WE DID IT!
We crossed our wake at 12:00 today as we entered the harbor at Mackinac Island.
This morning we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. It was a little bittersweet as we were excited to close our Loop, however sad that this would be the last day of cruising with Salvage Crew. We have traveled together since January 29th when we crossed over together to the Bahamas. We have been in front of them or behind them for 175 days and covered a distance of almost 2,900 miles.
What a time we have had and we cannot express how much their friendship means to us. Thanks, Brad and Patti, for the memories!
A few statistics that we have gathered since we left home on August 1, 2008…
We have been to three countries, 16 states, 146 different ports and too many locks to count. Good News has traveled 757 hours and covered over 6,500 miles. The price of fuel has ranged from $4.61 per gallon to $1.86 per gallon with an average of $2.59 per gallon over the year. Even though we have closed our Loop, when we leave Mackinac Island on Sunday we still have almost 300 miles until we get back home.
When you dream of doing this trip, many people you talk to say that the trip is great, but it is the people you meet along the way that make it the experience it is. We are so thankful for all of you who have made this trip “The Trip of a Lifetime” for us. Hopefully, you know who you are. Some friendships were brief and others will last a lifetime. How lucky we are.
Thank you too to friends and family who have followed along with us on our journey. Keeping in touch with loved ones wasn’t always easy, but each and every phone call, text message or email made us feel you hadn’t forgotten us. For me, it was a leap of faith when we left over a year ago that things would be the same when we returned. Our son Ryan became engaged to wonderful Devon, dear friends have moved away, babies have been born, parents have passed and life has gone on without us. We look forward to the future with our loved ones and await our next adventure.
A special thanks to Andy, my husband of 36 years and the most patient man I know. He has put up with me through trying times, joys, being homesick and I always knew I could count on him. He is the most capable Captain I know and there was great comfort in knowing that we were safe and could depend on each other. Don’t get me worng, there were days we probably wanted to throw each other overboard, but somehow each night we still felt blessed to have this adventure together.
We look forward to our weekend with our dear friends from home, John, Karen and Ted who have kept up with us and each joined us three times on this journey. More memories to be made and fun to have.
Ahhhh, what a ride it has been!
The Great Loop 
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