After the Party

Our neighbors seemed to have had a good time until about 3:30 a.m.  Therefore they were not so happy when rafters were wanting to depart starting at about 8:00 a.m.  Our row diminished throughout the morning.  The first to effect us was "Flynn Stones", but they were not able to leave as early as they wanted.  The morning fog kept them tied until about 9:30 a.m.  We had to make an extra long bow line to go around their stern as they pulled out forward.  Stuart from "Making Memories" and Byron from "Marilyn Ann" pulled us over to "Marilyn Ann" to close up the gap.  Byron got the short end of the rope so to speak as it was not real easy pulling our three remaining boats while our anchor was tightening.  Not too much later "Making Memories" and "Marilyn Ann" decided they were going to pull out.  Since the rest of us three were not ready and our anchors were tight, we just decided to anchor out in the river for a while.  Once the other two boats pulled away from us, the wind changed direction to fight the flow of the river, we were sitting sideways on the river with the potential to swing into the bridge.  Just about that time Bill and Rita Livezey showed up to pick up Ray.  We decided the best way to get Ray to shore was to pull up to Volunteer Marina.  With the ice machine staring at us, we decided to get a couple bags too.  So not really as planned, we were underway just before 11:00 a.m.  Most boats were courteous as they passed us, with the exception of one, but the VHF radio was almost a comedy of boaters talking to the wrong boats.  Linda and Joyce meandered downstream at a leisurely pace with the south winds pushing us at times and fighting us at times.  Four and a half hours of travel to go 28 miles and we were once again anchored in Poland Creek.  We enjoyed this anchorage on the way up, knew the holding was good, and knew we could get some ice.  We wanted good protection and holding as a cold front is supposed to come through tonight with some possible wind and thunderstorms.  The cold air coming behind it made us decide we probably did not need any more ice as it doesn't sound like it will melt too much in the coming days.