One of the biggest blessings on this trip has been our luck with good weather and great timing on mechanical fixes. We constantly meet fellow Loopers who get stuck for days due to high winds and rough waves, or sidelined by unexpected boat issues. For us, the weather windows have been incredibly kind—bad storms usually hit when we’re already safely tied up. Even our major mechanical hiccups have been sorted out quickly.
Before we started, the number one rule we heard over and over was: never keep a schedule while cruising. Yet, over the last 16 months, we’ve broken that rule constantly. Because Larry has been working and traveling, we’ve always had to time our stops near airports.
Now that we’re nearing the end of part one of this journey, we had yet another tight schedule to keep. Once again, the conditions were on our side, and we actually found ourselves running well ahead of schedule!
Our first major deadline was meeting up with my mom, sister, and brother-in-law. They were coming to New York on September 1st for a day trip on the boat to cruise the harbor and head up the Hudson River. Our original plan was to arrive on August 31st, stay one night, and keep moving. But since we were so far ahead of schedule, we arrived five days early and set up base at a marina in New Jersey, right across the harbor from NYC.
The Seastreak Ferry into Manhattan was only a five-minute walk from our marina, so we fully took advantage of it and headed into the city for the weekend. We managed to fit in two Broadway shows (Hamilton and Just in Time), explore Times Square, and enjoy an amazing Italian dinner followed by cheesecake at Junior’s. We also walked the High Line, explored the Museum of Modern Art and wrapped up our weekend attending Sunday service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Tim Keller’s church).
Next, we made our way to Liberty Landing Marina, which sits just past the Statue of Liberty. That’s where my mom (Carol), sister (Stacy), and brother-in-law (Keith) caught up with us. Unfortunately, the weather turned drizzly and overcast, but it didn’t ruin the fun. We still had a blast cruising the harbor, passing right by Lady Liberty, going under the Brooklyn Bridge, and taking in the iconic New York skyline. After that, we officially began our cruise up the Hudson River!
After dropping the family off partway up the Hudson, we continued our journey and eventually made it to the Erie Canal. This is where part two of our rule-breaking schedule came into play. We had reservations to store the boat for the winter in Brewerton, NY (near Syracuse). Our plan was to leave it there, head down to Annapolis to pick up our car, and drive back to Lawrence by September 14th—just in time for Larry’s work flight and for me to head back to work.
When we originally mapped out the route to Brewerton, we knew we had to pass through 22 locks. Since the locks on the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers usually took us one to two hours each, we budgeted the exact same amount of time for the Erie Canal.
Luckily, we quickly discovered that these locks only take about 20 to 30 minutes! What we thought would be an eight-day journey only took us five, leaving us well ahead of schedule once again. The Erie Canal and Upstate New York was more beautiful than we had expected!
Needless to say, we made it back to Lawrence with time to spare. We are back in our house and already missing the boat life. We will stay here until May/June and head back to finish out our Loop on the Great Lakes in 2027.
Red Pearl 
Leave a comment