Great Loop

We all travel differently. You do what works for you and your style. In our younger years, when time off came a couple weeks at a time, we did those 700+ mile days... driving was part of the "journey." (Or, the cross country motorcycle trips.)

In our middle "business years," we had a series of airplanes and could get "there" fast, and enjoy the destination. We joked over the years, that as we got older, our mode of transportation kept getting slower and slower - airplanes>motorhomes>boats. :wink:

I have run into plenty of people who are "checking places off a list" but not taking the time to enjoy those places. Well, that was my point of view - then I came to the conclusion that checking off places was their enjoyment. And, neither of us were doing it "wrong."

Time is one thing that we can't "bank." Enjoy it YOUR way... fast, slow, frugal, extravagant, near or far, by land/water/air.

During one of our summer jobs in the Tetons, I spoke with a guy who had just stepped off a bus. He asked me what there was to do there. I started rattling off a lengthy list of all the great things to experience in that mountain wonderland (and, of course, recommending a meal cruise on an island away from civilization), when he said to me: "Don't have time for that. We did Yellowstone this morning, we're doing the Tetons this afternoon, and Jackson tonight." I was dumbfounded. I felt bad for the guy, because he was getting a glimpse of a breath-taking area from the window of a bus, rather than getting to really experience it. From my perspective, not really different from watching a travelogue about the area on TV. Well, probably less of an experience, because they can edit and highlight the best areas for the travelogue.

But, he seemed happy.

Deciding ahead of time how many miles per day you have to do on a boat cruise would (from my perspective) take away the serendipitous fun that boat cruising offers. We feel the same way about land cruising... some times, it is the great experiences you come across by being there that you can't get by driving by.

That said, a seven month boat cruise of any kind sounds like quite an adventure; something most people will never experience.

Enjoy.
 
Jim, you broke the code. lol. Everyone enjoys doing things in a different way. Bob, I would have to disagree with you. Rather it's in a C-Dory or an RV, some may enjoy a faster pace, and would rather see as much as they can in a short time, if that's all they have. Many told me I would need much more than a week in the San Juans to see it all. True. But I only had a week, and saw more than if I had listened to those that didn't think I was giving it the appropriate amount of time. (And yes, it was worth the trip out for just that week on the water!) If someone wants to plan the Great Loop in less time than you find pleasurable, that's ok as they will see more than if they had not gone at all. Personally, I'd rather see more than less, and if I see something I want to see more of, I will try to return. This all being said, in any travel, one needs to be a little flexible, or at least accept that things can happen. RV's, Boats, and yes even airplanes, can break down or weather can create some setbacks. Colby
 
Not retired just yet (8 more years) but we like to do a scouting trip if at all possible, to race through an area (land or sea) eyeballing and asking questions planning to come back and hit the standout features more intensely later on. This helps make the "real" trip less of a guess and more of a plan later on.

I do the same with leading kayak trips, often leading an exploratory trip covering lots of water in a new area over a short time, then doing later trips to the best parts for more relaxed activities like fishing and photography for years after that.

It is amazing what you can cover when in "data collection" mode. That would be a class, Sam L. should be able to teach at this point. I know I have considered it, but need to find the time.

One life is insultingly short but I'll take it,

Greg
 
Pat: Let me introduce myself. I am David Buchanan.

You are right about the slower speed being more economical. I do believe that I will find myself going at the slower speed more often than not, particularly on the ICW. Have you done the Great Loop or plan to do so in the future?
 
One and all:
I am with everyone on the desirability of taking my time to do the Great Loop and you are right, this is not a trip but an adventure of a lifetime for me. Once I get started, I plan to take whatever time it takes to see all I want to see. I think the Chesapeake may take some of that as well as the Erie Canal. Right now I am allocating 2 weeks to the latter. It could be that I will end up parking the boat while I come back home for the wedding and then going back. We just need to see. Flexibility is, as some mention, desirable.
 
voyager638":2cgurvo1 said:
Pat: Let me introduce myself. I am David Buchanan.

You are right about the slower speed being more economical. I do believe that I will find myself going at the slower speed more often than not, particularly on the ICW. Have you done the Great Loop or plan to do so in the future?
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First off, pleased to make your acquaintance, David! I prefer real names to user names, but I also get that some people do not want to disclose their real name for whatever reason.

We have been C-Dory boaters since 2003, and have mostly boated in the San Juans and Canadian Gulf Islands, but also a fair amount of lake boating, including four trips to Lake Powell (by me, a not to be missed experience). Patty and I have not done the Great Loop. It is on my "bucket list," which to me is not something to race through to say I have done it so much as something I am really yearning to do before I die. When/if I get to do the Great Loop, it will be at a slow speed and stopping wherever we want and staying as long as suits us! We will probably do it in legs, but who knows? We may devote a year or more to the Great Loop with a couple of flights home for grandkid visits. We are retired and could do that, we just need to set a few other things aside and decide that we are going to DO it!
 
Yea, the choice of where and how we 'cruise is part of the Adventure!

I remember back in my "working" days, having a limited amount of time-off meant launching the boat and seeing how many miles and engine hours I could accrue before going back to work. Now, time isn't the issue it once was (but I do hear Life's Clock ticking...) so how we spend that time bcomes even more important.

It seems counterintuitive, but with age, going slower seems ok. Logically, since we're in the "back nine" of our lives it would seem we'd want to go faster. Interesting. Maybe we'll have to discuss that around a campfire ... someday.

As to the Great Loop; for us, doing it in segments seems the good choice. Then again, maybe we'll just take the Dessert 1st approach to Life, and only do the parts we want. Either way, it'll be fun.

At the other extreme - is the fellow who did the Great Loop in eight weeks and one day. ( http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/october/hurry.asp ). That would be a little fast for us, but "...whatever blows your hair back!"

Best,
Casey&Mary
 
Pat and Patty:
I, too, am retired. I am still an active 70+ year old who still wants to see what is around the bend or over the top of the hill. My wife says I have a genetic adventure gene.

Your last post expresses how I feel about things. A few years back I did a 20,000+ RV trip around the US. If one looked at a map, it zigzagged all over the place. I don't hold much to a schedule as it is too restrictive and I might miss something that I later wish I had taken the time to see.

Some do a trip like this in legs, but I will be doing it in one year. Each of the next several years will be to somewhere else for as long as I can do so. I may even trailer to the west coast and do the Seattle to Alaska trip. The latter, however, would have to be with another boat, as I do not have the knowledge of the area to do such a trip solo.
 
For me, it is the unexpected experiences in route to the ultimate destination that make any trip. Hundreds of millions have stood in awe as they looked out over the magnificent stillness of the Grand Canyon, but how many have explored the back roads, via Jeep, between Jerome, AZ and Williams, AZ on the way there?
 
voyager638":1dp5y7rl said:
I may even trailer to the west coast and do the Seattle to Alaska trip. The latter, however, would have to be with another boat, as I do not have the knowledge of the area to do such a trip solo.
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Every year there are boats doing the inland passage. Sam, "Retriever", has been leading groups if that is your thing. On the other hand, many just do some reading, (you can get all the knowledge you need on this site--and there are many who will help you.), then "Do it". Yes, the currents and passes can be a little tricky, but you learn quickly.

Some of us trailer the boat across the USA almost every year-this is the beauty of the C Dory!
 
Loved (and shared) a cartoon on FB today. Snoopy and Charlie Brown are sitting backs to us at the end of a dock.

Charlie Brown: "Some day we will all die, Snoopy."

Snoopy: "True. But on all the other days, we will not."

I say enjoy all the other days as much as humanly possible!
 
David,
In 2011 we attended the fall convention of the “loopers” (America's Great Loop Assn) held on the Tennessee River in central Alabama. Our goal in attending was to decide if we wanted to do the “loop.” Up to that point we had only boated on the west coast in a sailboat and had just acquired our CD-22 in 2010. We had been retired a dozen years and a map of our travels in a pickup camper looked much like Colby's. At the convention we learned a bunch of things about the loop, boats in general, our boat in particular, and most important about us.
Most of the people who had completed the loop talked about the great places they had visited and about the endless hours spending grinding along the inter-coastal or a river to reach the “great place. When we showed up with a trailer-able boat and they sought us out to talk about it and how to avoid those “endless hours of grinding along.”
The places to see that came up often were the west half of the Eire Canal (west of Oneida Lake), the two major Canadian historic Canals (1.Trent-Sevren and 2) the Rideau), and Georgan Bay which is the North East lobe of Lake Huron. The east coast sites (Chesapeake Bay & etc) came up less often, but that may have been because many of them were east coast boaters and had “been there-done that”.
After the convention we followed 3 trawlers up the Tennessee River to Chattanooga and back. We learned a lot about eastern boating, and about how the “loopers” travel and their constant fear of shallow water for their much deeper draft boats. But more importantly, we learned a lot abut what we were seeking compared to the other boaters. I think it was Shakespeare who talked about understanding your self. We are in our late 70s and still changing and still learning about our selves.

Colby, your are right about each doing his own thing. At the Looper's convention I was disappointed at how many of the people planning to do the loop were doing it as a goal. They had been goal setters and achievers all their life. Now with retirement they were going to do the loop. Many had boated little if at all and this was a goal they could set in retirement. There is nothing wrong with that... I should not be so judgmental.

However, I think one of the great values of this Forum is the opportunity of some of those who have “been there-done that” to pass some wisdom along with the “how to”

The other thing that I have re-learned in this last year is how different we all are. (grammer?) Penny and I have now met 5 couples who are living aboard their boat for 3 months or more at a time. We are similar in that we are living in a very restricted space for a long time. We all have different goals and objectives and that often leads to different ways to deal with similar issues and we have each found different ways or different answers to make things work for each of us. The different “strokes” quote comes to mind.

Chuck
 
I don't know if I will ever do the Great Loop, but there are a few things about it that appeal to me. One is that you can start any time of year (by trailering to the appropriate seasonal place). Two is that you can do it year round. And three, related, is that it gives a chance to "live aboard" for an extended time period without trailering/dealing with vehicle, or "re-becoming a land person." Not that there is anything wrong with those things; but I miss longer term living aboard, so it appeals to me for that reason.
 
We have usually limited our cruises or time on the boat to about a month at a time. Family situations at home currently require our attention. We do plan and squeeze trips in while and when we can. I not sure if we will ever do the loop in it's entirety. We have been whacking away at in sections. I want to start out in Chicago and go thru the city out the Illinois river and down the Mississippi to the Ohio and get to the Tennessee river and then eventfully make it to Mobile Alabama. That will probably require us to leave the boat somewhere and return home to get caught up with any situations that have occurred. So I think doing sections of the loop and not really being concerned about ever being an actual looper best fits our method of operation. I think for me you can go off on overload with too much of the same scenery. Trips I have enjoyed usually include different topography and the scenery that goes with that. I usually try to plan overnights in areas I might want to stay for a day or so. I would like to take a year or two living on the boat to do the whole loop. That won't be happening so we do what we can. People have to do what they can in a given situation. No right or wrong way to go about it, as long as you do go about it.
D.D.
 
Well, if one is going to do the Great Loop, you should join or follow America's Great Loop Cruisers Association.

They have a great deal of information and knowledge about the Great Loop, which they're more than eager to share with you.

You have to admit that the USA has an association for everything. But then, the Great Loop seems to be on every ones list.

Boris
 
Her's another source of Great Loop information: Captain John's Web Site . I didn't realize that so many people had done it.

By the way, he mentions that 6 mos is the minimum you could do the Great Loop, traveling 5 days per week. And going to church on the Sabbath. The claim is that 50 miles/day is the limit, no matter how fast your boat is.

Boris
 
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