We have decided that we need to wander again! Our initial thought was to go to Lake Superior, but as we talked, our aspirations grew. THE LOOP! We are going to do the loop!
For us that would mean heading West across Lake Erie to the Detroit River, then heading North up the river to Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and South to Calumet City, just South of Chicago.
There we would drop the mast and then motor down the Calumet River to the Illinois River, which connects to the Mississippi near St Louis. We will head down the Mississippi to New Orleans where we will dock for a short period to return to Ohio for obligations, then back to the boat, raise the mast and head West in the Gulf of Mexico to visit Galveston and Corpus Christi.
After visiting these two locations, we will take our longest sail yet – around 7.5 days – from Corpus Christi to Mobile Alabama. Once we re-provision there, we will do a few hops and skips along the coast of Florida to St Petersburg where we will leave the boat and return home for Christmas to visit family.
The new year will start with us headed down the Gulf Coast to Fort Myers, and from there to the Dry Tortugas and Key West. That is all we have laid out thus far; from Key West we will improvise our way up the East coast, paying MUCH closer attention to visiting spots we skipped in our hurried trip North last time. Our hope is to re-visit Nova Scotia and Maine during the summer of 2025 before heading home. If we decide to come home…