June 6, 2012

Hi all,

Tommy had his surgery and for the most part is doing well. His knee is still a little stiff at times. A week after his surgery, he and I returned to Waverly to fix the boat. Turns out it was not the bearing after all and did not have to be picked. We left Waverly and drove to Pensacola to clean up our rent house after our tenants had moved out. We had an offer on it and wanted it to look good for the inspection and appraisal. After a few days working on the house we returned to Henderson.

On May 18^th, Tommy, Louie and I headed back to Waverly, MS. They worked on the boat for 2 days and then Tommy and I headed for Demopolis, AL which is a 2 day trip. So, after the first day, we stopped at a small inlet where there was a boat ramp. We flagged down a speed boat to see if they knew how deep the inlet was so we could decide if we could spend the night out of the way of river traffic. We draft 5 ½ feet, so we have to be careful. The boat we flagged down was a game warden. He told us we would have no problem getting into the inlet and would be fine spending the night there. After we made it in and anchored, he came back and talked with us. Turns out he is originally from Troy, AL (which is about 45 minutes away from my home town of Opp, AL. He knew Opp well. SMALL WORLD! He had been a police officer in Troy and then went to work as a marine policeman in Mobile Bay area. He then transferred to Western AL. He was a very nice man and gave us some interesting tips about the remainder of our trip.

Louie found us at the inlet. There was a small park there with restrooms. There was a dinghy tied up to the dock and another sail boat anchored in the inlet. No one was on the boat. We tried to get Louie to row the dinghy out to our boat and sleep on board. He opted to sleep in the truck. EARLY the next morning, he rowed it out to our boat and then he and Tommy expected me to row it back to the dock. I’ve never rowed a boat in my life! Talk about a comedy of errors! I couldn’t get both oars going together. So, they told me to put one in the boat and row on one side and then switch to the other. I kept forgetting to row the same direction. I’ve never claimed to be coordinated. I finally made it to shore and they left for Demopolis.

When I reached Demopolis, I stopped in a small gift shop and asked about going to a small town called Linden, AL. The clerk was from Linden and actually knew my college sorority Little Sister from Linden. She gave me the phone number to Tina’s shop and I drove over to see her. It was great to re-connect with someone from so long ago. After returning from Linden, I went to the marina – Demopolis Yacht Basin and met some of the people that work there. At the fuel dock, I met a lady named Trinella. Turns out her brother is married to the sister of one of my high school friends. There’s that Small World again! As Tommy and Louie approached Demopolis, they decided the boat did indeed have problems and needed to be lifted. We scheduled the lift for the next day and then Tommy and Louie worked on it. They pulled the motor out and removed the shaft and flange. (I don’t have a clue what that means!) Afterward, we all piled in the truck and headed for Pensacola. We had to go down to finish cleaning the rent house and sign papers for the closing. Yes, it is sold!!!!

We returned to Henderson on Friday the 25^th. Just in time to finish packing and get ready to load up the moving semi. On Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday, we, along with help from several others, finally got the house emptied out and Margaret, Becky and I got it cleaned up. The semi went to D&G trucking to wait until we close on the house we are buying and Tommy and I drove the Explorer with our trainer loaded down and the Riveria to Pensacola. It is official, we are HOMELESS. After spending the weekend at my sister’s house, we headed back to Demopolis to hopefully finish the trip to Pensacola. Let’s see – we started the first week of April on what someone (Tommy) said would be a 12-14 day trip. Here it is June 4^th and we still have at least 5 days left to get to Pensacola after he gets the shaft, flange and motor back in. Hopefully, we will be in P’cola by next Sunday. I’ll keep you posted.

Even with all of the interruptions, we have had a ball. We have met some great people and seen some interesting sights. As we see more, I’ll tell you about them. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures!

Sandra