Friday, October 27, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Last Call
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REMINDER: We are meeting at the put-in at 10:00 am Friday. Those riding with me and the trailer, meet at my house at 7:30 am. Direction to put-in are at the bottom of this post.
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UPDATED ROSTER and CANOE ASSIGNMENTS
Looks like Tim can't make the Friday morning departure which means he'll either be coming down the river solo Friday afternoon or coming down the CR 1788 Saturday morning. Myers is still a maybe. So things are in flux but here you go:
Trailer (9)
Skip (Old Town)
Rob (Dagger)
Cronin (Own boat)
Kirk (Grumman)
Josh (Own boat)
Bob (Yellow Folbot)
Phil (Own boat - YES!)
Dave C. (Own boat)
Vernon (Bell or Tim's Wenonah)
Rob's Suburban (1)
Pete F. (Own boat)
Mullowney's Truck (2)
Mullowney (Own boat)
Mullowney's Friend (Delta Dawn)
Tim (Wenonah if come Friday, ride tandem with someone if come Saturday)
Myers (TBD)
UPDATED MENU
Pete F'in Feldman has the following modifications/amendments to the menu:
Friday dinner
Tuna crudo and Celestial stir fry
Saturday lunch
Portuguese shrimp rolls
Please make note of it.
FLOAT PLAN
This trip will be mostly unscouted as far as campsites go. With the exception of the first three miles, it's all new river to me. So we will choose our Friday and Saturday night spots based on mileage, available daylight and aerial photos.
As previously mentioned, we'll probably divide the 16 total miles up into something like 5-8-3 assuming a noon or shortly thereafter launch Friday. The Boy Scout Canoe Base is 3 miles from our put-in so we'll want to clear that Friday. The County Road 1788 Bridge is our max distance Friday because we need to be upstream of that for potential Saturday morning arrivals at that bridge, but it is 7 miles down and we prefer not to go that far anyway. That means the possible range is between River Mile 56 (3 miles) and River Mile 52 (7 miles).
It looks like there are lots of really good options in that stretch. Turn off your porn blocker if you want to click on any of these gravel bar photos.
RM 55
RM 54.5
RM 54
RM 53 (Upstream)
RM 53 (Downstream)
It's amazing how much better the aerial photos are than when we first started doing these trips. Now you can even scout for Nine Man Logs by satellite:
PUT-IN LOCATION (10:00 am Friday)
The exact location of the put-in will be a gravel bar on the north (downstream) side of the Highway 13 bridge between Linden, TN and Flatwoods, TN.
If you are coming from the north (I-40) it will be the first bridge that crosses the river on Hwy. 13 after you pass Linden (so about 10 miles south of Linden).
If you are coming from the south or east it is just a mile or less up Hwy. 13 from Flatwoods.
It looks like the closest physical address is "10179 Tennessee 13" if you want to try that in GPS. Also nearby is the Grimes Canoe Base (on the north/Linden side) and Flatwoods Canoe Base (to the south).
It's a 2 hour drive from Brown's Diner. See you tomorrow.
If you are coming from the north (I-40) it will be the first bridge that crosses the river on Hwy. 13 after you pass Linden (so about 10 miles south of Linden).
If you are coming from the south or east it is just a mile or less up Hwy. 13 from Flatwoods.
It looks like the closest physical address is "10179 Tennessee 13" if you want to try that in GPS. Also nearby is the Grimes Canoe Base (on the north/Linden side) and Flatwoods Canoe Base (to the south).
There is a surprisingly nice and apparently new exit ramp off of Hwy 13 on the south/east side of the bridge that quickly turns into a gravel road. The pull down to the gravel bar will be on that road, on your left, about 1/2 mile from that exit ramp.
It's a 2 hour drive from Brown's Diner. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The Norske Nuke
So we thought it would be a good idea to light up Paul Bunyan's Stogie before the trip, and thought it would be an especially good idea to do it on the driveway.
Here are the results from the test kitchen:
Here are the results from the test kitchen:
The morning after...
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Menu Announced
The words and opinions expressed below are those of the Pot Wrassler alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of RRCC.com. But then again they might.
Friday
Lunch
BYO supplemented with Mullowney’s Bread/Irish
Cheese/Avocado/Salami/Kumquat Picnic
Friday Supper
Starter:
-
Fresh Snapper Crudo
Entree:
-
Fresh Gulf Shrimp Stir Fry Celestial featuring Pete & His Big Wang
Saturday Breakfast
-
Coffee & Ready-rolls
-
Bacon
-
Lowry’s RRCC Banana Bread
Saturday Lunch
-
Estonian Steak Po Boys featuring Pete & His Big Swedish Torch and Tim &
His Big Swollen Vulva
Saturday Supper
- Spit-Fired Proud Chickens & Ducks de la Poitrine de Mary
-
Potatoes Anna
-
Turnip Greens
-
Iron Skillet Cornbread
Sun
Breakfast:
-
Coffee
-
Conecuh Sausage
- Leftover Cornbread with PreservesMonday, October 16, 2017
Everybody: I said "aim for arriving at Hwy 13 bridge by noon" but I really meant we want to shove off by noon Friday. Anyone riding with me or leaving with me should meet at my house at 7:30 am. If you are meeting us at the put-in try to be there about 9:30 or 10:00. Sorry for the confusion.
I'll post details about directions later this week.
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Trailer Trash
Vernon delivered the trailer today with a load of hickory and cherry wood for Proud Mary. So we took the opportunity to do a little inventory for the first time since...ever.
That was just one side.
It was like a clown trailer, if the clowns were horder clowns. Among other things we found: multiple broken and unusable camp chairs, the old battery powered rotisserie spits from the pre-water wheel age, two (flat) footballs, an Ice Mule, a washboard, one of Floyd's dildos, a cot no one has the guts to claim, twelve lengths of tie-down ropes we kept having to replace, forty red-white-and-blue shoe strings, and the original paperwork from the trailer purchase 9 years ago. Also one full-sized replica scimitar:
Importantly, we also found some used up wooden items that need to be burned ceremonially, pursuant to Club rules, so their souls do not wander the earth aimlessly forever. That includes the remaining wood gunwale scraps from Phil's canoe restoration and at least one paddle that has given its all to the RRCC.
Rob may also have a mandolin that needs to be retired.
We need to do all this at the Friday campfire. Someone be in charge of remembering.
That was just one side.
It was like a clown trailer, if the clowns were horder clowns. Among other things we found: multiple broken and unusable camp chairs, the old battery powered rotisserie spits from the pre-water wheel age, two (flat) footballs, an Ice Mule, a washboard, one of Floyd's dildos, a cot no one has the guts to claim, twelve lengths of tie-down ropes we kept having to replace, forty red-white-and-blue shoe strings, and the original paperwork from the trailer purchase 9 years ago. Also one full-sized replica scimitar:
Importantly, we also found some used up wooden items that need to be burned ceremonially, pursuant to Club rules, so their souls do not wander the earth aimlessly forever. That includes the remaining wood gunwale scraps from Phil's canoe restoration and at least one paddle that has given its all to the RRCC.
Rob may also have a mandolin that needs to be retired.
We need to do all this at the Friday campfire. Someone be in charge of remembering.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Real Maps, Real River Planning
Here is what the roster and boat situation looks like right now:
Skip (Old Town)
Tim (Own boat - Wenonah)
Rob (Dagger)
Mullowney (Own boat)
Myers
Cronin (Own boat)
Vernon (Grumman)
Phil (Own boat - YES!)
Josh (Own boat)
Dave C. (Own boat)
Pete F. (Own boat)
This is +/- Rob Cannon who may come screeching up at the last second. There is evidence that he has been getting ready...
We'll work out the rides later but basically everyone needs to converge on the Hwy 13 bridge in Perry County before noon on Friday. Pete will be staying within two hours striking distance in Muscle Shoals - where the Swampers will pick him up if he's feeling blue (how 'bout you?). In the morning he'll cross over through Florence and can check out the Helen Keller stuff on his way into Tennessee. Which will give him fresh material for even more tasteless jokes around the fire. We will assume Vernon and Mullowney will also meet us there as usual unless we hear otherwise.
Our put-in at Hwy 13 is at River Mile 59. We will camp Friday night somewhere upstream of the County Road 1788 bridge (R.M. 52) because that is the Saturday morning exit for people who need it which right now is just Jim Myers but could include more and could also make Saturday-only an option if somebody wants to do that.
An "exit" is not the same as a "take-out." You can't take a canoe out (or put one in) but it is available for those who can only make it one night. In other words, it may require a little bushwhacking and no promises about what your car will look like after a night on CR 1788. That's why we have not included Delta Dawn on the canoe list. Jim will be taking turns in the duffer seat in each of our canoes. Critiquing our strokes. Asking if we're there yet.
There's an interesting feature near that bridge. The map shows a small green area which usually means a protected natural area or something of historical significance.
On the USGS quad it is marked as "The Mound/Cem"...
The Perry County Chamber of Commerce web site has this description:
It sounds like the kind of place where a friendly tribe of rivermen might gather for a peace pipe.
Skip (Old Town)
Tim (Own boat - Wenonah)
Rob (Dagger)
Mullowney (Own boat)
Myers
Cronin (Own boat)
Vernon (Grumman)
Phil (Own boat - YES!)
Josh (Own boat)
Dave C. (Own boat)
Pete F. (Own boat)
This is +/- Rob Cannon who may come screeching up at the last second. There is evidence that he has been getting ready...
We'll work out the rides later but basically everyone needs to converge on the Hwy 13 bridge in Perry County before noon on Friday. Pete will be staying within two hours striking distance in Muscle Shoals - where the Swampers will pick him up if he's feeling blue (how 'bout you?). In the morning he'll cross over through Florence and can check out the Helen Keller stuff on his way into Tennessee. Which will give him fresh material for even more tasteless jokes around the fire. We will assume Vernon and Mullowney will also meet us there as usual unless we hear otherwise.
Our put-in at Hwy 13 is at River Mile 59. We will camp Friday night somewhere upstream of the County Road 1788 bridge (R.M. 52) because that is the Saturday morning exit for people who need it which right now is just Jim Myers but could include more and could also make Saturday-only an option if somebody wants to do that.
An "exit" is not the same as a "take-out." You can't take a canoe out (or put one in) but it is available for those who can only make it one night. In other words, it may require a little bushwhacking and no promises about what your car will look like after a night on CR 1788. That's why we have not included Delta Dawn on the canoe list. Jim will be taking turns in the duffer seat in each of our canoes. Critiquing our strokes. Asking if we're there yet.
There's an interesting feature near that bridge. The map shows a small green area which usually means a protected natural area or something of historical significance.
On the USGS quad it is marked as "The Mound/Cem"...
The Perry County Chamber of Commerce web site has this description:
It sounds like the kind of place where a friendly tribe of rivermen might gather for a peace pipe.
Sunday, October 08, 2017
New Faces
A few years back we got smart and started planning the fall trip just before daylight savings started. That worked great but who set the clocks forward a month? Hard to believe we are less than two weeks from launching. Which is one week from frenzied packing, and negative weeks from essential pre-trip activities like menu planning and map gazing and gear maintenance. Vernon, bring that trailer in your very next trip to town.
We've got some introductions to make.
First, Dave Coviello will be joining us for his first RRCC trip this fall. We rolled out a big marketing campaign for the announcement you may have seen around town.
He is a friend of Rob's from college days and a card carrying member of the Can't Hardly Playboys once a month jam band with us. He's got lots of river experience and access to a canoe which is important because he's left-handed and will need to bring his own left-handed guitar and left-handed river banjo. We'll also need to restring the washtub bass for him.
John Clack is a new Business Associate of the RRCC. We have reached an agreement with John where he gets use of the Green Mule during the offseasons (i.e. year round) in exchange for storing it at his house and bringing me the occasional catfish. John is also my garbage man.
In trip business: of the two options described previously, we are going to do the shorter float. So 16 miles in parts of three days will look something like 5-8-3 or some variation of that. On Friday we can expect to be on the river at noon or a little after then have 2.5 hours of paddle time (which is not the same thing as travel time from put-in to camp - that could be much longer as we all know). Cooks we could do Proud Mary either night or both with this schedule. Also, for meal planing purposes we will use The Swedish Torch to cook lunch on Saturday, although it might be a good idea to do a test fire on Friday while the shuttle is being run. Head count looks like about 10 right now. Plus or minus 5.
We've got some introductions to make.
First, Dave Coviello will be joining us for his first RRCC trip this fall. We rolled out a big marketing campaign for the announcement you may have seen around town.
He is a friend of Rob's from college days and a card carrying member of the Can't Hardly Playboys once a month jam band with us. He's got lots of river experience and access to a canoe which is important because he's left-handed and will need to bring his own left-handed guitar and left-handed river banjo. We'll also need to restring the washtub bass for him.
John Clack is a new Business Associate of the RRCC. We have reached an agreement with John where he gets use of the Green Mule during the offseasons (i.e. year round) in exchange for storing it at his house and bringing me the occasional catfish. John is also my garbage man.
In trip business: of the two options described previously, we are going to do the shorter float. So 16 miles in parts of three days will look something like 5-8-3 or some variation of that. On Friday we can expect to be on the river at noon or a little after then have 2.5 hours of paddle time (which is not the same thing as travel time from put-in to camp - that could be much longer as we all know). Cooks we could do Proud Mary either night or both with this schedule. Also, for meal planing purposes we will use The Swedish Torch to cook lunch on Saturday, although it might be a good idea to do a test fire on Friday while the shuttle is being run. Head count looks like about 10 right now. Plus or minus 5.
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