A few days earlier I had learned that LIttle Johns raceteam was going to be in Pisgah Bay for a drag race over the weekend, so we decided to watch the races and see John and his family on Saturday and Sunday, so we spent Friday packing our new groceries away and Rosie washed the boat. Madge had some girlfriends showing up from her softball team and it turned out that we knew one of them. The world keeps getting smaller.
When Christine and her dad, Jerry, showed up, Brett, Christine, and us, went up to the club at Green Turtle Bay for dinner and had a great time once again. It was early to bed for me but Rosie stayed up to visit some.
On Saturday morning, the plan was to depart at around 10 A.M. and head for Pisgah Bay and the races. The races start at noon and we wanted a good spot.
Brett and Christine didn't have any pictures of Blonde Moment running, so we were glad to oblige, and they took a couple of shots of Swing Set too. We were low on fuel from our trip up river, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to keep up. Blonde Moment runs.
We picked a good spot to anchor, Blonde Moment furnishing the bow anchor and we put out a stern hook to keep us in view of the race course. Boat after boat rafted up and we wound up with a good party.
Little John called us multiple times, but our phones weren't within earshot, and the race announcer kept referring to the "Swing Set crew", but we weren't tuned into the race channel on our stereo. We were catching the runs as they came up, but mainly were just enjoying the party.
We had a pretty decent raft up, reminiscent of our weekends on the Mississippi. When the racing appeared to be over, some of the boaters in the raft up decided to descend on other venues, but our motto is to never leave a good party in search of another, (we break this rule on occasion) so the rest of us piled into two dinghies and went over to the race camp. We inquired as to the whereabouts of the Kwitcherbitchin' race team and were carted up the hill in a pickup truck and deposited in a small clearing and in the midst of Little John, Terry, Randy and Diane, among others, and set to having a real fine time.
We got several group photos and Diane sent them to RiverBill's.com and they were featured the next morning on Bill's website.
It was getting pretty late when we jumped back into the dinghies and we made our way back to the four boats rafted up and we all spent the night right there on the hook.
More folks showed up on Sunday, but Brett and Christine had to make an early exit for the drive home. One of their friends turned out to be someone we knew from our travels years ago and he tied up his 50 foot express cruiser to us along with his friends and family and we enjoyed their company until the sun went down.
This nice woman, Tammy, came over from five boats over to say hello after noticing our "cute little puppy". Note to self: Keep the dog.
Speaking of Holly, here she is near the end of the afternoon, just about whipped. She had attacked one end of one of the lines on the boat and was unraveling it, so I cut off about a foot of it and let her go to town. She got plenty of hugs and kisses from nearly everyone and slept very well that night.
While "One Fathom Under" was parked on our starboard side, Trust Me, a 49 foot Defever trawler had been on our port since Saturday afternoon. Mike and Jan live on their boat nearly all the time. Their home is in Cape Girardeau, MO, but they trade time between Green Turtle Bay and the Fort Meyer's area. They mentioned a bar called "The Naughty Mermaid" and I knew we had been there with our friends Gary and Judy who winter in Cape Coral. I told them I'd introduce them when we get down there this winter. Mike and Jan are in the Little John picture, Mike wearing a brown long sleeve T-shirt and Jan is the blonde woman in black. Very nice people. We traded travel and live aboard tips and figure to see them when we get south.
Ken and his crew left as it was getting dark and a front was moving in and his anchor got snarled up in a crappy bed. Blonde Moment had the same problem when they pulled their anchor too, but not the same one.
The two boats in the picture behind "One Fathom Under" were at anchor since we had arrived. I met them when I took an extra bag of ice over there, figuring they might need it. They were traveling up the Tennessee River and had a home next door to Pearson's Cedar Creek Marina and knew the people we had met when we were there. You never know who you're going to meet.
We wanted to stay in Pisgah Bay for a couple of days but I couldn't get a good signal to do the blog or download email, so on Monday morning we pulled up anchor and headed over to Smith Bay, two coves upriver. We have a sandy beach and 3G, what else could we want?
By All Means "Keep The Dog"
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