And We're Off!! - Days on the Loop-1

Travel                   Portland, CT to Branford CT
Date                     June 29, 2011
Miles                    55
Time                     7 Hours
Cumulative Miles   55

Finally, the day has come.  At 9:45 am we cast off our lines at Petzold's Marina in Portland, CT and began our Great Loop Adventure!  Recently, with all the rainy weather, there has been an excessive amount of debris floating down the Connecticut River, however, it must be our lucky day, as the debris was minimal today. 

            Here we are leaving Petzold's Marina

Below are some photos of the scenery that can be found on the trip down the Connecticut River to Long Island Sound.

Haddam Swing Bridge

Goodspeed Opera House

Gillette Castle

Chester-Hadlyme Ferry

The Becky Thatcher

Osprey Townhouse (1st and 2nd floor!)

Old Lyme Draw Bridge

Saybrook Pointe Light

Tucker and Willow have already found their favorite spot!

Arriving at Branford Harbor

Celebrating our first day!

OMG - We Start Tomorrow!! 0 Days To Go

We have finally moved aboard.  Everything has been wrapped up at home, closets and bureaus have been emptied to make room for Justin and Meghan. Hopefully we have remembered everything we wanted to bring aboard, it may not be stowed away yet, but it's here!  So after a relaxing moment on the flybridge to watch the sun set with cocktail in hand, it will be off to bed to get a good night's sleep in anticipation of our first day of our great adventure!!

We're Floating!! Only 3 Days To Go

On Friday, June 17th, Erika Lin was launched, she looks great back in the water!!  We are almost ready.

 

Lynda's family arranged a Bon Voyage party on Saturday, June 18th for friends and family.  Here is a picture of a sign Lynda's sister, Nancy, made.  Do you know what the flags say?

           (Erika Lin, Bob Lynda Krueger, Tucker Willow)

We have had a busy week.  We sold and delivered Bob's car to it's new owner (we sold Lynda's car earlier this month).  Doctor, dentist, veterinarian visits, check!!  Our house has been turned upside down as we empty closets and bureaus to make room for our house sitters, Justin and Meghan.  We took advantage of all the sorting and packing to make a large donation to Good Will.  Clothing has been brought aboard the boat and stowed away; provisioning will be next and then I think we will be almost ready to cast off our lines on Tuesday morning, June 28th.

Celebration Times 2!! 13 Days To Go

June 14, 2011

June 14th was not only Lynda's birthday, but also the day she retired from Webster Bank after 42 years!!!

Lynda's desk

Joan Haid, Julie Buckmiller, Joanne J'Anthony, Lisa McPhee, Linda Ciupa, Jared, Lisa Desaulniers, Jenn Collins and Lynda

Her co-workers surprised her last week with a retirement party and then again today with a combo birthday/ good-bye celebration.  OMG, after 42 years of working everyday, Bob and I are sooo excited to be able to begin our Looping adventure very soon!!

Nasty Jobs/Someone Has To Do Them! 22 Days To Go

Bob keeps the bottom clean and Lynda does the topsides!  Time is drawing to a close to get all the "get ready" maintenance items done.  Even closer now as we have changed the departure date from July 1st to June 27th.  Yikes, only 22 days left !!!!

Wax on - Wax Off!

Getting Ready to Paint

Installations Nearly Complete-40 Days And Counting

Bob has been busy the past couple of weeks finishing up the installations that are on our "Things to do before we leave" list,  Here is what's been completed:

We added an electric BBQ grill on the fly-bridge and for more storage, a shelf and storage drawers in the cabinet below the BBQ grill.  We can almost taste those steaks now!

A moveable sunshade.  Lynda's Mom & Dad had given us this sunscreen quite some time ago, that they had had made for their RV.  With minor modifications, we just added some grommets to the bottom to tie it down, we can use the screen on either side of the boat, or centered across the back.  This should make it cooler sitting outside.  Many thanks to Sterling Lady IV; Lynda follows their blog and they had mentioned the sunscreen they had made for their new boat. It reminded her we had this screen in our basement! 














 Here Bob is installing the anchor washdown connection in the anchor locker.  This will come in handy when we pull in the anchor and it is covered with mud and/or weeds.  We will easily be able to wash the mud and debris off the anchor, anchor chain and deck before the anchor is stowed away for the next use.  The anchor you see in this locker is our spare achor, we have two more stowed on the anchor roller on the bow.

We added a Sirius XM radio that can be used on both the AM/FM radio that is on the flybridge and on the Bose stereo that is in the main salon.  Now we will never be without our favorite tunes, news or even old time radio programs like the "Shadow"!

Below is some of the debris that is currently floating down the Connecticut River, due to all the rain that we have had recently.  We will need to keep a sharp lookout when our travels begin to make sure we don't collide with all the branches, logs and trees that are making their way out to Long Island Sound.

The Big Reveal - Only 54 Days To Go!

Yes, there really is a boat under all that shrink wrap! The shrink wrap comes off and work begins at a hectic pace.  It's hard to believe that there is only 54 days before we head out on our great adventure!  Still a million things to do, I'm sure, somehow, they will all get done.  One major worry was what to do about our house.  That problem has been solved!  Our nephew Justin, and his girlfriend Megan, will be house-sitting for us while we are away.  Thank you Megan & Justin.