T-Minus 49 Days...and Counting

t-minus 49 days
Saturday, July 17, 1999
4:45 am.

Hello all,

(I should explain here that this is going to many different people---and I'll explain why later)
This is the first of what should be several e-mails from Debbie or I concerning our "Great Circle Trip".

What is that you ask?

Well that is the official nautical name for our boat trip which will take us by water over a route from Chicago to Florida, up to New York, across the Eire Canal to Buffalo, across the Great Lakes to Michigan, down to Chicago, and back home again.

As some of you know Deb and I (well more me than Deb) have been talking about this for a few years. My goal was to leave some Labor Day and take a year to make this circle. Our original plan was to do this when we retired, but I wasn't sure when that would be.......... if we would be able to afford it then.............. and the way we were going I was also concerned what type of shape we'd be in. So a little over a year ago we began to plan a way to make this trip while I was still working. We sold our Gibson Houseboat, and bought a "Cruisers Yachts" cruiser (I know it sounds confusing) that will be very comfortable, and safe to make this trip.

We leave on September 4th.

We will make this trip in several legs. The longest time we will be traveling will be three weeks, and the shortest will be one week. We plan on being back in our slip at Starved rock Marina next July sometime. During this year, I will be taking off about 44 days from work, and we will be moving the boat about 77 days. There may also be a time that we will be able to visit the boat in between the times we will be moving it, but right now we don't have this set up yet.
My normal style of writing is to use bullet points so I can cover several thoughts, and not have to worry about tying things together.......... so I might as well get started.

* First of all, as I said earlier, this e-mail is going to several people.
Family, friends, vendors, and even one of my customers (who belongs in the friend category). Keep this in mind as I/we make some of our comments, because they may be directed to someone specific and you won't have a clue what we're talking about. The goal is to keep some of you posted, and to share our journey with others.

* I will try---but I'm not going to worry tooooo much about grammar, or punctuation---more on content, and information.

* We will be traveling over 5000 miles.

* The computer we have on board has a small keyboard, so typing fast, and accurate, can be difficult, so some of the messages may be short, and to the point.

* Once we leave we will be sending e-mails by using a modem hook-up from our on board cellular phone. This is slow, because of the modem speed, but it works great----if----we have a strong cellular signal. Because we will be traveling in many remote areas this signal is sometimes non-existent so although we may write an e-mail on a certain day we may not be able to send it. So, you may get several days e-mails together, because we finally found a good signal.

* Our plan is to try to write something each day we are traveling. It will keep you posted on our travels, and make for a good diary once we're finished.

* We are using a master list to send this e-mail. If you'd rather not be on this list let me know. Or when you see an e-mail with a subject of "GCT"
(great circle trip) just hit delete! Or.......if you know someone who we should send this to let us know.

As I said our first leg begins on Sept. 4th. The first week we will leave Starved Rock Marina and head south--down the IL. River-past St. Louis, & down the Mississippi to Cairo, IL.-up the Ohio-up the Cumberland to Paduca, Ky.-and then up the Tennessee to Iuka, Ms. The total trip is about 700 miles, and we should arrive at Aqua Marine, in Iuka, on Friday Sept. 11th.

Daryl and Donna Thompson will be joining us for that week.

The next week Daryl and Donna will fly home, and Steve Thoke (my business
partner) and his wife to be Chris Van Allen will fly to Memphis meet us at Aqua Marine. We will then take a week to travel 450 miles down the Tom-Bigbee to Mobile, Al.

The third week Debbie's two sisters, and their husbands will join us in Mobile, and we will cross the Gulf to Tampa, where we will leave the boat for the winter.

After Christmas we will move the boat from the West Coast of Florida to the East Coast. Then in the spring (late April-early May) we'll start north and our plan is to stop in Richmond, Va. for a while. We are building a new distribution center there for Perdue (the chicken company) and I will be spending a lot of my time there. From there to New York, home for a few weeks, then probably take three weeks from New York to Starved Rock.

We have a lot to do to get prepared for our journey. Cruising guides, charts, manuals, oil changes, engine checks, spare parts. All the fun things! We spent a week on our new boat recently, so we have a feel for what we'll need. Just as important is what we can take off the boat. We have been working hard on this one. We realize we don't need all this stuff on board.
So that's it for now. As I said this is just a note to tell you more notes are coming. If you have any questions drop us a note, we'd love to hear from you. As you can see the e-mail address is mine (Bob) at work, but I'll forward any comments to Deb at home if you send them. That is until we leave, at which time Deb will be with me, so I won't have to tell her then because..................you know!

BK