Today we should be off exploring the Tennessee-Tombigee Waterway. Instead, we are massaging Bushranger to full health. Upon inspection of the turbo charger, our most methodical mechanic discovered seawater corrosion and life-threatening damage. To say the least, we are happy this discovery was made before we set sail. With only one engine, it may have been the making of a neptunian story with a watery end. No worries – all is in hand. New turbo charger install, finishing touches to be made, then sea trials begin … hopefully this afternoon.

Last Monday we drove back to Claire and Brad’s home in Franklin, Tennessee, in time to celebrate Ben’s 5th birthday. How lucky are we? We are able to visit the kids and grandkids each year. We were surrounded with a magical ambiance one evening when we dined in an antebellum mansion, Homestead Manor. We had cocktails in the conservatory, partook of sustenance in the library, and had a private tour of this fine southern establishment, complete with trip to the cellar and climbing to the third floor to see bloodstains on the floorboards from the soldiers wounds when the mansion was used as a hospital in the Civil War.

Saying goodbye is never easy. On Friday we left after waving goodbye to Nash on the school bus. We drove the Natchez Trace. The trail was created and used by Native Americans for centuries, and was later used by early European and American explorers and traders. The trace links way down south in Mississippi through Alabama and to Nashville in Tennessee. (We are talking Daniel Boon and Davey Crocket country!) The Natchez Trace Parkway is a beautiful drive through glorious foliage and babbling streams and waterfalls, tree-tunnels and panoramic vistas. A very nice way to meander back to Bushranger and see something other than highways.

Next epistle will hopefully be written under way.

Such is Life!