Thanks for your help, here is what I tried:
customer/product.php
<TABLE border="0" width="100%">
<FORM name="orderform" method="post" action="cart.php?mode=add" onsubmit="javascript
: return FormValidation();">
<TR>
<TD valign="top" align="left" rowspan="2" width="100">
{include file="product_thumbnail.tpl" productid=$product.productid image_x=$product.image_x image_y=$product.image_y product=$product.product tmbn_url=$product.tmbn_url id="product_thumbnail"}
</TD>
<TD valign="top">
<SPAN class=>
{if $product.fulldescr ne ""}{$product.fulldescr}{else}{$product.descr}{ /if}
</SPAN>
I copied the code in bold to the table above it, it worked somewhat. The text was under the picture but in a column instead of the length of the picture. I wish I had more time to look at it but I won't for a couple more days. I'll post what I try next on Friday.
Thansk again,