10/11/18 Thursday: Wow did it ever cool down last night! The stern of Island Girl was facing north, and when I opened the door at 7:30 this morning, a gush of arctic air blew in! It was in the low 60’s. OK – not so artic, but it certainly was a shock compared to the upper 70’s when we went to bed last night. Actually, the cool-not-humid air felt great! But, it was certainly a day for long britches, socks, and fuzzies. Add to that a 12-15 mph wind, and we needed to dig out our cool weather duds.
We untied and set off on our way at about 8:00. Adios Grand Harbor marina. We’ll see you again in a few weeks!
Today’s journey included no locks, and about 40 miles upstream travel to Florence Alabama. It is right across the river from Muscle Shoals, which is the original recording studio Mecca for many recording artists including Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones, Lynard Skynard, Bob Seger… the list goes on. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as the Swampers, is a group of American studio musicians that founded Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. They have appeared on more than 500 recordings, including 75 gold and platinum hits – none of them their own. They were the sound behind Bob Seger’s hits, such as “Old Time Rock and Roll”, Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally”, and Rolling Stones “Wild Horses”. They were inducted into Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008 with a “Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement.” Maybe we’ll go see the place!
The wind wasn’t bad here at the marina, but once we got out on the lake, it got rough. The lake runs fairly north/south here, and the wind was coming out of the north. Fortunately we were going with the wind today, so it wasn’t nearly as rough and uncomfortable as it could have been. We were surfing the whitecaps and waves on our way south. And we wore our fuzzies all day!
In the places where the lake took a turn to the east, it calmed down nicely.
This is just a random shot of the Tennessee River today.
It was an uneventful day, without much exciting to report photographically. I did enjoy some song lyrics with new meaning now that I’ve spent some time in this area of the country.
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 feeling blue, now how bout you?
-From “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd… now we know what (who) the ‘Swampers’ is!
And then how about this?
All the folks down in Lynchburg, Tennessee
Been working hard for good ol’ boys like me
I don’t wanna be the one to tell ’em
That stuff that they’ve been selling
Ain’t working like it should
But I damn sure wish it would
-From “Drowns the Whiskey” by Jason Aldean…. He’s talking about Jack Daniels, right?
Speaking of Jack:
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You’re as sweet as strawberry wine
You’re as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time
-From “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton…. and now we know that Tennessee whiskey is different than all othe whiskey because of the sugar maple charcoal filtering that makes it so smooooooth.
See how smart we all are now? These songs have more meaning than you thought, huh?
As we approached the Florence Harbor Marina, the harbor master called US on the radio! He saw us coming on the AIS! He gave us instructions to our slip, and we looked on the Google map to figure it out. It was right next to the boat launch.
Captain had to just about drive up on the launch to pivot us around to back into our slip. This big bird kept a watchful eye for us. Captain kept watching the depth, and it never got less than 10’ deep at our stern. Whew!
We got all settled in, and who should be docked right behind us, but our buddy SeaJamm. She looks so pretty with her Gold looper flag! They crossed their wake at Pickwick. But, then there is the For Sale sign, too. 🙁 Sherry & Alan said that they were going to sell her and get something smaller for their next adventures.
When we checked in with the marina office, they had us add our boat card to the board, and mark our home port on the map. It was fun to see where so many people are from!
We got together with some of the loopers here for docktails. As usual, there were new people we’d never met before! One couple is on day five of their loop!
One of the fellas at the marina shoots off a little cannon each night at sunset, so one of us got to put the hammer to it.
Then it was back to Island Girl for some nice grilled steaks. Yay Chef Kenny!
Tonight we won’t need the air conditioning – it’s forecasted to be in the 50’s tonight. My how quickly things change in October! At least we aren’t in the middle of a storm, thank goodness!