Fall (2014) extended summer cruise

Two Bears

Boating while wearing sandals & shorts is our ideal, but here in Idaho our sandals & shorts season is only a few weeks long. September is the nicest boating month of the year but it’s not always sandals & shorts weather. Lake Powell in September with its 90 degree days is great sandals & shorts boating weather, but by October it begins to cool down there also. To extend our warm weather boating season requires movement by trailer. For 2014 we are planning to extend our summer and wonder if there are other C-brats that would also like to extend their warm weather boating season.
The Five “W”s for a C-Brat Grand Fall Tour
WHAT: A C-brats fall of the year two-month “boater-homing” cruise.
WHEN: Mid September to mid-November.
WHERE: Warm central southern states. We start at the Lake Powell Gathering in mid September, in October head east on I-40 and launch on the Tennessee River near Knoxville, TN. It is 371 miles downriver past Chattanooga through five dams and locks to Joe Wheeler State Park near Rogersville, Alabama which should take about two weeks. We then trailer I-65 south to Mobile Bay where we again launch and head east on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway to the Gulf C-brat gathering in Apalachicola, Florida. Enjoy the Gulf Gathering, eat some great oysters and spend some time in the warm waters of the Gulf Coast in Apalachicola Bay or St Joe Bay. About mid-November submit to the inevitable, unpack the real shoes and long pants and head home for Thanksgiving.
WHY: 1) To be warm and extend our boating season; 2) to help one another find our way around new parts of our very big country and to experience a different boating world; 3) to share information to help us all on the daily decisions that occur in a tour like this; 4) to share with rig shuttles, and most important: 5) to have fun.
WHO: Any C-Brat who can find the time. I expect boats will be joining and leaving at many points during our journey.
DISCUSSION:
Two Bears did parts of this tour in 2011 and visited parts of the East and Gulf Coasts in fall of 2012, but in 2013 mostly remained at home. As the weather in Idaho cooled this fall we realized we were missing the extended sandals & shorts boating season. When Idaho daily high temperatures were in the mid 40s our weather map told us Nashville and Chattanooga were still in the 80s. A need has become apparent: extend our summer! We suspect there are other northern C-brats who would like to extend their summer and perhaps some southern C-brats would join us and share local information about places to launch, places to visit, to anchor, marinas to visit or to avoid, where to leave rigs, help shuttle rigs & etc. I expect that only a few boats would be able to do the whole trip, but others might join us for parts of it. If we get as many as 10 boats the logistics of traveling together becomes a nightmare, so if that many did show I’d expect that we’d break into smaller groups of two or three boats. I don’t see myself or anyone else acting as “Wagon Boss,” giving daily marching orders, but instead some lively discussions of alternatives and each of us making his/her own determination on where and when and how fast they will travel. For example, the Two Bears Admiral has informed the Captain that there will be a diversion off I-40 in Amarillo, Texas to visit a quilt shop. On our boating route there are some great attractions such as the Aquarium in Chattanooga, which with other attractions calls for a delay in our downriver travel. I expect most boats will do those kinds of diversions and also will have need for some private times. I think we should set some key dates/ locations where we can touch base and compare notes. My hope is that several of us can join forces and have more fun together than we would going it alone.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? At this point we have lots of options. Your ideas and suggestions are welcome. Send me a PM with your home email address and I’ll send you a multi page discussion of my thoughts of the proposed route, times, locations, books and other resources I’ve found and some of the alternatives we should consider and the unknowns that we need to resolve before starting next fall. Depending on how many boats respond will determine how involved our planning needs to be. Once we have a set of times and locations we can post the overall plan on this site so that other C-brats might join us, if only for a few days.

Chuck

Wandering Sagebrush · Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:14 pm Post subject:

Chuck,

Diana and I would love to see you and Penny at Lake Powell next fall. I am not sure if we can do more of a trip due to elder care issues, but let's see what we can come up with.

Steve

Sunbeam · Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:34 pm Post subject:

Neat idea! One reason I got a C-Dory was that the people who own them "get out and do stuff" by road and by water Thumbs Up

A slight tangent, but I've been meaning to thank you for your idea and photos of your "splashwell bridge." I copied your idea and made one before going to Powell (on port side, because my kicker is to starboard) and oh man, what a great addition. It was in use constantly! Made getting from the cockpit to the swim platform at anchor a breeze, and also served as a shoe spot, secondary sand rinse area, etc. (I use the trailer fender to embark/disembark when trailering, but the "bridge" was so so handy when on the water.)

Sunbeam

Bluechablis · Posted: Sat Nov 16, 2013 9:13 am Post subject:

We would be definitely interested in doing this trip. Our only commitments Sept/Oct is wine harvest which only happens when the grapes are ready. After that we would be ready to roll and catch up!

DuckDogTitus · Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:23 pm Post subject:

call me in 25 years and we will be there!

Two Bears · Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 11:50 am Post subject:

Here is an update on the Extended Summer plans. Since it was only up on the main page for a few days last November, I thought some others who might be interested could have missed it.
Our plan at this time is to attend the Lake Powell Gathering in late September, pull out about Oct 1 and head east on I-40. Launch at Knoxville, TN in early October, spend about two weeks going 371 river miles down the Tennessee River to Rogersville, Alabama. Pull out and drive to a launch near Mobile, AL and head east on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway to Apalachicola, Florida, arriving in time for the Gulf Coast Gathering. Spend some time in the sheltered waters of the Gulf before trailering home for Thanksgiving.
Not shown above is a lot of details like rig shuttling, selection of launch site and rig storage sites. Since the dates of the Lake Powell and the Gulf Coast Gatherings have not been set, that might push us faster in one leg or another. At this time about four boats have expressed interest. As I said in the first post, I don’t see this as an organized or structured gathering, but a collection of boats going the same direction that are at least willing to talk to one another. Boats that can only join us for one leg are welcome, as I assume not many central and eastern boats would come to Lake Powell. If interested enough to consider joining us email me at twoidahobears@gmail.com with your regular email address and I’ll send you our multi-page – but still “draft” plan.

Chuck

hardee · Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:18 pm Post subject:

Chuck,

This sounds like a real great trip. I could say dream trip, but I can't say I have been dreaming of boating in that direction, mostly due to w%^K, but the time is getting closer. I hope this becomes a fall tradition, because I would love to be able to do it with a group like you are suggesting. I just need a couple of years yet, soooooo, sign me up for 2016 and we are on. Meanwhile, I'll follow along and take notes.

BTW, congrats to Penny for the cover shot on the 2014 Calendar

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

ddenver · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:57 am Post subject:

Like Harvey said... sounds wonderful but I am gonna have to wait even longer then Harv (maybe another 8-10 years God help me!).

Hope this comes off for you guys and everybody has a safe and enjoyable extended sandals and shorts season!

Take care,
Dan, Tanya, and Hannah on C-Renity

thataway · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 3:48 pm Post subject:

Why not extend the trip, to the real sandals and shorts…head down the coast to the keys for the winter exploring both the East and West Coast of Florida in the process?

Two Bears · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 5:50 pm Post subject:

Oh Bob! I love it.. In the perfect world that is what we would all do. however, it's retirement time and.... I want it all.. The great home with a great garden, a few summer weeks in the mountains, spring and fall boating, and winter snow sports. I still cut 4 cords of firewood each year and that is 90% of the heat and I love sitting by the fire watching the birds on the feeder and the geese and eagles flying up and down the river.

I think Bill & Eli & some others have it right by living aboard or at least in not owning a home. In my case, I have the water system going over the summer for the garden and orchard. Fall rains end the need for that some time between mid-September and Mid October. In mid-October my seven large Maple Trees that shade the house start to dump leaves and the last come down in mid November. First hard freeze comes between early November early December. So winterizing the water system and the leaf clean-up is a necessary chore in November. I've tried hiring it out and paid for it with broken pipes and other unpleasantness that took days to fix in the spring.

I wish I could just sell out and walk away but then the cost would be quite high, like a divorce. I think most of us have figured out that Life is a compromise.

I suspect that many of us have these kinds of conflicts but they occur at different times for different reasons. Perhaps someone can join us for the end of the trip and then organize a run down to the keys. The South Florida Loop and the St. Johns River trips are a just a few of the opportunities.
Chuck

thataway · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:19 pm Post subject:

We all have choices in life--and must make those choices. Some seem to love the snow, shoveling, frozen driveways, falls, etc… Some of us choose to avoid those things in retirement. Life is full of compromises. As someone who has sold everything twice in life (house cars furniture etc)--it is not as painful as it might seem. Life is short.

hardee · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:51 am Post subject:

Interesting comments. Choices. I just watched a report on the weather channel. This winter, Detroit, 6+ft of snow, 60+ days of below freezing. Chicago, similar. Made me glad I live where I do, and I still wish I was in someplace sunny, warm and tropical, on the boat, but that W@^k thing just keeps getting in the way, for a few more years. then I'll take Chuck and Bob up on the sun, Sandals and T-Shirt cruise.

Mean time, I'll keep following on the site and keeping track of teh hints for a southern sunshine trip in a few years.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

ghone · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:01 am Post subject:

Interesting indeed. We are lucky to have our freedoms. We've chosen at this time to be free of houses etc and be aboard. As a new grand baby showed up in a December, we were staying near thru Fall and Winter. However January thru March we are enjoying Kona HI. Staying in a nice inn at Kahalu'u beach. ( rented).
Unloading houses freed up capital to be put to work so we don't have to. See El and Bills thread on economics, it's sound. I always felt burdened by possessions, some folks don't but I like to travel light. We've sold both our houses and have a few possessions in a 10x 10 locker till we purge them too. Some day we'll rent a studio apartment somewhere and live there when we get too old to get on the boat. Hopefully a long time away.
We were thinking towing East and South to explore Florida this year but several places in BC and Washington beckon and Carolyn may need an emergency grandchild visit to see the wee one so we'll stay within a short flight or bus ride. We'll be back in Kona in January '15 then head for Florida and points East.
The cold of Canada and most of mainland USA have us happy to be here. We were due to fly early March but due to snow we delayed that and are coming back late March. Then back aboard for spring BC cruising. Cool maybe but not frozen.
We have no need to be frozen again!
Freedom to be and do is our common history. Awfully fun to plan things out and explore around. Life is short and there is so much territory to explore.
I love the cruise idea Chuck, we'll be in the West this season but plan on being in parts of your trip next. I've always wanted to cruise the short Dismal Swamp. For no other reason than it is probably as nice as our Desolation Sound. Poor names for nice places. Also the Tennessee River and parts of the Gulf Coast look great. I hope some folks join your expedition this year, it sounds like fun and you guys are fun to travel with. Best wishes. Hey have Thanksgiving in Florida.
Carolyn and George

Bluechablis · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:50 am Post subject:

Ron Cowan · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:29 am Post subject:

The Tenn. river has been mentioned several times and I would like to offer help to any C-Brat wanting to explore this area. I live on the Tenn. at mile 285 (intersection of Elk river and Tenn. river). It is approx. 7 miles upstream from Joe Wheeler State Park and a gated subdivision. I can offer a ramp for launching and a place to leave truck and trailer. An overnight slip with water and electricity would be available for a late arrival or trip to town for provisions. I would need to be at home to offer this, therefore please give me a call or PM to verify I am not gone on the river myself. Cell # (256) 318-4608. It is a great cruise from this location to Chattanooga in the fall to view changing of leaf colors through the gorge.
Ron