We're back at Lighthouse Landing Marina near Kentucky Dam, ready to get underway for the next big leg of the trip. We spent much of the past week in Pisgah Bay - very serene, great swimming and lots of trails for hiking with Max. I wish we could stay longer in Kentucky Lake but the weather has turned rainy and cool. We don't want to be travelling with coats and gloves so its time to get going.

Yesterday we stepped the mast! Mark did most of the prep work on Tuesday, so all went quite smoothly and the marina didn't charge us much.

The downside of the mast being down is that we have no table inside to eat on since it was attached to the mast. Also with the mast down there are lots of hazards (chainplates, shackles, etc. to trip over or and both Mark and I have done so. With the mast lying on deck, our boat length is now 55 feet. This will make it harder to maneuver in small anchorages and also more expensive to stay in marinas.

It has been raining pretty much non-stop for the past 36 hours - sometimes quite hard -- and we've found a few leaks we'll need to repair when we get to Mobile. Time to take off...