Closure of a wonderful journey.

A wonderful arrival and our home port in Hampton, Illinois.








On Monday August 30, 2010, Noah Genda crossed her wake in St Charles, MO officially closing what we like to refer to as one of the most fantastic experiences of a lifetime.

Our 12 month journey is difficult to put into a few words the enjoyment we have shared together on this fantastic voyage. We can’t believe a year has passed and our journey has come to an end. We are thankful that we live in a country that affords us the freedom to experience this incredible trip. This has been a truly wonderful amazing, rewarding experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Our travels introduced us to so many interesting, fun, good quality people whose friendships we will cherish forever. We are often asked, “What was the best part of the journey?” It is difficult to refer to a “Best Part” of the Loop, but maybe more simply stated the entire loop has been the best part. There are certainly memorable events such as dolphin sightings, the people we have met along the way, Canada, the history of the entire East Coast of America, all of Florida, Dismal Swamp, Lake Michigan, the Studebaker Museum, the inland waterways and of course the educational AGCLA rendezvous. However it is all great and you could just go on listing the entire experience as the “Best Part”. Our routing included a side trip to Chattanooga as well as north from NY to Lake Champlain, Richelieu canal, Montreal, St Lawrence to the 1000 islands to Kingston, Ontario before reconnecting with routing to the Trent-Severn Waterway..

So what’s next?? Who knows, however we have both decided we love this cruising lifestyle. We will take a break in this chapter to visit family and friends at home and plan our next cruising adventure somewhere in this beautiful country on the waterway.

We wish to extend our most sincere thank you to all who have traveled with us on this journey through the intranet. We have enjoyed your kind words, support and lasting friendship. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We additionally hope this encourages others to pursue their dreams and share your visions together while you are able.

Statistics:

Total Great Loop Miles 6,889.0
Total gals of diesel fuel consumed 2,842.0
Number of Engine Hours 888.6
Days Start to Finish 360.0
Days underway 162.0
Average miles per travel day 42.7
Average miles per travel hour 7.75
Average travel hours per travel day 5.49
Number of nights at anchor or free dock 50.0
Number of days in a marina, w/slip fee 310.0
Number of locks 130.0
Number of States visited 21.0

Diann & Tom Lanum
“Noah Genda”
’91 39’ Ocean Alexander Sun Deck

Day 358, 359, 360 Arrived Home 9/8/2010

Thanks Dennis, Diane, Carollee and Ron for the fun welcome reception.








Steve & Liz northbound in Lock 18, Mississippi River. Hate to see them go, they have been fun companions









Roger, Rod & Jolene at anchor our first night back in hometown waters.







Our grandkids Sydney, Jensen and Riley heading home.







Our long time friends Randy and Kris Teel, Paul and Linda Slagel greeted us just before the nights anchorage.








Entering the harbor at our hometown Lindsay Park Yacht Club.







We departed Burlington IA at daybreak for a long days run. We had three locks to pass through, address severe oncoming current, and deliver our daughter Dawn and family to their vehicle located at the Fairport IA marina.

At MM 470 (Andalusia, IL) one of our favorite anchorages of years past, we found our friends Rod & Jolene Teel already anchored. Storms and high winds were predicted later in the evening but we were secured to Rod’s boat just before the high winds arrived.

It was a pleasant surprise as we entered our hometown area to see so many friends welcome us home and the radio chatter was a warm welcome. The following day the very high winds continued as we ventured one additional lock along with our looper friends Steve and Liz Kemper that we caught up with at Lock 15 on the Mississippi River. We peeled off at our hometown yacht club in Davenport IA and decided to stay one additional night out before heading for home port the next morning, eight miles up the river in Hampton, IL. Our very dear friends Ron & Carollee Baltzer, Dennis Smith and Diane Oberhardt greeted us at our home port Tuesday Morning 9/7/10 bringing our “Great Loop” to our final chapter. What an absolutely memorable journey.

Day 357 Burlington, IA 9/4

Tom Biehl and Daughter Dawn










Tom Biehl, Diann & Tom







Tom & Tom








Daughter Dawn, Riley, Jensen, Diann & Sydney






Dawn at Burlington downtown City Park Fountain








Dawn, Kevin and family








Another Street Rod, Tom just manages to find.







Friday 9/4 our friend Tom Biehl delivered our daughter Dawn and her family as promised from Quad Cities to Keokuk. Thank you Tom for your generosity. We had a great time catching up before Tom ventured back to the Quad Cities.

The Keokuk Yacht Club was having an annual Labor Day festivity and invited us to join them for a cook your own steak dinner. All of us enjoyed the cook out as well as the warm friendly hospitality extended by the members of Keokuk Yacht Club.
Today’s itinerary was a short run up to Burlington Yacht Club. The current has subsided to a more tolerable pace providing a much more relaxed cruise than the last few days. The bridge clearances are still reduced by high water and today’s RR bridges were required to open for us to pass under them. Trains were scheduled on both bridges and we had to wait a few minutes for trains to pass the bridges before opening. All three of the kids spent time steering the boat and learning the electronics.

Our good friends Steve and Liz Kemper are also here at Burlington’s Bluff Harbor. Tomorrow’s goal is departure at daybreak for a 60 mile run to Fairport, IA plus we have to pass through 3-locks. The commercial traffic has increased dramatically since the river closing this past week for dredging at Hannibal, MO. The channel has since opened up and the backed up traffic is now moving north and south. We are dropping Dawn, Kevin and family off at Fairport tomorrow evening hopefully before dusk.

It has been fun with the grandkids, Dawn and Kevin and we are glad it worked out to connect. It is always difficult to make this work out with timing, location and logistics, but I think we can call this a success story. Everyone is having a very relaxed good time.

Day 355 Keokuk, IA

Quincy Riverfront Park








Quincy IL has some interesting old buildings








Our view of the skyline sailing up the Mississippi River from Hannibal MO.








Mark Twain excusion boat - Hannibal MO








Quincy Bridge








Lock 20 with rollers up - can you see all the logs?







A little current wouldn't you say????







The high water and current slowed us down to sometimes 5 MPH. When we met the Des Moines River flowing into the Mississippi River just below Keokuk IA the current was relentless. Just a wall of water and debris.

We pulled into Keokuk Yacht Club at 1:30 on Thursday and our first problem happened when Tom called the marina telling them we’d be a day early making a 2 night stay rather than one. They had cancelled our Friday reservation and of course a big party was starting Friday night. Tom got that straightened out when he said find room because we're not leaving! Where we had docked the boat ended up being right in front of the band and picnic tables. Tom had also called for a diesel truck to meet us and when he arrived it was a raining like crazy! On the brighter side it is taco Thursday here so I don’t have to cook! After dinner and some conversation with some very pleasant Yacht Club Members the wind picked up significantly. Several members suggested that we relocate our boat to a safer location inside their harbor in lieu of exposed on the seawall. With help of considerate club members we successfully repositioned our boat in a slip out of the strong winds. A special thank you to the Keokuk Yacht Club members for their extended kindness.

With today’s storm, it appears the weather is going to be moderate with cooler days, nights and less humidity. A welcome change for cruising the remaining miles to home port.

We are getting closer to home and the reality of this wonderful journey coming to closure is certainly bitter sweet. We will miss the adventure and the many friends we have met along the way. However, we will also be happy to be back home to see family and friends.