Author: Jennifer Johnson

  • Dinghy Essentials – Everything You Need to Keep In Your Dinghy

    Dinghy Essentials – Everything You Need to Keep In Your Dinghy

    After living aboard our 34-foot trawler for two years, anchoring most of the time, and using our dinghy daily to take our dog to shore multiple times a day, we learned what crucial items to keep in our dinghy. In this guide, we go over the must-have dinghy essentials to keep in your dinghy! Note:…

  • Everything you need to know for Boating the Cumberland River (Nashville Side Trip)

    Everything you need to know for Boating the Cumberland River (Nashville Side Trip)

    Discover scenic landscapes, charming small towns, and one of the best big cities while experiencing the beauty of the Cumberland River on a side trip to Nashville, Tennessee! One of the pieces of advice we received from a Gold Looper was to take all of the side trips along the Great Loop. We took that…

  • Travel Guide to Clarksville, Tennessee by Boat

    Travel Guide to Clarksville, Tennessee by Boat

    Clarksville, Tennessee, is a cute town located on the Cumberland River side trip on the way to Nashville. It’s a great, affordable stop for a night with a lot of fun things to do. The walkable Downtown is conveniently located near the city boat dock, making visiting Clarksville, Tennessee easily accessible by boat. About Clarksville,…

  • How Much it Costs To Do  America’s Great Loop in One Year

    How Much it Costs To Do America’s Great Loop in One Year

    In this blog post, we share our total expenses as we traveled around America’s Great Loop in one year. After sharing detailed, month-by-month expenses, we have totaled up the past 12 months in this post. By sharing our monthly Great Loop expenses, it will inspire prospective loopers that you don’t need to be retired or…

  • How to Lock a Boat (Our Step-By-Step Process)

    How to Lock a Boat (Our Step-By-Step Process)

    A large part of cruising on America’s Great Loop includes traveling on waterways with locks. In this post, we discuss how to lock a boat and all of the tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way. We go over locking gear, the Five Steps to Locking, locking agencies, unique locks on the Great Loop,…

  • MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – FEBRUARY 2023

    MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – FEBRUARY 2023

    In this blog post, we share our monthly expenses as we travel around America’s Great Loop – a 6,000 nautical mile journey around part of the US and Canada by boat. This month was a perfect example of the power of anchoring and why anchoring is our best tool to saving money on the Great…

  • MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – JANUARY 2023

    MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – JANUARY 2023

    This is our second to last Monthly Expense on our Great Loop. When we first set out to share these monthly expense reports, we were unsure if they would be helpful to other people. Over the past year, we’ve gotten a ton of great feedback which really makes the work that goes into writing these…

  • MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – DECEMBER 2022

    MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – DECEMBER 2022

    December was a great month for us regarding our Great Loop Budget! From affordable marinas to getting a free boost of speed going down the Tenn-Tom thanks to some recent rain, we were able to stay fairly close to our monthly goal budget. Little did we know that the cold would follow us until the…

  • MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – NOVEMBER 2022

    MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – NOVEMBER 2022

    The Great Loop is a beautiful adventure full of challenges including the challenge of staying on budget. We knew budgeting for our Great Loop would ebb and flow depending on the season and our location and that’s exactly what it did while we spent two weeks in Chattanooga, TN to work.

  • MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – OCTOBER 2022

    MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – OCTOBER 2022

    Many factors go into creating a budget for the Great Loop, but among all is flexibility. We knew budgeting for our Great Loop would ebb and flow depending on the season and our location. We’re happy to be in the Midwest rivers with a lower price for dockage, great anchorages, and some fun side trips!…