Tuesday, April 12, 2022

A few answers to your questions...

 We thought you might appreciate some answers to questions that we have received recently about our trip.

Most importantly - Are you going to take Millie?

Yes - we've talked it over with her and she's pretty pumped for the trip.  In all honesty, she does get a bit anxious when we're underway, but she began to settle down a bit last summer. 

So that brings up a whole other series of questions about Millie - and no she is not trained to use the swim platform to do her business so we do need to take her to shore at least twice a day.  

Do we spend every night on the boat?

Yes -we always get lots of nice offers to come and spend the night when we visit various ports, but once we get going it's much easier for us to stay in our routine.

How do you do your laundry?

Most of the marinas along the way have facilities.

Don't you get sick of each other after a while?

Honestly, no.  We do respect each other's personal space. When we're in port and one of us has our earbuds in - that's code for don't mess with me.  Roger also recognizes that Chrisy needs to hang out with some women every few days - so some social time needs to be built into the schedule.  

Are you going to bring all of your food?

Heck no - there are tons of grocery stores along the way.  They may be a bike ride away, but we should never be too far away from provisions.  

What happens if it rains?

Well - it rains.  We tend not to move the boat in bad weather so we can usually just hang in a marina or out on anchor and wait out the bad weather. Our insurance company makes sure that we stay out of the really bad weather - north of latitude 31 (Basically north of Florida) until November 1 is the rule. It's bad for their business model to have us running into hurricanes.  

How many engines do you have?

We have one engine. 

What if something goes wrong with it?

A lot of things that cause one engine to go bad also cause two engines to go bad like bad fuel and smashing your prop on a rock. We like to have one engine because it's more economical, easier to maintain, and gives us more space in the engine room. There are lots of boats running around with one engine, but it does put a little more pressure on our maintenance schedule and skills.

Are we planning to stay on the boat the entire time?

We plan to take a few trips back to see kids and grandkid, but basically, this will be a one-year continuous trip.  

Here's a quick video on the Great Loop.