It wasn’t as brisk of a sail as the past two days but we were able to sail most of the day, just not very fast. About 4PM I was getting excited to be nearing home. I occupied myself by packing up whatever I could. Ginger wanted to see what was going on in the galley.
As you can see Ginger hung in there for the duration. We comment on that because she’s so darned old! We adopted her from the shelter 14 years ago (for Alison), her age was estimated at that time as 5 to 7 years old so who knows. I just know that she got lots of attention on this trip from people we encountered – especially little kids and elderly women. The usual questions are: “how old is your puppy?” and “what kind of dog is that?” She sure brought a lot of smiles to a lot of faces.
This is one of the channel markers for the big ships that come into Green Bay. The cormorant population is doing very well here.
This isn’t as scenic as most of the places we’ve been on the trip but the Tower Drive Bridge (or the newer name Leo Frigo Bridge) over the Fox River in Green Bay was a pretty exciting sight to us.
This is The Boat Yard near downtown Green Bay where we store for the winter and Alison waiving to us from the dock.
Here's the happy (and relieved) crew.
Just a few final statistics:Our trip in statute (land) miles came to 6,586 miles. We went through 70 locks. The number of nights we (or just the boat) stayed in marinas was 216; nights spent at anchor was 129; nights at free docks was 57, and nights on a mooring ball was 40. Grand total: 442 nights
We’re grateful to the Good Lord for keeping us in His loving care and to family and friends for your support, prayers, blog comments, phone calls and emails along the way. Also to those who took us in: Patti and Steve in Peoria, IL, Jim and Lou in FL (several times!) and Chuck and Linda in MD for letting us use their dock on the Chesapeake. Thank you to Paul's Cousin Sandy for printing our boat cards, hooking us up with your friends in AL, the phone calls and all the special treats you sent. Thanks to my Cousin Audray for taking such good care of us in Ohio. It was great to see family along the way and to meet so many kind and helpful people all throughout the trip. We both think the Kentucky Lakes area was our favorite overall place, the Hudson River Valley in NY the most scenic, and sailing past the Statue of Liberty and going under the Brooklyn Bridge in our own boat was the most memorable experience. The members of the yacht club in Dunkirk, NY on Lake Erie are without a doubt the most friendly and hospitable group of folks we encountered.
Something happened since we’ve been back that makes us especially glad we did this trip when we did. We attended the funeral of a fellow sailor, age 69, who died from a sudden illness. He lived life to the full and took many wonderful trips with family and friends, often chartering in the Caribbean during the winter months. I know those will be precious memories for his loved ones.
We are now "graduate loopers" and can fly the gold burgee to prove it. It replaces the white one we flew during the trip. The letters AGLCA stand for "America's Great Loop Cruising Association". They have a terrific website and newsletter for members to share information about doing the trip.
The mast was taken off the boat yesterday and as of today, Restless Wind is now out of the water for the season. I think she deserves a break. Look Ma - no barnacles!
We had a big surprise today when we came back from pulling the boat. Kyle's car was in the driveway (the son in Brooklyn, NY). Our three "kids" planned to meet us on the dock when we came back over Labor Day weekend but we spoiled the plan by coming back early. No matter - it'll be fun to have the whole family here for the weekend and we really were surprised!Thanks for sharing our once in a lifetime adventure.
