We arrived home September 10, having driven a rental car from Rock Island. It was good to be home, and especially good to know we had missed MOST of the road construction in front of our house this summer. The house looked great both inside and out, thanks to our wonderful neighbors and a few friends who kept it mowed, weeded, snow free & general upkeep. We can’t thank them enough!

We have found out that we need a new transmission and that won’t be available to be put into the boat until the end of October, so Monday we are driving down to Rock Island to pick up our “stuff” from inside the boat to bring it home. Then we’ll store the boat in Rock Island after it is fixed & pick it up next spring & bring it home. A delayed finish, but as things turn out, it is good we are home. We’ve been super busy with Linnea’s mom making a two day trip to the hospital & then a couple week stay in rehab from a fall. We’re seeing our children, grandkids & friends and some relatives are coming this weekend. Already back in the swing of things.

We need a bit of time for reflections on the trip, but overall we are thrilled to have been able to do this adventure. If anyone is wondering if they should do it…we say get educated, learn your boat & then just go.

You’ll have the time of your life!

We are only 5 – 6 days from home by boat, but wouldn’t you know it, we are having some more mechanical problems, so the boat is on the hard getting worked on. It will take one to two weeks so we have rented a car and are driving home tomorrow. Not the way we wanted to arrive, but it will have to do. We plan on taking the car back as soon as the boat is finished and then driving her home. So tomorrow we’re on the road again…but by car. It will be great to be home and see everyone, but our thoughts will be with the boat until she is fixed and we have her back in Red Wing. Then we can REALLY relax and enjoy the winter.

We have been very fortunate and not only found a good shop to work on the boat, but also met some very generous folks who have a boat like ours and they invited us out on it this evening. We anchored out off a local park where we enjoyed the Riverfront Pops, featuring the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra plus a tribute to the Beatles with a sound-alike group. Both were very good and the sound system carried on to the river very well. The next to the last piece was the 1812 Overture complete with canons firing over the river, and the last piece was Stars & Stripes accompanying fireworks. Jim & I can’t believe how many festivals and city celebrations we’ve enjoyed on this trip. Somehow we’ve been cities and towns when fireworks were the finale of the hoop-te-do…what ever it was. The last has been just as beautiful as the first in Jacksonville. Who knew these celebrations would be one of the highlights of the trip.

As we were coming up the Mississippi, we were reminded on how beautiful this river is. It competes favorably with any other river we have been on during this trip.

Otherwise officially finished the Loop!

At 12:10 pm we crossed our wake on the Mississippi and completed the Great Loop!!!! That doesn’t mean we’re home, but we finished the actual loop!

Three other boats joined us as we rounded the red buoy on the Mississippi and then we all went into Grafton Marina where we proceeded to polish off four bottles of champagne before 2pm. What fun and what a wonderful adventure this had been.

So thrilled!

OK, I know…back up your work all the time…but I haven’t for a while and dropped the computer a week ago & now it says it doesn’t read the operating system. So I’m going to wait until we get home to have it fixed. Meanwhile, I’m in the library here, on a limited time, so you will get a quick overview and no pictures…but once we get home I promise to add to this.

We left South Haven and went to New Buffalo where we stayed overnight before crossing to Chicago. We stayed at DuSable Marina, right downtown Chicago by Millennium Park, For three days we did all we could (of course never enough) but we loved the Institute, enjoyed a double decker tour of the city, spent quite a bit of time in Millennium Park and wandered the streets.

Millennium Park is wonderful with an amphitheater, great sculptures and gardens, the Navy Pier, the Art Institute & much more.

The big news here is that Marshall Fields is becoming Macy’s. In Minneapolis we already went through that agony when we became MF from Daytons. Chicago was a great place to be, but it was time to move south. We went through downtown Chicago…under 45 bridges in a 1/2 hour. Many were very low & Jim again had to change his pants when we were done…the lowest bridge was 17 feet & we are 16’ 9”. Lots of fun.

What we are most surprised is how beautiful the Illinois River is. We had been told it just was a place to go through, but we’ve enjoyed it.

We’ve stayed in Joliet on the city wall and at Henry’s Marina where we discovered an asian carp that had jumped into our dinghy & couldn’t get out:

We had a great dinner with 8 other Loopers at the Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club. We enjoyed a beautiful evening at the Tall Timbers Marina where they had hundreds of beautiful potted plants and we expect to anchor out tomorrow night before we go to Grafton Marina on Friday.

The locks have given us waits of 20 minutes to 4 hours and we’ve seen Mississippi type barges. We’re traveling with three other boats so we’re enjoying ourselves…Betty B, Wings and Inevitable 2. We do know how to have a good time.

We expect to be at Two Rivers Marina by Saturday & then continue up the Mississippi. Estimated time of arrival is about the middle of SEPTEMBER…we’ll see.

Thanks for your patience…I won’t be able to change the map until we get home, but imagine us 2/3 down the Illinois River toward the Mississippi.

Y’all take care, and leave the light on. I’ll update you when we can.

After we left Ludington on Thursday, we went to Grand Haven. It’s a lovely town, but the exciting thing about arriving in this city is that we had finally caught up with our friends, Paul & Mary from River Quest. These are the folks from Minneapolis that we met last September in Two Rivers, Illinois. We hadn’t known each other before & were the first Loopers each of us had seen. We started the actual loop together as we traveled the Mississippi crossing the Illinois River, crossed the gulf together & met each other in Charleston. Mary and Paul are in a real hurry to get home, and we thought we wouldn’t see them again until we got home, but they had some boat, health & weather problems so we were able to catch them in Grand Haven. Were able to travel together to South Haven, and have been here for three days due to high waves. Our friends, Betty B and Wings arrived earlier today so we were all able to have a pot luck this evening & enjoy a sunset together. It’s amazing how much friendship means with fellow Loopers.

Lake Michigan’s eastern shore…western Michigan is an incredible vacation area with sand beaches that beat Florida’s. The water is a bit colder (brrrr) but it is clear & sweet. We are impressed. It’s much nicer to visit by car than boat, I would think. At least you can leave when you wish, not at the whim of the wind and waves. But again, we learn patience and enjoy the experience.

Today was a good day. Around 11am, Eric from Abrahamson’s came to the boat & said the props were in & we were going to get the boat fixed. We moved the boat to a boat ramp & after much maneuvering, they pulled the boat.

While they were pulling the props, Eric gave us his car to use to go to lunch. We took advantage & picked up a couple of items we needed, had lunch, picked up our mail at the marina (over a month’s worth) and took a look at a dinghy at West Marine. We returned to the boat & they had the props off & were headed to lunch.

Within an hour, the fiberglass expert arrived & proceeded to fill, coat & paint the gouges the props had made in the tunnels. As he said…a heat gun is wonderful, because he was able to dry every layer quickly and put on the next one.

By 5:00 he was done & shortly after, Eric arrived to put on the new props and then put us into the water. We were back at the dock by 6pm and are ready to leave tomorrow. Ludington has been a charming town, and again, we’ve been lucky to get to know some of the businesses & a few friendly citizens from the area, but we’re looking forward to getting on the road again. The wind is supposed to be between 5 & 10 MPH from the south and the waves under 3 feet. Here’s to flat and calm.

He Said:
We left Arcadia with goodbyes to Rick and Mary from Kismet. Arcadia is their home port of choice and a quiet and quaint port it is. We had a great time with them and Betty and Bill from Betty B II. with a cookout at their yacht club on shore. As usual, Linnea was at the helm for the first shift in the morning and I worked the deck. We were leery of Lake Michigan’s quickly building waves so the lamps and helm chair, TV, and anything else that we thought could fall and break were laid down or secured as best we could. As we left, waves were one to two and winds were 5 to 10 with fairly comfortable conditions. That changed as we rounded Big Sable point and the course became almost 180 degrees – straight south. Seas quickly built to 3 to 5 and it became a rough ride. I was at the helm and Linnea made her way to the cockpit to tie down the 15hp outboard, cooler, and chairs and I tried to find an easier passage through the waves. Seas continued to build. Betty B, the 40 foot Mainship was about 3 or 4 miles astern and fighting the same battles we were into the wind. Thank goodness we were taking the waves almost head on instead of a beam sea. Several “Maydays” came across Channel 16, with the nearby Coastguard station attempting to handle and advise the vessels in distress. A sailboat had been blown over somewhere of the point Sable light and the crew was abandoning ship. A motor yacht lost power and was taking on water. A fishing tournament was on and the 20 to 30 foot fishing boats were taking a pounding, with many attempting to make it to any nearby port with shelter. I counted 5 Maydays in less than an hour. Waves continued to build to 5 to 6 with about three 8 footers at the end of each sequence. The Otherwise was getting slapped around and pounded in a major way. Linnea was braced in the corner of the flying bridge settee, and I had my feet braced to try to keep the helm from breaking off. Luddington is a fine refuge port and big enough to have the largest car ferry on Lake Michigan making two trips per day. As we aimed for the entrance to the sea wall, at about a mile and a half off, we were on top of one of the 8 footers with the props out of the water when a severe vibration started. I immediately brought both engines to idle, then advanced the port side. Sure enough the port side was shaking badly. I advanced the starboard engine and it was smooth, so I set the starboard side at 2000 rpm, left the port in neutral with the engine in idle and continued toward shelter at about 5.5 knots. Control was not much more difficult than with both props pushing the boat. We were still being turned about 90 degrees by the worst of the waves. Side to side motion was sometimes 25 degrees of vertical, and we were pitching more than 10 feet up and down at the bow. We rounded the seawall with some difficulty, south winds at 25 to 30 pushing us toward the rocks but after a mildly anxious moment or two, were in quiet water with only a mile to go to our marina. I issued a Securite’ alert to all vessels that we were operating on starboard power alone and were limited maneuverability. Ludington Municipal Marina assigned us a slip and promised docking assistance. We arrived, tied “Otherwise” securely to the dock and took several very deep breaths. Not one book remained on a shelf. The galley looked like a grenade had hit it, with broken glass, veggies, and boxes on the floor. The coffee pot was hanging by its electric cord. Master stateroom storage baskets were upside down across the bed and the floor. But with a couple hours of squaring away, most of the mess was back in order.

The good folks at the marina steered us toward a number of capable repair facilities, and we contacted Abrahamsons yard. Kirk came over about noon the next day and determined we had to pull the boat to find out what went wrong. We pulled the boat by 1530 with me working lines and Chris from Abrahamsons at the wheel. With the boat out of the water, Chris walked underneath the stern, backed out, shook his head and said, “Here’s your problem, Jim, you have one 3 bladed prop and one 4 bladed prop”. One blade was totally blown off the hub, with more blades bent. Starboard blades were also bonked. We had been in over 30 feet of water when the shaking started, so either we hit an underwater log or the stress from the waves caused the problem. Two new props from Michigan Wheel are to arrive tomorrow and the boat will then be pulled again to finish the repairs including minor hull damage from the wayward props. We hope to be able to travel Friday, weather permitting.

Finally, for all the rest of you Loopers, or for anyone planning to cruise Lake Michigan, many other boaters have confirmed that this stretch of water between Big Sable Point thru Little Sable point can frequently be much tougher than the Gulf of Mexico. Big waves that come up in a few minutes, short periods, and more punishment than you want is a frequent situation. Choose your travel conditions and prepare your boat with care. As always with boats, prepare for the absolute worst and hope that you never need it.

She Said:
Ditto what Jim said. Now that we are Ludington for a few days, we’re glad we have both “Bette B” and “Wings” with us to enjoy this town. Michigan has reasonable Municipal Marinas about every 10 – 30 miles and they are ports of refuge, so have to take you…even to raft up. It’s a good feeling to know they are there.

Otherwise Said:
No more of those 8 footers…PLEASE!!!!!!!

Yesterday the weather report read winds light and variable with gusts up to 10 mph, waves 1 foot and less. In reality, once we were out there, the winds were 10 – 15mph with gusts up to 20+. The waves were 2 – 4 feet with the occasional 5 foot. Hmmmm, sounds like the Gulf of Mexico. Well, we knew the boat could take much more than we could, and I only got sick once, but eight hours in those seas were as much fun as I wanted.

We had stayed the night at St. Ignace so went by Mackinac Island and under the Mackinac bridge…it’s 5 miles long…and were finally in Lake Michigan. We had heard it could get rough…and it was, but not nearly as rough as it can be. We’ll just travel every day we can and sightsee the other days.

The good thing is, we are in Charlivoix and it’s a lovely tourist town…I understand the winter population is 3,000 and the summer 30,000. The town is well known for its stone houses, and they come in various sizes of stones.

While walking around the town we were also able to see some lovely gardens and interesting hydrangeas…I was told they are oak leaf hydrangeas…although the leaf looked more like a maple to me.

When we arrived here, we were greeted by our friends on Betty B II and Miss Liberty. It is so much fun to arrive somewhere and have your friends waiting for you. Makes the marina you land at feel like home. That night we had a pot luck dinner in the park & celebrated John’s birthday.

We were given two pictures from other Loopers. The first is of our Rendezvous in Penentanguishine (not pictured) and the other is of the group of us that went on the flotilla.

They mean more to us than anyone else reading this, but they both are special to us.

Two days ago we arrived at Drummond Island, back in the USA after spending seven weeks in Canada. We started our Canadian trek with Myron & Rhonda north of Lake Champlain at the immigration dock with the Canadian officer basically waving us through after a couple of shouted questions over the water. We continued north through the Chambly Locks to Sorel, Montreal and Ottawa where we picked up the Rideau Canal through quaint villages of Barrit’s Rapids, Merrittville, Smith Falls and Jones Falls to Kington, where we crossed the end of Lake Ontario to Trenton where we started our journey on the Trent Severn Waterway. During that trip we stopped at the towns of Campbellford, Hastings, Petersborough, Bobcaygeon, Kirkfield, and Orellia before we got to the Port Severn. After a short journey in Lake Huron to Penetanguishine and the Northern Rendezvous, and the 25 boat Flotilla through Georgian Bay, we spent some time seeing The North Channel of Lake Huron before landing here. Our time in Canada was special. The folks are friendly, the scenery drop dead spectacular, the water crystal clear, and the weather has been lovely. We couldn’t ask for anything more (except maybe lower prices…the strengthening of the Canadian $$ has made everything VERY expensive – like 4.45$/gal for fuel). We learned there are as many Canadian dialects as there are ones in the US. Eh? became a standard ending to most statements where you were looking for agreement. We sang “Oh Canada” several times, during Canada Day, local celebrations and evening get-togethers. We learned a new word for pot-luck: A “Pitch-In” generated just as many wonderful dishes, with “What’s the recipe for this one?” being heard time and again.

To wrap up our Flotilla, we anchored out in the Bad River for two days. Several of the Loopers went with professional guides for a fishing trip while others of us explored with our dinghies, made Inuksuit, drank some of Sue’s “special” drink & generally relaxed.

The fishermen (and even more successful fisherwomen) returned with a wonderful catch & we were given a beautiful large fillet. I cut it in big chunks, lightly boiled it in salted water and dunked it in melted garlic butter (just like 20 years ago) and fed it to other Loopers watching their eyes cross in ecstasy. Some things are hard to beat.

The next morning we had heavy fog so delayed our exit from the Bad until about noon, but one of the Loopers serenaded us with his accordion.

Our trip to Killarney was through Collins Pass…one of the most beautiful areas of the Georgian Channel. Arriving in Killarney, we quickly went to the “School Bus” for fish and chips, a local must do. We really didn’t want to split up, but knew that 25 boats couldn’t keep traveling together, but we had a special breakfast & an evening picture to remind us of our good times.

We left not sure if we’d ever see some of our new friends again, and yet knowing that no matter what, we’d see others…someway, somehow.

Miss Liberty & Otherwise headed up to Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Fin) which is a fresh water fjord…like the ones in Norway…long, thin, deep, high hills on both sides back to the pool at the end. We anchored out, swam and enjoyed the sunset & fogged in sunrise. “Free Bird” joined our boats so made three Loopers in the pool. What a beautiful place to be. You feel a million miles from nowhere.

We then journeyed to Little Current where we joined many of the other Loopers for a tour of Manitoulin Island, the largest inland island that separates Lake Huron from the North Channel. We stopped at Kagawong & saw Bridal Veil Falls, Gore Bay for lunch, The Ojibwe Cultural Foundation for First Nation dancers and a lesson in their culture.

We then went on to 10 mile point for the view and a wonderful gallery and tourist stop. There were some exquisite quill boxes that were sale from $150 to $5,000. I was tempted because of their beauty, but finally resisted.

When we left Little Current, we planning on going to Blind River, but needed to stop in Kagawong for some adhesive for a patch in our dinghy. The wind was so strong, we ended up staying in Kagawong, and were greeted by two of our looper boats. One of them said she was providing all of us with a spaghetti dinner. The Running Free & we brought bread & wine & we had a feast on the dock. We stayed on the outside wall with the waves rocking & rolling all night…thought we were back in Newport in New York…except there they calmed down at night. There are many different ties you can have to a dock. Here we were lucky there were stairs…the dock was level with the top of our back canape.

So this brings us to Drummond Island. Wind is keeping us here for three days…a cold front in coming in to finally break the back of the hot high fronts & is letting us know by blowing 20 – 40 knots with gusts that are higher. So yesterday we played golf (and golf won…we lost 17 balls between us) and today we did laundry & caught up on bills, etc.

We’re glad to be here, but tomorrow the winds should be light and variable and we’ll be on our way again.

Sunday morning twenty-four boats ranging in size from 24 feet to 54 feet met at Mile Marker 12 at the top of Penentanguishine Bay and headed off for a 7 day exploration of the North Channel of Georgian Bay. Led by Karen & Bob Jantz, Owners of Beacon Bay, we formed a line like a mother duck with 23 babies.

Karen & Bob tried to keep the pace at about 7.5 Knots, but like any group there are those who wish to go ahead, those who like to wander and those who lag behind. But luckly, the good folks on “Beta Omega” who are from this area volunteered to be the last ones in the conga line to make sure everyone found their way.

The scenery has been spectacular, but we have also seen some very unique sights. One was a flying dinghy. It is like a dinghy with an airboat fan and kite attached, and it takes off and lands on the water! Rounding another tight corner we found a stone hitchhiker. These are called Inuksuk, or rock people that have been made for years to guide folks in their treks up here to give them safe passage.

Our first two nights we spent anchored out at Port Rawlson Bay and rafted together all in a line with anchors in front on every other boat and lines back to shore. It took about an hour to get us rafted together and two days later about 30 minutes to get apart.

The second day at Port Rawlson Bay, most of us took our dinks up to Moon River Basin, about a 2½ hour trip each up and back. Of course it rained all the way up and each of us handled it in a different way. When we stopped for lunch it started raining, but we looked like a bunch of sorry campers. After lunch, we hiked up to the falls & many of us went swimming & jumped into the falls basin. It really was beautiful! Of course it rained all the way back, but not so hard that we couldn’t stop at a marina for ice cream (a highly prized treat on this trip!)

The next day we stopped at Henry’s restaurant in Sans Soui, well know for its family style Pickeral dinners. Can you imagine 51 people on 24 boats landing on your doorstep for lunch?
That night we arrived in Parry Sound and stayed two nights at Big Sound Marina which is a marina owned and operated by the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce. The Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts holds the Festival of the Sound every year in their beautiful auditorium there. The Centre holds 52 concerts between July 1 and August 13 plus a myriad of talks by composers, directors and artists. Sommerfest is wonderful, but imagine putting on three different concerts a day plus 2 to 3 information sessions in a town smaller than Chaska. It seemed like most of the artists came from Toronto, Monteal or Indiana University. Saw James Anagoson & Leslie Kinton, a 30 year piano duo playing Poulenc’s “Concerto for two pianos in D minor” & Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. The performance was almost sold out and this was at a 10:30am concert! The Centre is about ¼ the size of Orchestra Hall…about 480 seats, and is acoustically wonderful with stone walls, a wood floor and open beamed ceiling with trusses holding the lights. The balconies on each side (2 high) are held up with huge beams attached to the ceiling. We were most impressed. Also, in a very practical marriage, the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame is in this same building and they seem to coexist quit well, exposing each other’s audience to another world.

We left Parry Sound after two days and went through “Hole-in-the-Wall” passage. The verbal warning of Securite is needed to be given on channel 16 to go through certain narrow passages, so I’m sure may boaters up here were surprised to hear “Securite, Securite, Securite, 24 motor vessels ranging from 24 feet to 54 feet inbound, Parry Sound, Hole-in-the-wall passage, in 5 minutes.”

“Securite, Securite, Securite, 24 motor vessels ranging from 24 feet to 54 feet inbound, Perry Sound, Hole-in-the-wall passage, NOW!” Imagine meeting 24 boats in this tight passage!

We were out in Georgian Bay today for about 17 miles and it was a beautiful day…the lake was considered “smooth” so we took “Otherwise” up to 2700 RPM’s for the first time on the trip. She went 17MPH and just loved it. We did too, but then backed her down to 2100 for about an hour. We were at 14MPH and all of us were grinning from ear to ear. It’s great when the boat is finally in tip top shape!

So here we are in Byne Inlet & for the next two nights we will anchor out at Bad River. We then go to Killarney, anchor out another night and then to Little Current in the North Channel of Lake Huron. Time is passing quickly & it will soon be August. Where has the year gone?