Our time in Peoria had to come to an end. We pushed pushed out at dawn for the 75 mile trek to Beardstown with one lock to navigate. We got lucky at the Peoria Lock. When we arrived, there was a big tow in the lock heading north, one waiting behind it to go north, … Continue reading Peoria to Beardstown: Easy Sailing

Well that was an eventful day. A couple days ago, we were in contact with IVY Club to see if their entryway was deep enough to accommodate our 4.5' draft. That day, they were not confident it was. The concern was that it might be deep enough to get in, but then if the water … Continue reading Ottawa to Peoria: Maybe Don’t Boat Through a Storm

We left Joliet early in the morning, as we knew the bridge we needed to be lifted did not lift during rush hour. That was super easy with zero hassle. We had a brief wait for the Brandon Road Lock and were on our way. We were excited to pass under the I-55 bridge. We … Continue reading Joliet to Ottawa: Locks? NBD

We noticed two things a little awry as we've been underway. The first thing is that our AIS didn't appear to be working. We just had AIS installed earlier this year with a new electronics package and it was working fine. After a quick text exchange with Dave @ Nautilus (he installed the electronics and … Continue reading Boat life means fixing stuff all the time

Today was a a day of modern marvels as we left lake Michigan and entered the river on our way to Joliet. To prepare for the day, Owen lowered our antenna and removed our anchor light to prepare for the height restrictions under the bridges. Our first "first" of the day was the lock on … Continue reading Chicago to Joliet: Buildings, Bridges, and Locks

It is difficult to imagine that our very first day looping could have gone any better. We left Port Washington, Wisconsin, just before sunrise and pointed our bow south toward Chicago. Lake Michigan can be an unforgiving lake, but it was cooperative this day. The wind was out of the S/SE at about 5 knots … Continue reading Port Washington to Chicago: All Days Can’t Be This Awesome

It's Loop Eve. We are heading out at the crap of dawn tomorrow. We sold our car today, and before that we provisioned the heck out of the galley. We can go without a lot of things, but we will not be without Diet Dr. Pepper or coffee for Owen. We wanted our last day … Continue reading Carpe Diem: We Are Not Guaranteed a Donut Sundae

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We have had this burgee for a long time and installed it on the boat today. I can't tell you how valuable the AGLCA has been in helping us learn and plan for the last couple of years. We will proudly fly our looper burgee until we cross our wake. I can't wait for it … Continue reading Burgee On!

After helping daughter #2 move today, we got to work on our list of things to do before we start our Loop. Not all of the things are critical. Some of them are. Today we: Measure out our anchor rode and marked it every 25 feet with a different color tape so that we can … Continue reading The work is never done…