Greetings one and all!
It seems that 2014 is going to be a year of change for us. With last Winter being as brutal as it was and John's recent retirement, we have decided to take our cat, Molly and journey South down the river system with Free Bird this Fall via the Great Loop. Yes, we are going to join the ranks of the "Loopers".
We will sail to Chicago in September where we will pull her mast and then motor all the way to Mobile, AL. After going through 26 locks and travelling more than 1,200 miles we will meet up with the mast (which is being trucked) there and then continue on to Florida. We plan to make our winter home from January to April at Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda, FL.
We are busy making plans and very excited to be undertaking this new adventure. There has been a lot of prep work done already. John spent many hours working hard before we even launched this year sanding off the bottom paint and re-painting with some anti-fouling that is compatible with both fresh and saltwater. Other projects already completed include complete re-do of all topside teak, building a new teak table for the salon, installing lots of new LED lights, building a kitty perch for the cat and much more. There is still much to be done. We are trying to work on our "to do" list and cross things off of it daily.
In the meantime we are trying to make the most of our last days here with Free Bird on the Great Lakes and looking forward to enjoying the rest of what Summer has to offer.
We'll be posting more information as to our route and our plans soon.
CHEERS!!
