I was way too grumpy to blog yesterday, but today is a new day! We traveled only 42 miles, but we are WAY ahead of where we were. We have finished the rivers!!!! We have completed the Chicago to Mobile section of The Great Loop and in many ways it was the toughest yet. I swear these rivers almost broke me!
We traveled about 471 nautical miles down the Illinois, The Mississippi, The Ohio, The Cumberland, The Tennessee, The Tenn Tom and The Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers since leaving Chicago on September 12th. Close to two months of muddy water, barges, logs, fog, LONG travel days, anchorages, some rain, some cold and hours of planning. There were plenty of docktails and smiles as well, but it was still Tough. Danny loved every minute of it. Today we cruised into Mobile Bay in beautiful sunshine with pelicans and seagulls flying all around. We’re in the Gulf!! Salt water! Woo hoo.
Later today there will be champagne with our buddy boats TxAu and Laurie Jean who we’ve done all of this with. Lucky Me is here too and new friends Joan & Dan from Massachusetts will join us – we can all have fresh off the boat shrimp for dinner tonight!! We will be here a couple of days and then head for the Florida panhandle and stop in many spots along the way. Destination for this leg – Fort Lauderdale, where we’ll cross our wake! We are getting closer.
Today I’m beyond grateful. We are here. We are safe. We are blessed.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Captain Dan & Cruise Director Jodi
