I was awake at 4:00 a.m. thinking about our arrival home and ending our trip. We do so with such mixed emotions. We are happy to be completing something that we began over a year ago and excited about seeing family, friends and familiar surroundings, yet sad that this journey was ending.
The day began like so many others, with a beautiful sunrise
and the water at our front and back doors.
The waters were calm and the skies were beautifully bright and sunny when we cranked our engines and cast off our lines at 8:00 for the final leg.
We have made the trip from Lexington back to our home port of Belle Maer many times, but this one certainly felt different. We were doing so completing a 7,000 mile journey.
We passed under the Blue Water Bridge at 10:00.
This marked our leaving Lake Huron and entering the St. Clair River. This will take us to Lake St. Clair and Anchor Bay into Belle Maer Harbor, our home port. At 11:53 a.m. while cruising past Algonac, we passed the 7,000 mile mark.
Our son, Scott, was on the dock to catch our lines. It was so good to see his smiling face again.
The finish line (compliments of Karen and John Barney).
We are a year older (not wiser) and Good News has served us well…three countries, 16 states, 160 ports, 7019.2 miles…
and memories…priceless!
To the many followers who have read my blog so faithfully, I thank you. Knowing that almost 300 people a day were waiting to read of our adventures kept me motivated to keep taking pictures (almost 3,000) and keep telling our story. Some read it with their morning coffee, some with their glass of wine at night. We were so fortunate to be able to take the trip, the least we could do was share the journey. Many of you I have never met and probably never will. I hope I have, in a small way, been able to portray each day as we have experienced it and provided a window into our lives.
As I sign off I leave you with one final thought…
Life is a journey, not a destination…enjoy the moments!
Until our next adventure, Good News…standing by.
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A few words from the Captain…
People who had done this trip told us when we first started that “it isn’t the destinations that make this trip great, it’s the people you meet along the way.” How right they were. We have a lot of great memories of Loopers we have traveled with along the way, especially that couple from “Bama”, Patti and Brad.
There is one person that this trip could have never even started without and that is my wife, Mary. Without her, this great blog would not exist, we would not have been able to safely dock or enter all those locks, have laughter every day on board with the people that we had met, great meals when it was our turn and keeping our home on the water working so well, thank you Mary.
And thanks to all the people who followed our travels through this blog. It was impressive how many more hits Mary had every Monday morning. To anybody thinking of doing this trip, cast off and go, you will find a lifetime of great memories and friends.