Suddenly, It’s Over…..

….and suddenly, it’s over….

After the high fives crossing our wake, after the celebration at the dock with Looper buddy boats, after all the hilarity dies away…  the next morning, we sadly wave goodbye to our Looper buddies and look at each other … are we sad, are we happy?

The only thing we know for sure is the “After Loop” life is different. While our Looper friends go on as always, we don’t watch the weather, we don’t plan tomorrow’s destination, we don’t pour over Trip Advisor and the AGLCA Forum for hints on what adventures tomorrow might bring and we don’t do tomorrow’s navigation.

The first day it feels good, just to relax.  But pretty soon it feels empty.  The year long adventure is over …

Now what? The boat’s for sale (maybe sold), we may be enjoying our final days aboard our beautiful trawler that shared our adventures.  We play pickleball, we dinghy to the beach, we collect shells, we go hiking to enjoy birdwatching and geocaching, we soak up the warm sun at the marina pool with other Looper friends, we enjoy “normal” life where David can wear his shorts.

We don’t know what happens next.

So many places to explore, so much we haven’t done. We haven’t done a long bicycle road trip across who knows where – maybe the San Juan Islands? We haven’t experienced a cross country train trip. We haven’t been to many national parks (Arches & Canyonlands come to mind in the US, as well as Jasper and Banff in the Canadian Rockies).  We haven’t spent weeks exploring Costa Rica with our former Caribbean cruising buddies from s/v Kristiana. We haven’t seen (and photographed) the Northern Lights… and the list goes on..

The immediate agenda starts with things we’ve missed during our 12 month Loop adventure. We’ll go back to our cottage on the lake in Illinois (when the weather warms up) and go slalom skiing every day, maybe more than once when we get back in shape! Watching the weather will be looking out the window in the morning. We’ll spend some time with grandkids, we’ll catch up with friends, we’ll visit Billy & Laura, hike & explore Denver. We’ll stay in touch with our Looper buddies and vicariously enjoy their adventures as they complete their Loops.

And along the way, we’ll figure out the next adventure. Stay tuned! Whatever it is, it will involve water, boat(s) and commuting/travel! Cheers!  Jan & David