With our arrival in  Victoria Harbour on Saturday August 6th our status has changed– We  are Gold Loopers!  I checked earlier in the week with the AGLCA, according to their records we are the first from Manitoba.  Another fact on average only 85 boats complete the loop in a given year- so we are part of a very elite group!Victoria Harbour was the place where Andy started  August 15, 2015  with Pat and Marcia Gillespie as crew. So we have come full circle and crossed our wake.  Claudia provided me with pictures from her boat.After we were tied up and checked in we walked into town and got some groceries.   In the  afternoon, we retired our white AGLCA burgee and replaced it with the Gold burgee, signifying that we have completed the loop and are now known as Gold Loopers.  People who have done the loop multiple times fly a platinum coloured burgee.

We celebrated the feat with champagne

and then went out for supper to Queen’s Quay with Dave and Claudia.  They are celebrating  too as  they are  about 1/2 done the Loop- they are from Texas but  officially started from Fort Myers, so need to return there to complete it.

Later in the evening Don Allin and  his partner Barbara stopped by, we had visited with them in February in Florida.  Don was the broker who had negotiated the sale of On Business to us in June of 2014, they were pleased that we had completed what we had set out to do.

Over the past few days, we have fallen in love with the western half of the TSW, we made a tough decision today.  We have decided not to sell On Business but rather sell  our Carver-Odyssey, so that we can spend our vacations in Ontario and once I retire, spend the entire boating season here.   We had   tentatively sold On Business  on July 23rd, subject to a survey and sea-trial which had not taken place.  Andy  called the prospective buyer saying we had decided to take her off the market.

We have about 3 weeks left until I need to be back in Winnipeg, we plan to do some exploring in Georgian Bay and find a marina that will store On Business for us until next summer.

Here’s the message that we put on the AGLCA forum last night

Twylla and Andy McKendry aboard On Business, a 31 year old PT 35 Sundeck Trawler crossed their wake on August 6^th, 357 days after leaving  Queen’s Cove Marina in Victoria Harbour.

 We have traveled 6870 miles, spent $6180 USD on 2301 Gallons of fuel, traversed 18 states, and 188 locks.   We traveled 163 days, spending  255 nights at marinas, (includes 37 days in Polestar for a trip home to get the Admiral and 31 in Myrtle Beach for golfing), 74 at anchor and 28  using our Parks Canada mooring pass.  Our side trips included, going down to the Keys, crossing Okeechobee  twice, once via the Rim route, as well as  4 of the stops on the Albermarle Loop,  Salisbury MD, a few days in the Thousand Islands  and up and down the Rideau for July 1^st– Canada Day.   Our  best memories are of the  hundreds of people we have met and the many friends made along the way.

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.

This has truly been an adventure of a lifetime and we wouldn’t have postponed it for anything  —our Canadian dollar wasn’t worth much at times, but the cheap diesel helped our budget.

Our mantra became:  it is what it is!

The admiral is returning to work at the end of August for another 4-5 years, but she hasn’t lost the boating bug.  We have come to realize that some of the best boating is in Ontario, so we’re thinking of spending summer vacations here until we Loop again.

Andy & Twylla McKendry    AGLCA #9588

Gold Loopers 2015-16   from  Winnipeg, Manitoba