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Great Loop Escape

by Julie Bradley

A long route through America’s waterways

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A long route through America’s waterways

Julie Bradley’s account follows Glen and Julie as they leave their mountain home for Stardust, a boat waiting 2,000 miles away, and attempt the 6,000-mile Great Loop. The route links rivers, canals, lakes, and coastal waterways across the eastern United States, from the Florida Keys and Hudson River to the Erie Canal, Great Lakes, and inland rivers near Chicago. Practical challenges shape the journey: lock navigation, mechanical failures, changing conditions, and a closed Canadian border that forces a change of plan. The travel narrative also traces encounters with small towns and new companions, set against the couple’s experience at sea and the skills they still have to learn.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Travel readers interested in boating routes and waterways in the eastern United States.
  • Readers curious about the practical challenges of a long-distance boat journey.
  • Those who enjoy travel accounts that include local encounters along the way.

Themes

Long-distance boatingTravel in the eastern United StatesNavigation and mechanical challengesAdaptation and changing plansCompanionship on the road

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Lock up the house. Buy a boat 2,000 miles away. Travel America's Great Loop.

What could go wrong?

When the pandemic closed the world, Glen and Julie went looking for a way out. With ocean crossings already behind them, they traded their mountain home for Stardust, a boat waiting 2,000 miles away, and set off on America's Great Loop-a 6,000-mile ribbon of rivers, canals, lakes, and Intracoastal Waterway winding through the eastern United States like a secret the country had been keeping.

Come aboard as they wrestle churning currents inside locks where one wrong move means fiberglass meets concrete. Travel with them from the sparkling waters of the Florida Keys into the murky Dismal Swamp, up the Hudson River, and through the Erie Canal. Watch the Great Lakes turn from glass to gale in the space of an hour, then follow Stardust south from Chicago into the powerful currents, enormous locks, and intimidating barge traffic of America's inland rivers.

Along the way, mechanical failures refuse to wait for convenient harbors, carefully made plans unravel, and the closed Canadian border forces a decision that changes everything.

Through it all, strangers become friends, small towns become favorites, and a couple with eight years at sea behind them discovers just how much there is still to learn.

The Loop promised an escape. What it delivered was far more than they ever imagined.

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