We are in Indiana for the holidays.

                                         The coolest gas grill I have ever seen.

                                          Is that not great.

                                     The propane tank goes in the tool box on the back.

                                          Me eating a Mufalota.

One Mufalota.

We got back to Newburgh, IN last night about 8:30 PM. It took us about 11 hours by car compared to six weeks by sailboat. By the way the boat was a lot more fun than the car.We rented a car. It was a little Toyota "yaris". I had never heard of a yaris before, but it was cheap. It did not have cruise control. I didn't know anybody made a car these days without cruise. It was not fun trying to stay the speed limit without it. We had planned to take the bus, but it was about $100 cheaper to rent the car, even after paying for gas. I never would have guessed that. I guess Greyhound has plenty of business. We will be here about a month before heading back down to the boat. It was hard for me to leave her there alone. I know that probably sounds silly, but it's true. The boat really is home to me now. Sharon is not quite on the same page as me on this yet. But, I remain hopeful. I have some work to do for same friends while we are here to help build the cruising kitty back up. We have an offer on our old restaurant building. Hopefully that will go through without any hitches. That would really help us out a lot.

When we were in New Orleans, my sister told me about a local sandwich called a "Mufalota", so I had to try one (and call her to rub it in). It was pretty good. Not a bad deal either. $13.50. You can see how big it is, it takes up a whole plate. Easily fills up two people, even when one of them is me.

The gas grill I saw in Natchez. It is the coolest grill I have ever seen. If we were planing on keeping a house, and I was into buying things, I would have to have one. I don't see how I could fit it onto the boat. It might look kinda cool hanging off the transom though. I would definitely get some second looks.

While we are here, I will post about some of the interesting things we saw along the way.

Chrstmas Thought

As I was walking into town the other day to take our laundry to the laundrymat I passed a Baptist church, I decided that we would go there on Sunday. So this morning that is where we went. It was a Christmas  service about the birth of Jesus and the circumstances around His birth. As I pondered the birth of Christ, I couldn't help but think of how it was typical of His life. Also of how different His life was than ours. I don't mean the toys or technology we have today. I mean His attitude and what He cared about, what He thought was important. The one word that comes to mind is humility. The king of all ages was humble. He was born in a stable, had hay for a bed, came into this world without any human fanfare. He washed peoples feet, died a criminals death. His whole life was a picture of humility.We do not read of Jesus owning any material possessions, other than the clothes on His back.  He did not own a big house, fast chariot, stable of horses, bank account , or anything else. He lived one day at a time.So here we have a man born on the farm, owns nothing, walks everywhere, if He needed something, he made it or borrowed it (colt to enter Jerusalem, upper room for passover). I believe that if Jesus had come today instead of 2000 years ago, just as many people today, if not more, would not recognize Him either. He cared about people and doing His Father's will, not about things and popularity. Things entrap us, they choke us, they entertain us to the point of missing what is really important. When we decided to go cruising we had to get rid of most of our possessions. We went from a three story house full of things to a small mobile home and a 25' boat. We got rid of about 80% of our possessions. Hopefully soon we cane whittle that down to about 10%. I can not tell you how liberating it was to get rid of things. The less I have the better I feel. The closer I feel to being what I am supposed to be. This life is not about what you have, it's about what you do. How you affect others. Things will pass away, sooner than they used to, now that everything is made in China. It's about people. I want to spend more time with people and less time with things. Over the last few years, the Lord has taught me I don't have to agree with people's thought patterns or beliefs. I just have to appreciate them for who they are, and be the best influence on them I can. Oh well I'm not a preacher, so I will shut up now.

Mike

Catching up

Since we are going to be here for a little while relaxing, I thought I would try to catch up on some of the details of our trip so far that I haven't had time to post.

The Memphis Yacht Club was absolutely wonderful to us. Nicer people you will not find on this earth. Thanks Chuck for everything.

The Greenville Yacht Club and the Gulfport Yacht Club are both part of the Somali pirate network.

When we told people we were going to go down the Mississippi river to the gulf, most everyone told me I was crazy. One even told me I was stupid if we tried it. Most people said the current was too strong, the water was muddy and polluted, the barge traffic was horrific, and there were no services, and that generally it would be a horrible trip. None of these people ever actually had made the trip. That is was just what they had heard or imagined. I found most of that to be totally untrue. First of all, as to the current, yes it was strong, and thank God it was. We could run 7 to 11 mph all day long. For my little sailboat with a 6 hp motor,  it was like having a 10 hp. There were days I wished for more current. As far as the water being dirty and polluted, I disagree. We traveled from Cairo to Baton Rouge and I saw four pieces of floating  trash, one Mountain Dew bottle, one oil bottle, and two pieces of plastic. I was shocked at just how unpolluted it was. Once past Baton Rouge, we saw maybe 5 or 6  things floating in the water. So in 860 miles we saw 10 pieces of trash, I think that is unbelievably good. The barge traffic was not bad at all. I learned to sail on the Ohio river. The barge traffic on the Ohio is worse than the Mississippi. Yes they are bigger on the Mississippi, but the river is bigger. It took a little while to learn how to talk to the barge captains, but once I did, most were very nice. If you talk to them with an attitude that it is thier river, and you are the visitor you will get along fine. I was warned about the large ocean going ships from Baton Rouge on down. They were even easier than barges. They produced almost no wake. They were so confined to the channel, that you did not have to wonder were they were going. The only thing that I was told that was correct, was the lack of services. There is not much. The gem of the Mississippi is the Memphis Yacht Club. The Greenville Yacht Club has fuel at a reasonable price (but that's all). The only fuel you will get from there on down you will have to dinghy from shore. If you use diesel, I have heard you can buy from the barge terminals, but don't know that for sure.

To sum it all up. We had a good trip. It was an adventure not a pleasure cruise, and that is exactly what I was looking for. Knowing what I know now, would I do it again? Absolutely! I do think that the time of year is an important consideration. October and November I believe are the best months.

I will try to do some more catching up tomorrow.
Mike

Us in Ocean Springs.

                                           Heaven on the Mississippi (Memphis Yacht Club)

                                             Riverview RV Park in Natchez (almost heaven)

                                             Morgan at anchor in Natchez.

We are in Ocean Springs MS.

                                          Leaving Gulfport, good riddance.

                                           On our way to Ocean Springs.

                                            Morgan's home for the holidays.

                                            Coming into Biloxi.

Coming into Ocean Springs Small Craft Harbor.

We are at Ocean Springs Small Craft Harbor. Unlike last night, (Gulfport Yacht Club) this is a good place to be. This morning I went up to the office and talked to the manager. I told him about being quoted $1.50 per foot, and he said "yeah, that's right". I then told him about being charged $2 per foot. He said that that was a mistake, and to come into the office at 10:00 and talk to Carla, and that she would refund me the difference. I went in at 10:00 and talked to Carla, and she told me that the manager was mistaken as well as the other guy, and that was what it was. In the future I will avoid this place like they were Somali pirates (because that is what they are). We rented a slip here for a month ($214.00). We will be here for a week before taking the bus home for Christmas. We will spend Christmas in Indiana, and then return to the boat in January to continue our journey. We are looking forward to being on the boat this week without having to go anywhere. We need a rest before we come home.

MIXED DAY

                                                Dolphins followed us a lot of the day.

                                              Fishing boat being attacked by birds.

                                                  Having a rest.

We had a mixed day today. We started out with a decent sailing day. We were having a good time, and even saw our first dolphins. Sharon took a lot of pics but most came out with only showing fins. The delay in the camera is hard to get used to. Then the wind and waves picked up, and I got a good dose of bashing into waves (about 6 hours of it). It was horrible, lots of spray. Spray and 45 degrees don't mix well. We got to Gulfport right at dark. We were going to anchor out, but there was nowhere to be out of the wind. We pulled up to the Gulfport Yacht Club.As I pulled Morgan up next to the main dock we grounded. I could not believe it was so shallow right next to the dock. I backed away from the dock and promptly fowled the prop and rudder with Rosie's lines. Tossed out the anchor, so I could get the lines out of the prop, which I did, but the line around the rudder will have to wait until tomorrow. Went a little further down the dock and was able to get up next to it with just inches below the keel. We will have to move before low tide tomorrow. Went inside to pay and got ripped off. THE ONLY THING I HATE MORE THAN SOMEONE STEALING FROM ME, IS WHEN THEY DO IT WITH A SMILE ON THEIR FACE. The sign on the dock said to go to the bar if you arrive after hours and pay there. I went in and the guy said $1.50 per foot (that would be $37.50 for us). He gave me a paper to fill out. I did so, then another guy took my credit card and the paper and left. He came back with a receipt for $53.50. I told him that was not what I was told. He told me that's what it was (smiling all the time. If you come this way, give this place a big miss. As it was already dark I didn't have any choice but to let them steal from me. We were too tired to fight any more.

We are underway again.

We left the marina this morning at about 7:30, went about half an hour through the bayou, got to the lift bridge at 8 am only to find they would not open it till 11:00. Our government at work. We waited three hours until they finally opened it. So we ended up only going 24 miles today. We got through the Intracoastal waterway to the edge of Lake Borgne, which is then open water in the gulf, except for some barrier islands. It was 2:30 when we got there, so we decided to stop for the night while we had a protected anchorage. Tomorrow we go into the Mississippi sound towards Mobile. Hopefully we will make Mobile on Thursday night. If not Thursday, then Friday. We had a good time visiting Marvin Brown and his wife Karen. They helped us out greatly.  It is good to be back on our way to warmer weather though.

Small update

We are still in New Orleans. We ordered a cruising guide that was to be delivered to a friend's house here in New Orleans, but it has not arrived yet. Hopefully tomorrow, so we can leave early Tuesday morning. We have been having a great time while here visiting Marvin and Karen Brown. We went to church with them this morning (Jonas Robertson's church). It was a great service. I called Abram yesterday to see if an alligator got him, or if he made it all the way to Morgan city. He made it, and his dad had already picked him up and he was heading north for a job. He said he was disappointed that he had not seen a single alligator. I told him it would not be a disappointment to me. The only gator I want to see would be in a zoo.

WE MADE IT TO NEW ORLEANS.

We made it to New Orleans today. We turned out of the Mississippi river into the Inner Harbor Canal. We had to go through a lock, one draw bridge and two lift Bridges. We then turned out of the canal onto the Intracoastal waterway. We then left the Intracoastal and turned into a bayou and after getting stuck in the mud ( and pulled out by a fisherman) finally made it to Gulf Outlet Marina.

                                                  The drawbridge we went through.

                                            Welcome to New Orleans.

                                               Cancer corridor along the Mississippi.

                                               Cool old building.

                                          Lift bridge number two.

The bayou we went through to the marina.

We were very aprehensive about the last leg of our journey on the Mississippi (from Baton Rouge to New Orleans), but it was actually not that bad. Today was very anticlimactic. We went through downtown New Orleans and passed only 10 barges and 4 ships the whole day. That may sound scary, but the river is so wide down here, it was not a problem at all. I have to say that most everything we were told about the Mississippi was grossly exaggerated, other than the lack of services. We had a good time of the trip, but as with any 30 day journey we were glad for it to come to an end so we could start the next phase of our journey. We will be here in New Orleans for a couple of days before heading on to Florida.