Port-A-Gee

Sunday, August 21 - Seneca to Henry (47.5 NM):  The rain has stopped, and we're ready to go! We left Springbrook Marina (MM252), Seneca, IL at 9:30 a.m. and headed to Marseilles Lock - only 8 miles downstream.  Our friend, Al Osborn was waiting at his riverfront home to catch up going by on his drone! We're crediting our wise decision to wake up the Gods yesterday, with our good "locking fortune".  Brian radioed the lockmaster, and he said come on in!  Whooo Hooo!  After our solo descent of 24 feet, we exited and made the 2-mile trip to Heritage Harbor Marina (MM242) in Ottawa, IL for fuel.  We were delighted to be reacquainted with Loopers we met at Springbrook, Walt and Leanne on Journey.  THEN we received our fuel bill.  5 years ago, we had to conserve fuel because of our 80-gal fuel tank, in 2022 it is our pocket! Next stop, Starved Rock Marina Lock (MM231).  Once again, we went right in for a solo drop of 19 feet. We finished the day completing 6 hours underway,

Port-A-Gee's quest to complete the Great Loop began in 2017, as documented on our blog.  Our last post indicated that we were considering a more livable boat that would accommodate our desire to stay at anchor more frequently.  All boaters know that once the words "SHOULD WE GET A BIGGER BOAT?" are expelled into the universe, there is no turning back!  We sold our beloved Cutwater-26 in June 2021.  We purchased our new-to-us 2002 Mainship Pilot-34 in September 2021 in Port Washington, WI.  This location not only erased all the Loop miles that we have logged, but it also put us negative 40 miles!!  Oh well, in the words of the great Cubs Hall of Famer, Ernie Banks, "Let's Play 2".  The Mainship Pilot checked a lot of the boxes, but not all of them. We ran out of time getting her ready to Loop by Fall 2021, so the new Port-A-Gee went into winter storage, and we rented a condo in Cape Coral for the winter.  We loved the "ground" activities of golf, pi