, though. The next day was a rainy one, but we didn’t have as far to go as previous days. We cruised the Cumberland River into Lake Barkley, KY, to the marina resort of Green Turtle Bay.
There have been at least 8 Looper boats here every night that we’ve been here. It seems to be the destination for Loopers who need a break after a week on the big rivers. 6 of us went to Paducah one day to the quilt museum, Wal-Mart, and the beer store; another day we visited Grand Rivers, the closest town, for lunch and antique/craft/etc stores. One of the couples organized a potluck and hot dog roast on the beach last night and other nights there have been snacks and conversation.
For those of you who are interested in the numbers, here you are. Keep in mind that our normal cruising speed is 10 mph.
Oct. 1 to Oct. 3 on the Illinois River, we ran 252 miles.
Oct. 4,5, and 6(½ day), we went 218 miles on the Upper Mississippi River.
Oct. 6 (½ day) was 46 miles on the Ohio River.
Oct. 7 (5 hrs.) Was 33 miles on the Cumberland River.

Sunday 10/05/08

We need to go 48 more miles on the Mississippi and we will be heading up the Ohio River. We should be at Green Turtle Bay on the Tennessee River Tuesday. Then we can take a day off. We will be anchoring for the next 2 days so this will be short.

Our first and second days back on the trail

On our first day back we traveled 80 miles and went through 2 locks. We were in travel for 10 hours and very tired when we got tied up for the night. Today we did 80 miles and went over the top of 1 lock as it is still flooded and they had the wicket down so it was level. No big deal and no waiting. We are on the town dock in Beardstown, IL tonight and went to the market and then to dinner. Tomorrow we will push on to Grafton, IL and the following day to Alton, IL. Sunday we will tackle the Mississippi river. The boat is running better than ever and we have been going faster than usual because of the rivers push. Most places are still at or above flood stage but are slowly falling. Some places we saw corn and bean fields that were flooded. My guess is that the crops will be moldy. We have been seeing eagles with regularity and today I saw a coyote along the levee. I am on battery power tonight so will close.