Had a beautiful few days at Joe Wheeler.  It is a gorgeous spot.  The AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) Fall Rendezvous has being going on there this week.  Mike and I did not register for the rendezvous as we didn’t want to have to be in a certain place on certain dates (yet, we ended up being there on the dates anyway).  Also, I’m not a fan of seminars as I’ve done hundreds of them during my work life, and really don’t want to pay for any unless they are giving me needed work CE.  That said, we got to meet a lot of folks currently doing the Great Loop, and a number of folks planning to do the Loop.  Everybody doing the Rendezvous was in slips.  Mike and I (the black sheep) vied for the very nearby anchorage which was stunning.

Tuesday, it rained all damn day.  Not to be dissuaded, I put on my foullies, and dinghied to land to do some laundry.  I thought I’d find a break in the weather.  It was not to be.  The lovely gal in the office gave me a huge trash bag which I was able to use to take my laundry bag back to the boat and keep my booty dry.  Me, even in my foullies, not so much!  As I jammed on plane to FF, my hood flew back and my mug was pelted with rain.  All good once I got aboard.  (Mike was listening to a podcast and didn’t initially hear me, so I waited in the rain until he heard me yelling his name so loudly I finally scared the shit out of him.)

When it rains, Mike loves to make homemade pizza:

We departed yesterday morning @ 8:45am to beautiful, albeit cool, weather.

Don’t know what kind of birds these were, but they were so cool.

Went through The Wheeler and Wilson Locks with only slight delays.

From Mike:

Hope you don’t mind that we are experimenting with embedding a video (or three or four) here and there.  For those of you reading this, who have never experienced going through a lock in your own boat, I wanted to try and capture what takes place before and after.  So sorry about the  lame narration…we’ll work out the bugs.

Back to Mary:

Arrived Florence Harbor Marina @ 1:10.  Had been here on our way to Chattanooga, so were familiar.  Also, we knew we wanted to go to their restaurant for fried pickles.  Dear Lord, these things are so damn good!

Florence is a beautiful town.  And, this marina is gorgeous.

There is a state park on the other side which is a lovely walk from the boat.

Florence is on the other side of the river from Muscle Shoals which is a very storied town for music recording.  We previously posted some pictures from Muscle Shoals Music that we visited a couple weeks ago.  Today, we went to Fame Recording Studios.  If you haven’t seen it, watch Muscle Shoals the documentary on Netflix; it’s incredible.  So much amazing music and magic made in this town.  Aretha Franklin credits Muscle Shoals, AL for getting her career off the ground.  Recall the lyrics from Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd:

“Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers And they’ve been known to pick a song or two (yes they do) Lord they get me off so much They pick me up when I’m feeing blue, now how bout you?”

Fame was started by Rick Hall.  He created The Swampers.  The Swampers were a rhythm section band of studio no-named white high-school looking musicians who played on some of the most iconic songs and albums of the early seventies.  Look them up; the stories are truly incredible.  Amazing how, during a time of ongoing racial strife in Alabama, none seemed to exist in these studios.  The Swampers made epic music with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Picket, Percy Sledge, and Candi Staton.

And, one of my absolute favorites…Etta James.

The Swampers eventually left Rick Hall to start their own studio, down the street.  They were also very successful, recording such artists at the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Linda Rondstant, Bob Segar, etc.  This place is a must visit for any musical history buff.

We provisioned and did laundry today.  Made a delicious steak dinner on the boat during a beautiful sunset.  Plan to take off tomorrow to ultimately, and sadly, leave the Tennessee River and head down the Ten-Tom toward Mobile.  We have SO loved the Tennessee River.  If it weren’t for the lack of my family (sans Daniel), stifling Summer heat, the bugs, the fact that I seem to have allergies here, and that it is not the ocean, I could almost live here.  It is truly stunning, and the people are beyond amazing and beautiful.

Tomorrow’s destination, God willing, is an anchorage in Luka, Mississippi.