Lorenzo & Delois Johnson

We are at Joe Wheeler State Park Marina.  The crowd is all here, and tonight all of us ate dinner together at the Marina Restaurant.

Everyone is planning to stay here for a few days to catch up on boat chores prior to heading down river.  We are one day (63 miles) from the TennTom river entrance.  The TennTom will take us approximately 500 miles down river to Mobile, Al. where we will again encounter tides and salt water.

This marina is part of a State Park and Resort.  It is a very nice facility, and the scenery is very beautiful.  All in all, a very nice place to spend time.

We are planning to spend a couple of days here, and then go to Grand Harbor Marina for 5 or 6 days prior to heading down river toward Mobile.  Grand harbor has better facilities for our planned projets than this resort marina.

We will stock up on groceries, do some sight seeing, and generally take a break while at Grand Harbor. 

We are approximately 700 miles from Carabelle, Fl., and we are scheduled to arrive there by Dec 15.  There is no need to rush, we have plenty of time.  We aree not sure where we will be for Thanksgiving.  We will make the best of it wherever we are, and we will share it with our fellow Loopers.  This will be our first Thanksgiving ever away from our children; I will miss them but not enough to make me go home.

It is going to take some readjusting when we return to tidal waters and wind driven waves.  This river travel thing has it’s benefits.

We spent two days at Goose Pond Marina.  We were lazy, and we wanted to sample their famous shrimp and grits.  It was a very nice place to visit and spend time.

The remainder of the pack caught up with us at Goose Pond.  Now, there will be 9 boats traveling together in a pack.  Dinner consisted of Pizza delivered to the dock, followed by an improptu dock party. 

Gilraker and Lil’ David stopped for the night at Ditto Landing Marina.  The rest of the pack traveled an additional 20 miles to spend the night at Riverwalk Marina. 

It is surprising to be in Alabama, and traveling with 6 boats from North Carolina.  We are having a great time.  We have determined that we all must have the same brain malfunction that causes us to place ourselves in this situation and actually enjoy it. 

Tomorrow, we will travel to Joe Wheeler State Park Marina, where we will again join the rest of the pack.

We are at the Goose Pond Colony Marina again.  We spent the night here when we were on our way to Chattanooga.  The restaurant was closed, so we did not get to try their famous shrimp and grits dinner.  We will spend the next two days here because it is a good place t oostop.  Also, we get the chance to try their fish and grits.

We continue to meet Looper Friends as we travel.  It is amazing how often we see the same people.  We are starting to identify people by their boat names.

We are again in a very relaxed situation.  No deadlines and no appointments.  No place where we have to be at a certain time.  No schedule.  No one waiting on us or expecting to see us.  This is really great, and I love it.

The boat continues to perform flawlessly.   We are keeping up with the routine maintenance items such as oil changes and filter changes, but that is all that we have to do.  I was epecting a lot more maintenance items than we have experienced.

We ar ethinking ahead to Thanksgiving, and trying to decide where we would like to be for the Thanksgiving holiday.  W ewill spend it withour boating friends, and we will really miss our family.  This is the first Thanksgiving that we have ever spent away from our children.  I suspect that there will be more to come.