Friday October 29: Ditto Landing, Huntsville, AL

We left Chattanooga behind on Wednesday after breakfast and returning the rental car. The day was not the best and the plastic went up and down as the rain came and went. Never really hard rain but enough that we were getting wet without it. Lookout mountain was again in and out of the clouds. It's no wonder that between the fog and the smoke that the battle of Lookout Mountain is often called the "Battle Above the Clouds." The views along the river were still wonderful - especially the reflections of the mountains in the almost perfectly calm water. It was definitely a cool day on the flybridge but that didn't stop us from enjoying the views. We arrived at our destination in the early afternoon: a park about 40 miles down the river. Peter and Steve of course had to immediately check out the area to see what was around. We were docked at the end of a small dock at this park area. Thursday morning was quite different than the day before: sunshine and almost no clouds - really brought out the colors in the trees. Two eagles were spotted early on in the trip - two in one tree was a first! It was a long travel day to Goosepond Marina where we once again said goodbye to Peter and Cheryl. They headed back to Pebble Isle to deal with the boat issues (a 4 hour drive away so we really appreciated that they took the time to join us as we had a wonderful time!).

Meanwhile we spent the night and were up early with the courtesy car headed to breakfast and the grocery store. Steve once again somehow made it off of the boat without an inspection and ended up with white socks and brown boat shoes! Sometimes he just forgets to put his tennis shoes on but really???? Headed out of Goosepond marina about noon and moved another 45 miles down the river. The current is now with us so we are making about 8.5 miles per hour overall. The Guntersville Lock was very nicely timed - waited about 10 minutes! The views continue to be incredible.

NOTICE: We are now officially on BOAT TIME. We just got tired of moving from eastern time to central time and after thinking about, decided that we could be on any time we wanted to be! So for now we are staying on Eastern time no matter the time zone we are REALLY in - so the sun will be setting about 7 pm. And when Daylight Saving Time ends on 10/7 - we will simply just ignore it! The sun will still then set about 7 pm. Personally, I think it's a great plan :-) Sleep until 8 everyday and still have daylight until 7. (Of course when the days actually get shorter we may be getting up when it's dark - but who cares?)