All is Good!!

Hello All,

It has been almost 18 months since I last updated our blog and as you noticed in the last posting, we were in the process of moving our boat "Bliss" back up the TennTom to our home berth.

A lot has transpired in those 18 months. As many of you were aware, our 23 year old son had been recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on May 11, 2011. He spent the next several months going into and out of the hospital undergoing chemotherapy to get this terrible disease in remission. All and all, he completed 5 rounds of massive doses of chemotherapy before we moved to Nashville, TN so he could undergo a bone marrow transplant at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Once in Nashville, Jonathan went through one final round of chemotherapy and then several days of total body radiation before he received a bone marrow transplant from two separate donors.The next 100 days after Jon's transplant, his mother and I attended to his recovery needs while temporarily living in an apartment across the street from the hospital.

Those were trying times, but the the good news is Jonathan is doing great. He recently completed his annual checkup where he received his "well baby" shots and just last week he got the good news of NO signs of leukemia from his bone marrow biopsy. If you want to know more, here is a link to Jon's Caringbridge website. Jonathan Bliss

Let's talk boats!!!

Kris and I once again have decided to return to Orange Beach Marina for the winter and live aboard our Defever 44 known as "Bliss".

Unlike the last time when we left the day after Christmas, this time we decided to leave a little earlier in the season. Our plan is to get the boat to Orange Beach and leave her with Saunders Yacht to have some needed maintenance done until we return after the New Years holidays. We are scheduled to arrive the 16th of November and Kris will stay a few days before driving back home while I go off to work.

Our first leg from Iuka to Bay Springs was a pleasant and uneventful trip. This leg is only about 30 miles long and is mostly a boring visual since this area of the Tombigbee is basically a "divide" until you enter Bay Springs Lake. The boat performed flawlessly and we docked just before dusk at the Bay Springs Marina.

While in Bays Springs we had the pleasure to meet a couple of other boats that were going south the next day and we asked about accompanying them.

It is important to coordinate your travel groups since we would be traversing several locks en route to our final destination. It usually takes about 45 to 60 minutes to "turn" a lock, so to prevent delays you can see how important it can be to group your travels. Since I am the slowest of the three boats, they graciously allowed us to travel with them.

We left Bay Springs very early (0515) and hit our first lock (Whitten Lock) right out of the marina. One of the other boats with us was a corporate owned boat and had a final destination of South Florida. However, unlike us little pleasure boats, they were on a schedule and it was important we didn't interfere. The Captain was extremely gracious and accommodating to us smaller guys and as the Captain, he is the representative of his corporation. I didn't get to know who he worked for, but in my opinion his company is lucky to have such a professional in charge of their vessel.

Here is a picture of the other two boats with us going through the Whitten lock very early in the morning!!!

As the sun came up over the horizon, the visibility rapidly went to less than 100 yards in a dense fog. Fortunately I was tail-end charlie and with my onboard radar and AIS I was able to keep a safe distant behind the two other boats and in the middle of the channel. After the second lock the fog began to clear up and we could resume our normal cruise speed of 9mph.

The next 5 locks we went through were quick and painfree, although our dog would eye the small green patch of grass near the edge of each lock. "Nayla" was a real trooper and made the entire 12 hour trip without an accident.


We pulled into the Columbus Marina right at dark JUST as the rain began to fall. The marina's dock hands met us at our slip and helped get us tied in and powered up for the night. Whew.... long day.

Later that night our youngest son Kyle came over from Mississippi State University to visit with us and his mom talked him into staying with us. Since Kyle is in his senior year, we hardly ever get the chance to visit with him. It was really nice to spend some time with him.

We are planning another early departure tomorrow (although not at 5am) with a scheduled stop at Sumter Landing where we plan to anchor for the night.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Rusty