Ground Control to Major Tom...Commencing Countdown!

OK...many of you might not immediately recognize this reference to an old David Bowie song, but we couldn't resist. We are officially in countdown mode for our departure on the Great Loop. We will be casting off the lines and leaving our home marina in Chattanooga on or about October the 8th.

Although we have been living aboard for the past 3 months, and we've cruised over 1,500 miles on Sandrobber in the last year and a half, we haven't officially been "on" the Great Loop per se. We have learned a lot in the last 18 months, and feel that both we and our boat are well prepared for this grand adventure.

So, in a couple of weeks we'll be heading down the Tennessee River, with our first major destination being the AGLCA Rendezvous. AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) holds it's semi-annual meeting about 200 miles down river from where we are now, and it will serve as our jumping off point for starting to head south as the weather turns cooler. There will be 50+ boats there, most of which are actively in the midst of their own Great Loop journey. And there will be a collection of former "Loopers" as well as folks who are thinking about it for their future. Meetings and seminars and how-to sessions will all be geared towards getting us even better prepared for the journey ahead. And, we are certain that we will meet many new friends and future cruising buddies.

For those of you still trying to figure out what the Great Loop is...here is the obligatory map that everyone posts as they begin this adventure:



You can see that there are a few spots where there are alternate routes to be taken, and we've got a pretty good idea of what we will do when we get to these spots, but we're also leaving our options open. The various colors roughly correlate to the seasons that are best suited for travel on the various legs of the trip...blue for fall into winter, green for the late winter and spring, and red for the summer months. This gives you a rough idea of where we are headed. Most folks plan to complete this adventure in about a year, but we are planning to take 2 years or so. Therefor, we will be doing some back-tracking for portions of the trip to coincide with the changing of the seasons.

So...stay tuned as we venture onward! We are both excited, and anxious (in a good way) to get started. Oh the stories we'll have to tell...