Enjoying the Looper Lifestyle

Before we started The Great Loop, we thought we had an idea of what the Looper Lifestyle would entail – after all, we’d lived aboard our sailboat for over 22,000 miles.  But we found that the Looper Lifestyle was different.

First, when you join the American Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA), you automatically have hundreds of friends you haven’t met yet. Another Looper claims this flag is better than a puppy for attracting friends!  Friends to grab a bit of dinner, to enjoy the sunset over docktails, to explore with, to visit the local farmers market, to commiserate with over a lock delay … just friends.

Unlike other friends, your Looper friends automatically “get it”.  They understand what we’re doing and maybe even why.  It’s nice to know, that anytime we see a Looper flag flying on a boat, they’re automatically friends we haven’t discovered yet.

The MOST IMPORTANT part of the Looper Lifestyle is to MAKE IT YOUR OWN!  Before we started, we heard this again and again, but until we began the Loop, it didn’t make sense.  There will be Loopers traveling faster than you, there will be Loopers spending much more time in places than you, some Loopers will want to “experience” everything each out of the way place has to offer, some skip through like there’s nothing worth experiencing anywhere.

Whatever you decide is your style, make it your own Loop.  Go as fast or as slow as you prefer.  If you want to stay an extra day to see something or do something, stay – don’t go just because everyone else is leaving.  Believe me, there will be more Loopers just behind them and you’ll meet a whole new group of friends.

Finishing the Loop in a year, means you’ll be on the move.  Almost every day – or at least every other day.  Maybe that’s why so many do the Loop over multi-years or do another Loop after the first one is under their belts.  Moving regularly can be tiring.  We try to plan places we can just “be” for a bit.

Sometimes weather intervenes to slow you down and let you spent multiple days as it did in Michigan. But spending time in Mackinaw City and Charlevoix was not overly awful.  And there were all those Looper friends to hang out with.

For us sharing with family and friends was part of the fun of the Looper Lifestyle.  We had family join us in Florida, to cruise the Chicago River between skyscrapers, to experience the locks and just to sleep on a boat.  My favorite exclamation from one of our 5 year old grandsons was “I woke up on a BOAT!”.

Exploring the area and experiencing local was also a high priority for our Loop.  We enjoyed local wine in Ontario (and other locations), ate the local cuisine specialties – from redfish in Mississippi to shrimp n grits in South Carolina … too many local experiences to remember here….

If we didn’t already have plans, we’d research our next stop on Trip Advisor to see what there was to do – from the FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, to the Shiloh National Battlefield, to the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound, Georgian Bay Ontario and so much more.

The experience itself provides some of the fun … below we were staying on the lower lock wall along the Trent Severn and were invited by the lock staff to help with the manual lock opening/closing.

Sometimes Looper friends are long time friends that you’ve cruised with before such as Optimystique and Blue Moon, and sometimes they’re someone you just met.  But whenever you met, you can be assured that you’ll be crossing paths with different boats the entire year, so be prepared!  I call it hopscotching.  Right now we’re with Blue Moon, but they’ll leave before we can get our bottom paint completed and we’re hoping Sea Trolley, Dream Quest, and Texas 2 Step will catch up.  It’s a never ending friend circle and it’s wonderful!

Playing cards, playing dominoes, playing games, Loopers like to get together for any excuse.  Making new friends and renewing old acquaintances…

Of course, Docktails.  Here Mahi Mahi entertains old friends and new with music at Docktails in Alton, Illinois.

Some places we stopped had special significance, such as re-visiting the US Naval Academy from when our son when to school there, or David getting to re-visit where he went to training camp for the Coast Guard…

Five star cuisine in the strangest out of the way places… there was one restaurant open the evening we were in Forest River Marina, Belhaven, North Carolina… Belhaven holds a special significance for us as well – we stopped here on our first trip down the ICW the night of Sept 11, 2001.

Boy, were we surprised! Spoon River, Looper Favorite Restaurant, Belhaven NC

Like friends everywhere, Looper friends watch out for Loopers.  It’s rare to pull into a marina and not have Looper friends waiting to catch lines and help you in a slip.

The Looper Lifestyle means living from marina to marina or anchorage.  It means getting supplies and laundry along the way … which is yet another part of the adventure.  Borrow the marina courtesy car with another couple to run to WalMart – make new friends.  Sit in the laundry room with your laundry and you’re likely to meet more Loopers.

Read the AGLCA morning Forum … you’ll learn so much that adds to the experience along the way… like when we visited Parry Sound, someone on the forum had been raving about their sea plane trip in Parry Sound and riding in a sea plane was on my Bucket List…

So many experiences and friends as yet unimagined will all come your way when you set out on YOUR Loop.  Enjoy every minute, take advantage of every opportunity!

Don’t forget to have at least 500 boat cards … you’ll need them!  We have a stack at least 4″ high and we still have 1,500 miles left on our Loop!  We might run out!!!

Oops, out of time, got to go!  Friends waiting to borrow the courtesy car to go visit the World’s Only Apron Museum in Iuca Mississippi!