We are GOLDEN

October 22, 2016
GOLD LOOPERS

A new gold Looper burgee on the front of Blue Moon indicates that we have traveled one complete Loop of about 6,000 miles.  Our white burgee was replaced with this new gold one.

In our case we have completed nearly two times the Loop, about 10,000 miles, and what a trip it has been!! So many special places and so many new friends.  It has been said by some that the Loop is like a book, each page gives a new experience to remember and each friend is a special memory.

Our new friends. Captain Jack and Jane, from Dixie, a beautiful trawler that they have lovingly restored, celebrated with us. Captain Jack is a retired boat captain and Jane, from Ireland, told about living in Ecuador, Ireland and Florida.

We rented a car for the week and visited local sights and restaurants.  One of our favorite restaurants in all of the loop - Cafe on Main.

We visited the Tennessee Williams boyhood home and museum.

Six boats travel together as we leave the marina at Columbus, MS, and head for an early morning lock through at Stennis Lock.

Cook's Bend Anchorage - one of our favorite foggy mornings.  We anchored with six other boats.

Today's trip on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was another circuitous, winding route with a surprising number of tows and barges headed both up-bound and down-bound.

King, Max and Lee, from Lazy Suzan, out for a look around in the dinghy at Rattlesnake Bend Anchorage.

The White Cliffs of Epps, an attractive stretch of chalk cliffs near the town of Epps, AL and geologically similar to the White Cliffs of Dover in England, was a favorite spot the first time through with its pretty fall colors.  The weather was much warmer this trip, no frost on the boat this time.

Lazy Suzan under a railroad bridge by the White Cliffs of Epps.

It seems so strange to be in a mostly remote wilderness full of birds, deer, alligators and quiet, then turn a bend in the river and be in Mobile, AL.  An interesting Wikipedia note about Mobile; the red imported fire ant was first introduced into the United States via the Port of Mobile sometime in the 1930s.  The ants came ashore off cargo ships arriving from South America.  

We enjoy the folks at Turner Marine, always friendly and a good place to rest before starting the segment from Mobile, AL to Carrabelle, FL.