LEFT COLUMBUS ON SATURDAY, January 2, 2010 and are just now January 6th passing thru Mobile, AL on our way to Grand Mariner Marina on Dog River (south of Mobile). It's been an interesting five day trek with Izzy on board. I just figured out we have done this trip 13 times so it's kind of hard to keep blogging about that telephone booth in the middle of nowhere or the white cliffs at Epes, or the history of Demopolis, Columbus and the Tenn-Tom waterway, the locks and their rise and fall and all the neat anchorages. You will have to go back to some of the old blogs for that and we are now stuck in Mobile with some of the wierdest weather we have ever seen this far south. Got here Wednesday night and as usual the restaurant is closed for maintenance so no rest for the galley wench - woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful sunrise and temps warming to the high 50's. By 3:00 in the afternoon it all went to hell and snow and gale force winds are predicted for the next four days. Oh well time to catch up on the blog.

Are you kidding me - this is necessary because the winds are whipping in from the north - thankyou to Deb's sister Gail for leaving the door open in Southern Minnesota and letting the winds this far south.

I forgot to mention this new 4.65 billion dollar stainless steel processing plant that we have watched being built since November of 2007 just north of Mobile. It is owned by a German company out of Dusseldorf named ThyssonKrupp. It covers 3,500 acres of that 1,200 is under roofs. When completed (estimated sometime in 2010) it will be the largest steel plant in the world.

Beautiful sunrise Thursday Morning before all hell broke loose.

We have seen this ship in various stages for the last couple of years and it finally peeked our curiosity enough to google it and this is a new generation high speed warship named "Independence" to be comissioned January 16, 2010 in Mobile, Al at the Austal USA, this is the 1st Littoral Combat Ship comissioned thru Austal for the Navy Defense. On May 4, 2009 the Navy ordered a second ship - think it is to be named Coronado.

Now Izzy's blog time - please play with me, please - I am soooo bored?

Every morning I get up and someone has moved all my toys back into my toy box - why????

Now I have to get them all out again!!

There now they are perfect!

I really need to get off of this boat five days is asking alot - please someone wake me up when we get to land.

Some fine waterfront property - hey Brad & Kate - it's the Smith Compound - Alabama style. There's a shanty for Mammy & Pappy, one for Granny and one for Uncle Bubba.

I think they should start thinking about moving out -

before this happens.