We Are Home!

Saturday, July 14, 2018
Day 468
6,640 miles

When we came out of the Trent-Severn Waterway, we spent the night in Midland, Ontario.  Many Loopers go from there to cruise the rest of the Georgian Bay and the North Channel.   Since we have vacationed in the North Channel several times, we decided to head straight to Mackinaw City.  Although, a stop in Killarney for the fried fish would have been totally worth it!

Upon arriving in Mackinaw City, we had to check in with U.S. Customs.  We did it via their new app and within several minutes we were cleared.

The Mighty Mac - the Mackinac Bridge

Going under the bridge and entering Lake Michigan, where the water is blue and deep and wide and familiar!

With wanting to come back to Ludington on a weekend so more of our family and friends could help us celebrate, we spent several days in Frankfort.  This gave us a chance to rest, and then give True North a good cleaning inside and out.

It is with humble and grateful hearts that I can say our Great Loop is complete.  We crossed our wake . . . we are home!  We arrived back in Ludington on Saturday, July 14 – my 63^rd birthday.

We were overwhelmed by the welcome we received.  Family, friends and dock neighbors gathered on boats, and the break wall, and the A dock to greet us.

We were escorted in

View from Tool Time, one of the boats that came out to meet us.  True North is the lead boat, just going past the Ludington lighthouse.

A short video of friends and family who walked out to the lighthouse to welcome us home.

More family and friends lined the break wall

Harbor View Marina - our summer home!

Still more family and friends on the dock

As with our RV travels, we are fully aware that this adventure was a gift from God.  A gift of the time to do it, a gift of physically being able to do it, and a gift of the resources to do it.

Our kids, knowing full well we were spending their inheritance, were our biggest cheerleaders – always encouraging us to do more, see more, explore more and enjoy more.  

What started out as way to go south by boat for the winter so Greg could fish and we could escape the cold morphed into SO MUCH MORE.  Before we left I don’t think we truly comprehended what wonders we would find as we traveled in 3 different countries - the U.S., Bahamas and Canada.  

There is no "favorite part", simply because how do you choose between the clear, aquamarine color of the water and the gorgeous beaches in the Bahamas, or the lush beauty of the Hudson River, or the incredible scenery in Canada, or the history-filled small towns, or the quiet splendor of a river anchorage?  

It is said that the Great Loop is a series of day trips that eventually take you back to where you started. Those day trips all run together, and we often found ourselves having to look at our pill boxes to know what day of the week is was!  (Probably a good indicator of retirement in general!)

Loopers fall into 3 categories:  In the planning stage, are currently on the Loop, and those that have completed the Loop.  We are in awe that we now fall into that last category.  We are beyond thankful.

Our white burgee (flag) is tattered and worn after 2 years of flying on the bow of True North.

The gold burgee signifies the completion of the Loop.

We were surprised with 2 cakes.  

 “Out of the welter of life, a few people are selected for us by the accident of temporary confinement in the same circle.”   Anne Morrow Lindberg – Gift From The Sea.  

We embraced the Looper lifestyle and met over a hundred other boaters.  Some will be friends for life.  In fact, Jim and Terri from Lucky Ducks and Dan and Jenny Lynn from Gypsy Spirit/Melody In Sea drove to Ludington to share this special day with us.

Perhaps our greatest accomplishment on this journey is that after 6, 600 miles together on a boat, the four of us are still speaking to each other.  Which is a good thing because we are family!

The exploring is done – at least for this summer as we want to spend as much time as possible with our family, especially our grandchildren.  And we’ll take time to reflect on our two-year journey and savor the incredible memories.  

Two years ago a fellow Looper  said of crossing their wake – “We cried because we were home.  We cried because it was over.”    I now understand.

                                                   Unique and Random Photo of Our Last Day:

Sign on the flybridge of True North

Trent-Severn and The Big Chute

Monday July 9, 2018
Day 463
6,206 miles

We stayed at the Port of Orillia Marina both Friday and Saturday nights.  That is the first time we have stayed more than one night in a spot since back on the Erie Canal.  It was a welcome respite.
We worked on boat stuff all Saturday morning.  It was Mike's way of keeping me from the shops in downtown Orillia.   The generator impeller got changed and we took the dinghy off the swim platform so both could get a much needed cleaning.

I eventually got downtown.  Maple leaf sculptures lined the main street. There was also a free music festival going on.

Speaking of music - Orillia is the birthplace of Gordon Lightfoot.  We Michiganders have a connection with him through his mournful song - "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - the freighter that sank in Lake Superior.

No fancy name like "bar" or "pub" or "grill". - Let's just call it what it is.  A Social Drinking House

We completely agree.  Their tarts got 3 thumbs up from us.  They were melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

Our excitement for the evening was when Mike was getting our portable grill set up and it fell off the back of the boat!  He and the dinghy stopped it from going in the water, but not before the lid opened and the 2 removable grates sunk to the bottom of our slip.  The awkward part was we had invited Kenny and Sherry from Blue Moon over for dinner! (Blue Moon is the boat we "kissed" when we had the trouble in the lock and we thought we owed them a meal. 😄)  The pork wings tasted just as good being cooked in our electric skillet.

Love the beauty

Just in case you didn't believe me about the adirondack chairs . . . 

I took this one because of the bears on the rocks.  But look what the people are sitting in . . .

We've come to the conclusion that at birth, every Canadian is given a butter tart in one hand and a deed to a cottage in the other.  There are SO MANY lakes and all of them have SO MANY cottages.

They are even on rocks!

The Big Chute - a highlight of the Trent-Severn Waterway.  One that puts a few butterflies inside every Looper.  A truly unique experience.  It is not a lock but a marine railway.  It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles (slings) over a change of height of about 60 feet.  It is the only one of its kind in North America still in use.  The railway initially was a temporary solution when funds were not available to construct a lock.  After a sea lamprey was found at the bottom of the track, it was determined that stopping the flow of water was the way to prevent the sea lamprey from invading the entire Trent system.  So boats to this day continue to be lifted out of the water and transported over a hill and put back into the water.  The first Big Chute was completed in 1917.  The carriage in use today became operational in 1978.

Waiting our turn

Entering the Big Chute.  The yellow slings are waiting for us.  The person in charge (chute master?) gives explicit instructions on what to do and how far to go in.

The boat in front of us (preceding picture) - a local Canadian - offered to take pictures while in the chute and email them to us.  The kindness of strangers . . .

People watching from below

A fellow Looper on Kara Mia had stopped at the marina right before the railway.  When he saw us waiting on the wall, he walked to the Chute and took these pictures.  Priceless shots for us.  You have to be thankful for the little things . . . 

Near the bottom

I included the above pictures in case the video below that Kara took doesn't work on this post.

At the top, the cradle stopped for a few seconds as we were swaying a little.  We also knew the back 1/3 of the boat was hanging off the edge of the platform.  Hence the butterflies!

We spent Sunday night at Starpoint - Point Severn Marina.  The facility had grills to use and Kenny and Sherry joined us for dinner again as we compared notes on our Big Chute experience and the Trent in general.  I had to laugh when Sherry said, "Have you ever seen so many adirondack chairs?!"

Exiting the Port Severn Lock - Number 45 - our last lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway and our last lock on our Loop.  Port Severn is the end of the Waterway, which empties in the Georgian Bay.

We did a "hooray" because the novelty of the regular locks wears off after a while and we are glad to be done with them.

After this lock there was a swing bridge.  The one we really care about will be our next one - the Mackinac Bridge!

The top row were worn by Mike and I in the 28 locks we did on the inland rivers in the fall of 2016.

The bottom row are the ones we wore in 23 locks on the Erie Canal, 7 on the Oswego Canal, and 42 on the Trent-Severn Waterway in the spring and summer of 2018.

One last butter tart.  I'm taking it home for Karen.

While on the Trent-Severn we traveled on rivers, canals, locks and lakes.  We've shared the waterway with other pleasure boaters, jet skiers, kayakers, canoers, knee boarders, kids tubing, pontoons, fishing boats and houseboats.

The Canadian people could not have been nicer.  

On Tuesday we will cross from Midland, Ontario to Mackinaw City.  (254 miles).  We bought True North here in the Georgian Bay back in May of 2016.  So a few miles outside of Midland,  Mike, Greg and the boat will technically "crossed their wake".   Our official crossing (getting back to where we started) will be Saturday, July 14 when we pull into Harbor View Marina in Ludington.
We are getting pretty excited!


                                               Greg's Unique and Random Photo of the Day:

Trent-Severn Waterway Part 2

Friday, July 6, 2018
Day 460
6,151 miles

We left the Peterborough Marina on Wednesday morning in time to be at Lock 20, less than a mile away, when it opened at 9.  (All the locks on the Trent open at 9am and close at 6pm. )  We weren't the only ones with that idea and had to wait about an hour to lock through.

A short distance brought us to the Peterborough Lift Lock.  This lock is totally different from the other ones we have been in.  When the lock opened in 1904, it was considered an engineering marvel.  It still is today.  It is the world's highest hydraulic lift lock.  We "floated" up 65 ft.

I took these two pictures on Tuesday when I walked to look at the Peterborough Lock

This was taken while True North was entering the left pan

The lock has two pans, each filled with water.  We drove into the one at the bottom on the left. A foot of water was added to the top pan, which lowers it and raises the bottom one.  It is pretty cool to see in action, and even more so to be a part of the action!

Mike on the bow.  This is one lock he could sit down because the pan moves, not the boat.  We still had to hold on to lines for when they let in the foot of water.

We went 25 miles and through 9 locks on Wednesday and had our first experience staying on a lock wall when we came out of Lock 28 - Burleigh Falls.   It was the 4th of July and we wanted to celebrate with a barbecue.  We did have several people wish us a "Happy July 4" while watching us in the locks.  Those people were obviously Canadian, to have said it that way.  One boy in a canoe (yes, we get that close to be able to hear each other) saw our American flag and said, "Happy 4th of July!  I'm American, too!"

Any boater can stay on the lock wall.  It might be cheaper than a campground.  This boat was across from us.  They even had a campfire at night!

It was another very hot day so I took off on a hike to swim at the Burleigh Falls.  On my way there, I bought a scoop of Kawartha ice cream (the premier ice cream of Canada) and a butter tart.  This is becoming a familiar pattern with me!  The guys aren't keeping up their end of the butter tart bargin, so I just bought one to share.

Burleigh Falls

Burleigh Falls butter tart.  Our least favorite so far.

Gotta have strawberry shortcake on the 4th, no matter where we are!

Getting to Burleigh Falls, we went through Clear Lake and Stony Lake

As we get closer to the Georgian Bay, the water is becoming less brown and more blue.

We told Greg that other than not having a Boldt Castle, Stony Lake was very similar to the 

1000 Island region on the St. Lawrence River.  It was really beautiful.

St. Peter's Church on the Rock in Stony Lake

You can only reach it by boat.  There are docks to tie up to.

Thursday morning we had to wait at Lock 30 - (there is no Lock 29) the Lovesick Lock - because the workers have to arrive by boat as the lock is on an island.  They were 20 minutes late because the engine on their little boat wouldn't start.

We went through the cute towns of Buckhorn, Bobcaygeon (bob-cajun) and Fenelon Falls.   At Buckhorn, one restaurant was so close to the waterway I think the people dining on the patio could have passed us a french fry!  While in the lock,  fellow Looper Herb Seaton came walking down the lock wall when he saw our Looper burgee.  I first met Herb when he was on his first Loop and stopped in Ludington last summer.

There are many lakes in the waterway, so there are lots of other boaters, and houseboat rentals seem to be a big business.  While entering a lock, one was tied up off to the side.  The people said, "You have a beautiful boat."  I said,  "Thank you, but I wish I had a slide off the top like your boat!"

Canadians have the market cornered on Adirondack chairs.  Every house or cottage with a dock had them. 

Eagle in its nest

We've also seen several loons but haven't been able to get a good picture of one.

Wednesday and Thursday were both good days as we are enjoying this section of the Trent.  Thursday was 45 miles and only 5 locks.  We liked the last lock - number 35, Rosedale - so much that we did it twice.  With a storm approaching, we decided to go through Lock 35 and tie up on the other side for the night.  Balsam Lake was next and we didn't want to get caught in the middle of it when the storm hit.  We got into the Rosedale lock only to have the lock worker say the wall on the other side was full. It was 4 and too early for him to allow us to tie up to the blue line (the only space left).  You can only tie up overnight on the blue line after the locks have closed for the day.  We wanted to be on the top side so we could take off before 9 the next morning.   He said to go out, turn around, come back into the lock, drop the 4 ft and tie up on that wall. So we did that, and the plan was to go back into the lock about 5:30, lock up and then tie up for the night on the blue line.  (that probably all sounds quite confusing!)  The rain started shortly after we got tied up below the lock and the thunder and lightning followed.  We never got back through the lock, so had to wait until 9 the next morning to continue.

An interesting thing about Lock 35 - it was the last time we will go up in a lock for the rest of the Trent-Severn.  Balsam Lake is the highest point on the Trent - 840 feet above sea level.  It is also the highest point in the world that a boat can reach from the ocean under its own power.  Something we just did!  When we entered Balsam Lake on Friday morning, it meant that we had gone up 598 feet since entering Canada at Trenton.  We will drop 260 ft in the next 10 locks.  In a perfect Looping world, all the locks would go down - they are much easier!

The storms cleared away the heat and Friday was very comfortable in the low 70's.

We left Balsam Lake and entered one of the trickiest parts of the Trent-Severn.  This canal was cut through the Canadian Shield, a geological feature that covers half the country.  It is shallow and narrow.  We had to broadcast a call on the radio before entering because there is no room for two boats to pass each other. 

"Security . . .Security . . .Security.  This is True North, a 53ft. boat entering the canal from Balsam Lake.  Please advise if any vessel in the canal."

We also called the Kirkfield Lock to see if they had locked through any boats headed our way.

This was the only size boat we wanted to see!

We could see the rocks just feet from the boat. 

Another narrow canal and we had to repeat the radio call before entering.

It can only be compared to driving in a snowstorm in the winter when your hands are gripping the steering wheel and your whole body is tight from the intense focus.   

Lock 36 - the Kirkfield Lift Lock was similar to the Peterborough Lift Lock, but even more eerie.  Peterborough was constructed of cement, but Kirkfield is steel, which means we could see through the beams.  Once we got in the pan to go down 49 feet, I looked over the side and said, "Oh boy . . ."  I didn't look over again!

In the pan at the top of the Kirkfield Lock

The picture doesn't really convey the spooky feeling of looking down from the top.

Leaving the lock

This is how important it is to stay in the marked channels.  Weeds in Canal Lake.  The wind was quite  strong and it can easily blow a boat off course if not diligent.

After traversing 5 more locks within the next 11 miles, we entered Lake Simcoe - the largest lake on the Trent Waterway.  The wind was producing 3 ft. waves but once again True North just plowed through - we were able to cruise at 24 mph.  After the hold your breath trips down the 2 narrow canals, it felt good to run.

Before running on the open lake, I sewed up some loose canvas on the isinglass before the wind whipped it completely off.

Some of the boats tied to the lock wall for the night because they didn't want to attempt to cross Lake Simcoe.

We arrived at Port of Orillia Marina about 4:00.  We are here for 2 nights.  There is a farmers market on Saturday, a grocery store in walking distance, and in my quest to find the best butter tart in Ontario, I've already scoped out a bakery to visit on Saturday!

                                                     Unique and Random Photo of the Day: