Our Itinerary is Taking Shape

Over the weekend we did more trip planning to tie down our early trip segments. We also worked on our Trip Book, developing and populating our worksheets and data to take with us for reference.

One of the primary rules of doing the Loop is that you do not set a schedule. Bill Chapman, a good friend who we know from Church, has counseled me on numerous occasions to "Throw away your watch"! Well, my construction experience will not let me get rid of my time measuring device just yet, although in retirement, I find that I don't refer to it as much as I once did. The schedule thing, on the other hand, is a different matter.

You have to have a "plan" of where you want to be when. On this trip, we want to be in Norfolk on May 5 to attend a 4 day meeting of the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruiser' Association). We also want to be back in Alabama the middle of May when our son and daughter-in-law have their first baby and our third grandchild.

To fulfill these goals, we have developed an itinerary that should get us there. OK, I won't use the "S" word. We will call it an itinerary!

We leave JAX on April 3. Our planned stops on the way to Norfolk are Fernandina Beach, Fl; St. Simons Island, GA; Savannah, GA, Beaufort, SC; Charleston, SC; Isle of Palms, SC; Georgetown, SC; Myrtle Beach, SC; Southport, NC; Wrightsville Beach, NC; Swansboro, NC; Moorehead City, NC; New Bern, NC; Oriental, NC; Belhaven, NC; Coinjock, NC, then into the Portsmouth, Norfolk VA area. We anticipate staying more than one night in St. Simons, Savannah, Beaufort, Charleston, Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, Moorehead City, New Bern, and Portsmouth. After the Looper meeting in Norfolk, we will come back to Alabama for about three weeks, then back to the Loop.

Today we developed our itinerary for the segment from Norfolk to New York City. From Norfolk, we will stop in Deltaville VA, Tangier Island VA, Solomon's MD, Oxford MD, St. Michael's MD, Annapolis MD, Baltimore MD, Delaware City DE, Cape May NJ, Atlantic City NJ, Manasquan NJ, then New York.

We are looking forward to the Chesapeake portion of the trip. The itinerary gives us some time in small villages and towns on the Eastern Shore as well as one of our favorite towns in Annapolis. I am really looking forward to this!

Once we reach New York Harbor, the itinerary gets more cut and dried. There are not as many choices of where to stop. You have to stop at specific towns as there are not as many opportunities.

So, I feel much better about having my sch........ Itinerary developed for the first portions of the trip.

Thanks for Reading!