Daydream's Great Loop Blog!

[hardee]

Unless you are going to AZ for a particular purpose, why not angle north from I-10 and catch I-40 before Albuquerque, and then NW through Farmington NM and then NW through Green River, Moab, Salt Lake City onto I-15 and I-84 through Boise, then at Pendleton, decide if you want to do Snoqualmie or the Gorge and up I-5. Shorter miles, and right now the weather window looks good for that. Just my thoughts.

Travel safe.

QUESTION, Did the Verizon JetPak help with reception if you were on the fringes of Verizon?

Thanks,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Pat Anderson]

Unless you are going to AZ for a particular purpose, why not angle north from I-10 and catch I-40 before Albuquerque, and then NW through Farmington NM and then NW through Green River, Moab, Salt Lake City onto I-15 and I-84 through Boise, then at Pendleton, decide if you want to do Snoqualmie or the Gorge and up I-5. Shorter miles, and right now the weather window looks good for that. Just my thoughts.

Travel safe.

QUESTION, Did the Verizon JetPak help with reception if you were on the fringes of Verizon?

Thanks,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

We do have a specific purpose for going to Arizona, specifically Casa Grande, hence the straight shot on I-10. We made Casa Grande this afternoon.

There were some places Verizon had no service, but when it had ANY service, the phones worked better with the Jetpack and WiFi calling than T-Mobile cell service.

We'll be heading on up to Gold Canyon to visit Russ and Toni Portner tomorrow afternoon, and on Wednesday morning, we'll start the trip north!

 

[Pat Anderson]

I guess a "trip" is not really over until you get back home!

We got back in Birch Bay Sunday afternoon, the day before yesterday. Yesterday was spent getting a lot of stuff off the boat but there is a LOT more to do.

Our trip home was interesting! Here are our stops:

4/13 Labelle to Lakeland, FL - short, after retrieval, packing up kayak, lines, fenders, etc

4/14 Lakeland to Apalachicola to get stuff out of Marc Grove's garage

4/15 Apalachicola to Pensacola, two days at Camp Thataway with Bob and Marie Austin

4/17 Pensacola to Vinton, LA

4/18 Vinton to Kerrville, TX

4/19 Kerrville to Sierra Blanca, the saddest little town ever

4/20 Sierra Blanca to Casa Grande, AZ, to check on fiver, visit friends at Palm Creek, and have lunch at In 'n Out

4/21 Casa Grande to Apache Junction to visit Russ and Toni Portner at Gold Canyon

4/22 Apache Junction to Edison, CA - Orange Grove RV Park

4/23 Edison to Redding

4/24 Redding to Milwaukie, OR to visit Barret, Laurie and Romy for two days

4/26 Milwaukie to Birch Bay, WA

We have to empty the boat, clean it, arrange for some fiberglass repair, do an engine service and tuck it into the garage.

Next up: Friday Harbor in May, and probably a couple of weeks of cruising.

Today the page views on the blog topped 79,000, which blows me away. We had the blog printed as a hardbound book by blog2print.com for our coffee table, and it came out very nice!

OVER AND OUT!

 

[Pat Anderson]

Duplicate post deleted!

 

[BillE]

Pat, I'm guessing that those 4/s are supposed to be 11/s?

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed following you and Patty on your grand adventure, and hope to follow in your wake one day.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pat, I'm guessing that those 4/s are supposed to be 11/s?

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed following you and Patty on your grand adventure, and hope to follow in your wake one day.

HUGE OOPS! They are November, not April!!!

 

[Pat Anderson]

Try this again!

I guess a "trip" is not really over until you get back home!

We got back in Birch Bay Sunday afternoon, the day before yesterday. Yesterday was spent getting a lot of stuff off the boat but there is a LOT more to do.

Our trip home was interesting! Here are our stops:

11/13 Labelle to Lakeland, FL - short, after retrieval, packing up kayak, lines, fenders, etc

11/14 Lakeland to Apalachicola to get stuff out of Marc Grove's garage

11/15 Apalachicola to Pensacola, two days at Camp Thataway with Bob and Marie Austin

11/17 Pensacola to Vinton, LA

11/18 Vinton to Kerrville, TX

11/19 Kerrville to Sierra Blanca, the saddest little town ever

11/20 Sierra Blanca to Casa Grande, AZ, to check on fiver, visit friends at Palm Creek, and have lunch at In 'n Out

11/21 Casa Grande to Apache Junction to visit Russ and Toni Portner at Gold Canyon

4/22 Apache Junction to Edison, CA - Orange Grove RV Park

11/23 Edison to Redding

11/24 Redding to Milwaukie, OR to visit Barret, Laurie and Romy for two days

11/26 Milwaukie to Birch Bay, WA

We have to empty the boat, clean it, arrange for some fiberglass repair, do an engine service and tuck it into the garage.

Next up: Friday Harbor in May, and probably a couple of weeks of cruising.

Today the page views on the blog topped 79,000, which blows me away. We had the blog printed as a hardbound book by blog2print.com for our coffee table, and it came out very nice!

 

[hardee]

Hi Pat and Patty,

Sure glad you made it home OK. Trust there were no weather issues or other malfunctions. Are you going to post the totals here on C-BRATS for those who did not follow along. WOW, 79,000 pages views. That is really a whole 'nuther accomplishment. Backs up our thoughts on what a great writing job you did. It was interesting, educational, fun and addicting for me. Thanks for keeping it up. I'm sure there were times when it was a challenge. Stay safe, and see you.

Will be looking forward to seeing that gold burgee now.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Catman]

What an amazing adventure you two just completed. I'm going to miss reading your blog after all these months. 79,000 views and probably three times that many words describing your daily discoveries in beautiful, historical, American cities and small towns.

Thanks for the entertainment and education, Pat and Patti, and I look forward to seeing you and listening to your experiences in person. I'm glad you're back, and delighted it went so well.
:star

 

[journey on]

Actually, Pat, you were in Bakersfield, Ca on 4/22 so change it to read:

11/22 Apache Junction to Bakersfield, CA - Orange Grove RV Park, 1452 S Edison Rd.

11/23 Bakersfield, CA to Redding , Ca

I do hope you finally overcame the excitement of being home.

Boris

 

[Pat Anderson]

Hi Pat and Patty,

Are you going to post the totals here on C-BRATS for those who did not follow along. WOW, 79,000 pages views. That is really a whole 'nuther accomplishment.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon

OK, here you go!

THE STATISTICS

Start date: April 1, 2017 at Ortona Lock Boat Ramp

Crossed wake: 9:54 a.m. November 13, 2017 at Ortona Lock Boat Ramp

Total days on Loop: 226

Non-travel days: 89

Locks transited: 108

Statute miles traveled: 5,428

Engine hours: 844.5

Outboard maintenances performed: 4

Fuel used: 1,114 gallons

Cost of fuel: $4,200

Nights in marinas: 82

Boat cards collected:75

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Actually, Pat, you were in Bakersfield, Ca on 4/22 so change it to read:

11/22 Apache Junction to Bakersfield, CA - Orange Grove RV Park, 1452 S Edison Rd.

11/23 Bakersfield, CA to Redding , Ca

I do hope you finally overcame the excitement of being home.

Boris

And I hope you left us a few oranges at the Orange Grove!

I’m going to miss reading about your adventures doing the great loop. I suspect it’s as close as we will get to doing it ourselves! Thanks again for letting us tag along!

 

[Larry H]

Pat and Patty,

Congratulations on completing the Loop!

In your statistics, I see an omission.

How many times did you have to dump the solids tank of your Airhead toilet?

Do you have any comments on the Airhead being used for so long on a daily basis?

 

[kevin ware]

Pat/Patty

Have been following your exploits. Not sure which was the most challenging, towing the boat back and forth to Florida, or the loop. Be good to see you again.

Kevin and Kari
Mount Vernon, WA

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pat and Patty,

Congratulations on completing the Loop!

In your statistics, I see an omission.

How many times did you have to dump the solids tank of your Airhead toilet?

Do you have any comments on the Airhead being used for so long on a daily basis?

We switched from peat moss to coco coir as the composting medium, we think it works better. We also added the enzyme that Airhead recommends in the manual, it is actually a drain clearing enzyme called ZEP Drain Care. We used diatomaceous earth for insect control, works wonders.

We renewed the solids tank six times in eight months, but remember, we spent 82 nights in marinas and a number of other non-cruising days, so it was not actually in daily use. That said, it was amazing. When we emptied it, most of it was well along in decomposition. The continual reduction in volume was nothing short of astounding. There was no odor. We consider it a complete success. It would be less important for people who always stay in marinas, but we anchored out way more than we stayed in marinas. We really appreciated not having to find pump-outs, especially where they were few and far between or very expensive!

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pat/Patty

Have been following your exploits. Not sure which was the most challenging, towing the boat back and forth to Florida, or the loop. Be good to see you again.

Kevin and Kari
Mount Vernon, WA

The tow to/from Florida covered about 7,900 miles, but they were almost all freeway miles, since we came home the southern route via I-10 west and I-5 north, so not too challenging. The cruise was 5,428 miles, and each section presented some challenges, but overall, it was really enjoyable. We had one bad day cruising on the Chesapeake Bay, and a terrible night on the free wall at St. Joseph, MI, but otherwise as long as we paid attention to the weather, we made out well! Look forward to seeing you guys again too!

 

[hardee]

Hi Pat,

Do you have how many nights at anchor separated out? I got the 82 in marinas, but not sure how that works with the non travel days.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Pat Anderson]

Nearest we can figure, we anchored 132 nights. Seems about right.

 

[hardee]

Thanks Pat, and from your blog, I don't remember any anchoring issues, except for the shallow water :lol: . Sounds like you did well in that department.
Any thoughts, things that didn't make the blog or recommendations?
Anchor swivel or none?
Did you ever need or use a second anchor?
What was your typical scope?

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

 

[Pat Anderson]

Thanks Pat, and from your blog, I don't remember any anchoring issues, except for the shallow water :lol: . Sounds like you did well in that department.
Any thoughts, things that didn't make the blog or recommendations?
Anchor swivel or none?
Did you ever need or use a second anchor?
What was your typical scope?
ey,eye
Harvey
SleepyC:moon

Harvey, I just say your post, We typically anchored quite shallow, usually 10-15 feet and put out 60 feet of rode (in addition to the chain). Never used a second anchor. Not sure what an anchor swivel is, so I assume we did not have one, just a shacklle between the chain and the anchor.