Great Loop Chronicles Part One
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Glendale, WI
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
I don't know when I became aware of the Great Loop, but it was certainly after I moved out of Racine, Wisconsin, which is on the Lake Michigan portion of the route. I wish I had known earlier, as I would've volunteered to be a harbor host and assist Loopers with restocking their boats as they were passing through. Maybe it's better that it wasn't fully on my radar, as I might've spent too much time obsessing over it with no opportunity to act on it.
I moved out of Racine in 2019 and recall starting to learn more about it shortly after that. It's a 6,000+ mile nautical journey that can be taken largely around the Eastern United States (as pictured in the flag above). Many who do the loop will also end up in an RV at some point, touring the Western United States. Many people I spoke to who had done the Loop all said they'd wished they'd done it 20 years earlier. Working remotely for OPTIMA Batteries and homeschooling our two youngest kids made it seem like we didn't have to wait the 20 years other had.
When my good friend from the NBA, Joe Wolf, passed away at the age of 59 in the fall of 2024, I told my wife, Gwendolyn, it was time for us to start living. My research into the feasibility of taking this trip while working kicked into overdrive. What I gathered was that I could get the boat started each day and then once we were out on the route, Gwendolyn would take over piloting (which is what is going on as I write this, South of Chattanooga, just after noon on March 23rd, while I worked.
The practical reality is that I usually start working on my phone for about an hour each morning, before everyone else wakes up. Once we are ready to get moving, I get us going, resume working while underway and then once we find a destination for the evening, I hop online again and continue working (thank you Starlink!). Sometimes we navigate through locks, which require my full attention. When I need to travel off the boat for work, we'll stop at a marina and I'll hop on a plane or rent a car as needed.
So where did we start planning our journey and how did we find our boat? Click here for part two.
I don't know when I became aware of the Great Loop, but it was certainly after I moved out of Racine, Wisconsin, which is on the Lake Michigan portion of the route. I wish I had known earlier, as I would've volunteered to be a harbor host and assist Loopers with restocking their boats as they were passing through. Maybe it's better that it wasn't fully on my radar, as I might've spent too much time obsessing over it with no opportunity to act on it.
I moved out of Racine in 2019 and recall starting to learn more about it shortly after that. It's a 6,000+ mile nautical journey that can be taken largely around the Eastern United States (as pictured in the flag above). Many who do the loop will also end up in an RV at some point, touring the Western United States. Many people I spoke to who had done the Loop all said they'd wished they'd done it 20 years earlier. Working remotely for OPTIMA Batteries and homeschooling our two youngest kids made it seem like we didn't have to wait the 20 years other had.
When my good friend from the NBA, Joe Wolf, passed away at the age of 59 in the fall of 2024, I told my wife, Gwendolyn, it was time for us to start living. My research into the feasibility of taking this trip while working kicked into overdrive. What I gathered was that I could get the boat started each day and then once we were out on the route, Gwendolyn would take over piloting (which is what is going on as I write this, South of Chattanooga, just after noon on March 23rd, while I worked.
The practical reality is that I usually start working on my phone for about an hour each morning, before everyone else wakes up. Once we are ready to get moving, I get us going, resume working while underway and then once we find a destination for the evening, I hop online again and continue working (thank you Starlink!). Sometimes we navigate through locks, which require my full attention. When I need to travel off the boat for work, we'll stop at a marina and I'll hop on a plane or rent a car as needed.
So where did we start planning our journey and how did we find our boat? Click here for part two.