I mentioned in my previous page that I discovered “The Loop” accidentally on a sunny saturday afternoon. My life has not been the same since.
America’s Great Loop
You can travel the eastern US via waterways. As you can see the map above, you navigate counterclockwise around the eastern US generally following the gulf stream and river currents. “Spring up” the coast of Florida to New York, “Summer” in the Great Lakes, “Fall” down the Mississippi River/ Tennessee Tenn-Tom waterway, and winter in south or Florida. Thus you have completed the Loop.
There are variations on the theme. You can go around the tip of Florida by sailing into the Gulf and Atlantic via the Keys or motor straight across the state via Okeechobee Waterway. During the summer, most “loopers” visit the Great Lakes via the Canadian route but you could do the southern portion of the lakes and never leave the country. Most “loopers” travel down the Mississippi and then Tenn-Tom to Mobile, AL rather than getting involved in the heavy barge traffic on the Mississippi to New Orleans, LA. So many options. No one “looper” travels the same path as another.
How long does it take? Some folks interrupt their careers for one year to accomplish this task. Some folks only undertake portions of the Loop every summer while on vacation. This may take years until they have completed their loop. Some folks buy a boat and just keep exploring the different waterways and have not become landlubbers again.
Good sources for learning more about this Loop is:
http://captainjohn.org/GL-1.html
mvalwayshome 