Day 21 - Friendly Fire — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $45 – we have been on our Loop trip for 3 weeks.

The cable TV connection does not work. We do not have a cable box on the boat. However, the marina has a gym with a TV so Dale watched most of the baseball game there and then we saw the end of the Cubs 6 – 3 victory over the Cardinals at Freddie T’s restaurant. There was a table with twelve Loopers at the restaurant in addition to John Winn with a group of eight. Freddie T runs a free shuttle van from the marina to the restaurant each evening.

The day started out foggy. We borrowed the Marina loaner car for the day and went to the Shiloh Battlefield National Park. It ended up being a perfect day for sight-seeing – Sunny, 70*f and a light breeze. We arrived at the visitor center just in time for the start of a 45 minute movie depicting the two day battle between the Union and Confederate armies on April 6 – 7, 1862. Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston initiated a sneak attack on General U.S. (Unconditional Surrender) Grant at Shiloh to head off an attack by the Union army on a strategic Confederate railroad crossing in Corinth. The victory on day one went to Johnston who died that day from friendly fire. The Union army was reinforced overnight and ultimately drove the Confederates back on day two. Johnston is the highest ranking US officer to die in battle. The rest are smart enough to stay way back behind the battle lines. The other sad statistic is there were more Americans casualties on those two days than all the casualties in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Mexican War combined. That was 23,746 dead or wounded.

This morning Priscilla commented that there was a bit of an odor in the aft cabin. I had noticed it also and wondered if the holding tank had a slight leak or was full. Then I walked outside and the whole marina had the same odor. There is a PCA paper mill in town. Paper mills always give off a strong odor. I was once told by a local salesman that if you wake up in the morning and the paper mill smells like perfume that is because they are a good customer and you are selling a lot to them. Otherwise it smells like hell everyday.

Captain Sam Soranno commented on the inland waterway rules of the road. Rule three spells out that you are on the Western River System which has specific rules.

Rule 9 spells out the narrow channel procedures. A. Never anchor. B. Keep well starboard. C. Down bound boat has right of way, proposes manner of passage & initiate signals. D. Powerboat does not give way to sail. E. Nearing a bend slow and give 1 prolong blast (4-6 seconds). Wait for response and proceed with caution. F. Overtaking can only occur if vessels agree on manner.

Communication can be done with radio or sound signals. 1 short blast means you will overtake on starboard. 2 for port. The agreement signal is the same signal returned. 5 short blast for disagreement.

Tomorrow we will cruise 42 miles to Florence, Tn which is close to the Wilson and Joe Wheeler Locks. That will set us up to get to Joe Wheeler State Park for the start of the Looper rendezvous on Tuesday.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” — William Arthur Ward, Writer

A little fog in the bog this morning at the Grand Harbor Marina.