Great Loop
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Hello all!!!
We are snuggled in at Midway Marina mm 394 Tenn-Tom waterway. Thi sis in Fulton, Ms. 38843. Thanks for all the well-wishes. They are greatly appreciated, I just can't explain how much. Haven't had much of a signal on the Verizon card so far, this "ditch" can kill a signal!!! So far so good, Pat had to remind me it was Friday. We look foward to visiting all the Brats that live along the way. As we go along and see stuff we will send pictures to Byrdman and let him do the posting to the Brat site 'cause I ain't smart enough... got visitors admiring the boat. They are suprised this boat is doin' the Loop. Thanks for the thoughts ya'll!!!!
C U Later
Mike
We are snuggled in at Midway Marina mm 394 Tenn-Tom waterway. Thi sis in Fulton, Ms. 38843. Thanks for all the well-wishes. They are greatly appreciated, I just can't explain how much. Haven't had much of a signal on the Verizon card so far, this "ditch" can kill a signal!!! So far so good, Pat had to remind me it was Friday. We look foward to visiting all the Brats that live along the way. As we go along and see stuff we will send pictures to Byrdman and let him do the posting to the Brat site 'cause I ain't smart enough... got visitors admiring the boat. They are suprised this boat is doin' the Loop. Thanks for the thoughts ya'll!!!!
C U Later
Mike
Pandy Girl
New member
Hi Mike & Miss B
Good to see you are on the way, keep all of in touch of your travels.
Hope to see you all in the state of Fl. give us a call any time
Jim & Sandy
Good to see you are on the way, keep all of in touch of your travels.
Hope to see you all in the state of Fl. give us a call any time
Jim & Sandy
El and Bill
New member
Bon voyage. Glad to hear you are underway.
No pictures yet from the GYPSY crew... but, did find one during one of our "training trips/gatherings" on the Cumberland for the pre-trip living on a CD22 life.
Pictured is C-Byrd, Pandy Girl, GYPSY (Gu-Ruu of the Cumberland) & Falcon. Some others with us on another dock finger...
Hope the winds stay lower than the 40 mph gust predicted for today (Saturday by the way)... and, look forward to hearing/seeing from yall again soon.
Byrdman
Pictured is C-Byrd, Pandy Girl, GYPSY (Gu-Ruu of the Cumberland) & Falcon. Some others with us on another dock finger...
Hope the winds stay lower than the 40 mph gust predicted for today (Saturday by the way)... and, look forward to hearing/seeing from yall again soon.
Byrdman
Looking foward to meeting the crew of Gyspy when they make it down our way. From the sounds of it and an unofficial head count, I think we my have enough to call row and declare it a SW Florida C-Brat Gathering.
Pat, did you get Mike set up with a Spot Device or is he flying under the radar?
Pat, did you get Mike set up with a Spot Device or is he flying under the radar?
Made the offer, but, he likes the no radar mode.
Todate, he sends me a text msg a day or two... or calls if he has something to say. We both type real slow on the phones.
Today, due to amount of floatscam on the waters, the Tenn-Tom being out of her banks a bit due to the current on going weather... they "plan" on about 3 locks stoping some where in the area of Aberdeen Marian MM358, in Aberdeen MS. Winds have been very high...with real high gust so they have been hitting marinas with "solid" docks to tie to for sleep at night rather than the hook.
Now GYPSY really likes the hook so the crew look forward to less winds for nights on the hook.
No picutes yet...but picture 40-50mph gust... No real need for a camera.
:beer :beer
Byrdman for GYPSY
Todate, he sends me a text msg a day or two... or calls if he has something to say. We both type real slow on the phones.
Today, due to amount of floatscam on the waters, the Tenn-Tom being out of her banks a bit due to the current on going weather... they "plan" on about 3 locks stoping some where in the area of Aberdeen Marian MM358, in Aberdeen MS. Winds have been very high...with real high gust so they have been hitting marinas with "solid" docks to tie to for sleep at night rather than the hook.
Now GYPSY really likes the hook so the crew look forward to less winds for nights on the hook.
No picutes yet...but picture 40-50mph gust... No real need for a camera.
:beer :beer Byrdman for GYPSY
patrick and linda
New member
hello capt. maj. byrdman,
linda and i are enjoying the post and updates you've given for mike. would really like to see pictures of what mike and ms. b are experiencing. got a couple of questions, when they anchor out for the evening do they normally set two anchors, bow and stern? do they have an opportunity to shower each day, that's linda's question? what is their fuel capacity and how are they handling the ice storage?
thanks
pat
linda and i are enjoying the post and updates you've given for mike. would really like to see pictures of what mike and ms. b are experiencing. got a couple of questions, when they anchor out for the evening do they normally set two anchors, bow and stern? do they have an opportunity to shower each day, that's linda's question? what is their fuel capacity and how are they handling the ice storage?
thanks
pat
Hey Gang!
Thanks for all the messages. We are tied off at Aberdeen Marina mm 358.2 on the Tenn. Tom Waterway. That would be Aberdeen Ms. 39730. We have a glich with the camera, the batteries are dead and we are, as I type(?) recharding so we can send a few tomorow. We have all seen rivers and that is mostly what we have seen.
Typicly, when we do hook (haven't had that oppotunity yet on the Waterway) we use one anchor, a danforth 8 pounder on 100' of chain. We use a 12 pound mushroom for a second anchor IF needed. So far we hve had the opportunity to take two showers a day if we so desired. We are river rats by nature and don't get that dirty riding on a clean GYPSY for a day or two without a shower.Summer we bathe in the river. We carry 58 gallons of gas in a single divided tank an so far have achieved 4 miles to the gallon with the 90 Yamaha. Ran the 8hp Yamaha kicker for about two hours while hooked at Six Mile creek on the Tennessee before getting on the Waterway. This is more typing than I have done in a long time. At our current temps., 60 hi and 38 lows, our ice consumption has been 4 bags (7lbs.ea.) since we left Decatur, Al. Our main cooler is a 65 qt. YETI. We also have a 12 pack size Yeti we use as the ice house, just ice. The trip has been great so far and the adventure has started to sink in. I don't have to get back to go to work!!!!
As we go along, I am sure we will be contacting this site on a regular basis as long as it is OK with the Brats. Maybe once a week or so. Always good to hear from ya'll. I type so slow it has taken me almost an hour to do this. Please be patient! we will send pictures!!!
All these things will change as we hit salt water I am sure.
Thanks Again Brats for your participation!
Mike
Thanks for all the messages. We are tied off at Aberdeen Marina mm 358.2 on the Tenn. Tom Waterway. That would be Aberdeen Ms. 39730. We have a glich with the camera, the batteries are dead and we are, as I type(?) recharding so we can send a few tomorow. We have all seen rivers and that is mostly what we have seen.
Typicly, when we do hook (haven't had that oppotunity yet on the Waterway) we use one anchor, a danforth 8 pounder on 100' of chain. We use a 12 pound mushroom for a second anchor IF needed. So far we hve had the opportunity to take two showers a day if we so desired. We are river rats by nature and don't get that dirty riding on a clean GYPSY for a day or two without a shower.Summer we bathe in the river. We carry 58 gallons of gas in a single divided tank an so far have achieved 4 miles to the gallon with the 90 Yamaha. Ran the 8hp Yamaha kicker for about two hours while hooked at Six Mile creek on the Tennessee before getting on the Waterway. This is more typing than I have done in a long time. At our current temps., 60 hi and 38 lows, our ice consumption has been 4 bags (7lbs.ea.) since we left Decatur, Al. Our main cooler is a 65 qt. YETI. We also have a 12 pack size Yeti we use as the ice house, just ice. The trip has been great so far and the adventure has started to sink in. I don't have to get back to go to work!!!!
As we go along, I am sure we will be contacting this site on a regular basis as long as it is OK with the Brats. Maybe once a week or so. Always good to hear from ya'll. I type so slow it has taken me almost an hour to do this. Please be patient! we will send pictures!!!
All these things will change as we hit salt water I am sure.
Thanks Again Brats for your participation!
Mike
patrick and linda
New member
hey mike,
thanks for checking in and giving more details of your experiences. your trip, like those who have gone before you, is of great interest to many of us. many wish they could do the loop but few actually take the bull by the horns and get it done. the loop is not our goal but getting to the gulf is. haven't set a time frame, but the clock is ticking and i ain't getting any younger.
will stay tuned for further updates.
keep the wind at your back and the pointy end forward.
best regards
pat
thanks for checking in and giving more details of your experiences. your trip, like those who have gone before you, is of great interest to many of us. many wish they could do the loop but few actually take the bull by the horns and get it done. the loop is not our goal but getting to the gulf is. haven't set a time frame, but the clock is ticking and i ain't getting any younger.
will stay tuned for further updates.
keep the wind at your back and the pointy end forward.
best regards
pat
A bit on the female side of this trip. Most of the waterway we have traveled is a lot like the lower Cumberland River, in Tennessee. The difference is the swampy land and Cypress trees, which are really beautiful, lots! of Coots and Bald Eagles. As the sun goes down it really is a beautiful place, not like the Ditch they told us about. They must have been going too fast!
Showers and Laundry have been at every stop and the people we are meeting have been very nice ( Sticky Bunns this a.m. from a couple from PA)
Mike put shore power on GYPSY and tonight is the first night in 20 years I could blow dry my hair after a shower!!!
Thanks for all the thoughts, we are having a ball,
Brenda on GYPSY
Showers and Laundry have been at every stop and the people we are meeting have been very nice ( Sticky Bunns this a.m. from a couple from PA)
Mike put shore power on GYPSY and tonight is the first night in 20 years I could blow dry my hair after a shower!!!
Thanks for all the thoughts, we are having a ball,
Brenda on GYPSY
Hey folks!
I don't know all there is to know about"blogs" but my daughter, Brandy, cooked this up for us: www.gypsyontheloop I'd send it as a link but forgot how. Give us a day or two and we will play with it. Thanks for your support...and patience!
C U Round the bend
Mike
I don't know all there is to know about"blogs" but my daughter, Brandy, cooked this up for us: www.gypsyontheloop I'd send it as a link but forgot how. Give us a day or two and we will play with it. Thanks for your support...and patience!
C U Round the bend
Mike
Hey Hey Miss B!!!!!!
OK... now I gotta laugh a bit. Our dock folks at Kowliga Marina on beautiful Lake Martin in Alabama (yall need to go there at some point even if it is an enclosed compound... Halcyon has enjoyed those waters with me before)..... they called the shore power cord"YELLOW HEROIN"....
Named that simply due to the fact that after using it a time or two.... you always had to get back for more. So to know the GYPSY crew even carries a hair dryer shocks me...but, life is good!!!
Now Miss B... not busting out on you for your hair dryer...as those who truly know Brother Mike ....realise what a true heroine you have been thru life...not only with him....but several nights on the farm with myself... and some others, and out on the waters.... We could write a book on just a few like the delivery of the washing machine, Ro-Ho the used to be Rooster, frog gigging nights on the pond, Dad shooting up in the air at frog giggers on our pond...and hitting yall's home instead of them, the nights in the snow in the front field behind the jeeps...and on and on. Thanks to your support of us both and our friends who have shared these times with our family. You deserve much more than shore power and a hair dryer... but hey.. you have nice coolers on board too!! :beer :beer
Yall keep checking in... have a great time and I truly hope nights on the hook come your way often as I know how many your have enjoyed in our home waters on the Cumberland.
Yes Jim and others who can spell.... I had to look up the h words on here to make sure I was putting them in the correct spot in the text... Amazing what just adding an "e" does.
Byrdman
OK... now I gotta laugh a bit. Our dock folks at Kowliga Marina on beautiful Lake Martin in Alabama (yall need to go there at some point even if it is an enclosed compound... Halcyon has enjoyed those waters with me before)..... they called the shore power cord"YELLOW HEROIN"....
Named that simply due to the fact that after using it a time or two.... you always had to get back for more. So to know the GYPSY crew even carries a hair dryer shocks me...but, life is good!!!
Now Miss B... not busting out on you for your hair dryer...as those who truly know Brother Mike ....realise what a true heroine you have been thru life...not only with him....but several nights on the farm with myself... and some others, and out on the waters.... We could write a book on just a few like the delivery of the washing machine, Ro-Ho the used to be Rooster, frog gigging nights on the pond, Dad shooting up in the air at frog giggers on our pond...and hitting yall's home instead of them, the nights in the snow in the front field behind the jeeps...and on and on. Thanks to your support of us both and our friends who have shared these times with our family. You deserve much more than shore power and a hair dryer... but hey.. you have nice coolers on board too!! :beer :beer
Yall keep checking in... have a great time and I truly hope nights on the hook come your way often as I know how many your have enjoyed in our home waters on the Cumberland.
Yes Jim and others who can spell.... I had to look up the h words on here to make sure I was putting them in the correct spot in the text... Amazing what just adding an "e" does.
Byrdman
Pandy Girl
New member
Hi Mike & Miss B
We will be watching your travels, have a good time and enjoy the Roses. We wish we could join you but maybe we can catch you when you get to the Gulf near Fort Myers fl.
Do you have our Phone #? IF You Don"t give us a PM
Jim & Sandy Jessup (Pandy Girl)
We will be watching your travels, have a good time and enjoy the Roses. We wish we could join you but maybe we can catch you when you get to the Gulf near Fort Myers fl.
Do you have our Phone #? IF You Don"t give us a PM
Jim & Sandy Jessup (Pandy Girl)
Mike & Miss B have just gotton started on their blog but I know everyone will want to bookmark it so they will be able to keep up with all the details as their travels continue.
http://www.gypsyontheloop.com/
http://www.gypsyontheloop.com/
Talked with the crew of GYPSY briefly yesterday. They stayed a night or few at MM 335 at the Columbus Marina in Columbus, MS....now...they have dodged more river junk, winds and rain...and are going to wait out the next little volley of storms south of the snow/ice belt that is around the I-40 latitude area, and they are down to the MM 217 area at the Demopolis Yacht Basin, in Demopolis, AL.... Glad they are below the ice lines...and for sure, when it starts like this.... the spring will just have to be wonderful!!!!!
Be safe Brother and I truly look forward to your post, anchorages you and Miss B find between Demopolis and Mobile. Most of the bigger boats with deeper drafts and that travel 20-25 knots just say there are no places... Do tell from a C-Brats' point of view.
Hunkered down waiting for the 5-9" of forecasted snow....with Aloysius in the Boathouse after seeing a line of 3 barges, in sight at one time in front of Moms @ MM 236 area of the Cumberland River yesterday hauling coal. Much increased traffic...so, put my boat up on the soft shelf rather than taking the pounding from the coal barges for a few days.
Brother Pat
Be safe Brother and I truly look forward to your post, anchorages you and Miss B find between Demopolis and Mobile. Most of the bigger boats with deeper drafts and that travel 20-25 knots just say there are no places... Do tell from a C-Brats' point of view.
Hunkered down waiting for the 5-9" of forecasted snow....with Aloysius in the Boathouse after seeing a line of 3 barges, in sight at one time in front of Moms @ MM 236 area of the Cumberland River yesterday hauling coal. Much increased traffic...so, put my boat up on the soft shelf rather than taking the pounding from the coal barges for a few days.
Brother Pat
Talked again this morning with Brother Mike and B for a SITREP.
They are on the move again...all be it a bit cold still, the winds have layed a bit down below 10mph so that is nice. It is still Jan/Feb time frame.
They have locked thru the Demopolis lock and dam, MM 213 and are headed south/down river towards an anchorage (ON THE HOOK AT LAST!!!!) .... around the MM 142 area.... This location mentioned in Fred Myers readings. I am using my QUIMBY'S to track them via the Tenn-Tom Waterway section... Nice general map on the introduction page.
Looking for sunshine later in the day...and realise cool-to-cold nights still wait them till they get further south to the Mobile, AL area. All is well, life is good on the boat!
Got some other news about a tow boat with a bit over 380,000...TONS... of asphault and the CPT Chuck on the Doug Brown...but, will allow Mike and B to post input and pics the next time they have internet coverage.
Thanks for the call Brother. I appreciate the updates.
Byrdman
They are on the move again...all be it a bit cold still, the winds have layed a bit down below 10mph so that is nice. It is still Jan/Feb time frame.
They have locked thru the Demopolis lock and dam, MM 213 and are headed south/down river towards an anchorage (ON THE HOOK AT LAST!!!!) .... around the MM 142 area.... This location mentioned in Fred Myers readings. I am using my QUIMBY'S to track them via the Tenn-Tom Waterway section... Nice general map on the introduction page.
Looking for sunshine later in the day...and realise cool-to-cold nights still wait them till they get further south to the Mobile, AL area. All is well, life is good on the boat!
Got some other news about a tow boat with a bit over 380,000...TONS... of asphault and the CPT Chuck on the Doug Brown...but, will allow Mike and B to post input and pics the next time they have internet coverage.
Thanks for the call Brother. I appreciate the updates.
Byrdman
Got another call from the GYPSY crew last night. The crew was tired...after a hard day on the river due to real high waters, high water current, and junk in the waters.... How high? Well, the 34' drop in the Coffeeville Lock and Dam, MM 116.6...was only about a 13-15' drop....or, about 1/2 of the regular drop. Those who have traveled the rivers should get a visual of what happens with that much water.... and, for sure, makes for much much up close and personal time at the helm rather than a bit of kick back and enjoy time.
Further down.... they had to request an opening for a train bridge for their CD-22.... Not sure what the air draft of GYPSY is....but, safe to say...it as all other CD22's should have zero issues on the Tenn-Tom... Looking forward to getting those pics....
Headed towards Mobile Bay area....and feel sure another tie up, good hot showers ....and maybe a cold beverage or 6 will be in order.
Further down.... they had to request an opening for a train bridge for their CD-22.... Not sure what the air draft of GYPSY is....but, safe to say...it as all other CD22's should have zero issues on the Tenn-Tom... Looking forward to getting those pics....
Headed towards Mobile Bay area....and feel sure another tie up, good hot showers ....and maybe a cold beverage or 6 will be in order.
Last call from GYPSY: Tired... from the last 3-4 days of heading down river with 5-6 knot currents and waters way out of the banks...but, now safely tied to at Grand Mariner Marina in Mobile, AL. Will take a bit of a rest and chill out a day or two. 54 degrees today, clear skies...no rain, and winds less than 5mph. A great set up for a nice rest....and some great fresh sea food!!
The taste of the salt air will do them good too!! :beer :beer
Brother Pat posting for Mike & B.
The taste of the salt air will do them good too!! :beer :beer
Brother Pat posting for Mike & B.