The looper migration was in full swing and the docks were overflowing. They arrive in swarms of anywhere from 3 to 10 boats at a time all converging on the marina at once almost overwhelming the GTB staff. Almost all are happy to be done with the 250 mile stretch of Mississippi and Ohio Rivers that they have just travelled without any available services. Almost all stay for at least 2 nights and some stay for a week once they arrive. They use the courtesy car to run into Paducah to re-supply and take advantage of the free shuttle from Patti's to try their 2" thick pork chop.
Many of them also take advantage of the Boatworks here at GTB to be hauled out and have work done on their boats after pushing through the debris on the rivers.
It's a big shot in the pocket book of GTB since nearly everyone doing the Loop stops here. So much so in fact that GTB hosts a Looper Appreciation barbeque during this time which we took advantage of since we are Gold Loopers.
Pam & I had a few days once we returned to prepare for the arrival of Mike & Nancy who originally planned on an earlier visit but had to re-schedule. This enabled us to get Tourist back in order after our water intrusion ordeal.
By Friday we were ready and when our guests rolled in we wasted no time in untying the lines and heading out to Pisgah Bay on the Kentucky Lake side to anchor for the night. With the exception of one other boat we had the anchorage to ourselves.
Yes that's a can of Grits you see in the picture. Pam thought that since we're in the south we should try a meal with a little southern heritage and it was delicious! Cheesy grits with scallops and panko bread crumbs. Yumm!
Part of the fun was in the preparation and watching the interaction between Pam (the cook) and Nancy (the recipe reader). Mike and I think they should have a show on the Food Network entitled "Two Blondes Cooking". It would certainly be a comedic cooking show. Move over Rachel Ray and Giada!
Saturday was a beautiful day with light winds. Abundant sunshine and temps in the low 80's. More importantly the water temperature was still around 75 degrees so it wasn't long before we were in the pool.
We hung out until mid afternoon before heading back in to GTB to get ready for dinner with Kurt and Tina who were passing through the area.
Owning a boat means that there is always some project waiting in the wings for your attention. Cleaning is a constant that takes place frequently to keep the stains and corrosion away. For some time now I've wanted to pull out the cockpit seat and clean the faux teak decking under it. Every year I think this is going to be it then something else distracts me and it never gets done. Not a big problem. I mean who ever looks under there anyway? Well the time arrived when that window of opportunity finally opened.
First we had to clean out the contents of the seat and clean that area. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I expected considering it had gotten wet and full of compound dust from the previous summers storage.
Once that was out of the way we pulled the 2 pins that secure it to the transom and moved it ahead enough to get at the area beneath it. Yuck! Several years of crud covered the decking making it appear to be black rather than the nice teak color it should be. Spilled drinks over time made it sticky which caused it to hold onto anything that came in contact with it.
Amazingly wetting it and applying a little granular dishwashing detergent followed by some old fashioned elbow grease brought it back to it's former glory. Once dry we moved the seat back into position, installed the pins, and filled it back up with all the junk that we had removed and cleaned.
Good for another few years!
With that project complete it's on to the next on the list! But not before a completion cocktail!
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