South for the Winter Weather

During February, we made a trip to Florida to escape the cold. Yea, right!! We did actually have a temp. of 70 degrees one day. While the temps were better than back home, it was still breezy and cool. The Orlando area was not quite far enough south. We were headed home on the day that snow was headed south into the sunshine state. Snow started about 75 miles south of home and we had a total of 4 inches before it was over.

This trip had several excursions. We attended two days of a huge 10 day equipment auction near Kissimmee, souvenir shopping. We drove over to Daytona for the Gatorade Duel Qualifying Races on Thursday. And of course, all roads headed North and South will lead you to Abigail's house. We enjoyed visits with her at the beginning and ending of our trip.

"Our balcony view at Vistana Resort"

"Need a Track hoe-there were plenty at this auction"

"Just a few of the front-end loaders at the auction"

"Home of the Daytona 500"

"We arrived home to a snow covered house"



"Our driveway looked like a winter wonderland"

"Abi is growing and gets cuter everyday!"

"Abi loves to play with Grandad"

"Winter Hibernation".

We've been very busy during these cold months. We continue to travel to Chattanooga checking on Play Dough. We have also made numerous trips to visit Abigail as she grows and changes daily. We've been to Brock and Diane's home as well helping them get things ready for their new arrival (a boy) expected in April. Our family is growing fast!

The boat requires some special care during the winter months. Many people chose to winterize their boats, which is simply putting an antifreeze solution in all wet systems, such as fresh water , waste water and engine cooling systems. However, once you winterize your boat it's pretty much unusable until spring. If someone goes onboard and uses any system, then that antifreeze is lost and thus the system is no longer protected. Since we would be visiting and staying onboard during the winter, we chose not to winterize, but take other precautions. We left our heat units set at 60 degrees. We put a heat lamp in the generator compartment to keep it warm and left an electric heater in the salon area just in case there was a malfunction of the heating system. We also left some hatches and covers open so that heat could radiate into the engine room and other areas that might freeze.

"Abi is growing!"

"The prettiest smile in the world!"

"Gigi and Abi love to talk"

"Abi looks like her Mom"

"Brock and Diane are expecting a "little fireman" in April"

"Grandad and Abi"

"Abi waiting for Santa"

Fall Color Cruise

We've just returned from a short cruise in the Chattanooga area with our parents. We enjoyed the fall colors even though the leaves were about one week beyond their peak.

"A new Captain at the helm"

"Where are we??"

"Fall Colors along the TN"

Abigail has Arrived!

On Oct. 27th Adam and Heather's first child was born. What a great experience, becoming Grandparents!! We were all blessed with the arrival of this beautiful, healthy 6 lb. 15 oz. baby girl. What a welcoming party she had. There were grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends at the hospital awaiting her. Abigail Lee arrived at 10:41 AM. She is precious and we are enjoying spoiling her!!

"Adam and Abigail"

"Abi"

"Our precious angel"

For Sale

Play Dough is now officially For Sale. We've cleaned out a lot of our personal items, changed her oil and filters, filled her fuel tanks and signed a brokerage agreement. She is listed for sale by Erwin Marine in Chattanooga. The listing can be found at several sites on the internet including
www.erwinmarinesales.com

We'll continue to make blog entries in regards to our boat while we decide what direction this blog may go. We haven't decided whether to end the blog when the boat sells or to continue, but change directions. We're thinking since our family and many friends have this site already bookmarked, we may continue with entries of what's going on in our lives. This would allow those interested to check in and keep up with us while also creating a permanent record for future generations.

Kentucky Lake to Chattanooga, TN

We just completed an 8 day, 429 mile trip from Aurora, KY to our final stop, Chattanooga, TN. After driving through Atlanta in the torrential rains as we were headed to KY, we knew the trip upstream would be exciting. Not only did we have the strong currents to contend with, we traveled in rain for 2 1/2 days. We had a windy day that created waves greater than 2 ft. We were even in the middle of a situation in which a person attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge. We paid between $2.11 and $2.94 for fuel. We moved south across TN, then east across AL and back north into Chattanooga all while moving upstream against a 3+ mph current. Our average fuel mileage was 1.7 mpg. Play Dough is now docked at Chickamauga Marina. We'll be working as we get her prepared to list for sale as well as cruising some around Chickamauga Lake.

Day One- Aurora, KY to New Johnsonville, TN

54 miles- 6 hours-light rain

Day Two- New Johnsonville, TN to Clifton, TN

61 miles- 8 1/2 hours-light rain

Day Three- Clifton, TN to Counce, TN

58 miles- Locked up at Pickwick Dam

8 hours- rain stopped before noon

Day Four- Counce, TN to Florence, AL

41 miles - 5 hrs.- Foggy morning

Day Five- Florence, AL to Huntsville, AL

78 miles - 9 hrs, 45 min.

Locked up at Wilson Dam and Joe Wheeler Dam

Waited for railroad bridge and search for bridge jumper

in Decatur, AL., (Winds 15-20 mph)

Day Six - Huntsville, AL to Scottsboro, AL

44 miles - 5 1/2 hrs.

Locked up at Guntersville Dam

Day Seven- Scottsboro, AL to Guild, TN

53 miles - 7 hrs.

Locked up at Nickajack Dam

(stopped at Hales Bar Marina where we departed exactly

11 months earlier)

Day Eight - Guild, TN to Chattanooga, TN

40 miles - 6 hrs.

Locked up at Chickamauga Dam

"As fall approaches, the hunters are preparing their blinds for the upcoming duck season"

"Beautiful Home near Savannah, TN"

"A Drive-Through Boat House"

"The Captain also serves as a deck hand when locking."

"We waited for the fog to lift, but nothing stops the tugs"

"When the fog lifted, we were happy to finally have a sunny day for traveling. Pickwick Lake is a beautiful mountain lake."

"A man was found alive 1/2 mile down stream after jumping from this bridge"

"You see all types of boats on the river."

"Relaxing after a long day on the river"

"Cranes are frequent sights along the river"

"Downtown Chattanooga, TN"

More sights from LBL

Well, we finally have a destination for Play Dough, it's Chattanooga. When we leave Kentucky, we'll be heading back to Chattanooga where we'll keep the boat while it's for sale. Just as when we began, Chattanooga is as close to home as we can park her. This will allow us to travel back and forth to care for the boat as well as use her for short local cruises.

We did a bit more sightseeing before leaving for home. We visited Fort Donelson National Battlefield at Dover, TN. Fort Donelson was the site of an interesting Civil War battle at which the Confederate troops sank several of the Union's Ironclad Battleships as they came up the Cumberland River. We also visited the Woodlands Nature Station, another attraction of the LBL National Recreation Area. Woodlands is an exhibit with much of the native wildlife on display. We saw everything from owls to eagles, bobcats to coyotes.

"Furnaces like this were common here-used in the iron industry from 1820's to 1920's"

"From this position Confederate troops could see smoke rising above the trees as the Union battleships were steaming upstream to attack Fort Donelson"

"Bobcat having a mouse for lunch"

"A Barn Owl"

"A Bald Eagle"