A Year Ago Today…. 9-4-09

Hard to believe that Bob and I started our Great Loop trip a year ago today. Big events always have a time distortion—seems like yesterday/it was another lifetime ago. After a whirlwind few months of selling the house in St. Paul, finding a condo in Denver that will be our home, and retiring on 9/2/08, we started our trip of a lifetime on Friday, 9/5/08 in Lake Superior.
Here I am this morning watching our gold Looper burgee and sunrise over the Green Mountains in Vermont on Lake Champlain. It’s been an incredible year.

I asked Captain Bob to crunch some numbers to give you a rough outline of what we’ve done. My blog has been woefully inadequate in this department so here it is:

Total statute miles in 1 year: 5883
Gallons of diesel fuel used: 1462 for an average of 4.02 miles per gallon
Engine Hours: 795
Boat Travel Days: 131, avg of 45 miles, 6 hours per day
Nights in a Marina: 323
Locks: 37
Boat Parts Replaced: engine room blower, boat water pump, macerator,
impeller, inverter panel.

Some of these numbers surprise me as I thought that we travelled more days and anchored out more. We started to do our Favorites list (best beach-Clearwater; best place on the Loop-Bahamas; best anchorage-Statue of Liberty……) but then we would remember other great places and start again. It was a great way to revisit our trip and play “remember when….”

We have learned so much this year about ourselves, each other, what’s important and what’s not. We have learned to live LARGE in a very small boat. We remember the anticipation and anxiety before making a hard crossing but also the sense of accomplishment when we did it. It has made us stronger. We have appreciated the community of boaters that we’ve met along the way and shared so much with.

There is one more category. Regrets: none.

Burton Island 9-1-09

I’ve never been here before but it is so familiar. Substitute granite for sandstone and I am right back again in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior. We have the place practically to ourselves until the working masses arrive on Thursday for Labor Day weekend.

I finally kept my word and jumped into the clear cool waters. I never felt that way in FL or the Bahamas—something about thinking too much about fish that could kill me.

We are enjoying our time here reading, relaxing, hiking, biking, kayaking and having campfires as well as getting a few boat projects done. Life is good.

Tourist Time Between the Drops 8-30-09

It’s almost like Mother Nature knows that kids have to go back to school so she throws in some cool weather and rain to end summer abruptly. Locals here don’t even feel that they’ve had a summer with all the rain and they want a do-over. We have stowed our portable air conditioner, but where did I put the quilt?

Vermonters love their Green Mountain coffee, dogs and bikes. We did have one glorious fall-like afternoon of bike riding along the Lake Champlain Bikeway trail which is relatively flat. If I were to do some serious biking here, this decaf gal would have to get all caffeined-up and rent dogs to mush my way up the BIG mountains on my itty-bitty bike.

Rather than slog through the rain on the boat, we rented an Enterprise car for $30 per day to tour Fort Ticonderoga and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. So much of our early history as a country happened here and I finally understand some of it.

The 13 British colonies were surrounded on all sides by French territory and these two superpowers had a go at it in the mislabeled war, the French Indian War. If Britain lost that one, we would all be speaking French right now. Both countries had huge war deficits so England raised taxes on the colonies and the rest is history.

These mountains and waters are alive with the daring Revolutionary War exploits of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold before he became a traitor. How could you fight a war when only 1/3 of the population was solidly with you; 1/3, were neutral and would not really help; and the other 1/3, conspired against you? It’s amazing that this country got born at all.

We were going to tour another museum but then the sun came out, we were passing the Shelburne Vineyard and their wine tasting sign beckoned us. The wine is very young and they have relied on some very hardy vines from Minnesota vineyards. I don’t think France or California have anything to worry about but it was a lovely afternoon here.

We loaded up the car with groceries and fall boat provisions. It’s time to change/drain all the fluids to winterize the boat and I have boat waxing and varnishing to do. I have so much sanding to do that I will probably erase my fingerprints.

Gold Loopers Bill on Transition and Mike from Golden stopped by to say "Hi" and reminisce about looper time.