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- Sunday Summary #79 - 41/45 Locks Complete, 4 to go including the BIG CHUTE!
Sunday Summary #79 - 41/45 Locks Complete, 4 to go including the BIG CHUTE!
Sunday Summary #79 - 41/45 Locks Complete, 4 to go including the BIG CHUTE!
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Sunday Summary #79
41/45 Locks Complete, 4 to go including the BIG CHUTE!
Hi ,
Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 79th Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written on a Monday in a coffee shop in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.
Last Week.
This week, we completed locks 13-41 on the Trent Severn waterway and have continued to have a blast. The locks have been so fun to go through, it’s like a game or a waterpark for boats. Although we’re exhausted at the end of each day having traveled only 20 miles over 8 hours, it’s very mentally (for Elliot) and physically (for Jen) exhausting. The Trent Severn Waterway, as well as many other locks and waterways in Canada, are maintained and operated by Parks Canada. At each of the lock stations there's picnic tables, grassy areas, and sometimes fire pits. We’ve learned that some people will canoe or kayak the entire waterway and pay CA$5/person to camp at the lock parks. What a cool experience and adventure that must be!
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We cruised on one of the highlight locks along the Great Loop this week as well. We went on the highest lift lock in the world at 65 feet (20 meters), the Peterborough Lift Lock! It takes 90 seconds to raise the boats while using less electricity than heating a kettle for hot water. The lock is 118 years old and only had a few small shakes as we rode up. We had the opportunity to meet the lock master, Ed, who gave us a tour of the command room, and told us ghost stories about the lock. His story can be found on ‘Creepy Canada,’ Season 3, Episode 4, or you can read about them
. We decided to stay the night at the top of lock 21 for a really unique experience, because how often can you say you slept at the top of the tallest Lift Lock in the entire world? So we slept with the ghosts and were glad to report to Lock Master Ed that we had nothing to report the following morning. Our friends Mike and Beth aboard MV Amy Marie (a Ranger Tug) included many photos of PIVOT in their blog this week. If you'd like to see more of PIVOT from another couple's eyes, read their blog posts:
Kingston to Campbellford, where Ollie meets her new friend, Beth
Hastings, where we rafted through many locks together
Peterborough, where Mike and Beth watch us go up the Peterborough Lift Lock
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The last few locks have been some of the most busy with small towns and cottages along the way. We successfully crossed the largest lake on the Trent Severn Waterway this morning, Lake Simcoe, which is notorious for getting really choppy with it’s shallow depth around 50 feet (15 meters) and it’s size which allows for significant waves to develop a meaningful fetch. The two hour ‘crossing’ (we didn’t cross the entire lake, just part of it) lead us to a great little town of Orillia. For the rest of our Sunday, we’ll be taking advantage of internet, doing some routine engine maintenance, and boat chores.
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"Growth is uncomfortable because you’ve never been here before - you’ve never been this version of you. So give yourself a little grace and breathe through it."-Kristin Lohr
This Week.
Orillia will probably be our largest town until we get to the US. As we begin cruising in the Georgian Bay and North Channel, we're unsure of our internet situation over the next few weeks. So we’ve uploaded and scheduled several YouTube videos, but we may have a week or two without any videos, weekly emails, or other updates.
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We’ve heard from countless people that the Georgian Bay is the highlight of their loop and the most beautiful cruising ground on the loop so we are so excited to be here! Our Canadian Summer Camp will continue as we cruise in clear, fresh water, with lots of rocks - something completely new to us!
Videos.
In case you missed it, here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:
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BOAT DRAMA in St. Michaels (Dragging Anchor and Towing A Dinghy)
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HUNDREDS of Boats Crossing the Bay to ANNAPOLIS (after towing a waterman in St. Michaels)
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The TOP WEEK to stay at the ANNAPOLIS MOORING FIELD (Herndon Climb & Blue Angels Show)
Blogs.
Today is the first of the month, so we'll be releasing our July Great Loop Budget! If you missed any of our previous months, you can check them out here:
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Great Loop Recommendations.
We are looking for recommendations for destinations and spots along our Great Loop to go see, visit, and enjoy. It's been a real challenge for us to keep track and stay organized with the many wonderful recommendations we've received thus far. So we've created a Google Form to help us stay organized. Thank you to everyone sending us recommendations so far! We really appreciate it.
Gratitudes.
Throughout our journey around America’s Great Loop this year, we’ve met a lot of our followers and viewers, mostly by happenstance and some tracking us on Nebo. Out of the 2,500 miles we’ve traveled so far, we’ve met the most people in Canada along the Trent Severn waterway. As we arrived to lock 31 in Buckhorn, Ontario, and stayed about 36 hours on the lock wall, we met 5 different couples, families, and people. At other locks, we’ve continued to meet a lot of our other viewers and it’s really neat to hear everyone's stories about how they found our videos, got into boating, what they relate to us by, and so much more. We’re so happy to hear that our videos have helped so many people or given inspiration or entertainment to others. We’re so happy to have YOU in our lives. Thanks for being here. Thanks for watching our videos. Thanks for making our dreams possible.
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Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot