Carey's Reflections on the Loop . . .

The first phase of our Great Loop Adventure – the river system -- is complete.  Depending on where you start the Loop, the river section could appear anywhere along the journey.  Since we started in Racine, Wisconsin, we were tasked with doing the rivers first.  Here are some statistics and observations on our trip so far:

Miles travelled by boat (Racine, WI to Mobile AL:  1879 miles (By car, much less.  As the crow flies, even less.)

River systems we traveled on:

1.  Chicago River

2.  Chicago Sanitary Ship Canal

3.  Des Plaines River

4.  Illinois River

5.  Mississippi River

6.  Ohio River

7.  Cumberland River

8.  Tennessee River (to Chattanooga and back)

9.  Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway

10.  Tombigbee River

11. Black Warrior River

12. Mobile River

Number of Locks we passed through:  30 (four locks twice)

1.  Eight up

2.  Twenty two down (easier since less turbulence)

3.  Lowest change:  15 feet

4.  Highest change (Wilson) 98 feet

Some observations about the rivers:

Most of the time we were traveling down river; with the current.  That typically added one to one and a half miles per hour to our speed.  And it helped with fuel economy since you could run the engine at a lower RPM to get the speed you wanted.

The rivers were peaceful and clean (no human generated trash).  Except for the Mississippi which was a wide ride because of the current.

There was lots of wildlife.  Too many herons to count, pelicans, and a fair number of bald eagles.  And a few turtles.  Haven't seen any alligators yet, but we've been told we will.

Anchoring proved to be easier than we thought and quite enjoyable.  We are slowly changing all our light bulbs to LED to reduce battery drain while at anchor.

Some observations about where we stayed:

Compared to our home port marina (Reef Point), the marinas along the rural river system are primitive.  People with larger boats use the heads on their boats because . . . well, just because.

Cell service and internet service has been much worse than expected.  I thought I would be able to stay in touch with work with greater success, but alas it was not to be.  That turned out to be a good thing actually.

Food and diesel has been less expensive than expected.  Especially diesel fuel (~$2.50 or less).

No recycling!  Do you know how many beer bottles we (mostly me) generate?

It’s easy to borrow the courtesy car to run into town.   Pretty much no questions asked re insurance and the like.  We have been told that there won’t be courtesy cars in Florida.