Farewell

Captain's Log - Day 36

The trip is officially over!

This morning we packed up everything and rode north to Indiana with Taylor and Rachael. On the way, we stopped at a Waffle House (affectionately known as Wa Ho) for Simon, since he'd never been. I don't think he appreciated it.

Our trip south on Plan C was amazing. We met some fantastic people - especially Rob and Kate who set the tone for our interactions with everyone else, and Randy and Rebecca whose hospitality (and moonshine) warmed our spirits.

We learned a lot about ourselves and each other. If you ever need a someone to travel down river with you, Simon's a good choice - he's bold, capable, not afraid to dig into a problem and get his hands dirty, and just good company. He's also a very talented photographer!

We gained confidence in our ability to just get out and have an adventure that we knew virtually nothing about.

This has been a great time of rejuvenation for me. I know I've said it before, but the freedom was amazing.

Thanks for all your prayers, emails, calls, texts, and comments! Thanks for reading along! We hope you've enjoyed it!

Farewell until our next adventure!

As promised, here are some statistics:

We traveled 725 miles down the Mississippi, 47 miles up the Ohio, and 617 miles up the Tennessee for a grand total of 1,389 miles.

We locked through 37 locks.

We spent 36 nights on the boat.

We lost 2 anchors.

We saved one life (Melissa Melanie).

We took no prisoners.

Sold!

Captain's Log - Day 35

I officially no longer own a boat!

This morning, Frank showed up with the cash and we completed the deal. Plan C is moving on.

The good news is that Frank is a great guy and knows a lot about boats. He's a captain of a stern wheel riverboat. He told us about his travels on the rivers and how he came to be a captain. Really interesting guy. Plan C is in good hands - Frank's going to giver her the tlc she deserves.

Even though we like Frank, it's bittersweet to sell her. We're spending our last night on her tonight. *Sigh* We'll miss you, Plan C. Let's have a brief moment of silence in her honor ...

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After we sold her, we fed the ducks and bluegills that have been congregating near our stern. These things are like piranha! It was a feeding frenzy above and below the surface of the water! Simon was able to get one of the ducks to eat out of his hand!

Dinner was at the Lakeside Tavern again. We've actually found some good food there. The Tavern Chicken Tenders are excellent, and the Southwest Egg Rolls and Tavern Spicy Shrimp are good appetizers. The burgers are not very good - steer clear. The salads are decent. If you go with the Tavern Chicken Tenders, the spinach casserole is an excellent side, and the shiitake mushroom rice pilaf is pretty good too.

Taylor and Rachel came down to see us! They're going to give us a ride to Indiana where we'll (hopefully) relax for a few days before heading to Canada.

Tomorrow, I'll post all the grand totals for the trip - miles, locks, anchors, etc.

Third to last post?

Captain's Log - Day 34

This, friends, could be the third to last entry in Huck Finn 2010.

At this point I know it may seem like it's enough already; there's not much to write about. Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Why won't he just stop already? It's like Scrubs, man - that show should have ended after season 8 and probably after season 7. I can't even watch anymore - it's just painful and pointless! And I'd rather submerge myself in one of those Chuck E. Cheese ball pits and be trampled by snot-nosed kids with greasy pizza fingers than listen to the new lead character (Lucy Bennett) whine for 22 minutes!"

Hopefully that's not what you're thinking. But if you are, don't worry - the end is in sight!

I've accepted an offer on Plan C and as long as the cash arrives tomorrow morning, the trip will be officially over and we'll be headed north on Wednesday.

On Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll post some grand totals for the trip - days, miles, locks, maybe even fuel costs. May post some grand generalizations, as well :)

A brief explanation of these pictures ... I got really close to that duck! Also, that second picture is the closest I got to seeing a dead body. It was floating in the transient slip next to ours.

Air conditioning

Captain's Log - Day 33

We spent all day at the marina.

They have this nice clubhouse that has a big screen with surround sound and a dvd player, leather couches, fireplace, pool tables, and a popcorn machine that Alexandria would probably trade a kidney for.

Simon and I have enjoyed the clubhouse very much - mostly because it's air conditioned. Honestly, if there was a closet with a couple of stumps in it to sit on, we'd be happy with it as long as there was air conditioning. We're in the middle of some kind of heat wave, and with the humidity, the heat index is over 100 degrees every day!

I was busy showing the boat for a good portion of the day. There's been a lot of interest, so I'm optimistic about selling her soon.

Before we were kicked out of the clubhouse (around 10pm) we got ourselves some popcorn from the machine and watched some dvds on the big screen! Tomorrow, we may try to start earlier and get ourselves a proper marathon going!

Throughout the trip, Simon's been taking photos and he's edited a few and put them in a picasa web album. They're good - check them out!

Knoxville

Captain's Log - Day 32

We're in Knoxville!

If all goes according to plan, Simon pulled up his last anchor this morning. And we passed through our last lock - the Fort Loudoun Lock

A few miles before we got to our destination, we killed the engines and jumped in the river a few times just for old times sake.

The countryside near Knoxville is beautiful and it's filled with ridiculous homes! Some of these boathouses were bigger than most apartments I've seen!

We saw Predators tonight. It was pretty good - better than I expected!

We're docked at Concord Marina, and the plan is to stay here till we sell Plan C. This place is probably the classiest marina we've stayed at. There's a pretty fancy looking restaurant here, the Lakeside Tavern, but the food isn't too great. Maybe we just haven't ordered well yet.

Hopefully we'll sell the boat this weekend! Got lots of people lined up to come and look at her. I'm optimistic.

Here's a quick tidbit before I pass out from exhaustion!

Tidbit #4 - Talk to everyone. You never know who you'll meet. We've met so many interesting, helpful, and friendly people! Maybe we're talkative because it's relatively seldom that we see someone besides each other.

Ft. Loudoun Lock

We're in our last lock!

Locked and loaded

Captain's Log - Day 31

Another day on the river!

The humidity today was absurd. You could breathe through your mouth and not ever get thirsty. Yes, it was that humid. Fortunately, after we passed through a thunderstorm, the humidity got back to bearable levels. Much longer in that soup and we would've began to resemble the Mon Calamari.

We were buzzed by a float plane today! Before it started diving at us, it took me about 30 seconds to realize it was a remote controlled plane! The guy flying it was really good! He put on quite a show for us. Stuck the landing too!

It's a good thing our trip is nearing its end, because Simon has begun to throw our cookware into the river. We're down one pot!

Today we saw a whole bunch of fish jumping way out of the water! They were all in a very tight-knit group. Clayton warned me about these - evidently they're dangerous! Simon and I didn't take this video, but it shows what we saw:



But at least there aren't any whales!! Jumping fish aren't the only danger on the river, which leads me to our third tidbit.

Tidbit #3 - There are many dangers on the river, so keep your head on a swivel.

There are barges that take a half mile to stop. If you get caught in front of one, your boat is done. Simon and I debated whether it would be best to swim for the shore or stay on the top of the boat till the last second and try to jump onto the barge. Fortunately, we never got a chance to test these theories.

There are thunderstorms that will sneak up on you, cut your visibility to 10 feet in a matter of seconds, and blow you towards the shore with 40 plus mile an hour winds (which makes running into barges easier).

There are locks, dams, wingdams, buoys and trees to hit. Also, watch out for those trees, because sometimes  you'll be minding your own business and they will hit you (and take your anchor)!

There are also poisonous snakes, but fortunately we didn't find any. Although ... I'm still very curious to know if I'm immune to copperhead venom now!

Despite these dangers and more, the most dangerous thing on the river, is Simon.

Tonight, we're on the hook about 30 miles from our destination in Knoxville.