Another GREAT day on the river today! We had a long day of 75 miles planned...may not sound like a lot but considering we are sticking to hull speed and fighting the current flood conditions and strong currents, it equates to a potentially long day. We awoke before dawn and left right at first light. Just before bed last night some crazy strong winds blew in and lasted for a long time....sustained winds of 25-30 MPH. We put extra lines out just in case but besides having the boat move around a bit more in the slip than usually, all was well. When we left in the a.m. the winds were still blowing pretty good but we were able to get out of the marina without paying bumper boats with anyone. Interestingly, Decatur, AL is the home of "Meow Mix." Had our cat been with us she would have insisted in a tour, though she has a discriminating palate and may not be game for Meow Mix! Here is their plant:
Caleb was great again today as usual. He has been studiously doing his homework without prompting each day. I think he realizes that if he doesn't do his homework while on these trips that my wife and his school won't let him come so he has been great about doing his homework. It was nice having him sit with me in the pilothouse as he did his work:
No rain today and it really turned into a beautiful day of clouds zooming by and pretty blue sky. There were lots of beautiful cliffs today along the river:
Dad had brought a stack of Wall Street Journals to read that he had not yet gone over. He enjoyed the sunny salon for a bit today and read some newspapers until he fell asleep and had a nap.
More cliffs on upper Wheeler Lake"
Here we are approaching Guntersville Lock. The picture does not really show it but wow- tons of current and lots of turbulance! The river is really flowing strong right now:
The afternoon was gorgeous with blue skies and smiles as we found ourselves on Lake Guntersville!
A happy picture of Caleb and my dad relaxing in the pilothouse as we cruise Lake Guntersville:
And to our surprise, we made it to Goose Pond before dark tonight! The currents kept us going slower than expected but having Guntersville Lock open and ready for us we arrived saved us a good bit of time! We always liked Goose Pond a lot and enjoy staying here. I always liked their sign at the main channel:
Caleb took some good photos of the flag off our transom today as we were pulling into Goose Pond:
Realizing I have yet to get any good exterior shots of our boat showing her away from the dock, I dropped him off on the dock at Goose Pond and pulled away a few feet to make a loop for him to shoot some photos for us. They came out pretty good I think:
Today was a special day in another way....it is actually my birthday! We celebrated by walking up to the restaurant that is here and having a nice meal. I had the steak filet- yum! Best of all was the sunset at the beach just as we were arriving. Delicious!
All in all, today was a great day! I am really impressed with how this boat handles. Very, very good and a joy to own and operate. Stay tuned as tomorrow we plan to go to Hales Bar.
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