When dreams become reality

Our last leg of the journey home had us going from Spencerport to Tonawanda on Tuesday, 67 miles, 14 lift bridges and the final 2 locks of the Erie Canal in Lockport. Definitely a long day and we were able to keep the t-storms to our north so that was a huge bonus. With no energy left to raise the radar we decided to call it a day and tackle that on Wednesday morning. You can't be over 15.5' in the western section of the canal and without taking the radar down we are 16.5'.

Wednesday ended up being our "recoup" day from pushing the travel through the canal as we stayed in Tonawanda overnight. Timing was perfect, Wednesday night was concert night and they had 2 bands at Gateway Park. The Impact, which played a variety of well known classic hits and Strictly Hip, which is a cover band for The Tragically Hip. The bands brought out a good crowd and the boats were rafted up to 4 deep.

Thursday brought us home, 19 miles from Tonawanda to Buffalo and the completion of the loop. WOW! WE DID IT!

I'm not really sure when the dream of doing the loop first entered our minds. What I do know is that we both had the same dream for years...whenever anyone would ask "what do you think you'll do in retirement", we would always answer "the great loop". Today as I write this post I can't believe the dream really has became the reality.
We completed the loop Thursday, August 3rd when we entered the Buffalo Harbor and docked our boat at Safe Harbor Marina, Buffalo, NY. How's it feel? Exciting, awesome, overwhelming, and a little sad to know it's over. We feel very blessed that we were afforded the opportunity and through the people we met we have been inspired, humbled, and grateful for the friendships we've made along the way.
The AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association) recently published how many people complete the loop in any given year... a record 127 boats reported completing the Great Loop in 2016, 2015 - 76, 2014 - 86, 2013 - 71, 2012 - 87, 2011 - 97 and 2010 - 92. To put those numbers in perspective, more people summit Mt. Everest in a given year than complete the loop. In 2016, 641 climbers made the summit. I don't know how many will complete the loop this year but I know the people we met while traveling were awesome!

The big question is "would you do it again?"...never say never. We know we would like to take the boat back to Florida and do the Bahamas but with our proximity to the east coast it would be faster and easier to head east. The question I like to answer is "do you recommend doing the loop?" That is an emphatic YES! It was a fantastic experience, we saw so much and learned even more. What was our favorite place? We have both tried to answer that question without much luck. There are too many favorites, all for different reasons; scenery, city, small town, marina, people... What would we do differently? We would have added solar panels and a muffler to our generator.

We would be amiss if we didn't thank those that made everything possible. The support from our family and friends has been tremendous and a special thanks to my sister Maureen, who was our mail delivery service and took the time to stop in at our "dirt" home over and over again to check on things. Also, our son Daniel who also helped out where needed and countless friends that pitched in to have us over when we were home, or did drive-bys at the house, helped when the power went out, I could go on and on.

Also, a big thank you to all of you who took the time to read the blog and encouraged me to keep writing it. We had the time of our lives!
                                       
                                                                    Loop Stats
Days looping                                                         447
Travel days                                                           201
Miles traveled                                                    7,992
Number of different locations visited                   145
Locks                                                                    141
Bridges (lifted, swung or moved)                        110
Nights in marinas                                                 278
Nights at anchor                                                     96
Nights at free wall or dock                                     62
Nights on mooring balls                                         11

• Average cruising speed (total miles traveled/total hours on engines, so it includes waiting for locks, bridges, etc.) = 8.58 mph
• Fuel prices (including Canada converted to U.S. dollars)
• Highest fuel price paid - $3.67  Buffalo, NY (summer of 2015)
• Lowest fuel price paid - $2.07   Chesapeake, VA (summer of 2017)
• Average fuel price - $2.83

Props dinged                                 0
Groundings                                   0
Haul outs                                       0
Mechanical Issues                         0
Captains or 1st Mates replaced     0
Memories Made                            too many to count

The wall in Spencerport

 

The wall in Brockport

 

One of the many lift bridges, this one in Holley

 

Many towns have murals along the way

 

Entrance to the 2 locks in Lockport

 

Notice the smile, last 2 locks on the Erie Canal

which took us up 50'

 

Kayakers in Tonawanda

 

Captain's Choice with a prime location in Tonawanda

 

Boater's rafting for the concert Wednesday night

 

Shuffle off to Buffalo

 

Cruising under the Peace Bridge, current averages 7 to 12 mph

Sailboats and slow trawlers have to use the Black Rock Canal

 

Approaching the Buffalo skyline

 

Buffalo Lighthouse at the mouth of the Buffalo River

 

Buffalo Naval & Military Park

 

Canalside - the 2  sail boats in the middle are

loopers from South Carolina

 

Buffalo RiverWorks - massive waterfront complex

for skating, hockey, curling & concerts with dining

and concessions 

 

Captain's Choice docked in Buffalo, NY

 

Buffalo has some of the best food!

Chicken wings and roast beef on a kummelweck roll

 

and pizza!