Sun has set on Great Loop adventure

Today I "crossed my wake" on Breaking Away, and the end has come to this glorious Great Loop trip after 14 months.

This picture captures the very moment I reached the spot near the originating marina in Kent Narrows where I turned north back on May 4, 2010 with Bruce Perry. Today, I reached the same spot from the south with Janet Amuchastegui, and turned in toward the marina, which means I "crossed my wake".

With nine different mates along the way, I circled over 7000 miles of waterways in the eastern U.S. and Canada. I went up and down through 106 locks, under countless bridges, many of which had to open for me, and into and out of numerous challenges to achieve this dream. Overall it was a wonderful, incredible trip, with so many memories linked to sights, history, scares, old friends, new friends, kindnesses, peacefulness, food, missing loved ones, getting to see loved ones, and living a special life for a year. I will miss some aspects of it, but I am glad it is over and it all came out the way I hoped it would. An experience I will, of course, cherish and never forget.

This picture takes us back to yesterday morning leaving Solomons on the western shore of the Chesapeake, and heading north to the eastern side of the bay. These cliffs were unique for the Chesapeake, and Janet and I had read in the museum the day before that geologists had learned from the shell and fossil layerings of these cliffs how the seas had risen and receded numerous times over the eons.

The lighthouse at Cove Point on the western shore was pretty neat, with more of the cliffs in the background. It was here we slanted on across the bay toward the Choptank River, which led to our destination, Oxford. (If we had continued farther up the Choptank, we'd have reached Cambridge!)

We anchored in the calm little bay at Oxford and took the dinghy to a dock to explore the town. It is famous for its old "picket fence" charm. They are proud to say that it was declared a port city by Maryland's legislature back in 1683, and one of Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Morris, was from here.

It truly was a cute little town to see, but dang, it was HOT and HUMID. We needed shade and A/C, but they were in short supply.

Here's another handsome old home in Oxford. The sidewalks were all of old brick, with different laying patterns and brick types, indicating old patchworks over time.

Here's the Robert Morris Inn, dating from 1710, where James Michener spent time while writing Chesapeake.

This ferry is famous because it is the oldest privately operated ferry in the country. It dates from 1683 and operated until 1775. It resumed service in 1836 and has been continuously operating since then. It was going all day while we were there, even passing in front of us when we were arriving in the boat. It held 9 cars.

We wanted to see the Oxford Museum, since it was the only thing mentioned in the AAA book about the town, but it was closed on Tuesdays.

We finally got back to the dinghy in our sweaty condition, and went back to the boat and turned on the generator and A/C. Wow did we need that! We took showers and after thoroughly cooling off, went back into the dinghy over to a nearby restaurant, Schooners. I got to have the crab cakes I'd been craving for a while, since they're so advertised in the Chesapeake Bay. They were yum yum yummy! Janet had fish tacos she liked a lot too. In the background of the picture, if you look carefully, you can see Breaking Away.

Outside the restaurant we saw this elegant white bird, but we weren't sure if it was a Mute Swan or a Snow Goose.

Today we left Oxford at 9 am, after a night that included wild lightning, rain, strong winds, dragging anchor, and little sleep. At 4 am the workboats (that harvest oysters and crabs) headed out behind us and rocked us with their wakes. I was thinking how glad I was this sort of restless night would finally be over.

As we cruised west out of the Choptank River, we found this little shortcut through Knapps Narrows. It separates the mainland from Tilghman Island, and has this bridge that had to open for us. My last bridge to call on the radio phone to request an opening. The last time cars had to wait for me. It was a scenic little spot, and we learned it was used in the movie, Failure to Launch.

It was then only about 20 miles to reach my trip's end, but again, here we were facing some dicey conditions on my final day to remove any doubts that I should be glad it was finally over. There were pretty strong cross winds and swells rocking us, and those are always the worst.

Here we are approaching the Kent Narrows bridge, which I went under many times while practicing to operate the boat. Bruce and I went under it to begin the trip too, and I recall looking back as we were leaving it behind in the distance on our first day.

And here I am celebrating the end of my journey! The little Great Loop burgee flag has been flying there at the bow since September. Felt great! I was so happy to have Janet with me for this emotional event; I missed her so much during the times we were apart in the past 14 months.

I got lots of smiles and congratulatory hugs from her today, as well as encouragement to dock the boat safely in the wind because I had to back in and hope for the best. It was actually a struggle to tie up here, but we did it! It seemed like an appropriate ending of relief, since the previous 24 hours had included so many reminders of what can make this kind of trip a challenge (storms, winds, dragging anchor, worrying and boat wakes allowing little sleep, heat, bugs inside the boat, side swells, docking in a wind).

I shut down the engine with 1021 hours on it. 914 had come during the trip. I counted hours and locks and miles, but I'll say it again, I'm glad I didn't count the beers! haha Time for another now! Goodbye!