Great Loop Thoughts Now Home Newington NH Friday May 10, 2019

Newington NH Friday May 10, 2019

The night was cool and rainy. Rained on and off in AM and steady rain in the PM. Temperatures started in high 40s and made it to mid 50s.

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Well the day was a day of getting back to almost normal. Why almost? Well because we will not have any water at our house until next Thursday. I drained all the water and furnace/heat pipes and had the water shut off at the street. I didn't want to have any bursting of the water meter in the basement and have it run for days. So, as I was not sure when exactly we would be home, I couldn't arrange a date to turn on the water until this Monday, and that was the earliest I could get. But, no matter, we will be moving the boat to Maine this week and will come back to NH to open the house later in the week.

But today we did get both cars inspected. Yeah!! Yesterday evening, our son Ryan who lives nearby to Great Bay Marina came and drove us home to get one of our vehicles.  Mother Faye (temporary switching hats from being Admiral) was wildly thrilled to see her eldest cub.  I was also glad to see him as well - but I was taking the photos. We have arranged a party with the tribes of Ryan and other son Robert for tomorrow evening - more long hugs sure to come!!

But, getting one car last night, facilitated getting back to our appointment to have both cars inspected. A big check box done!!!

And we also got to go for breakfast at our favorite spot, the NorthSide Grille. Sorry I didn't take a photo of the actual breakfast plate, but on the whole trip I have been looking for a place as good as here. While there have been good places, and some with some very good creative style meals like First Watch in Sarasota, there has been none that match the just right over easy eggs, sausage patties, on the grill homefries with sauteed onions on top, and homemade sourdough toast, washed down with always full cups of hot and tasty coffee. "Toto we are really home now!!"

Following our morning breakfast indulgence and car duties, we headed off with both cars to travel to our summer marina, Robinhood Marina in Georgetown, Maine. Click around the website to see some other nice photos to see why we think it is the best marina we have ever been at - including our beloved Longboat Key Club Mooring where we spent the winter.  But here is a photo from the car of the building at the head of the docks - if it wasn't raining out I would have wandered the docks. We needed to leave a car here so we have transportation when we move the boat there Sunday - if all goes well.

By the time we got to Robinhood it was early afternoon. The hearty breakfast was beginning to wear off so what to do. Why stop at Becky's diner in Portland of course!!  What could be finer that a huge bowl of homemade HADDOCK chowder? Nothing on this damp and cool day.

Becky's is located on Commercial Street along the waterfront. We drove along it to see some of the old familiar sights. Here is iconic Boone's restaurant sign, the restaurant is actually down the wharf to the left.

 And one of the old commercial buildings that have been converted to offices and retail.

And Dimillo's floating restaurant, a converted ferry. Sorry you can't see the ferry here. But on some days folks do get queasy with the rocking motion of the boat.

And Portland Lobster Company. A great place to get fresh seafood and eat in the open while listening to local musicians.

But just a little further we reach the objective of today's quest, Becky's Diner. It started some years ago being a place that was open 24/7 so fisherman could get something to eat whenever. But, while still open early and late, it has been found out as a great place to get wonderful comfort food.

See what I mean? Sorry for the photo of a half eaten bowl of the best chow'da and the Admiral's homemade chicken salad sandwich, but I couldn't stop for a photo until I had been able to chow'da down 😁😁 some of it.

And to really make it a comfort food stop, these are two honk'n whoopie pies to go - are you sensing a pattern for the day?

Well, if you figured out the pattern, you will not be surprised where we went to next. Yup, our favorite DQ stop on the way from the boat to home. And unlike DQ's that I stopped at in FL, this one always has chocolate ice cream. So a "Cappuccino (Heath + Coffee extract) Blizzard with Chocolate Ice Cream and a Vanilla Cone with Chocolate dip, please."  The former for the Captain and the latter for the Admiral.

We stopped at Walmart for engine oil for tomorrow's oil change, and stuff for Mother's Day. And then back to the boat for a relaxing evening. We played Mexican Train tonight and the Admiral won on the last round by 4 points  - well it is close to Mother's Day.

And that last paragraph leads me to the promise that I made yesterday in the post (that I was so tired when I was writing it that I felt asleep twice while typing it) to share some thoughts and data on the Great Loop trip.

Let's start with some stats.

Days from Great Bay Marina to our return to Great Bay Marina = 356  - within one day of when I had planned to make it back - my estimate was May 10 or 357 days.

Miles traveled 7129 statue miles. This includes our trip up the near full length of the Tennessee and distance to NYC times 2
Run Days 167
Lay Days  189 (including the three month plus stop in Longboat Key)
Avg Run per day  40 miles (not counting days in Longboat Key)
Engine hours 862 (nearly ten years worth of average season use)
Fuel gals 3948 compared to planned of 5000
Avg overall MPG 1.76 - much higher than I expected 
Water 2370 gal or 7 gallons per day
Anchor                    60 days 23%
Mooring (paid)        11           4%
Marina (paid)         133         52% (not counting winter stay at Longboat Key)
Free (non anchor)    53        21%
Fuel costs     $10,917 compared to planned of $15,000
Dockage       $12,893 compared to planned of $12,135 (does include winter stay a Longboat Key)
Maint              $1,493 compared to planned of   $3,000  YEA!!!

So costs were actually less than I had planned.

And now general thoughts on the Trip.

We had the best weather imaginable. We had planned to do the Loop the previous year and are so glad we didn't as folks that year had weather that was 180 degrees from us.  What a blessing

So glad we did it. We had a great time. Best parts were Great Bay Marina, to Hudson River, to Erie Canal, to Lake Ontario, to Trent Severn Waterway (with several wonderful visits with cousin Brenda and husband Terry from Toronto) , to Lake Huron that included Georgian Bay and the North Channel to Sault Ste. Marie then Mackinac Island, and Lake Michigan to Chicago. The best way to describe this part of the trip was we both kept saying "The next time we do this .............." We also were able to travel with Rick and Kris on Eagle One for a while in the North Channel that was great fun.  Even doing all the locks on the Erie and Trent Severn was great as all the traffic was recreational.

At Chicago we entered the rivers. The ride in our own boat through the City of Chicago was a top shelf highlight of the trip. But almost immediately after leaving the City the Illinois River turned commercial and not very inviting but we did have a fun stop in Peoria. This river was our first real encounter with sharing locks with commercial traffic. Not all that fun. We were ahead of most Loopers and were traveling alone most of the time. This resulted in having some very great Lock Karma. We never had to wait long at all to get into a lock - the experience of others that followed us was at times terrible.

Entering the Mississippi was amazing - it was a real thrill to understand we had made it in our own boat to this icon of America!!! The bluffs around at the beginning were spectacular. A real highlight. Our tour of St Louis was also a highlight.

The Mississippi ride was enlightening because of the speed of the river and the surprising lack of development along the river - because of flooding I believe. But it was not very boater friendly with limited places to stop and lots of commercial traffic - but the river was wide and passing barges was not an issue. 

The turn up the Ohio River and then passage via the Cumberland River was OK - Stop at Paducah was interesting.

Tennessee River was best of the rivers. To do the Loop we only needed to go about a third of the way. We had been told by seasoned Loopers that the best part of the trip was going all the way to the end of the Little Tennessee. We did that and it was a long way. We loved going to Chattanooga, but the rest of the trip (about a third a of the distance) was not worth the effort and we would have been better off to do more traveling around by rental car.

The Tenn Tom River system to Mobile was long and not very inviting. Few and far between places to stop made the trip more stressful than I would have liked - but we did fine. We did meet Jim and Justine of Knights' Kingdom, at Demopolis and thoroughly enjoyed traveling with them until midway across the Panhandle

We did hit something with the starboard prop in a lock about halfway through the Tenn Tom. It caused a vibration that we didn't solve until we reached the FL Panhandle.

Mobile was a nice stop. It was where we finally reached open water again and it felt more normal. We also had a great visit with friends Mike and Paula. 

Our trip across the Panhandle was uneventful - but it was stressful and we did not know what we would encounter from the effects of Hurricane Michael that devastated parts of the eastern Panhandle - but we made it through fine.

The damage to our props made it impossible to run fast enough to make the Gulf crossing from the Panhandle to Clearwater - the Admiral was not happy at all about having to do an overnight crossing. We were blessed with a beautiful night, but still she says never again. I kind of enjoyed it and we had a buddy boat, Steve and Kris on Caruleus, that made it far more comforting.

Once on the west coast of Florida we again began to really enjoy the places we traveled to including an extended stay in Clearwater Beach, nearly a week at Caladesi State Park, and finally our winter stop at Longboat Key near Sarasota.

Our winter stop was perfect. The facilities, as far as amenities, were top shelf. The staff was great. We met great neighbors, including Dick and Phyllis and Ed and Diane. The things to do in the Sarasota area were amazing. Wonderful concert and theater and the City itself was most enjoyable. We even found the First Baptist Church in town that we enjoyed attending nearly ever Sunday. And the most fun activity was we learned to play pickleball - a great tennis like game that even we older folks can pick up easily - but it can get real serious and it was fun to practice and both Faye and I got so we were able to hold our own - and have great fun doing it. 

We also had a great time seeing a number of folks from the Downeast Yacht Club from Maine who were wintering nearby. These included  Bob and Paula, and Scupper too, Richard and Betsy, Francis and Pattie, and Woody and Margaret - great to see them and others and remind us that this summer we would be boating in Maine - we really did miss it.

We loved our stay in Longboat Key so much that we arranged for space to come back again this coming winter. All we needed to do was travel home and affirm that the trip back is fun and we would like doing it again in the fall.

We were able to arrange a trip home at Christmas time to see our sons and their families. It was a great trip, but too soon it was time to head back to FL. Being away from them was the most difficult part of the trip. And it tempered our approach to moving up the East Coast as we did want to get home relatively quickly.

After our winter stay it was time to get underway and head east and then north. We met up with Knights' Kingdom and traveled throughout most of Florida before saying good bye.

We did see Eagle One again several times and it was fun to enjoy each others company. 

A stop at Daytona Beach to see granddaughter Sydney and Mom Jenn was a real thrill of the trip.

We also were able to visit with friends from home, Dan and Cindy, who have a wonderful condo on Amelia Island.

We liked the trip through Florida and looked forward to coming back in the fall. It was then on to Georgia and the low country that we found interesting. We made it through South Carolina with great stops at Beaufort and then Charleston which gave us the thought that this is doable. 

Leaving Charleston the travel began to become long and tedious. The travel became much more moving to get ahead and the stops were not all that interesting. Traveling through Myrtle Beach area was tiring and began to weaken our resolve to return. It became more and more evident that while only a third of the distance of the entire trip, it was none the less a long way to get home. We began to ask ourselves if we wanted to get to Maine and in a few short months turn around and head back down. By the time we reached Southport, NC we had agreed that coming back was not something we wanted to do. Too long a ride, too long away from the family, and too long just moving on the boat. Also, having to contend with a few storms that we had to find good places to stop and layover at made us realize that we would be looking at the challenge of hurricane season in the fall. Not something either of us wanted to do. 

So the remainder of the trip was made with the understanding that this was for the foreseeable future a one and done ride home. So we did make sure we stopped in places we wanted to see. 

We did go through the Dismal Swamp route that was interesting. This led us to the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed a most interesting stop at Tangier Island and stopping at the home on the Wye River near Annapolis of Dick and Phyllis, our boat neighbors from Longboat key, was fun. The ride up and through the C&D Canal went well but was not that interesting. We made it down Delaware Bay to Cape May and into New Jersey nicely - as this was the section I was most concerned about hitting nasty weather and adverse currents. Cape May was a wonderful historic town.

We managed to work our way up the Jersey coast with a stop at Atlantic City that was interesting but once was enough, and finally stopping at Great Kills Yacht Club. We were able to go into NYC and see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the 9/11 Memorial that were wonderful bucket list items.

The ride up Long Island Sound was just that - long. But we had great traveling weather for this time of year and only had to sit still for one day. The stop at Mattituck that we enjoyed on the way down was a good inspiration along the way. 

The weather windows held wonderfully and we only had to deal with bumpy rides a couple of days - but we were able to keep moving as we were both ready to get back to NH and then at our leisure up to Maine.

So I trust that you can tell from the above synopsis that we are thrilled we did the trip. The places we enjoyed were well worth the effort. But at times there were areas that we just had to keep moving along to continue the journey.

We are also more than pleased that we both had the same reaction that going up and down the East Coast seasonally would not be for us. This is a great piece of information as previously we both were thinking that indeed this is what we would want to do for the foreseeable future. So knowing this  answer versus speculating that it would be something we would enjoy is a great outcome of the adventure.

We hope you have enjoyed following along - and hope you come along for summer on the Maine Coast. I will continue the blog - not daily - but often.

WHOO HOO WE DID IT!!

And time to say..................

Good Night and May God Bless