As we mentioned previously, we have met many nice people at the marina. About two weeks ago, a couple pulled into the slip next to us in a 26-foot sailboat and in talking with them we learned they are from Willard, MO of all places! Pat and Karl live on their sailboat and travel to and from Willard periodically to spend time on their farm. They were big Lady Bears fans in the days of Melody Howard, and we spent a couple of evenings enjoying their company before they headed north toward Green Turtle Bay on the Cumberland River.

A few days later another Missouri couple arrived at the marina to do some maintenance on their boat. They are from St. Louis, their daughter went to SMSU in the 80's, and they shared stories of the fun times they have had wintering in south Florida and the Bahamas. Something to look forward to!

Our new transmission arrived at the marina on June 26th and they began installing it the next day. However, because it wasn’t the same kind of transmission as the one we were replacing, the installation process was a bit more involved than it otherwise would have been. When we saw that the transmission was not going to be finished in time to make it to the marina in Columbus MS for the 4th of July, we decided to rent a car and drive back to Missouri to surprise my mother for her 70th birthday (which was on July 4th).

We weren’t able to get a rental in Demopolis, so one of the marina workers offered to take us to Meridian, MS Saturday morning, July 1st, to pick up a car, about 50 miles west of Demopolis. The trip back to Missouri took us through parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas on the 650+ mile journey which ended about 8:00 p.m. Saturday evening at Lake of the Ozarks, but it was a good trip and a pleasant change of scenery for us.

Mom and I had a good time shopping the thrift stores in Camdenton, and Todd spent quite a bit of time bass fishing and he even went catfishing with my dad a few times. However Todd made the mistake one morning while bass fishing of taking a bathroom break on shore and he got into the chiggers, so now his mid-section is covered with dozens of nasty-looking bright red welts! He keeps trying to get me to scratch them for him, but as you can imagine I’m not too excited at the prospect - I think he has ulterior motives in mind when he says he wants me to "scratch his itch!"

The lawyer who lives across the lake from my parents’ cabin spends about $5,000 every year on fireworks and puts on a really nice show that we were able to watch from my dad’s boat dock. Usually a lot of boats gather to watch the show from the water, but since July 4th was on a Tuesday, there were only 50 or so that made it this year. It was a good time, though, and mom even made homemade black walnut ice cream for us!

We left Lake of the Ozarks around noon on Wednesday, July 5th, and split the return trip into two days, stopping over in Tunica, MS for the night where the slots did not treat us kindly! We stayed at the Grand Casino, which does not allow pets, so we had to smuggle the Bud-Man into the hotel in our carry-on bag which made for some tense moments since he was whimpering and whining and would bark when we tried to make him be quiet! Fortunately we had the elevator to ourselves and made it down the hall to our room without encountering anyone.

We continued south the next day and arrived back in Meridian, MS about 1:30 p.m. Amanda, one of the waitresses from the marina’s restaurant, picked us up in Meridian and drove us back to the marina in a blinding rain storm. Unfortunately, not much of the rain fell in Demopolis but the temperatures have improved since we first arrived. Of course, anything less than 100 degrees is an improvement over the first few weeks we were here!

The transmission was installed when we got back, but they were having some issues with the shifter cables. After making some additional adjustments, we finally took the boat out for a test spin late Friday afternoon. Everything seems to be working fine, so I think we will continue our journey north on Tuesday morning. Todd’s 48th birthday is tomorrow, July 10th, and we have decided to celebrate it with the many friends we’ve made during our month-long stay here. Since we got back, we have been cleaning up the boat after having mechanics tracking in and out for weeks, washing the outside of the boat, and Todd has been doing more maintenance in the "Holy Place," otherwise known as the engine room.

Once we leave Demopolis, our Internet access will be limited, but we will update the blog and check e-mail whenever we are able to get a signal. Our next stop will be the marina in Columbus, MS and then on to Bay Springs Lake where we plan to spend about a week before continuing on to Pickwick Lake. Hopefully, we are finished with boat issues for a while, although the port engine still appears to be leaking oil. That will be a project for another time, though, and may have to be addressed when we return to Florida where the engine was recently rebuilt.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to continuing our journey and hope you will follow along with us via the blog. We also enjoy receiving your e-mails and blog comments, so please drop us a note as we would like to know who is actually reading this! Until next time, T & B.