AGLCA Rondevouz

We woke to fog on the last day of our run to Joe Wheeler State Park (Rogersville, Alabama) for the AGLCA Rondevouz and Reunion.  The harbor was filled with bass boats waiting for the fog to lift so they could get out and begin the competition. 

By 9 am, the fog cleared and once the small boats raced out, eight cruising boats in the harbor headed out towards the Wilson Lock.  With a 93' lift, the Wilson was the highest single lift lock in the world when it was built in the 1950's.  Currently, it ranks 6th after five other locks in the Pacific Northwest.  It's quite impressive. 

The doors are massive, it's fun just to watch them close.  Okay, you'll have to turn your computer on the side to see them ... seems I used to put "portrait" oriented pics in the blog, but this one won't turn the right way. 

We came into beautiful Joe Wheeler State Park with five other boats.  AGLCA volunteers on the docks were ready to direct us all in, grab our lines, and welcome us to the event.  Very efficient.  A total of 57 looper boats were at the event.  The lodge was also filled with folks who attended by land.  Three days of seminars, lunches and dinners are included with registration.  The event is well sponsored by marinas along the loop who provide breakfasts, wine receptions, and goodie bags.  Name tags identify each of us by name, boat name and home port, along with a ribbon to signify our "loop status".  Gold for those who have completed the loop, white for those currently looping, and blue for those in the planning stages.  Just walking the docks was an event, checking out all the boats and meeting fun and amazing people who were as crazy about looping as we are.  On the Looper Crawls, boats were opened up for visiting and we toured some beauties including a spacious 44' Endeavor Catamaran, a crazy fancy 50' Searay, and a couple of expertly preserved older trawlers.  Our favorite, however, had to be Sea Biscuit, a 38' 1962 steel Chris Craft Roamer.  Her owners had spent 10 years restoring her and she was perfect both inside and out.  We also met a couple from Australia, who had come to America and bought a boat just to do the loop and were close to completion. 

Here's the view of our dock, seen from the deck of the lodge. 

 and this is the view from our back deck.  As you can see, Joe Wheeler Park is gorgeous and the weather was fabulous. 

We had more fun than we had ever expected and were so glad that we had finally attended a Rondevouz.  Last night it was over and we left this morning .... next destination:  Chattanooga.