Great Loop Chronicles Part 11
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Decatur, AL
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
I went months, maybe years without having a memorable dream. Then came the Great Loop. At some point after I started spending time on the boat, I started dreaming about the Loop...every night, whether I was on the boat or on land. The dreams definitely intensified after we started our trip, particularly last night, when I was worried we were going to drag our anchor and/or end up stuck on a shoreline. It was the worst night's sleep I'd had in quite a while and I was bound and determined to get a better night's sleep tonight.
Planning ahead, we saw a free dock opportunity at the Ingalls Shipyard in Decatur, Alabama and made that our destination. We had an early start as the sun rose, but we'd be moving for 12 hours today, covering 76 miles- it was a long one! We did see some of the most beautiful countryside today with amazing bluffs, small mountains and glassy smooth water. We also made our way through the Guntersville lock and had an interesting experience with the train bridge in Decatur. I know the operator was speaking English, but I couldn't understand a word he said.
We eventually figured out a train was a few miles out and we'd have to wait for it to cross the bridge before we could pass. We also started to see and pass more barges. Our boat has an AIS (Automatic Identifier System), but it still holds the boat's old name, Gold Dust and that's what all the barges refer to us as, which is fine enough for me. The free dock in Decatur was a welcome destination and bathrooms (with no shower) were a moderate walk away.
I have to say I was very tempted to get a room at the hotel just 100 yards away. A great night's sleep in a normal bed with a good shower sounded really tempting, but Gwendolyn would not hear of it. What's the point of a free dock, if you end up paying for a hotel room? We needed another big day tomorrow, because we needed to give the good folks at Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht enough time left in the work week to pull our boat out of the water and figure out which parts needed to be ordered. We take on that challenge here.
I went months, maybe years without having a memorable dream. Then came the Great Loop. At some point after I started spending time on the boat, I started dreaming about the Loop...every night, whether I was on the boat or on land. The dreams definitely intensified after we started our trip, particularly last night, when I was worried we were going to drag our anchor and/or end up stuck on a shoreline. It was the worst night's sleep I'd had in quite a while and I was bound and determined to get a better night's sleep tonight.
Planning ahead, we saw a free dock opportunity at the Ingalls Shipyard in Decatur, Alabama and made that our destination. We had an early start as the sun rose, but we'd be moving for 12 hours today, covering 76 miles- it was a long one! We did see some of the most beautiful countryside today with amazing bluffs, small mountains and glassy smooth water. We also made our way through the Guntersville lock and had an interesting experience with the train bridge in Decatur. I know the operator was speaking English, but I couldn't understand a word he said.
We eventually figured out a train was a few miles out and we'd have to wait for it to cross the bridge before we could pass. We also started to see and pass more barges. Our boat has an AIS (Automatic Identifier System), but it still holds the boat's old name, Gold Dust and that's what all the barges refer to us as, which is fine enough for me. The free dock in Decatur was a welcome destination and bathrooms (with no shower) were a moderate walk away.
I have to say I was very tempted to get a room at the hotel just 100 yards away. A great night's sleep in a normal bed with a good shower sounded really tempting, but Gwendolyn would not hear of it. What's the point of a free dock, if you end up paying for a hotel room? We needed another big day tomorrow, because we needed to give the good folks at Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht enough time left in the work week to pull our boat out of the water and figure out which parts needed to be ordered. We take on that challenge here.