October 4th and 5th, Huntsville, AL, Ditto Landing Marina

Huntsville, AL is the home of my cousin Brad, his wife April and 8 month old son, Drew. We had not met Drew and were anxious to meet him. He did nothing but smile the entire evening we spent with him. Needless to say, I monopolized him as much as possible. What a doll!

Jim and I hitched a ride with our friends from a Nordic Tug, Blue Yonder into Huntsville to see the US Rocket and Space Museum. We really enjoyed the museum and Brad picked us up and showed us Redstone Arsenal. We were really impressed. We had no idea there were so many people working for NASA and other government agencies in Huntsville. We visited he, April and Drew in their new home. Housing in Huntsville continues to develop. We did not see the slow down that is so prevalent in Michigan.

The next morning we hitched a ride again with Pete and Ana from Blue Yonder and did a big supermarket shop. We needed everything! They had rented a small car and we laughed as we loaded all our groceries into the tiny trunk. We were just glad they offered to share their wheels with us!

Jim and I rode the bike trail, that was built along the river and goes into Huntsville as well. We saw cotton growing and we picked some to examine the virgin cotton in more detail. We felt the seeds and were reminded of our lessons in school on the cotton gin. We were wishing we had more time to enjoy the ride and on the way back from Chattanooga, may stay another day to fit in that long bike ride.

Every week or so we must pumpout the holding tank. Since the head (toilet) flows to a holding tank, it must be pumped and cleaned. This morning we completed the process and are glad to not worry about the process for a while.

The river is more beautiful as we progress upstream toward Chattanooga. We are traveling easterly through Alabama and will soon begin travelling northeast up into Tennessee to Chattanooga. The leaves are just beginning to change color and the cliffs are impressive. We have been told that we will soon approach the "Grand Canyon" of the Tennessee, which is near Chattanooga.