The Idea and planning

I live in Ohio, but grew up in Andrew, Iowa,  a small town in eastern Iowa, approximately 15 miles from the Mississippi River.    My brother , Milton, still lives there.      Milton and I own a winter home in Florence, Al.  which we both use each winter.     Florence is located on the Tennessee River and Lake Wilson,  a large reservoir on the Tennessee River.

Milton actually came up with the idea of traveling from his home, down a small creek that flows near his backyard,  down a larger creek  (Brush Creek), then a river, via canoe to the Missississippi River near Bellevue, Iowa.    From there, we will take a pontoon boat down the Mississippi River, Up the Ohio to the Tennesse River,  across Kentucky Lake and on up the Tennesse River to Lake Wilson and near our winter home.     We will actually end up on the Brush Creek Arm of Wilson Lake, where my cousin lives.

We talked about this last winter, but made no real plans,   However, about early May of this year,  I thought if we are going to do this, and as we are not getting younger ( I will be 70 next spring),  I thought we better get started,     so called Milton to discuss it and we decided to go for it in 2013.      First step,– Get a suitable boat.

Did some internet reesrch and found a blog of others that have done similiar trips.

http://backshortly.wordpress.com

http://livinlif.wordpress.com/black-water-run-2011/

This provided me with a lot of ideas, possible problems, etc. I also started watching Craig’s list for used pontoon boats, both here in Ohio near me and in Iowa where my brother, Milton, lives. I also researched sources for river charts, marinas, and accumulated a lot of information on the trip area.

Next Page:: Purchased a boat