Florence, Alabama

9-23-2024

Florence AL bridge over the Tennessee River

We stayed in Iuka, Mississippi until Monday morning because the Enterprise Rental Car did not have a dropbox for keys. Only in Mississippi. So, we returned the car as early as possible, and Monday morning, had a nice breakfast at a Waffle House, fueled and pumped out the boat and headed up the Tennessee river for 20 miles for our planned two day stay at the marina in Florence Alabama. The transient dock was nearly completely full but Nine Lives was kind enough to move their boat forward and take a line to help us onto the very end of the dock.

A two night stay was the plan, but unfortunately, Tropical Storm Helene had turned into Hurricane Helene on the day of our arrival and was menacing the Gulf coast and deep south. Because of our concerns about the possibility of heavy tropical storm rain, winds and river flooding, we asked to stay in Florence for several additional days until the storm had passed. This actually required seven nights in Florence until Helene had finally dissipated. Unfortunately, by that time the main chamber at Wilson Locke had been discovered to be severely damaged and was closed. We had to transit this lock to go further upstream on the Tennessee river. to our next planned stop at Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina in Rogersville, Alabama, where the AGLCA rendezvous would be held later in the month. Our plan was to go up the Tennessee River to Knoxville, visit with Anthony's family and then return down river in time for the Rendezvous. We also hoped to meet with Robert And Dee from Seahorse, someplace near Chattanooga for a visit. Unfortunately, the delay caused by the Hurricane Helene's initial pass and the tragic flooding which affected parts of North Carolina and Tennessee as well as a second hurricane, Milton, completely wrecked our plans. The Tennessee River locks were closed for a time because of high water flow and debris, and the the auxiliary lock at Wilson failed for several additional days because of mechanical difficulties. Whew!

So, we waited and waited in Florence for the locks, storms and debris to clear. However, if you have to be trapped in a small town on the Tennessee river, Florence is not a bad place to be trapped. The Florence Marina is quite nice and the harbor master, Kyle, is very supportive and accommodating. We used the marina courtesy car first to explore downtown Florence, and then Muscle Shoals. We found a really great little town with several very good restaurants and a lot of history. We visited both of the historic recording studios in Muscle Shoals, as well as the Helen Keller House and Museum. We drove out into the surrounding countryside with a rental car to see the Coon Dog Cemetery, cotton fields and the suburbs of Florence. We explored the TVA structures close to Florence as well.

We met a lot of Loopers here, most notably Dave and Linda from Emilie B, and Dick and Louise from Nine Lives.

There was also time to tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house, the WC Handy House and Museum as well as eat several times alone and with other Looers at Rosie's Cantina, Lost Pizza and Ricatoni's among others

And, of course, a big highlight for us was visiting the two historic recording studios in Muscle Shoals. First, we went to FAME studio, which was the initial recording studio, watched the documentary regarding music in Florence, Alabama, and got a good idea about how things started. Then we went to the Muscle Shoals studio and were amazed by the album covers on the wall of the work and artists that recorded there. Most of my 1970s music appears to have originated in Muscle Shoals. We had several really good tour guides and thoroughly enjoyed seeing these places.