We have always heard that half the fun of an adventure is the planning. That is what Ken and Pat have been doing since they met in 2005. What is this thing called America's Great Loop? 7,500 miles and 13 months in a boat - you must be kidding.
Getting further acquainted with the Great Loop, we read "Honey Let's Get a Boat by Ron and Eva Stob. Ken's friends were on the Loop in 2006. We met them in New York Harbor and spent 9 days with them cruising the Hudson River on their boat "Otherwise". We were hooked!
The next winter we headed to the boat show, paid the $20 admission and
started wandering around looking at what electronics Ken wanted to buy
for his then 36 foot Carver Mariner. Of course you always have to board
some of the display boats while there, which we did. That next Spring
we were the proud owner of 20BUCK$ pictured above. Now we had the boat
that would protect us from the elements and be our home for 13 months.
What else to think about? Would we really like to do
this? Do you think we can swing it? What do we do with the house?
When should we leave? We have to do this while we are still healthy and
in relatively good shape. How high will the price of gas go? What do
we need to buy - radar, chart plotter, auto pilot etc.?
Oh me oh
my so much to think about. Well ...............we are in the final
stages of planning. The radar, chart plotter, auto pilot are installed
and working. Friends are donating their charts (thank you Jim and
Linnea) so we can navigate our course. Our departure date is ~ August
20th, 2011. We are almost ready!
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