We Finally Made It

By the rocket's red glare

Mitchell caught two cats that must have yielded 4 lbs

The above photo pretty much summarizes how the last week of the trip went.... fifty miles and a pile of fish.  I still have a frozen bag in the freezer, as I write.  In fact, I think it's the bag filled with that very fish Mitchell is holding and one other.  By the way, Mitchell's smile says it all.  There weren't any rockets but there was still plenty of heat.  To think we started this trip with cold weather gear on board and wound up sweating ourselves across the finish line.

The boat is now at Fort Loudon Marina on the west side of Knoxville.  And with a little help from their staff, we hope to be able to keep her there.  The only problem is they are building some new docks...that's a good thing; our boat may have to be moved while they install them...that's a bad thing.  We shall see.

Hopefully this will be home for the Sea Me Smile

I wish I could tell you how many nautical miles we went.  How many locks we negotiated. How many draw bridges we went through.  How many times we got turned around (nice terminology for lost).  How much fuel, how much money and how many moving days to make the trip.  But I can't.  Maybe this winter as I reflect, I'll try to put all those statistics down and then rewrite this last blog honoring the Sea Me Smile's trip, and the people that made it happen.

I can say that I look forward to more trips, and for now am looking forward to the fall color on the Tennessee River and showing my real  "first mate" some of the beauty that the river has to offer.  I also look forward to taking friends on some short excursions on the river.

I also think I'll take a Captain's Course this winter.  A laugh, yes, but then again I will have experience to draw on and probably garner a lot more than I would have by just walking in cold, without the experiences that I have had over these past months on the water.  I notice that the marina also offers a course for first mates, they call the course "Suddenly in Charge", how fitting is that!

Can't wait to show off some of the beautiful river views

I now know a lot about the Sea Me Smile, and the wisdom to know that I still have a lot more to learn about her.  She has taken water over her bow and didn't even flinch.  So I feel comfortable with her in the ocean as well as the rivers.  I think it would only be the passengers who might have a hard time should we face some rough water; the boat would do just fine.

I am on a crusade to have two of everything. It just becomes a problem finding a place to keep it all.  I had some radio problems and that I attribute to a low voltage situation.  Something that can be fixed.  But when the new Garmin just stopped working,  I thought that this would be a very bad thing in the ocean, not so much on the rivers, but still an inconvenience.  So as they drop in price, and before they drop off the radar entirely, I shall purchase one that is a footprint of the one I own so I can simply plug in my back up and go.  That way my wiring and chips will all be right and the knowledge of the unit will be in my head already. The new/refurbished Garmin arrived, and it won't light up either.  I think it is a low voltage problem.  The folks at Garmin, when called, confirmed to this could be the problem.     

There are a myriad things that should be fixed or improved, as there always are with a boat. However once I get her in a covered slip, I plan to dial things in and make all systems function properly or know the reason why they don't, or why they aren't needed.