October 17, 2016

Sarah K. turns 40 today! How does this happen?  Our girls are getting older, but we stay the same.

Left Paris Landing and arrived at Pebble Isle at 3 p.m. after a wild ride with much wind and wave. Lovely quiet harbor. Nice people. Great cafe open only on weekends at season end, but they made us gigantic cinnamon rolls with mountains of frosting…FREE. Nick and Barb are with us. Inky is finally sedate. As we left Paris Landing another cannon fired and Inky ran away again. So Long Civil War!!!!!!!!!!!!! Met another Looper from Colorado tonight. It’s rare to see westerners on the Loop. Most live east of the Mississippi.

Took the courtesy car into the nearest town (Camden…8 miles away), to a new Walmart. It struck us how lucky we have been all our lives to be able to walk into any grocery anytime and buy whatever our hearts desired. Being on a boat miles from services we learn to get by with little. We eat a lot of spaghetti and beans and rice. And then when we actually get to a REAL market we are thrilled with the vast array of options. We are mindful of our very blessed existence. We are so lucky to be born into loving families with good jobs where there is always food and comfort.

 

We walked to the adjacent Johnsonville State Historic Park; remarkable battle occurred there. Beautiful setting on the Tennessee River. Somber. The park features a modern welcome center complete with exhibits focusing on the 1864 Battle of Johnsonville. The beautiful wooded park encompasses 527 acres of cultural features with well preserved  Civil War entrenchments. General Grant created a vast supply depot on the river at Johnsonville. The Confederates attacked it from across the river in a heated artillery exchange.