Mike and Brenda on "Velsignet"

Have you ever heard of or met a Basenji dog?  Basenjis are medium-sized, short-haired dogs that originate from Central Africa.  They were bred to hunt lions and don't bark.  Rather, Basenjis communicate by making a noise between a yodel and a chuckle.  According to their owners, new looper friends Bill and Bobbie (also Mainship owners, "First Forty," hometown in Colorado), Basenjis have the ability to spring to heights such that a 6-foot-high backyard fence is not high enough! Today, we left Aquayachts Marina on Pickwick Lake to begin our southbound journey back down the Tenn-Tom Waterway.  Pickwick Lake is situated between the Pickwick and Wilson Dams on the Tennessee River, and its waters span into corners of the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.  This area of the country offered us the beauty of the area's lake waters and forests (we were reminded of our beloved  Pacific Northwest and Minnesota homes), the warmth of family and new ...

From the darkness of early morning, nestled in our berth, we heard a booming radio-like voice giving directions.  Mike got up to find out what was going on.  "Brenda!  Wake up!  We're surrounded by fishing boats!" Fishing through-out the state of Alabama (perhaps other states as well?) is a school team sport.  This weekend from the Florence Marina, junior and senior high school students are competing in a fishing tournament.  In each boat are 2 students plus an adult (who serves as the boat driver), an empty live well for each fisherman (empty is the key word--each live well is inspected before departure for compliance; also, the fish will be released at the end of the day), life jackets must be worn, and a tether to the adult driver (auto-shutoff in case of emergency).   Today, 120 boats will go out.  Tomorrow they are expecting another (different) 140 boats.  Starting at 6:30 am, heats of about 40 boats began to depart--sleek, h...

 Starting our day at the Florence Visitor Center, we noticed Helen Keller's Birthplace was listed first as a "must see."  Second on the list (and before the third, which is FAME Studios...one of the music studios that recorded many, many music icons mentioned in the earlier blog) is  Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard .  Hmmmm, we wondered....why is this a "must see"?  Is Coon Dog a town?  An Alabama County?  Is Coon Dog an association?  Who is buried there?  What a surprise for us to find that The Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard is a cemetery for actual coon dogs .  No poodles.  No labs.  No boxers.  Only UKC-registered coon dogs are allowed to be buried in the Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard, and about 300 coon dogs from all over the United States are now resting in peace there, buried by their grieving owners! The weather is back to the 50-degree range these days, perfect for site-seeing.  We checked out the marina's cou...