Messing about in boats

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

The water rat had obviously never ridden a bicycle. Still, messing about in boats is absolutely worth doing.




While down in Alabama, Jill and I (mostly Jill) got a bug in our heads about doing an epic canoe trip on the Tennessee River. By epic, we mean to 'town' and back. Smartly, we drove to Guntersville first to get an estimate for our mileage, about 9 miles each way. It's probably clear to most readers that neither of us is hugely powerful in the upper body, so we made the wise decision to scale back our epic trip. Instead we aimed for a restaurant about 2 miles up river. This is smart, see, because the return trip is easier than the way out.

Here we go! Note the big waves. There were even some very small white caps. It was a dark and stormy day...

I think the stronger person should be in front, but Jill doesn't like the pressure of steering . A perk of being in the back is that one can lie down on the job without the front person knowing -- not in this case.

Our landmark that told us to exit the main channel.

Land ho! We parked the canoe at what seemed to be an abandoned dock that was right across the street from the restaurant.

This is the best restaurant between Guntersville and Scottsboro (of the 2).
Fortified by cheeseburgers, fries, and cokes, we paddled right by this barge to get home in record time!
I think it took 1 1/2 hours to get there and about 1 hour to get back, but who's counting while on vacation?