Chasing That Horizon!

Today is the 6th of February. In just twenty days, we will raise the jacks, disconnect the hoses, and fire up the diesel engine. We are about to traverse the country again in our quest to complete The Great Loop. We have our reservations for Gloucester, VA, where we will stay while we prepare the boat for another 4000 miles of voyaging. We also will attend the AGLCA Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk, VA, at the end of April. A campsite has been reserved for that, as well, at the very location where the English first landed in 1607. How I love historical places.

Preparations have been underway for a while. Amazon has been busy delivering shipments of oil filters, fuel filters, pumps, tools, and miscellaneous other parts and supplies for the boat. A new 55LB Rocna anchor was purchased, which we will now have to carry with us all the way across the country. Why not just buy such a large object when we get there? Let's just say that it was a great deal that I found on Offer-Up, and it could not be passed up.

The motorhome has been crawled under, checking for fluid levels, leaks, tire pressures, and anything else that may be amiss. Things look okay, but one can never tell for sure. As Captain Ron says, "If anything's gonna happen, it'll happen out there".

We will travel across the southernmost roads, trying to keep Winter at bay. And we are not rushing to get there, either. We are planning to visit the Petroglyphs and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monuments in Arizona, as well as a guided tour of the aircraft boneyard in Tuscon. A day (or two) trip across the border awaits us from New Mexico, a family visit in Dallas, and a visit to the Johnson Space Center are in store. We will take a little over 30 days to reach our destination in Deltaville, VA.

Once we arrive, we will be quite busy with checking out the boat systems, de-winterizing, cleaning, changing fluids, installing solar panels, fabricating kayak mounts, setting up electronics, and painting the bottom. After all is done, we need to attend the Rendezvous, and then find a place to store the RV and the Jeep. That will be followed with another round of winterizing, after which we must find a way back to the boat, launch her, and get underway.

Assuming all goes well in April, we should be underway by the second week of May, working our way up the Chesapeake Bay. A trip up the Potomac to visit Washington is planned, followed by Annapolis and Baltimore. Hopefully, we will have time to visit Tangier Island and the Eastern Shore before we pass through the C&D Canal. Delaware Bay, Cape May, and New York are next, followed by a trip up the Hudson River, and Lake Champlain. The general plan will have us in Canada around July 1, and Chicago by September 7. But lets see how March and April go first.

It has been a great year and a half, hanging around California and Reno. Summer at Lake Tahoe was great, and Winter at Lake Perris has been quite mild. Family has been close by at both locations, and we will miss them. But it is time for our boot heels (boat shoes?) to be wandering.