Floyd sent the following e-mail to three of his instructors at Chapman's ...Jack Carl, Capt Joan, and Capt Pat.... we are pposting it here as it is a great summary of our Great LOOP trip. Get out your map!!!!


Well, we finally did it! Tumbleweed crossed her wake and completed the loop at 9:30AM on Sunday, September 4th.

As you may remember I came to Chapman's to prepare me for this fantastic cruise. My first mate Linda Hoobler and I left from St Charles Missouri on July 8, 2008. That first season we cruised the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois and then up the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers past Nashville, Tennessee. We then retraced our wake back to the Tennessee River. We cruised the Tennessee River and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to Demopolis, Alabama where we put the boat in storage on the hard and went home for the holidays.

We returned to Demopolis and resumed our adventure in February 2009. We cruised the Black Warrior, Tombigbee, and Mobile Rivers to Mobile, Alabama. From there we entered the Gulf Inter-coastal Waterway and cruised to Carrabelle, Florida. Following a crossing of the Gulf of Mexico we arrived at Steinhatchee, Florida and headed down the Gulf coast of Florida to Ft Myers where we met up with fellow Chapman's student Rick Hillard and his wife on their boat Tourist. From there we crossed Lake Okeechobee and arrived for a one week stay anchored in Manatee Pocket. During our stay there we were able to re-connect with Captain Joan and Jack Carl. From Stuart we headed north up the Atlantic Inter-Coastal Waterway and the Chesapeake Bay where we again put the boat in storage on the hard in the little town of Lottsburg, Virginia and went home for a much needed rest.

We returned to Lottsburg in the Spring of 2010. From there we cruised the Potomac River to Washington, DC, Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis and Baltimore, the C & D Canal and the Delaware River to Philadelphia, and Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey. From Cape May we cruised the waterway and the Atlantic Ocean into New York City. Following a one week stay in New York we headed up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal. We took the Erie and Oswego Canals to Oswego, New York. We crossed Lake Ontario and entered the St Lawrence River. We entered Canada in Kingston, Ontario and then cruised the north shore of Lake Ontario to Picton and Trenton, Ontario. We recrossed Lake Ontario to Oswego and retraced our steps on the Oswego and Erie Canals to Brewerton, New York where we put the boat in inside storage for the winter.

Back in Brewerton in late May 2011 we returned to Trenton, Ontario where we started up the Trent-Severn Waterway to Port Severn, Ontario. There we entered Lake Huron. We followed Georgian Bay and the North Channel around the northern side of Lake Huron. We re-entered the United States at Drummond Island, Michigan. We passed through the Straits of Mackinac into Lake Michigan. We cruised down the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan to New Buffalo where we crossed Lake Michigan to Chicago. We went up to Racine, Wisconsin to visit some friends we had made when we first started this saga. From there I spent a month in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois doing chores and getting the boat cleaned up while Linda went home for a visit with her family.

From there it was back to Chicago, down the Chicago and Illinois Rivers to the Mississippi River. As we crossed the Mississippi River from Grafton, Illinois to St Charles, Missouri we crossed our wake at 9:30AM on Sunday, September 4th. We had quite a celebration on Monday, Labor Day, with about 20 friends and family.

We left St Charles on Wednesday headed down the Mississippi again. We are now anchored just above the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. As soon as the fog lifts we will start up the Ohio to the Cumberland where we will anchor out again tonight. We will arrive tomorrow at Grand Rivers, Kentucky where we will leave the boat and go home for a month.We will come back to Grand Rivers in mid October and head for the Tennessee River for a meeting of the Americas Great Loop Cruisers Assn. We will then take the boat to Huntsville, Alabama where we have a slip reserved in a marina. We are planning to leave the boat there while we rest and regroup and decide what we are going to do next.

This trip has been a blast. It was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. I want to thank you for all your patience and instruction at Chapman's. I really don't think I could have done without you. A day doesn't go by that I don't use something that I learned from you. Thank you so much.
Floyd Walpole