The Great Loop

This web site is an attempt to provide a quick and easy way for our family and freinds to keep up with us on "The Loop"

The Great Loop is a 6000 mile jouney down the Tennessee River and the Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile, Alabama. From there around the coast of Florida via Key West with a side trip to the Bahamas. Back to the coast of Florida we head up the east coast to the Chesapeake Bay. From the Chesapeake we continue up the east coast through New York Harbour, up the Hudon River, and across the Erie Canal. Through a series of canals we go across Lake Ontario into Canada. We will spend a month in Canada. Back to the US, we will cross Lake Michigan to Chicago. Following the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers back to Tennesse.


LOOP CLOSED: 8/12/09: 310 days, 6170 miles, 107 locks, 3 countries, 16 states, 85 different marinas, 10,050 gallons of diesel fuel, thousands of photos, countless new friends, and priceless memories...

Friday, July 10, 2009

Bobcaygeon to Orillia

So....Jerry wakes me once again ....one more day of lock and rollin'......except today we get to experience going thur the Trent Canal ....actually cut into the rock many years ago....now we have narrow, rock on the bottom, and both sides and in some places less than a foot deep... oh did I mention 10 locks today?? When we passed another large boat....we were unable to obtain photos.....that would be because we were too busy watching the channel....Captain Jerry prevailed without any incidents........................

Pretty rocky, ey? our new Canadians phrase. So the conversations are "Nice day, 'ey?" ....it is catching on with me.............

As you can see the channel is clearly marked.................just a little narrow.............'EY????

As we enter one of the 10 locks we will do today............all is well and we resemble a bumper boat...........sometimes high ....sometimes low....so I just put 7 fenders on the starboard side high and low............we are ready now for anything..........bring it on!
OK....so maybe not for this one...........another LIFT LOCK..............this one is amazing...built in 1903....you actually pull into a large pan of water....another boat is pulling into another pan below and up and down you go.............it is a weird feeling....sort of like a roller coaster..........
There I am high on the lift lock........deck hand #1..............


This one is of the other boat going up and we have been lifted down...........the pictures just do not do it........but it is awesome................
This one is called "Hole in The Wall".......as we are headed toward Lake Simcoe..............

Another narrow passage......now that we have made it thru the canal.......
Awh. ...........The beauty of open water.........Lake Simcoe is really pretty.....shimmering in the sunlight......I can be so poetic.....I amaze myself............ha
And at last we arrive at our destination..............Orillia...........really pretty town...........as we pass some boaters relaxing..............great dock.....'EY?

Arriving our destination....Port of Orillia.............We are so happy to be here........as one could imagine..........just getting the boat docked seems like Christmas .......We just want to celebrate another day..........and we made it..............we will be here 3 nights (pay for 2 -1 free)...only 4 more locks (including "Big Chute" - more on that later)
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