Mary and I hope this journal of our cruise from Punta Gorda, FL to Ft Loudon Marina near Knoxville, TN will allow friends and family to follow our adventures and provide useful information for others who may take a similar journey. When this trip is completed and combined with our cruise in 2002 from Boston to Punta Gorda we will have completed nearly two thirds of the Great Loop.

We have been preparing Persistence for the trip and as usual we expected to find and fix potential problems before we start heading north. Over the last two weeks we have made several improvements and repairs. Persistence today had a full marine survey and she passed with flying colors. The surveyor found no problems but did make a few recommendations including the lubrication of through hull valves while the boat is hauled out. Persistence is currently out of the water for a day or two in the Punta Gorda Marina. We pressure washed the bottom (looks great), and we will do some minor bottom paint touch up. It does not require a full bottom paint at this time. The valves will be lubricated and we decided to replace one valve completely. When she splashes again, she'll head home for some more engine related work (rebuild alternator) and then she'll be ready to go. We still have to provision the boat, load all our clothes and other supplies and then shut down the condo for the summer.

Our travel plans include cruising north along the Gulf coast, around the big bend area and the FL panhandle. We will cruise along Alabama into Mobile Bay where we will transition into fresh water in the Mobile River that connects to the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The Tenn-Tom Waterway then connects with the Tennessee River heading east toward Knoxville. Our playground for the summer will the lakes of the Tennessee River including our home Tellico Lake bordering the Tellico Village. We have created a detailed float plan in spreadsheet format that is available on request by e-mail at tom.murphy1@yahoo.com. In this blog we will provide you with frequent lat/long information so you can follow our progress using Google Earth allowing you to zoom in on our anchorage or Marina. While we have a detailed float plan and a schedule we expect to modify our plan as we go, lingering in great places an extra day and bypassing others if we have reason to do so. If by chance you cease to see updates in the blog over a protracted period, the float plan will allow searchers to check our last known location and the next location or two in the plan. We don't expect Somali pirates, or a remake of Deliverance but you never know. We do expect that there will be days when we cannot connect to the Internet because of a remote location so be patient.

There will be much more to come in the days ahead.