The Second Time Around: A Great Loop Cruising Diary

The Lola Marie

Our First Loop Adventure: 2005-2007
Inspired by a 1991 great loop diary Lyn Hornack, an American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Foundation employee, kept of her great loop cruise with husband Lee aboard Poseidon, a wood Matthews, we undertook our first loop adventure in May 2005; it lasted 28 months.  It was such a wonderful experience, we immediately decided a second was in order.

 The Plan for the Second Time
After spending the 2007 winter and 2008 spring remodeling our West Lafayette condo and installing a new computer system for the Wesley Thrift Shop in Crawfordsville, IN, we used the summer weeks returning the Lola Marie, a 4788 Bayliner, to prime condition for extended cruising while awaiting the arrival of our first great grandchild.  This time around we planned different side-trips and longer stays in our favorite ports-of call.

Scope
This web provides a day-by-day synopsis of this second loop trip, which began August 19, 2008 from Pier 1000 Marina in Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, MI on the SE corner of Lake Michigan.  It contains information targeted to family, friends and fellow loopers; especially for the latter group, we include otherwise extraneous information about marinas and eateries.  If you wish to experience a "virtual great loop trip" read the monthly diaries below.

Our 2nd Great Loop Cruise Index:

2008
	August	September	October Mostly Land Travel	November	December
2009
January	February Land Travel Only	March	April	May Land Travel Only	June
July	August Mostly Land Travel	September Land Travel Only	October	November	December No Boating
2010
January	February Land Travel Only	March	April	May	June
July	August	September No Boating	October No Boating	November No Boating	December No Boating
2011
January No Boating	February No Boating	March No Boating	April No Boating	May Launch	June
July No Boating	August	September