Looper Rendezvous

The last several days have been a whirlwind of activity for the two of us.  Festivities for the rendezvous kicked off last Sunday evening and closed on Wednesday evening.  We had an amazing time, met more new friends, toured many other boats and learned a lot at the seminars.  In addition, every time we turned around the sponsors (America's Great Loop & Cruisers Association) were feeding us.  Each evening also included a cocktail hour sponsored by businesses that support the AGLCA and those of us doing the Great Loop.  Since our boat was right by the tent for the cocktail hour, we relocated the Leg Lap to the aft deck so it could be seen.  It is a major award you know.

A Christmas Story Leg Lamp on display

We attended seminars on wintering in the Bahamas, boat building, boat maintenance, boat structural repair, boat electronics and being suddenly in command.  All very interesting sessions.  Below is a picture of Joe Wheeler State Park's main Lodge where the conference was held and also a picture of a lifesaving raft that was on display.

Joe Wheeler State park main Lodge

Lifesaving raft on display at the conference

Two Years free membership in ALGCA for early registeration

Bert & Hilary at Closing Ceremony Dinner

All the attendees at the Rendezvous

During a break from all the social activity Hilary took advantage of the trails in the state park and snapped some pictures during her hike one day.  The first two show how debris from the river system collects on land during periods of low water.  All of these trees will float back out into the river system next time the water rises.

Trees collected in a basin during low water

The River inlet where all the trees came in when the water was high

Watch your step!  It is a long way down.

The most perfectly developed beautiful pine cone Hilary has ever seen.

One of the highlights of the Rendezvous was attending a concert at a local venue on Tuesday evening.  Arrangements were made to bus all the conference attendees into Rogersville for an afternoon of shopping and then to the concert.  The band was the Kerry Gilbert Band (KGB).  The KGB is from northwest Alabama and they play primarily country, classic rock, folk, gospel and R&B.  They have original hits but the cover music they play is by artists such as:  Zac Brown Band, Elvis, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Don Williams, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Motown Hits, Exile, The Eagles, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Temptations and the Commodores.  They offered to travel anywhere to perform as long as they get fed and have a place to stay.  www.kerrygilbertband.com  One of the guitar players makes some of his own guitars and he had two really interesting ones.  One was made out of a kitchen sink and the other out of two gourds.  The paint job on the gourds was done himself and is Ferrari paint.  He is a custom car painter for his day job.

Guitar made of two gourds with Ferrari paint job

Guitar made out of a kitchen sink

An added surprise at the concert was a man named P Parker who is an older gentleman that is amazing when it comes to flatfoot mountain dancing or clogging.  Each time a bluegrass song was played, he started dancing at the front of the audience by the stage.  It was great to see something so interesting at the concert.  He is also an artist and handed out copies of original artwork he'd drawn of Cumberland Falls, KY.  Such a talented man.

Original Artwork by P Parker

When the rendezvous came to a close, many of the attendees hurried and left at first light on Thursday morning but we decided to stay another day at Joe Wheeler State Park and as is typical, docktails and a potluck occurred for those Loopers still remaining on Thursday evening.  Friday we started moving back towards the Tenn-Tom waterway and are now in Florence, AL for the next week.  Eva, the HarborMaster at the Florence marina offered a buy 5 nights, get 2 nights free deal so we decided to take advantage of it and even rented a car for the week which is a real treat.  We plan to do some sightseeing over the next week in the area.  Chattanooga, TN is on the list for sure as many of the loopers were going onto there by boat before turning around and heading back to the Tenn-Tom waterway.  We are considering Shiloh, Elvis's birthplace, a Frank Loyd Wright house, and Heller Keller's home as well.  Yesterday was the first time Hilary has driven a car since August 19th and she hadn't missed it at all!