Joe Wheeler to Decatur, town wall

After 3 days or so being on the hook we decided to make our way east. We brought up the anchor and stopped at the marina first to pump out, fuel up, and get more water. Then we headed out.

Being the last day of a 3 day holiday we weren't shocked by the traffic. Many pontoon boats, fishing boats, and Sea Doos were out and about enjoying the sunny yet cooler day. They all seemed to disappear about half way through our trip, which is right about when you reach a nuclear power plant. From that point to Decatur it's pretty industrial. Not the prettiest boating we've done.

Tender ride at sunset

This particular wall is more of a free dock than a town dock. It's huge, off the river, and pretty protected. It's close to town, relatively, about a 30 minute walk. We did seek out the Cross Eyed Owl (XEO) brewery after our late lunch. But being Monday AND a holiday, not much else was open. So we ate on the boat.

One of the reasons we stayed as long as we did in Joe Wheeler Park -- in addition to the quiet, given Labor Day boaters we were very surprised -- was Russ finished up the last of his autogen upgrade. It actually auto gens! 

Hey, I do stuff, too! I made these, for example.
Homemade ice cream sammiches. 
Everythin from scratch, including the ice cream.

When the batteries get to around 40% the generator turns on by itself. This is the easy part, it turns out. However, the generator needs to warm up a bit before it is loaded by the inverters that charge the batteries. So the generator starts, but a relay needs to wait before turning on the inverters. When the batteries reach 95% the reverse happens; the relays shuts off so the generator can cool down a bit before it also shuts off. 

All of this is way above my pay grade. But Russ has enjoyed this project. I told him when our boating days are done he can hire himself out as a handy man. He's done it all.

It certainly was a hoot.