We took a short four day trip up to Volunteer Landing. This was our first trip on the boat since we have been home. Our two youngest grandchildren (Aerie & Rylan) got to take their first ride on Miss Tenn~A~Sea. We stopped at Louisville Landing Marina and our daughter Brittany picked up Aerie and Rylan, and dropped Mason and Madelyn off until their mom (Brianna) got off work and picked them up. We stayed overnight at Louisville Landing (our previous homeport for several years) and visited with our "marina family."
Rylan working on his tan (notice he even pulled his shorts up)
It's always snack time at Mimi's!
Mason and Madelyn hanging out with us until their mom picked them up
Hanging out with our old friends Tom & Astrid
We got to visit with our friend Vince
Our moonshine buddy...Tom Tilley "Cheers!"
Hanging out with our dear friends Dona and Gary, Tom and Astrid
The next day, we arrived at Volunteer Landing (where the Vol Navy Boaters Association congregate for the University of Tennessee home games) and had the entire dock to ourselves. James has installed an inverter and solar panels and we were able to go 24 hours without the generator. We have to keep some form of power for our refrigerator and stand-alone freezer. We walked up to Market Square and ate lunch at Soccer Taco. They have the best Mexican food and margaritas...the Double Barrel is awesome! In fact, we ended up going back there for dinner as well. We checked out a couple of the roof top bars and will definitely be back.
Miss Tenn~A~Sea at the Vol Navy docks
The clouds moved out and we had a beautiful day! This is the Henley Street Bridge with the Gay Street Bridge in the background.
Heading back up to Market Square for the evening!
We ran into our former pest control guy who is opening a Fat Tuesday's bar here in Knoxville! Kenny was our pest control guy for over 7 years! We are so excited for him and can't wait until they open!!
At the Hyatt's rooftop bar "Five Thirty Lounge" overlooking Gay Street
Embassy Suites rooftop bar "Radius Rooftop Lounge"
Some beautiful shots of Miss Tenn~A~Sea and the Henley Bridge
The next morning, we moved the boat up to Calhoun's dock where our friend's (Steve Rutledge) band, Liquid Velvet, played that evening. It was very crowded as people are starting to get out more with the changes in the Covid restrictions. The band was awesome and it was great to hang out with some of our friends that we haven't seen in awhile.
We decided to head back to our marina the next morning because the forecast called for rain most of the day. This is where it got real interesting. I have been reading stories from an electronic book written by "Ladies on the Loop." The book is a "collection of 35 short stories offering guidance, humor, and reflection from women who have traveled America’s Great Loop." There were two stories that really stood out to me. They were about incidents where these ladies had to dock their boats in emergencies. I decided after reading their stories, that I will indeed learn to dock our boat. We had our own experience this morning. As we were getting ready to leave, James had just untied one of the stern ropes and the current was so strong that it started pulling the back of the boat away from the dock. The current was pushing the keel and turning the boat. We were only secured by one rope and James was on the dock. The boat was too far from the dock for him to jump aboard. We were worried that the rope would snap or pull the cleat from the dock. James had to tell me what to do (putting the starboard engine in reverse and then using the bow thruster to bring the front away from the dock) and I finally managed to get the boat straight and he was able to pull it back to the dock with the one rope. So, next week I will definitely be learning how to dock the boat! LOL It's kind of funny now, but I don't know what I would have done if that rope had snapped! One advantage to the strong current....we made good timing coming down river and used less fuel!