Just Sitting

Thursday, October 22

I think the most important thing about doing the Loop is that you have to enjoy just sitting. We do a lot of just sitting. But of course we’re also admiring the scenery and discovering new places and having a great adventure while we’re doing it. Sometimes I do crosswords or crocheting, but more often than not, I just sit. And I enjoy it. 

Today we have entered the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. At the moment it looks just like the Cape Cod Canal, the Erie Canal, the Trent-Severn Canal or the Chicago Sanitary Canal. It could be any of those places (maybe not Chicago). The part we’re on is a man-made connection that unites the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River. It opened in 1985, only 30 years ago. Since then it has helped to create this amazing Loop that we are on and has made Mobile a more important national port. The Loop wouldn’t really be very appealing if we had to travel down the Mississippi River the whole way, but these other rivers and waterways have been beautiful.

At the end of a day of traveling, it is surprising to discover how tired we are. We might take a walk if there’s a town nearby, check our e-mail if there’s internet service, make supper, and read. If there’s internet service, Brian can follow some baseball games. 

By now we are seeing very few monarch butterflies heading south. Hopefully, they are all near Mexico by now. In Chattanooga we saw an IMAX movie about the monarchs’ migration. They take three generations to return to their tree in Mexico. Monarch generation #1 is born, travels north to Texas in early Spring, lays eggs. Generation #2 is born there and travels north to Canada through the summer, lays eggs. Generation #3 is born and reverses the process by traveling south back to the forest in Mexico in the fall. This is the group we have been seeing above the Tennessee River this October. All this happens in one year’s time. 

We still have a month to go, but we have begun the process of wrapping up this segment of our trip. We’re looking at places to leave the boat for the winter in Florida and rental cars to get us home. We’re making plans for Thanksgiving and even more plans for December when we’re back.