Captain and First Mate – Hydrotherapy Travels

Reflections

We “crossed our wake” 23 days ago. This is Looper language that simply means that we have completed our journey at the same place from where we began. In our case, this means that we left our dock February 22, 2022 and returned to our dock October 28, 2022. We have now graduated from our white Looper flag to the Gold flag which indicates that we have completed the Great Circle Loop!

We traveled to three countries, seventeen states and traveled 6,450 statute miles. We spent nights at anchor, in beautiful marinas, tied up to barges, tied up to other boats, and simply tied up to city walls with no power or water. We shopped for supplies and groceries at real stores, at Dollar Generals, and at stores that couldn’t really be called a store. We crossed bays, oceans, rivers and canals. We crossed bays that were flat as a pond and we encountered turbulent, rolling waves in oceans and bays. The Lock system in the US and Canada provided us with the most interesting learning experiences of our entire journey. After completing 158 locks, we felt like we could teach Locks 101.

During our journey we had gloriously beautiful and fun days that we didn’t want to end. We also had days with so many challenges, at the end of the day, we simply fell into bed at 7:00pm. We also had one or two health “experiences” that created a whole new set of unique challenges.

Along the way we met some of the most wonderful and interesting people. We heard their stories and we shared ours with them. Not one person we met asked us what we “did.” It is irrelevant what we or they did. Our conversations revolved around when we began our journey, when we end our journey, our family, and, of course, boating talk. We are still in touch with many of these other Loopers/boaters. One young man from Alberta, Canada will be visiting us next month.

In addition to other boaters, we met the most kind, friendly, and helpful people. We met a couple who were temporarily living on their boat. Without hesitation, they offered us the keys to their car so that we could get dinner and some groceries. We had only met them five or ten minutes prior to them offering their car. A cashier at a grocery store offered us her golf cart so that we could get our heavy grocery bags back to our boat. The kindness of these strangers was remarkable and so greatly appreciated. We were so fortunate to have had many experiences such as these.

We feel so incredibly fortunate to have been able to plan, implement and complete our boating adventure. We learned a lot about ourselves in the process. We discovered that we are adaptable, resilient (sometimes😆) and more importantly, able to work together as a team in good times and in challenging times. It was actually a nine year process…from initial planning, boat purchase, planning our route, gathering boat and safety supplies, provisioning our boat with everything that we could only imagine that we might need, and more and more planning.

Reflecting on our boating journey, we know we have accomplished what we set out to do. We are so happy that we are now home and enjoying our home, family and friends.

Now…on to the next adventure!

Small towns…Big hearts

As we enter our eighth month of cruising on the Great Circle Loop, we have now begun our journey on the river system portion of our trip. We have now cruised the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers.
We are so impressed and honored to meet the people who live in these small towns along the river system. Some of these towns have a population of 1,000 or less… oftentimes much less.

The women and men in these towns greet you with “darlin, honey, sweetie, ya’ll be safe, God bless you, and come back and see us.” They say these sayings from the bottoms of their heart and they mean them with all their hearts.
These small river towns fly the American flag with pride and have memorials in the middle of their town squares with plaques and flags to honor their fallen military. They send their sons and daughters to join the military and are proud to be able to do so.

These small river towns don’t have big, fancy stores or malls. Quite the contrary, they are so small, the Dollar General store often serves as a grocery store with everything you need… including fresh produce and dairy. If the town happens to have a real grocery store, it also has wine and liquor because there is no liquor store within many miles.

These are the towns and people that have made a lasting impression on us They are kind, sincere, patriotic, friendly, and willing to lend a hand to anyone at anytime. We feel so blessed and grateful to have made friendships with these people, however fleeting our time with them is.

Every day the words to America the Beautiful (O Beautiful for Spacious Skies) come to mind as we begin our journey through America’s heartland and meet the people who add the heart to our heartland.

God Bless America!🇺🇸🇺🇸

Beyond the Great Lakes

After moving along the eastern edge of Lake Michigan and visiting the lovely towns of Northport, Leland, Ludington, and Saugatuck, we arrived in Michigan City, Indiana. Here, we arranged for mechanics to come aboard and perform another 300 hour service on our engines and generator as well as switch out some batteries that needed replacing.

From Michigan City we moved onto the Calumet-Sag waterway, which was built primarily as a shipping channel to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River via the Illinois River. Locks and dams were completed by 1930 to allow this important thoroughfare for commerce. We were forced to utilize this waterway rather than the more scenic cruise down the Chicago River which traverses the heart of the city. The limiting factor was the height of our boat which would not fit under some of the bridges in downtown Chicago. Both the Chicago and Calumet Sag waterways join together to ultimately run into the Illinois River.

The locks and dams were designed to prevent the runoff water and treated sanitation water of Chicago from entering Lake Michigan. Thus, all the turbid water moves south and west via the Illinois River and eventually drains into the Mississippi River.

To date, we have transited seven of the eight locks on the Illinois River and experienced the landscape changing from raw industrial landscape to pleasant farmlands with eagles seen nesting in the trees. While being fascinated with the landscape changes surrounding us, we have had to be constantly watchful for the massive commercial tugboats pushing large barges. Many times the barges are linked two to three abreast and up to eight barges in length. We are amazed that the captains of these boats can control those barges through the many tortuous bends in the river as well as through the many tight bridges across the waterways. The Mississippi captains will have even more impressive links of barges in tow. We will enter the Mississippi River next week.

The Great Lakes are Great!

One of the pleasures of our time spent cruising in the Great Lakes has been the noticeable transition to traveling in clean, clear and cool fresh water. Fresh water coursing through the engine cooling systems, the air conditioning cooling systems as well as bathing Hydrotherapy’s hull while cruising has helped us in many ways. Our diesel engines and generator run at cooler temperatures, making them more efficient. Our air conditioning systems are likewise less stressed without the salt and barnacle build-up so commonly encountered in our FlorIda Gulf waters.

Exterior boat cleaning has also been substantially simplified by not having to constantly soap wash the vessel to control the salt residue. No wonder so many of the northern boats we have encountered here look brand new.

We entered our first Great Lake (Ontario) at Oswego, NY in July to cross north to enter the Thousand Islands and the St. Lawrence Seaway. We were relieved to enter the North Georgia Bay of Lake Huron after traversing the 46 locks of the Trent Severn Waterway between Trent, ON and Port Severn, ON in August. We travelled south on Lake Huron to re-enter the U.S. at DeTour Village, Michigan. From there, we were fortunate to spend several days at Mackinac Island. The view of the Mackinac Bridge from there is where Lake Huron transitions into Lake Michigan.

The three Great Lakes that we have travelled thus far share the same beautiful elements. Crystal clear water with great depth visibility. Cool temperatures that make swimming a very refreshing experience. The green landscapes that line the shorelines with mature trees and evergreens are stunning. The fresh air here could not be fresher. The Great Lakes are great!

A Day in the Life of the Grahams

We have now lived aboard Hydrotherapy for six months. The only thing exactly the same each day is that they all begin with sunrise and end with sunset.

There are many things and events that are similar in our day to day life aboard, but most days are vastly different from beginning to end. We have discovered that adhering to somewhat of a schedule, even an ever changing one, helps us to form a routine for our work and chores.

We start each morning by making our bed. It sounds odd to think of this as an important part of starting our day, but in reality, its a reminder that we accomplished at least one task for the day! We pass through the bedroom many times in a day to reach the engine room, laundry room, supply closet, and freezer and seeing a made bed is a good thing.

We have designated (loosely) Fridays to be laundry and cleaning days. If we are at anchor on a Friday, we just move these chores to another day when we are in a marina with power hookup and dockside water.

We have learned to never pass on an opportunity to visit a grocery store. We learned the hard way that if we wait for a “better” store at the next town, the store might be 25 miles or more away from the marina. Buying groceries and supplies is a constant juggling act of not overbuying, with our limited space, but also not leaving ourselves short on needed supplies and food.

How many times have you heard the saying, “A place for everything and everything in it’s place?” If you ever want to see your screwdriver, sunscreen, or glasses again… put them where they belong. Items go undercover and missing on a boat alarmingly fast.

Taking the kitchen trash out every day is a priority. Yesterday’s trash needs to be out the door so bugs don’t find their way aboard and become your new best (and forever) friends.

We begin each morning sitting outside enjoying our coffee and end each evening sitting outside and enjoying the view and maybe toasting another glorious day with a glass of wine!

Proceed with Caution!

After completing the Rideau canal linking Ottawa with Kingston, Ontario, we cruised west to begin the Trent Severn Waterway. Unlike the Rideau canal which was originally designed for military purposes, the Trent Severn Waterway was conceived to move goods and commerce from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario by connecting numerous lakes in the region with a series of locks and dams.

The first successful lock was built from limestone blocks and hand-cranked wooden gates in 1857. As steamboats became more prevalent on the lakes, there was additional pressure to link more of the lakes and use dams to control the water levels between them. The Canadian government expanded the lock system further between1896 and 1904 when the Peterborough lock was completed. This lock was considered and engineering marvel of its time and is still in operation today. It utilizes hydraulic filled tubs to lift or lower vessels 62 feet depending on the direction of travel. In 1907, the invention of hydroelectric power generated from the control of water at the dams became the stimulus to complete the waterway by 1920. One of the locks scheduled to be completed during WWI was temporarily bypassed with a railway mechanism to carry boats from one lake to another at the Big Chute. Because of budget constraints after the war, the lock was never completed. A modified version of the Big Chute rail system remains in service today.

Vessels wishing to transit the rail system or any lock for that matter, must dock at a wall painted blue (the blue line) and wait for instructions from the lockmasters on when to enter. It is common to be placed in the locks with several other boats. The lockmasters that work for the Canada Park System are experts in stacking boats in the locks to make them as efficient as possible. The most frightening boats that enter are the rental houseboats that are often driven by the most inexperienced skippers. The lockmasters jokingly refer to these individuals as the “wallbangers.” We have just completed another 45 locks on the Trent-Severn to enter the Georgia Bay of Lake Huron. We found the locks and shallow waters of theTrent-Severn to be the most challenging part of our journey thus far. We are thankful that there will be no more locks to traverse until we leave Lake Michigan in the fall.