Getting Ready for the Tenn Tom Canal

It is October 19, 2004 and Loy's 63rd birthday. We are at Aqua Marina in Iuka, Mississippi on the Tennessee River near the Pickwick Dam. The trip on the Tennessee was lovely.The river has many bluffs and the trees are turning. Best of all the river was well marked and the charts helpful. Our crew member, Maggie Busby, has returned to California and will be going on to her boat in the Mexico this week. What a delight it was to have an experienced sailor like Maggie on board for the first three weeks of the trip! Our next step from here will be to enter the Tennessee Tom Bigbee Canal and head downstream toward Mobile, AL about 440 miles. Along the way about 100 miles we will stop in Aberdeen, MS to visit with Jean and Charles Pounders.

The news we have from our son Carl, is that after his diving problem feeling is returning to his legs slowly and he has a clean bill of health from the cardiologist and cat scan. He participated in a two mile walk for breast cancer this weekend. He was slow, but thank God he was able to do it. He is to receive a report from the neurologist today re the results of an MRI of the spine and a possible nitrogen bubble there. Thanks more than we can say to all of you who have been in touch with Carl (cwilliams28@hotmail.com or 340-340-626-5822 cell phone) and let him know of your care and concern.

Yesterday we visited Shiloh where 23,000 men died in two days in 1862 when the Confederate States forces confronted Maj Genl. Ulysses Grant at Pittsburg Landing. The site is a national military cemetary and the location of the log Methodist Church that gave the site its name.

Loy has returned to his southern roots and is thrilled to be having grits, country ham, okra, peach cobbler, catfish, hushpuppies, etc. to his heart's content. Linda tolerates all this with good humor. She likes the hush puppies too!

We have room for one or two crew members to join our adventure from Aberdeen, MS to Mobile AL late in the month of October or to join in from Mobile to Florida beginning in the 3rd or 4th week of November. Let us know if you would be interested.

We have been off the river for a few days. There have been severe thunderstorms and heavy rain in our area and warnings of tornados and flash floods today. We will try to start down the Tenn-Tom on 10/20/04.