WE DID IT, finished the loop

Well I am pleased to report that Solitude treated us so well on the entire trip.  I think that it is certainly in part by the way that Erwin took such good care of the boat and was very good at the regular maintenance.

As you can see by this next picture, Lake Michigan welcomed us back with extremely calm water.

Here is a view of the famous Sleeping Bear Dune.

Here is our first view of the home port harbor of Muskegon, Michigan.  It surprised us that we felt strange approaching the harbor.  It has been 23 months since we left here.

Erwin's mom and dad with my sister Lonnie greeted us and took some pictures of us returning.

Here is Solitude coming down the main channel at Muskegon Lake.

Here is a closer view of the two of us.

It was almost surreal coming into our home port after such a fabulous journey.  We have so many memories of the trip.  We have covered the following:

• almost 7,000 miles
• 115 Locks
• 17 States
• 2 Countries (Canada and US)

Most importantly we have had the support of our families, our friends, and all of our many followers.  We felt the love and support over the entire trip.  We have met some of the most amazing people along the way.  It has also provided us with some new life long friends.  We have had good days and bad days, but we both agree that it was well worth doing.  We have even had folks ask us if we are still together after a trip like this.  We are pleased to say that we still are together and are looking forward to our next adventure.

Here is a picture of us coming into our marina at Harbour Towne.

And last, but certainly a final photo, here is us at the boat, back in the slip.

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU!  We had a wonderful time and hope you enjoyed following us.

Georgian Bay and the North Channel

After we had finished all 45 of the locks on the Trent-Severn Waterway, we were ready to be in the open water again.  We headed into Georgian Bay which is a large body of water just like the Great Lakes.  We did take the secondary channel which was another adventure waiting for us.

The Canadian Waterways are very well marked and for a very good reason.  As you will see from our pictures there is a lot of rock.  Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  This was a little unsettling to us as we have gone aground many times during this adventure, but the rocks do not forgive like sand and clay bottoms.

This is one of the beautiful sunrises that we enjoyed as we cruised the north country.

As I said, the waterways are very well marked.  These are some of the markers that we saw along the way.  They have shore markers which are a board with a symbol that will help you locate the buoy in the water which is typically just off the shore marker.  The shore markers are anchored on the tops of rocks.

All of the lighthouses are constructed the same and they are not different like we are used to here in the United States.

The markers are so close that it was difficult to tell from a distance if there was room for our boat to pass through them.  Here is what they looked liked as we passed.  Does not look wide enough for a 12 foot wide boat, huh?

Some of the navigational aids were not the conventional ones that we were used to seeing.

We were very happy to be closer to home and the sky was so blue and the rocks were a pink color that was really neat.

Some of the passages were quite narrow and we thought you might enjoy seeing our view.

So this is what the landscape looked like from the boat.

Check out the cottages and houses are built on the rocks.

Just so you have a prospective of the size of the rocks, check out these teenagers sitting on the rocks.

The sunsets every day had this beautiful purple glow to them in the north country.

We had a few challenges traveling in another country, but for the most part other than the currency, all of the groceries were the same.  I had to be sure to have Tooneys and Looneys to do the laundry, but interesting all of the packaging is in French and English.  Check out the milk cartons, not plastic jugs.  It would be great to have this option here in the U.S.

When is the last time you purchased Sealtest milk?  Remind you of being a kid?

All and all we could have spent a lot more time in both the Georgian Bay and the North Channel, but we were both ready to head for home.  Here is two of the anchorages in the North Channel.  The first one is at South Benjamen Islands and the second is at Beardrop.

We went for a hike on shore, check out the size of the boulders along the way.

We made it back into the U.S. and checked into U.S. customs at Drummond Island.  Here is the lighthouse on the way to Detour, Michigan.

Here is one of the northern lighthouses which reminded us that we were getting close to home.  This one is by Grey's Reef.