Chattanooga Boaters

This morning we took our time and enjoyed the cloudless sky.  Such a welcomed change from yesterday.  Around eight o’clock we called the “office” at Dewayne Hayes to verify that they sold ice as the web site stated, figure out where and find out what time someone would be there to sell it to us.  Billy stated that he would be there until nine o’clock.  We jumped in the dinghy.  Linda thought it would be a closer walk from the boat ramp to where she thought the “office” was.  In our typical getting older fashion though, we forgot to bring the trash along.  Oh well, we could just take it over to one of the closer docks.  We found what we thought was the “office”, but did not see anyone around, so we called Billy again.  We were at the day use office, he was at the campground office.  The shortest way to get there was across the wet field of semi long grass.  We purchased four bags of ice and trekked back across the field.  Back at the mother ship Ray attempted to take the trash ashore while Linda dried off the glass enclosure, inside and out after the soggy day yesterday.  There were no trash cans in the bins near the docks though, assuming for the winter season, so Ray had to go back to the boat ramp anyway. 

With all of the chores done, we lifted anchor at about 9:45 a.m.  Just over an hour later we were in Stennis Lock.  It was a fairly busy day on the waterway, passing five tows today.  Around 2:00 p.m. we were skirting the section of the Tenn-Tom that goes back and forth from Mississippi to Alabama several times before finally remaining in Alabama for its duration.

When we were alongside the Pickensville Recreation Area there was a skiff with a couple in it waving to us, hat included.  We didn’t imagine they wanted us to come in, but that was our intention anyway.  Ray figured it must be a dinghy from another boat anchored.  Sure enough, there was a trawler “Osprey” anchored just about where we usually do.  We went beyond them a little bit to drop our anchor.  A little while later we saw another boat coming in to anchor.  When they got alongside us and turned away to anchor we notice it was “The Next Step” from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  There were a few silent guesses as to who they might be, wondering if we knew them.  We left them alone to anchor and kind of forgot about them since we already forgot the boat name anyway.  That getting older stuff again.  Minding our own business taking care of business Linda’s phone rang with an unknown number on it.  It was “The Next Step” calling.  How did they do that?  Come to find out and remember, we did meet them last summer when we were docked in downtown Chattanooga.  It was an interesting conversation for a while as they are doing the loop but also both working 40 hours per week via the internet.  So they have to be somewhere with internet connection during the week and then they travel on the weekends.  Remember that most dangerous thing on the boat being a schedule?  Whew!  They had actually been anchored about where we were all week until weather forecasts forced them to go to Pirate’s Cove Marina, formally Marina Cove, yesterday.