We called the lock and got an early start, we will be going through the largest lock of our trip. The Wilson lock is 94 feet. Before we could leave the Marina we stopped and enjoyed a flag raising and the National Anthem. This was done to begin the day of a fishing tournament. There were only two of us in this giant lock, the other boat was a small fishing boat. We had one more lock before Joe Wheeler Lock. We got into Joe Wheeler about 11 am.
There were no more slips available. The AGLCA Looper rendezvous started on Sunday and ran through Wednesday night. The park put us on the courtesy dock. We ended up there with three other boats all attending the rendezvous; Headquarters, Alacrity, and Ring Power. I renamed the Dock the “P” dock since we all had procrastinated about making reservations and were all on the waiting list.
It was great to see so many other loopers in one spot. I think there were about 40 boats including Blue Heron and Next to Me. Before the event started we rode our bikes into town for some shopping and had a GREAT lunch at Whitts Barbeque. The pulled pork sandwich had coleslaw in the bun. I would love another as am writing this.
Total attendance at the Joe Wheeler Rendezvous was about 300 people. About 1/3 the group were currently loopers, 1/3 were planning or just curious, and about 1/3 had completed the loop (Gold Loopers). There were even some platinum loopers which are folks who have been around more than twice.
While here we attended meetings about the best way to complete the section of the loop from here to Miami. We also attended a side trip class on the Bahamas. All the classes are done by volunteers and were very informative.
It was fun and we made some new friends. The food provided was at best edible and at worst unrecognizable.
I thought we would leave the boat here and travel home for a few days to see our new grandson Cash and play with Knox but we have decided to wait till Thanksgiving We will do a side trip to Chattanooga starting Friday. This is about 190 miles further up the Tennessee River.
