30th WAT

Now that she is safely out of communication with the rest of her world, I can reveal the whereabouts of Miss Brenda and the Colonel, and publish the itinerary for our 30th Wedding Anniversary Trip. I have not told her anything other than what to pack and roughly when we will get back home, and each stop on this trip has been and will continue to be a surprise.

Yesterday morning we departed Panama City and drove along the Redneck Riveria west toward Mobile. We stopped to shop any and every time she said the magic word: "oooh." We finally arrived at our first RON (Rest Over Night for you militarily challenged folks), the thriving metropolis of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; home of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

We rested comfortably over night and woke bright and early for the first of our 30WAT adventures. A quick stop and the ubiquitous and ever-dependable WalMart for supplies and we were off to Sanford, Mississippi to canoe down the raging Okatoma River. Okay, maybe the Okatoma wasn't raging, and maybe it more closely resembles a medium size stream, but we tamed her anyway. Okay, I tamed her. Miss Brenda sat comfortably in the front of the canoe with camera ready to capture for everlasting posterity the flora and fauna of Southern Mississippi. Seven miles and four hours later our butts and backs had suffered enough and we happily beached our canoe and caught the bus back to outfitters.

Leaving Sanford we headed due west and arrived in Natchez, Mississippi along with a humdinger of a thunderstorm. We are in a suite on the Louisana side of the river with a view across the river to Natchez Under the Hill. Tomorrow we begin our slow march upstate along the Natchez Trace. Okay, no marching, but lots of slow driving with stops for more photographic capturing of flora and fauna for posterity. My rough plan is to attend church Sunday morning at the little country church to which we belonged for the first two years of our lives together, and then Monday morning be at the little country church at which we married 30 years ago Monday. After that stop, we will head home...maybe.