Sweet Anne Looper Log

Sweet Anne Looper Log Sweet Anne (Annie) is a 2019 Ranger Tug R29 traveling America's Great Loop.

Join us, Daryl Richardson (Muskegon, MI) and Greg Kelso (Springfield, IL) as we partner up to complete a year-long, 6,000 mile circumnavigation of the eastern United States.

01/12/2025

I can't seem to mix photos and videos together as part of a post....
Eventually, I'll figure it out, if it's possible.

The Wharf does a nightly laser light show on the street which is lined with shops and restaurants. Attaching a short video of the show.

Gulf Shores, AL. 1/12/25Yes, we've made a big jump from Chicago! I am WAY behind in posts here and rather than try t...
01/12/2025

Gulf Shores, AL. 1/12/25
Yes, we've made a big jump from Chicago! I am WAY behind in posts here and rather than try to catch up, which is delaying me even further, I’ve chosen to just resume from where we are and fill in the missing gap as I can. Maybe just getting started with where we are will get some momentum going to make the backlog easier to catch up on.

I returned home to Springfied, IL around mid-November to prepare for surgery. After 63 years of mostly faithful service, my prostate and I had decided to part ways. The little pest was removed the day before Thanksgiving and I spent another 4 weeks recovering before returning to the boat on December 26th. Daryl had remained in Iuka, MS with the boat and completed several projects including coolant tank replacement, oil & filter changes and a good wash with a fresh coat of wax.

We got back underway on December 27th heading down the Tennessee and Tom Bigbee Waterway towards Mobile, AL. While we had adventure and some challenges along the way, I’ll save those details for a follow up post.

Currently, we are in The Wharf Marina in Gulf Shores, AL. Technically, we might be in Orange Beach, AL – I’m not sure. The line between the two is obscure and very hard to tell when one passes from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach.

The Wharf is a very nice complex along what’s known as the “ICW” ( Intra-Coastal Waterway) For background, the ICW is a protected waterway which runs from Texas to New Jersey allowing vessels to travel much of the way in relatively narrow, but protected channels. This becomes important during inclement weather and was especially important during World War II when Axis (German) submarines lurked off the coast targeting American shipping.
We’ll be staying here another ten days while I travel back to Springfield for a post-surgery follow up exam. Once back, weather permitting, we’ll be heading east to Pensacola, Destin, Apalachicola and Carrabelle, FL before deciding what route to take making the big hop across the future “Gulf of America”. Weather and tides are new challenges we’ll have to begin contending with, now that we’ve entered coastal salt water.

There are several Looper boats here and we’ve had some great times with Charlie and Robin aboard “The Lower Place” and with Mick & Dawn Murphy aboard “Shamrock”. We were also lucky enough to coordinate our arrival to meet with friends, Mark & Beth Powell. I first met Mark at the 2018 Fall Looper Rendezvous in Florence, AL. We’ve stayed in touch and managed to meet up several times since then. He and Beth brought their pup, Sherlock, and their RV to Gulf Shores and have graciously played tour guide and chauffeur for us since they’ve been here so many times.

Our first night, they took us to Lulu’s, a restaurant & marina owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister. We had our first opportunity to enact a new lifestyle change where we now eat dessert first! Their key lime pie is first rate. The food was good too.
Unfortunately, the weather has been, and continues to be, unseasonably cool. Locals are calling it a brutally cold winter. Subsequently, traffic is light and business is slow which is limiting a lot of outside activity. While it is chilly to this Midwest boy, we took advantage of a rainy day and visited the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum. As luck would have it, we arrived just in time to join a guided tour led by a former Marine pilot and astronaut. This obvious octogenarian led us on a spirited three-hour tour, rich with naval aviation history and personal experiences spanning over four decades. What a treat that was! Mark and Beth had been to the museum multiple times before and they agreed it was one of the best experiences.
We loitering around the museum for the rest of the day and they kicked us out at 4 PM with a near-genuine sounding invite to come back another day. There was at least one whole building we didn’t even get to. Another place that easily takes more than a day to fully digest.

They say one of the best parts of looping is the people you meet and that is true. Another is the culinary experiences of trying local cuisines. We’ve sampled a local drink called a “Bushwacker”, the “best fried shrimp in the entire civilized world” at Doc’s, all you can eat mullet at “Sea & Suds” and happy hour dinner specials at the dockside Mexican restaurant. Flying the Looper flag is kind of an open invitation to come knocking, introduce yourself and start a conversation.

Daryl will be staying with the boat over the next week or so as I travel back to Illinois. He has been doing weekly posts to his page as well. While we won’t be making any progress in our travels, our daily experiences continue and I’m hoping to get my backlog of posts caught up somewhat. We’ll have to do some time travel temporarily hopping back and forth until I can get caught up. To get that done, I may have to get a lot less gabby on these posts. 😁

I started this post two nights ago and spent over an hour typing it up on my little phone screen, adding pictures with c...
10/27/2024

I started this post two nights ago and spent over an hour typing it up on my little phone screen, adding pictures with captions and correcting typos. Hit “Post” and a few seconds later, Facebook informed me my post “failed to load”. Every thing I had created was gone. GRRRR…
So my lesson, I have once again relearned and now had it reinforced, is to type out my post and make a copy of it before posting. I’m also going to post the text and THEN add pics with captions. I may even add pics one or two at a time until my confidence in FB is a little more restored. So, if you see notifications stating I’ve edited my post multiple times, you’ll know why.. 😉 I'm still playing catch-up here so using the "Way-Back" machine a little.

We departed Grand Haven on September 29th with a lingering battery issue. The plan was to pull into Holland, MI where a Volvo technician was working at the local shop. On the way, we called the shop and we’re told the Volvo tech was one (of ONE) in the State of Michigan and he was on the road, but might be able to talk with us, however actually looking at the issue might be a day or two.

With our hopes of a quick resolution dashed, we began to rack our brains for other options. In a typical “DOH!” moment, we remembered Ranger Tug had a Customer Support division and gave them a call where we worked with a very knowledgeable support person. Describing the steps we had taken so far to unsuccessfully resolve the dilemma, we came away with a new found confidence in what the real problem was and how to fix it. We were also reassured the workaround we had come up with would cause no harm and would be fine until we found ourselves in a place where we could get the appropriate battery replaced.

Armed with this new knowledge, it was now decision time, as we had also arrived at the Holland inlet. Should we:

1. Stick with our original plan and pull into Holland and stay around for potentially a couple of days to further troubleshoot the issue?
2. Move a little further south along the Michigan coast, making the eventual crossing of Lake Michigan to Chicago shorter?
3. Or, head straight to Chicago?

Looking at the weather forecast, the next few days were predicted to be very windy which would likely strand us at our next stop for what looked to be at least 48 hours. The current conditions at that time were what we like to call “severe clear” and the lake was pretty darn smooth. Some quick calculations indicated we had plenty of fuel to complete the roughly 80 mile crossing, so we turned right and pointed Sweet Anne’s bow southwest and watched the west coast of Michigan fade into the horizon.

While we still had a cell signal, we went online and requested a slip reservation at DuSable Harbor, which is right downtown Chicago and received a reply saying our reservation was “Pending”. We sent a couple of last text messages and pictures of our view as the cell signal dropped out some 15 miles out. We were on our own for the next two and a half hours. I have to say it was pretty exhilarating to be out on such a rare calm day on Lake Michigan. While I’ve crossed the big lake a few times previously, this was one of the most beautiful views I could remember.

At 20 miles out we could begin seeing the Sears Tower poking up out of the haze. Yes, I know it’s not called that these days,- still what I call it. It was another half hour before the cell signal was restored and our notification sounds began to chime. Checking our email, we had confirmed reservations at DuSable which relieved some concern at least. Since it was getting on in the day, I called the harbor to confirm the fuel dock operating hours and was told fuel was only available at Burnham Harbor. SAY WHAT? We were not anticipating that and a quick check of the added distance along with our current fuel status began to sound some alarm bells in our minds. Can we make that?

On the navigation software, we drew the STRAIGHTEST line possible to the closest turn into Burnham and slowed way down to conserve fuel. We were six miles out and seriously doubtful if we had what we needed to reach that new destination. At one point, a sailboat jibed (turned) out in front of us and it was our responsibility to adjust course to avoid a collision. I remember thinking to myself… “Buddy, we do NOT have fuel for this.” Luck was on our side and we pulled up to the fuel dock 15 minutes before closing with the engine still running like it was being happily fed. Daryl and I both agreed this was one experience we did not want to repeat!

We took on enough fuel to reach our next planned destination, as you might imagine the fuel price was not one either of us was hoping to see, but we were happy to not be paddling. Thirty minutes later we secured Sweet Anne to “F” dock in DuSable Harbor and contemplated dinner. Since we had been discussing Chicago culinary options on the way over, we found “Devil Dogs” on the map and walked the Chicago River Walk to a couple of Chicago Dogs on Rush Street.

While in Grand Haven and on my morning walk, a ritual I'm trying to make a habit of on this journey, I had a unique expe...
10/24/2024

While in Grand Haven and on my morning walk, a ritual I'm trying to make a habit of on this journey, I had a unique experience.
As I made my way back across the drawbridge between the marina and the town of Spring Lake, I stopped briefly to take a picture of the marina and a boat just getting underway. As I turned to begin walking again, there was the bridge master standing outside his "office" beckoning to me. My first thought was he wanted to raise the bridge and I was moseying too much for his liking. So, I picked up the pace to the other side and he disappeared from view. Just when I got to the doorway he, who I later found out was "Mike," popped back out and told me he needed to raise the bridge and asked if I'd like to come up and watch.
Of course I did! We climbed the stairs to Mike's perch above the water and he explained what was happening as he threw each switch and pushed buttons. Bells began to ring, the traffic lights on each end of the bridge turned red and he under-predicted how many cars would speed up and run the lights. The crossing arms came down and a couple of buttons later, the bridge began to come up.
When it was nearly vertical. it looked much larger right outside our observation window. The boat I had just taken pictures of, slowly passed under the bridge and after checking all the camera angles on his monitor, Mike pushed a few more buttons and the bridge came down, the arms went up, traffic lights turned green and cars resumed their hustle across the span.
As Mike and I chatted one question led to another and we discovered we had traveled paths together in a very close time frame years earlier when attending Navy boot camp and subsequent schools after. Another small world story! We swapped a few sea stories and bid farewell but promised to look for each other in the Apalachicola, FL area where he spends his winters fishing and doing part-time bridge tender work.
Thanks for the tour, Mike! 👍 🇺🇲 ⚓️. 👍

After spending a day or two in Muskegon, MI doing final preparations and walking the area around the Safe Harbor Great L...
10/24/2024

After spending a day or two in Muskegon, MI doing final preparations and walking the area around the Safe Harbor Great Lakes marina we got started on our first leg, 9/28/24, heading out 18 miles to Grand Haven, MI where Daryl's son, Erik, his wife, Katie and their three sons live.
We also spent some time touring the Spring Lake area with long-time friends, Scott and Delayne Reeves, who moved from the Springfield area to Grand Haven some ten + years ago.
Pizza on the beach in Grand Haven, watching the sunset, is a great way to end a day.

Sweet Anne (Annie) is a 2019 Ranger Tug - 29 feet in length, 10 feet wide (beam) and a 3 foot draft. (Draft is how much...
10/24/2024

Sweet Anne (Annie) is a 2019 Ranger Tug - 29 feet in length, 10 feet wide (beam) and a 3 foot draft. (Draft is how much water she needs to float in)
Sweet Anne is owned by Daryl Richardson who lives in Muskegon, MI and she's named in honor of his late wife Anne Richardson.
Daryl and Greg Kelso, from Springfield, IL, met through an online forum sponsored by America's Great Loop Cruising Association (AGLCA). Daryl was looking to do the loop but didn't want to do it alone. Greg was looking for a boat to do the loop, so we decided to team up and get started.
This page is devoted to chronicling our travels as we depart from Muskegon, MI and begin what is anticipated to be a year long journey.
"The Great Loop" is circumnavigating the eastern United States by boat essentially south on the Midwestern River system to the Gulf of Mexico. Most "loopers" travel south in the fall and spend the winter months cruising around Florida, visiting the Keys and maybe even the Bahamas.
As spring begins, loopers start migrating north up the East Coast to New York where the Hudson River and Erie Canal waterways lead to the Great Lakes. Summer months are spent traversing the southern Canada provinces westward (some choose to stay in the states and cruise Lake Erie).
As Fall approaches the parade of boats can be found traveling down Lake Michigan toward Chicago on either the Wisconsin or Michigan side.
While anyone can join the loop procession wherever and whenever they like, we chose to depart Muskegon, MI around the end September, 2024 and proceed through Chicago to the Illinois River.
Approximately 150 - 200 boats complete the loop each year. Many people buy a boat, prepare for the loop, do it once and sell the boat. A few continue on and do the route again seeing what was missed the first time around. An even smaller number do the loop three or more times. Many loopers fly a flag (burgee) on their boat, usually from the front, or bow, of the boat. Looper burgees have distinctive background colors which signify those doing it for the first time, those on their second trip and those who have completed two or more loops.
Please enjoy our posts and comment as you please. Just know we may not respond right away as some days are busier than others. In fact, we are already three weeks behind in posting and we hope to get caught up soon. Thanks.

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