Day 20: Monday, September 24, 2012

Underway: 8:30 am      Motor Off: 2:10 pm      Miles Traveled: 41      Stayed At: Lock wall

First Things First: First time staying at a lock wall; first time averaging about 8.3 mph for the whole day; first time reading a book.

Mile 159 to Mile 118: Wind on our nose again for most of the day. Not too bad but just slows us down a little. We passed the 700 mile mark this morning. Another milestone. An uneventful travel day that ended after we securely tied up to the floating wall just downstream from the Kaskaskia River Lock – the last really secure place to stay for the next 5 or six days at our travel pace. We were soon joined by Jet Stream, Took the Plunge, and Joe and Tara on Seabattical. Time for another marina party. We chatted, laughed, drank and planned our cruising strategies while standing on the edge of the concrete lock wall. Who needs a pool and hot tub to have fun. Past Cindy’s bedtime again.

One thing we are finding out is that Loopers are all different ages, travel on all kinds of boats and have many different reasons for escaping the real world at least for a little while. We are all in different stages of the trip with some just beginning like us and others almost done like Seabattical. The only thing in common is that we all have or will have interesting stories to tell about our adventures on the Great Loop.