THE  RENDEZVOUS
                                                                                 

 The Great Loop Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama was a lot of fun.  There were 59 looper boats that made it here and about 120 want-to-be bloopers.  We knew about one third of the loopers  already as we had already met them somewhere along the way.   It was in a beautiful lodge on the water. We actually learned a lot , but after 4 days of seminars, too much sitting and too much eating (great meals) we are happy to be done. It almost felt like a work conference! There were detailed presentations reviewing the waterway charts, and what to see and do  along the way, for half of the  6000 mile loop (from where we are all the way  down to Florida and up to the Chesapeake Bay). We got a lot of very useful information, and had a great time being social with all the friends that we have met along the way.

                                                          

                                                   The Flotilla                 

The town of Rogersville was very happy to have us there and a lot of people went out of their way for us.  Several of us wanted to go to town and go grocery shopping and had no way to get there (20 min. car ride to town).  We called the chamber of commerce for help.  The chamber called a lady in town and she came and picked the 3 of us up.  She took us to town shopping, told us all about the town, and even drove us by her house – for free (wouldn’t accept any money).   I think she enjoyed just talking to someone new.  That would never happen at home! 

                                    Eagles nest on channel marker                 

One night the town sent a school bus for us and we toured downtown, had dinner and went to a local concert one night.  Picture 60 adults on a school bus, singing (yeah, I know).  We saw the Kenny Gilbert band ( country, rock and blues) and  it was great.   It was held on the ground of a beautiful Victorian bed and breakfast.  They had a couple of tents  decorated with white xmas lights, a lot of chairs  and a fire pit. People made some mores and danced literally outside under the stars.   Jim one of our fellow loopers jammed with them on keyboards -  he was good!

At the looper “crawl”  people open their boats up to be shown – like an open house.  We opened our  boat up and had a lot of people tour through it.  We had a lot of positive feedback and a couple of people even wanted to buy it.  It made us feel really good about our boat.

                                                                          

                                     Our new chairs that Bill got in Chicago last week.  They match the couch perfectly, and are really comfortable.