Boat in harbor

Boat in harbor

Thursday, October 29, 2015

The many ways doing The Loop has changed me...



How has this trip changed me? Or should I ask, how has living on a boat changed me?

Clothes: Since I love to have many options with my outfits, I brought a good portion of my clothes from home. With the exception of my work clothes, most of my closet is here on our boat. I'm blessed to have a lot of storage space to stow my many outfits. I also have a good deal of heels on board and have worn only one pair one time since we left our slip August 2nd. But, I'm not willing to remove them yet, I may find that when we get further south I will be busting those out...I hope, at least that's what I'm telling myself every time I try to grab something from the closet and my bag of heels gets in the way!! It's hard for this short girl to give up being a few inches taller!! So, what I have realized is that I tend to wear the same 5-7 outfits and those include the many shorts and tanks that I have (and I can always stand to have a few more!), or when the weather turns a bit I'm in leggings and long sleeves. The many cute sundresses I have, seem to be reserved for our nights out and someone always makes a comment about how dressed up I am. I have found that in the boat community dressing up is not the norm. Another weird feeling as I LOVE to wear dresses. I find dresses are the easiest thing to wear. One item to put on, one item to take off and one item clean. But when we are under way and I'm on the deck handling lines, a dress really isn't the appropriate attire. O'well! Ben is in shorts and t-shirts everyday, with the occasional dress shirt on evenings out. I have learned that I could do this trip with HALF the clothing I have with me! But, shhhhh! I'm still keeping them all just in case!

Laundry: Since we do not have a washer/dryer on board, doing laundry when we get to a marina is priority. It also happens to be every one elses priority too! Quarters have become a hot commodity here as most machines require $1.75 to wash and another $1.75 to dry only in quarters. We have learned to sleep in our sheets for a few weeks, when at home we wash them weekly. At home I wash our towels every time we use them...not here! If it doesn't smell, we use or even reuse it! I often wear some items of clothing multiple times (I'm not the only one trust me...this is boat life) because of laundry limitations. I've learned that you better keep track of the time on your laundry. There is always someone waiting to start their clothes and if you aren't there right as the dryer stops, they will remove your clothes and place them on top of the machine so they become a wrinkled mess (this happened to me once, my fault, I now set a timer). I however will NEVER touch someone else's clothes. What I've learned from this is that I do my laundry in the evening when everyone is in bed! I still can't believe I wear some of my clothes a couple times before washing. Ewww, something I would have NEVER done at home.

Being social: I tend to be more of a hermit crab at home, but here I'm somewhat forced to be social. You pull into a marina and most other Loopers are ready to chat and get to know you. I actually like this and have gotten used to being more social. I think that I have let go of the shy part of myself...I think!


Crocket: We have a very easy dog, he just loves that we are with him everyday. He sleeps while we are underway, knows that he has to go potty in a new place everyday, gets along with others well and we have gotten creative with his play time. We hide toys on the boat and have him hunt them up for a good hour if there isn't a place to let him run. This is usually finished with a treat and a walk when we are onshore. Otherwise if we anchor for the night he knows he has limited time to do his business and he's all good.
Check out the smile on Crocket! He's a happy dog!


Planning: Planning?? Are you crazy? The day we left our slip I had to let go of that person, you know, the one who needed to know where and when we are going, and for how long. Now, we literally plan day to day...I'm still not used to this but I think I kinda like it. Where exactly are we going to be in February, my friend wants to know. I wish I could be specific but we won't know until...hmmm, let's see, about February. I know every one is on a schedule and I appreciate that but I really don't know exactly where we will be this far in advance as many factors could alter our plans. We are at the mercy of the weather, current, locks, other boats, our boat and ourselves. We had no plans to stay at one marina for 2-weeks, but we did. We had no plans to have our shifter cable snap and delay us a day, but it did. We had no plans to stay only in marinas on the Cumberland, but we did. We are loving this new way of life, but the old self sometimes comes out and needs to know, just like my sweet friend, where will we be next week? But, until we are there we won't know.

Food/Provisioning: Before we left we stocked our freezer (which is pretty large compared to most other boats) with all the organic meats, fish, and some veggies we could fit. We like to cook most meals on the boat, so we needed to make sure we had a good start. What we have found is that a lot of stops have farmers markets so we stock up on fresh produce there and eat it right away. We are never more than 5 days away from a store to shop, so much like at home we do a weekly stock up on fresh veggies and fruit.

Exercise: At home I LOVED going to the Y for my workouts and classes. I had cute friends to connect with and support getting in shape and I couldn't blow them or my classes off. Besides I paid to be there so I better get my money's worth! Here on the boat I have no one telling me to get my butt up and do some squats. I canceled my membership at the Y so now I have no money excuses! What I have found is that Crocket is my motivation, he makes me walk multiple times a day, he likes to play fetch which gets me out throwing his toy. It breaks up my day and keeps me from being lazy. I only have 5-pound weights and various exercise bands with me, but these are all I need. I work my upper body (100 reps of everything) with the weights, lower body with the bands 3x/week and work my core everyday with either sit-ups, leg lifts or planks or all three. Ben has been using the boat rails to do push ups and has been walking a great deal with Crocket and me. Boat life is doing us both good, I'm down a good 7 needed pounds, and Ben is approaching his fighting weight of 215!!

Our relationship: How many people can say they spend 24 hours a day EVERY DAY with their spouse? We can!!! I would say what has changed for us is that we know pretty much everything the other has experienced because we typically shared in that experience. I'm not going to say that it is healthy to spend that much time together, but we seem to be making it work (and love it). It certainly can be a challenge at times. We both are very strong willed, stubborn, passionate, sensitive people. This can make for some pretty intense days aboard Jammin Jane. What we have learned is to allow the other to speak their mind and then we work at moving on. I'm not going to say that we have this perfect relationship, I just know what we have seems to work for us. We have respect, love, goals and friendship binding us. Don't get me wrong, I have had days where I have called him names and played the silent treatment too. But in the long run we are here together and need to rely on each other, work together and get up the next day and do it again. 95% of the time we are both smiling, that other 5% stay away!!!



What day is it?: Since we retired in December 2014, there is no significance to the days of the week anymore. Friday is no longer my favorite day of the week, Wednesday-hump-day is no longer on my radar, Sunday-funday slips past me at least every Sunday now! It seems everyday is Friday in my world! I wake up each morning and am thankful for where I'm at and what I'm doing. I'm happy that I have a plant, Sophia, that needs watered once a week...we decided Monday was a great day. I'm writing this post on a Tuesday, and just realized I haven't watered Sophia! What day is it again???

Boat time: Living on a boat has changed my sleeping habits and I'm still struggling. I love staying up late and really dislike getting up early. It has been a problem my whole life! Ben on the other hand is like the energizer bunny. The minute his eyes open in the morning he is ready to go. He also likes to go to bed early (for me), like 10:00pm. Living on a boat, NO ONE is up late! It is crazy! Someone said to me that 9:00pm is midnight for boaters. Boy they weren't kidding! Most everyone I've encountered is on their boats, winding down the day by 9pm. I mean gosh they've been up since 6:00am. I guess I should be tired too. So I'm trying to embrace 'Boat time', up with the sun and ready for bed at dark. It's hard for me to get used to, but on days we are traveling and I know it will be an early morning...I try to stick to boat time or just an hour later 10:30/11:00pm!

Personal Hygeine: I don't know why I have a hairdryer or straightener on the boat. I haven't used the straightener since we left our harbor over 2 months ago and the hairdryer maybe 5 times in total. As I'm typing this I'm still in my pajamas (shorts and t-shirt) at 2:00 in the afternoon. I haven't showered since yesterday, and I don't care. Gross! My hair is always up in either a bun, pony-tail or braids. I have semi-curly hair that is annoying. So, its just easier and better for my hair to let it air dry (I'm in the sun most of my days, adding more heat is a no no!). Then when I see how my air-dried hair turned out, I just throw it up so I don't have to deal with it. Showers are mostly done off the boat when possible. We have hot running water just like at home, only our water comes from tanks we have on board. So, if we aren't going to be able to have access to water we try to conserve. I love to take a hot shower and that is possible on the boat, we hold almost 300 gallons of water, but we turn the water on to wet down, turn it off and lather up, turn it back on to rinse (sometimes I can't help it and run the water the whole time I'm in there when I know we can fill our water tanks) Usually I don't stand in the shower long so I welcome a clean marina shower that isn't still steamy from the previous shower washer and still has hot water! OH! I wear flip flops in the shower...just to be safe.
SHHH! These are my pajama's!

There are many many ways boat life has changed me, but one in particular seems to be the amount of "stuff" we own back at home. We have lived on our boat since the end of April and have survived with out a lot of material things...When we return home we will be "trimming down" our possessions. It really has given me an appreciation for living simply. What's most important to us is the time spent together and the awesome adventures, friends and places we have encountered.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Reunited...and it feels so good!!


Feels good to be back with our Looper friends!
It has been a LOOOOOONG week...We left Monday from Nashville and made 5 stops in 5 days traveling over 350 miles. That might not seem like a lot but we only travel 10 miles per hour (Bonus: this is what makes this trip economical, we move slow and save on diesel. It also allows us to see and hear all the gorgeous views along the way). So we were putting in, on average, 71 miles a day...that is about 8+ hours at the helm (actual driving time for Ben, he says its easier than driving a car but still fatigue is an issue) each day and 3 of those days going upstream which is against the current. This is not the ideal way we want to travel but we were on a mission to meet up with our buddies. They were waiting for us so we wanted to make good time. That we did!!

We spent our week waking up with a chill in the air, walk and feed Crocket, start the boat and kick the lines by 7:30 each day. We enjoyed our boat rides with the glorious views of the river and all the different terrain along the way. We had 2 locks to get through and only had a 2 hour wait at our first one, the second we lucked out and arrived as the doors were opening...woo hoo! The boat Gods listened to our prayers! We treated ourselves to a different marina each night, arriving around 4/4:30 each day. A couple of our stops were repeats as we had to back track our route to meet up with our friends. Can you believe these two marinas gave us our slips for free!!?? What a great surprise! We feel so blessed!!

It has been different traveling solo on waters unknown to us. It made me feel that much more adventuresome! We have our groove and seem to do just fine alone but it is ALWAYS so much better to have someone nearby, plus we LOVE the company and it is always nice to have other people involved in the logistics of planning our next locations!

Our meet up spot happens to be right at the start of the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. Which we will travel on for the next 450 miles to Mobile, Alabama to the Gulf of Mexico! Considering we just completed 350 miles in less than a week....WE ARE GETTING CLOSE!!! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!!
Coming into Aqua Yacht Harbor Marina we both got a bit giddy (we are now in Mississippi) looking at the transient dock and not only seeing Bob and Liz on Knot Sew Easy (the couple who was waiting for us) but our friends Sue and Dan (with their friend Neva) on Tranquility and Evelyn and Sid on Something Special, it seems they changed their plans to see us!!! So excited! We had a blast reconnecting and visiting with several other Loopers that were docked here! We have been "out of the Loop" (literally and figuratively) the last couple of weeks...It is awesome to see all the Looper boats we have crossed paths with the last few months. We plan to spend 3 nights here relaxing, provisioning and going to visit Shiloh Battlefield, Savannah, TN before we start making our move south down the Tombigbee-Waterway.

This lovely lady from Something Special is simply adorable
Great laughs with wonderful people!
Jammin Jane docked behind the beautiful Tollycraft, Knot Sew Easy
It is awesome to be back with familiar faces in new places - exploring, laughing and making lifelong memories and friends along a River...PINCH ME!!

Here are some photos of our travels this past week along the Cumberland River, Lake Barkley, Kentucky Lake, and finally the Tennessee River.
Crocket enjoying the warmth of the morning sun
This house lost its back porch...hope the house isn't next!


A little dancing on the fly bridge!
Louisville and Nashville RR bridge to nowhere

These are our very first Looper friends, Ann and Bill from Rock Me Baby. We met them in Manitowoc, WI back in August. Great to reconnect!
Snuggles are always welcome!
Check out all these Pelicans
Narrow part of the Cumberland, this tow left a pretty big wake 
Ben assisting me at the Pickwick Lock and Dam


Friday, October 23, 2015

Nashville!


Nashville Bloody Mary's
Day four of our trip to Nashville we traveled 47 miles, with one lock, to the Commodore Yacht Club in Nashville, TN. This was our stopping point before we head out for a 19 mile run to downtown Nashville!!! We want to be close so we can get there early and secure our spot on the downtown dock wall. There is a pedestrian bridge right there that people have been known to throw items such as beer bottles and food off and onto boats docked under it. We are hoping for a spot downstream of the bridge.

Making our way towards the small, very narrow creepy channel to the entrance for The Commodore, it reminded me of something out of scary movie, I was waiting for someone to jump out from behind the bushes. The overgrown trees making a canopy of sorts for us to pass under only added to the scare factor (and my strong imagination or fascination with scary things). I lowered our antennas so we wouldn't hit the trees. No sooner as we made our way past this, the channel opened to a rather large marina with some really big, nice boats. Well, that was interesting! We arrived later in the afternoon but just in time to get a tour of the accommodations for our short stay. Boy, this yacht club knows how to have fun! They have a large tent that is heated and air conditioned, complete with ice machine, beer keg and a full commercial kitchen stocked with all the utensils you could think of needing. I believe I saw a margarita blender too. What a fun place...our kind of place!!
Alan Jackson's old boat, an older beautifully maintained Burger Yacht named Lady J was slipped here. Pretty cool! We relaxed here, walked Crocket, cooked shrimp for dinner and went to bed fairly early...too excited to be heading to Nashville and maybe a bit nervous about getting the spot on the downtown dock wall.

check this place out...commercial size kitchen!
 Berger Yacht previously owned by Alan Jackson

Day five, we were up and out of our slip at 7:45 and on our way for a 2-hour cruise. We are about a week or so away from the trees changing colors but still a beautiful sight on the Cumberland. Some of the bluffs along the shore reach up to about 1000 feet with exposed rock asking to be climbed... just not be me! The water along this stretch of the Cumberland is a beautiful green, not mucky looking like what we have been seeing. Nature is overwhelmingly breathtaking at times...this trip is just that. I didn't take too many pictures along the way as I was enjoying the scenery too much and maybe feeling a bit anxious, nervous and excited!

We arrived in downtown Nashville just before 10am on Friday and lucked out! We got the exact spot Ben was hoping for on the wall, downstream from the pedestrian bridge.
We didn't mess around, once we got ourselves all situated and walked Crocket (they have a dog park right here!), we headed to the hub of Nashville...Broadway! We hit all Ben's favorite stops, enjoying Bloody Mary's and live music at Rippy's and Legends, stopping for BBQ at Jack's, some delicious sushi and a little boot shopping, no luck yet! boo! We were like college kids out past 2:00 am, and I was the last girl standing!
Saturday was spent touring the town and eating some more, then our dear friends wedding and an even later night downtown. By Sunday we were both beat. We hit the farmers market and the famous Antique Archeology store owned by Mike Wolfe of History channels American Pickers. Dinner was spent on the boat mostly because I could not keep my eyes open.
We didn't get much sleep this weekend but enjoyed every minute of our time here spent with our friends and each other! I'm a huge fan of Nashville...I can not wait to go back, and maybe get some boots!!
We were only steps from downtown!
Our first stop for a Bloody and live music...so fun!!!
Rippy's has a great Bloody Mary
Jack's BBQ...Yummy! Although Ben's is just as good if not better!!
Crocket enjoying the new dog park
See...last girl standing!

The gorgeous couple!
I love weddings!
Party bus ride from the wedding back downtown

Friday, October 16, 2015

Days 2 & 3 on our way to Nashville

These pelicans were everywhere! Simply magical, I LOVE these guys!
On our 2nd day we traveled 70 miles to Clarksville, TN. We made it in a little over 7 hours, which was impressive considering we were traveling upstream, against the current. Yippee! The ride was gorgeous, the Cumberland River is very serene, almost tranquil compared to the Mississippi. We basically had the river to ourselves with the occasional pontoon boat, fishing boat and only 4 Tows. We came under the railroad bridge in Clarksville with views of a town much like any suburb in Illinois. This was the largest town we have seen since we left Peoria, on the Illinois River, a month ago. It was a bit exciting to see fast food and lots of cars. The plan was to stay 2 nights since we have time to kill before our reservation in downtown Nashville. Yay!

We spent our time walking and walking and walking. Most of the town was a good mile or two away and since we have legs we decided to trek it. Very happy we did as we enjoyed Mexican food, burgers and fried chicken. We got a little culture at the museum in town, from a Greek woman selling produce and a visit to the local pawn shop (Ben scored some tools too!). We learned Crocket does not like walking along busy roads, the poor guy walked over 2 miles with his tail tucked so we dropped him off at the boat while we went back out to sight-see some more. I didn't feel guilty stuffing my face with unhealthy food and adult beverages with all the walking we did. I figure since my 'skinny' shorts still fit...I'm good (for now)! All of Ben's shorts are falling off him (seems he is good too!)...time for some shopping! We have been getting quite a bit of exercise since we began this trip, without a car we either walk or take our bikes everywhere and with Crocket we can't be lazy!

So far the side trip to Nashville is going supurb! We have one more stop before we arrive in downtown Nashville...I'm pretty excited since this will be my first visit to "Nash-Vegas" as Ben calls it. Two more boat rides and we will be there!! woo woo!


One of the larger tows we saw along the ride

Fort Donelson National Battlefield, one of three Confederate forts the Union captured, opening the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River to control by the Union Navy. 
The trees are starting to change colors.
Crocket needing a little love while underway
Coming into Clarksville...this is the most retail we have seen along the rivers 
Clarksville Marina, we could not fit under the covered slips

Temperatures went down to 46 at night, the morning fog was beautiful
A member of our cruising club recommended this yummy burger stop
Museum and a sexy man!

Cute downtown 
Vanilla beer...delicious! Blackhorse Brewery 
Cheers to the captain for getting us here and drinking with me!