Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sweet Home, Alabama

Days on cruise:  189

Distance traveled:  42.8 miles

Travel time:  5 hrs, 24 mins

Total trip odometer:  4,203 statute miles

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This morning we visited with Jim and Sharon on Blue Angel for a few minutes, said our good-byes (until we meet again, in Florida) and cast off their lines and watched them turn southwest, then cast off our lines and turned southeast.

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The Tennessee River, at least this stretch, is nice enough, but not spectacular. We spent most of the morning making our way down Pickwick Lake, and the air was hazy, steamy and warm.

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Long segments of undeveloped shoreline, followed by a steam plant, then an adjacent neighborhood of higher-end homes, then an adjacent rock crushing plant. Really? Interesting mix of industrial and residential.

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Early in the day we crossed from Mississippi to Alabama, our 17th and final new state: from here we re-enter Tennessee,  Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, but will see no new states. Makes it feel like we’re nearing in the end, despite we’ve got a couple thousand more miles and five or six months to go.

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Cathryn was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and almost as long ago, Bob lived in Huntsville, Alabama for two years when his Dad was transferred to Boeing there. Neither of us has spent time here in the past 30-40 years, so we’ve talked some about when, whether and how to re-explore some old stomping grounds. Both of Cathryn’s parents, and all 4 grand-parents lived here a long time, and she spent lots of time each summer here and has fond memories.

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We pulled into Florence Harbor Marina early afternoon and spent the rest of the day doing chores. There are things that might be interesting to see and do here, like a collection of grand old homes, including one Frank Lloyd Wright home that is the smallest Wright ever designed, and the one that holds the record for the longest-running continuous occupation by the family that had Wright build it, into the 1990s.

We’ll see what the weather holds tomorrow/ It rained this afternoon.

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