Who would have thought the SECOND sightseeing attraction on that day in Zion National Park was Kismet, our little red tug? Everywhere we stopped to pull over, people seemed more interested in taking photos of our boat than the scenery. I’ll have to admit, we did stand out a bit driving on those rocky hairpin turns and entering a few tunnels. I’m sure the last thing anyone thought they’d see on that day was a bright red tug traveling through the majestic Zion National Park.

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Loading Kismet at Spanish Municipal Marina.

Heading back to Spanish, time to load our boat onto the trailer to drive back to the states. This was the first bad weather day of our trip. No sooner had we got the boat secured onto the trailer and into the parking lot when it started to rain hard. You can tell from the photos how dreary it was during our trip home.

Heading over the bridge at Sault Saint Marie was a little stop-and-go as we neared customs.

Not long after crossing the Mackinaw Bridge, we were looking for a place to camp for the night and we decided it was time to try an overnighter in Walmart’s parking lot in Petoskey. Well, everything went pretty well, we had a quick dinner, thanks to the deli in Walmart, nobody bothered us all night, but it was a little noisy when we were trying to sleep. There is a Home Depot next door and it sounded like they were sawing wood all night long.

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Mackinaw City seemed to be the logical choice to launch Kismet for our trip to Mackinac Island.

Our son, Skyler, got married to, Sarah, on Labor Day Weekend. Most of our summer was focused on this big event; except for a few boat trips, we stayed close to home preparing and enjoying all the activities. I have to confess it took quite a toll on our blogging ability. After it was over, we needed to decompress and Mackinac Island came first to mind. This island is unique in its ability to transport a visitor back in time, one of our favorite cruising destinations; the perfect place to relax and savor the sweet memories, still so fresh in our minds, of Skyler and Sarah’s big day.

We decided to try out the new Mackinaw City Straits Harbor to launch our boat, it seemed the logical choice; it’s free, easily accessed, a strait shot across to the island and we’d heard how state-of-the-art it was, we wanted to check it out. We thought it very strange that so soon after Labor Day, the marina was, as you can see, virtually empty.

This was our maiden cruise in trying out the new DeLorme InReach, GPS satellite tracker. We were very pleased with how it performed, all we had to do was turn it on when we left home. This is an easy way for family and friends to keep track of us while we’re off cruising.

Check it out on our BoatU.S. Cruising Logs page (upper right-hand corner).

The photo (above) is a good indicator of what’s happened to the water levels in the Great Lakes. We had to climb up and down the ladder to get on and off the boat.

What a small world it is for boaters, when we arrived at Mackinac Island we ran into Peggy and Bob, on Baby Grand. We first met them in the Abaco Islands while doing the Great Loop boat trip in 2009.

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If it appears that we are eating our way back to the boat, you are right, we are! Seems like we are always on the move, north, south, east or west.

Not much to report on during our road trip south to Florida to pick up Kismet, however, we found some exceptional food stops along the way. When trailering our boat, or driving back to where she is stored, gives us an opportunity to explore some little towns off the expressway.

Shan Chinese Buffet was tops on our list, it was just a fluke that we happened upon it, as it was out of town, off the beaten track and very unassuming. However, one step inside and we knew we were in for a treat. It looked like a well-known trucker stop with a huge parking lot for big rigs, and plenty of room to park Kismet. One thing we have to consider when shopping for food is finding a restaurant where we can easily park our rig. The restaurant offers an amazing variety of Chinese food on buffet tables, plenty to satisfy two road warriors for one day.

The Smokehouse Grill in Berea, Kentucky, was a second favorite, offering exceptional southern home cooking. We do find that food stops are an important part of our road trips. Finding good value and something akin to good old home cooking is what we are looking for.

On our last day on the road we were starving and somehow missed the last town that might have provided food for our hungry tummies. When we passed this farm, in Bluffton, Georgia, way off on the side of the road with a little sign that said RESTAURANT, we immediately back-tracked thinking we might miss a great opportunity for something interesting.

What we found was White Oak Pastures, a multigenerational family farm that cooperates with nature to produce artisan products that are healthy, safe, nutritious, and delicious. Care is given to ensure that all production practices are economically practical and ecologically sustainable and that the animals are always humanely treated.

We had a fantastic lunch in an open aired restaurant on the compound, where they feed the 100+employees (butchers, organic farmers, and office staff) and travelers, like us, who stop by. We had the daily special, a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. After a stop in their little general store, we left with some homegrown protein to take to the boat.

If you rest, you rust! Right? Just a little reminder to keep moving, doing, and seeing new things, by road or water – it’s all good.

Jim LOVES old cars. He remembered this spot when we drove north last fall. These old rusted cars lay at peace in their final resting place, exposed to the elements and time. We stopped and spent some time exploring their final resting place.

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First North, then West to Portland Oregon

After months of packing, planning, and organizing, we finally headed out this morning. First to 131, driving north to the Mackinaw Bridge. After we crossed the bridge, Kismet’s bow was turned west towards our final destination of Portland Oregon. Not only will we get the boat out to the west coast before the snow flies, but we plan to spend time with our son, Ross, and his family, in Portland for several weeks before flying home for the holidays. This is just the beginning of a year-long adventure in the Pacific Northwest.

Because of the last-minute change in our fall travel plans (see post here), getting ready to leave the house this year became a bit of a challenge. To further complicate the process, we had all our young men and their families home the week before. Jim kept saying that when he made up the schedule and presented me with a timetable as to when we would head out after the last of our family left the premises. I only remember saying, “I need three full days after the last son and family left to finish my preparation and packing.” Jim, however, only remembers that I agreed to a certain day. A one-and-a-half day departure time. I was adamant about needing those three days and good thing I stuck to my guns. We barely made it out the door on Friday morning, but as things usually happen, it all came together at the last minute.

It’s always such a sweet relief to settle into my seat in the truck looking forward, out the window, toward a new adventure.

Friday, early evening, we stopped in Oconto, Wisconsin for dinner. From the restaurant, we called Holtwood RV Park only a mile away from the restaurant and were relieved they had a spot for us for the night. It was a quick spot to get into, more like a parking spot, but it was by the river and it was quiet there. As usual for us on the first night out, we spent the bulk of the evening getting the boat organized for camping. Jim got the portable electric heater out of the truck and I put some packed bags of stuff stowed and out of the way.

After a hectic week of family fun and trip preparation, it felt good to climb into our little bed at the end of the night. I always sleep well on the boat.

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Staging Storing

Whenever we plan a major trip, usually once a year if we can manage, it usually involves what we like to call “Staging Storing.” We often need to stage our boat somewhere near our intended future cruising area well before we actually start cruising. Whether it be storage or docking somewhere nearby to avoid weather restrictions, to avoid higher costs, or we think we’d like to take in some interesting activity short of our final destination – making plans to stage and store the boat is an important element of trip planning.

Our cruising plans for the next year will be focused on the Pacific Northwest, primarily Puget Sound and British Columbia. We often take our boat south to Florida for the winter months. In that scenario, we’d take a trip in the fall, to ferry Kismet well away from Michigan and its brutal winters, to stage and store her in a warmer state, Tennessee or Alabama for instance. Maybe we’ll cruise somewhere nearby the staging/storage area before we return home for the holidays. We would never be able to leave Michigan with Kismet in tow in January, after the holidays, with icy snowy roads. That is one good example of staging/storing.

Our trip plans for the Pacific Northwest are a little different, but not much. This year we brought the boat out west while road conditions across the country were still good to travel through plains and mountains to Portland, Oregon. We launched her in the Columbia River a few weeks ago and are living on her at Salpare Marina while we visit with our son, Ross, and his family. We will be able to enjoy some quality time with our grandson and help out with babysitting etc. while we are here for five weeks. Then we’ll put Kismet back on the trailer and store her while we fly back home. We’ll return after the first of the year. After another short visit in Portland, we’ll trailer the boat to Puget Sound and begin our winter, spring, and summer cruising itinerary, with a few flights back home to check on stuff.

Our lunch stop on our final day on the road was the Bulldog Diner. What a treat. Fresh and homemade are the right words to describe our experience in the very small town of Rufus, Oregon. right off U.S. 30.

We tried to time our arrival in Portland to well before sunset so that we had plenty of time to unload Kismet into the river and get her to the marina before dark. Portland has one of the best boat launch facilities we have ever experienced, M James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp on Marina Drive. We are getting fairly quick at launching Kismet now, so in no time she was in the water and Jim was at the helm, pointing her bow to the marina only a few miles away, while I drove the truck to meet him there.

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Packing for a Cross Country Trip is Like Preparing for a Marathon

Getting ready for a cross-country trip requires some mental gymnastics! We’ve only got one shot to pack up the truck before we head west. Better to be well-organized from the start. We knew it was going to be tight, especially since we were taking a few containers of personal items to our son, Ross, and his family, who live in Portland, OR.

We actually started the packing process back in April when we unloaded the contents, of our sold Ranger Tugs R27, from our truck into the garage. I sorted through it all and weeded out things we never used. Then I put most of the boat paraphernalia into containers that would eventually fit neatly in the bed of the truck. Once we depart home there’s no chance we’re turning around, unless it’s Lisa who’s not in the truck. We are fairly familiar with the drill and what we need to take, so it does get easier.

We started getting organized several weeks before the actual departure day.

I made a list, sorted through the old boat stuff again, and made a staging area on the floor of our garage. I then started ordering new items such as a 22 lb. Rocna anchor, BBQ grille, and an electric pigtail adaptor. These were items that sold with our R27. That was the fun part. About a week before the departure date I started packing, first by loading all the containers, that were ready to go since April, into the bed of the truck. Then I fit more items between the containers, or on top of containers, to ensure we used up every possible inch of available real estate.

Amazingly everything I had sitting on the garage floor fit in the bed of the truck.

This left the back seat of the truck for clothes and personal belongings, or stuff we needed to access on the road trip. As we were packing the truck we also kept an eye on what needed to be done to close down the house for a two-month adventure. This process sometimes feels like a well-choreographed marathon. Again we’ve had practice, as this is our second time packing up to drive west to pick up a new Ranger Tug. In 2011, we drove out to Seattle to get our first tug, an R27. All-in-all, we’ve made this cross-country, round trip, five times, if you count the time we drove out in the winter of 2007/08 to watch our Fathom 40 be built. Two of those trips were made by hauling the boat to and from the West Coast specifically to cruise Puget Sound and British Columbia.

We left Michigan early Sunday morning. Feels good to finally get on the road!

When not towing a boat, like now, we will cover about 500 miles per day, give or take a few. We anticipate the trip will take four straight days of driving from Michigan to Idaho, where we will visit friends for a couple of days, then one more day to Portland, OR, we’ll visit family for a few days before we meet up with the new Kismet. Although we usually take in some sights on the way – on previous trips we’ve visited  Glacier National Park, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and a few side attractions. This trip is a straight shot for us, our focus is getting on that new boat as soon as possible.

By using a hook and a pole, I was able to quickly push the containers to the front of the bed of the truck.

Don’t think we forgot anything. The truck is filled to the gills.

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Heading Back to Des Moines Where We Will Be Loading Kismet Onto its Trailer for the First Time.

Apprehension is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen.” As our time in the Pacific Northwest was coming to an end, I was beginning to feel a little uneasy about trailering our new boat cross-country. The new Ranger Tug R29S is two feet longer, one and one-half feet wider, a little taller, and a couple of thousand pounds heavier than our previous R27. I’ve been known to worry a lot when faced with something new to me. Trailering an “oversize load” through city traffic, construction zones and steep grades in the mountains were not something to take lightly.

After loading Kismet onto the trailer in Des Moines, our plan was to tow her cross-country to Ohio, where my mother lives. We would visit with her a few days after Kismet was stowed in her berth, a landscaper’s storage building. Then we would continue home, to Traverse City where we would be land-locked and catching up on time with family and house chores, until after the holidays.

In preparation for trailering the boat, we knew it was important to have an equal distribution of weight on our boat. So we moved as much of the contents as we could off the boat and into the bed and back seat of the truck. During our final days of cruising in Puget Sound, as we approached the haul-out day, we made sure the fuel tank was about empty. Also, the water and holding tank were emptied just before the haul out. We completely winterized the boat’s engine and systems when the boat was out of the water and on the trailer. With Ivan Guzman’s help, a customer service rep from Ranger Tugs, we got the boat out of the water and prepared Kismet for her inaugural 2,500-mile cross-country trip.

The crew at CSR Marine were very helpful in making sure Kismet was hauled out of the water and placed on her trailer just right.

It was nice to have Ivan on the boat to take care of a few punch list items.

Much to our surprise, soon after we arrived at Des Moines Marina, we ran into Lenny and Louise, on their new Ranger Tug R31, Then Again. Lenny and Louise are from Portland, Oregon. Louise is also a fellow member of Ranger Tugettes, a Facebook group of women Ranger Tug and Cutwater Boat owners. We’ve bumped into this friendly couple several times during our trips to the Pacific Northwest. It was nice to see their friendly faces before heading home.

Finally, the boat sat on the trailer for the first time seemingly ready to go, but our work was not finished.

Unlike our previous Ranger Tug R27, we had to prepare the boat according to to permit regulations for transporting an oversize load on the highway. So, before we took off we attached an “oversize load” banner on the front of the truck and on the back of the boat (attached to the dinghy), along with two red flags at the widest point of the load. Those needed to be on both sides of the boat. Because of the boat’s ten-foot beam, we also had to get “Oversize Load” permits from each state we would be traveling through. A challenging job to say the least, but it was our first time, so hopefully, next time will be easier.

The next post will cover the procedure of securing permits for the nine states we traveled through during our trek east.

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We Decided to Secure the Oversize Load Permits Ourselves –

There are many things in life I enjoy, two of those things are saving money and learning. In this spirit, I forged ahead with the Oversize Load permit process one has to go through when traveling on highways with an oversized load. I looked forward to learning how it works, as well as saving money by doing it myself.  If you are trailering a load, that is wider than 8 1/2 feet, you have to get an oversize/wide load permit from every state and each Canadian Provence you’ll be traveling through. You can do this yourself or pay a company to obtain the permits. Each has advantages, obviously, if you do it yourself you’ll save money. In either case, you need to gather the same data to provide to each State/Province government agency. Your planned route, dates of transit, trailered measurements and weights, insurance information, state registration information, and more, depending on the government unit.

Physically there are a few things you’ll need
to display on the tow vehicle and trailer unit.

An oversize load” banner needs to be secured to the front of the truck and back of the boat as well as two red flags. The flags should be placed at the widest parts of each side of the boat. Oversize load permits vary in price with each state, we’ve paid between $10.00 to $60.00 for the 12 one-time permits we’ve purchased to date. One-time permits are for 5 to 15 days, depending on the State, are date specific and each state has its own rules regarding what day of the week, time of day, holiday, and weather dos and don’ts. Whether you obtain the permits yourself or purchase them through a permit company you’ll need to study, understand, and obey every state’s laws you’ll be traveling through.

If you have the time and like to save money, obtaining the permits on your own is worthwhile, once you get past the learning curve. If it’s not a consideration, because you don’t want or need the experience. Hiring an approved “Permit Company” will save you time, but keep in mind you’ll pay an upcharge for their service. Lastly, I’d point out one has the option to purchase annual permits. This may be beneficial for your home state or a state you’ll be transiting through on a regular basis. An important part of this exercise is to calculate which is better for your trailering plans. We did this for Ohio, where we knew we’d be traveling through 3 times within 12 months.

Thinking of trailering an oversize load? This is a good place to start…
U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration.

Finally, we relaxed and enjoyed the trip!

By the time we stored Kismet in Ohio for her three-month nap, we had experienced everything but snow during our six-day cross-country travel. There were no mishaps or problems at all trailering this bigger boat. With each passing day the initial apprehension, of trailering an oversize load, slipped away. Finally, we were able to relax and enjoy the road trip.

Sometimes you see some interesting stuff while driving cross-country.

Crossing the Continental Divide. Lots of bugs on our trip!

Due to traveling later in the season, we did not boater home at all during this trip. Also, we forgot to bring our small, portable, heater with us. So, we stayed at motels along the way. We always check with motels ahead of making reservations, to make sure they have appropriate parking for our oversize load. This one, in Wyoming, was perfect for our truck and trailer. In addition, we were able to walk, just down the hill, to a fantastic restaurant (below).

We stopped at all truck weigh stations on our route. Most were either closed or just waived us through. If they stopped us, we asked what the protocol was for their state. One time while stopped at a Rest Area, we were approached by a State Police officer, no problem, he just wanted to check our papers.

Our end route was Sidney, Ohio – where my mother lives. We would visit with her a few days after Kismet was stowed in her winter berth, a landscaper’s storage building. Then we would continue home, to Traverse City where we would be land-locked and catching up on time with family and house chores, until after the holidays.

We have stored the R27 at this same storage building previously, this time we had to park the boat outside and leave it there for a while, as another boat needed to go in before we stored Kismet. Since we planned to leave Ohio with the boat in January and the other boat would be stored all winter, we needed to go in last. Our brother-in-law, Steve, who lives in Sidney, kindly moved the boat into the shed a few weeks after we left her there. Thanks, Steve!

The post Delving Into the Oversize Load Permit Process – DIY to Save Money! appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Think we have the hang of loading the boat now!

After six years of trailering our Ranger Tugs R27, we guessed that loading the bigger boat onto the trailer would be harder. The only other time we trailered the boat was in the Pacific Northwest last fall. We took delivery of her in August and cruised for several weeks before loading her again. The boatyard lifted the boat out of the water by a travel lift and placed it on the trailer.

That’s a good thing because we were a little intimidated by the whole OVERSIZE LOAD requirements, rules and regulations. We wondered how the truck, our GMC Sierra 3/4 ton diesel would do pulling the bigger boat cross-country. We towed the R27 with this truck. It was way easier than we feared, almost a non-event. The truck performed well, Jim had all the paperwork lined up for any questioning authority and we got to test all environments of road conditions on our trip home. However, we still hadn’t put the boat on the trailer. Fort Lauderdale was our first experience loading Kismet.

Just as in trailering an oversize load across the United States from Washington State to Michigan, we found the loading process to go without a hitch.

We headed over to the ramp at Cooley’s Landing early in the morning of our departure day. Jim hired a guy we met at the dock. We’d gotten to know Bob during our stay at the marina. We probably didn’t need more help, but Bob was ready and willing to help his new friends and we were happy for the extra support.

I don’t believe the boat size matters too much. Most of our success in these two areas is because Jim is a stickler for detail, making sure all his ducks are lined up in a row. No surprises for our first time loading the boat, the whole process took much less time than we anticipated.

Jim made a strap for our R27 and it still works on the R29. Extra security, keeping the boat safely on the trailer, while on the road.

The post Time to Go Home – Loading Kismet in Fort Lauderdale appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Jim is driving, and I am writing this blog post, the first one in quite a while. We are in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, taking Route 2 west as we begin our trek to Washington State. We hope the Canadian border will open while we are out there so we can cruise up to British Columbia. Ideally, we’d like to explore more of the Broughton Islands.

We missed going to Florida this year, as we were helping our son, Ross’ family move to Michigan from Portland, OR. Well worth staying home to spend five months with our daughter-in-law, Sarah, and our two grandkids. Our original summer plans were to trailer the boat to Prince Rupert. We would have launched Kismet there and headed to Alaska. Then Covid-19 happened.

In our minds, safety, while traveling away from home, was the first issue to contend with. Then the borders closed which caused another problem. We spent most of March through June in quarantine, due to Covid-19, talking about maybe we’d be safer on the boat. So, where would we go, and when? I think the mere discussion of it helped us through those first few long-isolated months. No more dinners out, no family or friends in our house, and it was cold in Michigan for most of March, April, May, and part of June. Our socializing only resurfaced again when we could distance ourselves outside, with happy hour on our porch with rotating friends and family.

Covid-19 Arrived and Plans Changed

At the beginning (March and April), we were still planning on going to Alaska. So, research and focus remained in that direction until it became painfully clear the border would not open in time to execute our plan. We would have had to leave Mid-May.

So, after stocking up the boat with masks, gloves, and lots of hand sanitizer and cleaning materials, we are on Route 2, our third morning on the road. We left home a little later on the first day so we ended up breaking up our first planned day into two shorter days. It turned out to be an excellent plan; we were so tired from packing and cleaning the boat. Stopping earlier on the first two days gave us time to get some stuff organized on the boat. Now the trip is so much more enjoyable.

Preparing for the Trip

To prepare for the trip and to be as safe as possible, I pre-made dinners for five nights and figured on simple breakfasts and sandwiches for lunch. No cooking on the boat, no eating out, just warming up food, and using paper plates and bowls. I had never thought of doing this before, guess I never had to think about it, but I do like having the pre-made dinners because after a long day on the road it seemed daunting to unhitch the truck from the boat and drive around the nearest town to find a restaurant. Yesterday we had lunch at a scenic pull-over spot right on the beach of Lake Superior, lunch doesn’t get any better than that. Guess we have Covid-19 to thank!

Few people are wearing masks here, however, they probably don’t have many cases up here and we are not entering stores or businesses, so we don’t really know if they require masks or not. Last night, as Jim went up to the camp’s facilities to use the restroom, I was on the boat reading an article on how flushing public toilets can be unsafe considering the existence of the coronavirus. I had not thought of this possibility. Apparently, flushing aerosolizes waste material that you can inhale. No more public toilets for Jim, just using the head on the boat, we are still using public showers. Think we will be more than good with that until we get to Anacortes, WA.

The first night we stayed at a KOA in St. Ignace, Michigan. It was a nice stop, with friendly staff wearing masks… sometimes. Before we landed there, we had stopped at a small RV camp, not soon after we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, it was across the street from the water, however; they did not have shower facilities open; they said they could not get enough cleaning supplies to open it. So, we moved up the road to the KOA. It is an enormous park, and we got some much-needed exercise exploring the mostly empty campground.

Last night we stayed at Alpine Campground & RV Park, near Wakefield (above), on the Black River. While checking in, we met the owner, Inga, and her two cute dogs. She is quite a character and runs a tight ship. It was hot when we arrived, Inga made sure we got a tree to shade our boat. After a walk through the campground and the woods down to the river, we enjoyed a few beers under our shade tree, had our warmed-up dinners, and played a few games of Siamese Mah Jongg. Life is good!

Second Time We’ve Done this Route Across the United States

We’ll soon be in Minnesota, with Fargo, ND as our planned stop for the night. We’ve done this route, back and forth, one other time, it was when we headed west to pick up our new Ranger Tug R29. Many other times, when we drove cross-country, we went south from Traverse City, Michigan, around Chicago, and up north. I have to say I much prefer this route, which hugs Lake Superior’s shoreline. It is such a scenic drive lined with white and yellow spring wildflowers.

As we drive through Ashland, Wisconsin (right now) Lake Superior again popped up. As we seem to inch along, we were in four states today; Michigan, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, and North Dakota.

We finally made it to Fargo, ND and it is hot at 92 degrees with a predicted storm to arrive tonight, hail, and possible tornados. Wish us luck!

The post Trailering Kismet Across Country During Covid-19 appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Trailer Tales – Overland Boating

Jim and I have been trailering our boat, Kismet (we are on our third Ranger Tug, an R25) to cruising areas around the United States and Canada, ever since we completed our second Great Loop adventure in 2010 (we did those two Loops on two 40-foot boats). After experiencing the joys of Looping, many boaters gain a thirst to explore new cruising territory. That’s what happened to us. Once we took to the road, trailering our boat, there was no going back.

Early on, we coined the term “boaterhoming” for this type of land/water recreation. If we head out to explore on the other side of the country, we use our boat as an RV, staying at campgrounds as we trailer it across the country. We took this photo (above) of our first Ranger Tug (an R27) in Zion National Park. We had stayed at a campground just outside the park for one night, then drove through the park the next day. It was a shortcut to our destination of Lake Powell, otherwise, we would have had to go a couple of hundred miles out of our way.

The opportunity to take part in an interview with POWER & MOTORYACHT magazine (May 2025 issue) was exciting for us. Any chance to share a different way of boating with others has been our goal since we realized how much fun trailerable boating is.

Trailerable boats are lower on maintenance and ongoing expenses, due to their size.
They are more affordable and lower cost on, storage, dockage, and insurance.

Our trailerable boats may not be big and roomy, like most that cruise on America’s waterways, but in our way of thinking, they are big on possibilities for exploration and ease of use. There is a growing community of boaters who have discovered the benefits of this type of overland boating, we have met many on our travels. Jim and I feel that we have not compromised our thirst for adventure by owning a smaller, trailerable boat. In fact, we have taken that enthusiasm to another level to expand our cruising horizons.

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The Long Goodbye! –

Last summer, Jim and I were brainstorming future travel plans, an exercise we engage in once or twice a year as we look forward to new adventures. After ruling out foreign travel, because we had different ideas about where that might be, or the logistics did not feel right, Jim offered up an idea we both immediately liked. As happens occasionally during this process, our picks usually veer back toward where we can “cruise” next.

Jim’s suggestion was for us to tow the boat out to the Pacific Northwest to cruise the Broughton Islands, British Columbia, Canada, again. Not sure why I did not think of this myself; it is one of my favorite cruises. I guess it was because I was thinking another trip out west was not in the cards for us. Towing the boat for at least five days to reach Anacortes (and back to Michigan again months later) is grueling and hard on our bodies. However, I have to say, having Jim offer one of our favorite cruising destinations as a future adventure was intriguing.

What we had to give up…

After hashing out the pros and cons of such an endeavour, we both jumped on the idea and set the plan in motion. One thing we had to give up to do this trip was the three months we usually spend in Florida during the winter, January to April. We would have to stay home during the winter of 2025/26, taking that time to plan and prepare for our trip. Unfortunately, last winter in Traverse City was a bad one weather-wise. It seemed unusually long and harsh, with major snowstorms almost into April. We would also give up our cherished time boating on the Great Lakes during the summer of 2026. The beautiful summer months are the reward for suffering through a northern Michigan winter.

The last time we cruised the Broughton Islands was in the summer of 2016. It is, by far, the most remote cruising we have ever experienced. It challenged us as trailerable boaters! New things to learn about provisioning and existing on the small-scale capacity of our tug, Kismet. There are no garbage services, few spots to provision, and no pump-out locations. Finding reliable fresh water in this area is difficult and takes careful planning and additional storage options.

Our Route…

In addition, as we make our way to the Broughtons, we’ll pass along Vancouver Island, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia, the Gulf Islands, the Salish Sea, the Discovery Islands, and Desolation Sound. On the way back, we’ll head down the eastern side of BC’s mainland Malaspina Strait, visiting the Sunshine Coast’s Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls.

Many of the marinas in the Broughtons and local points of interest exist in places you can only reach by boat or floatplane. Most marinas were unlike any we had ever experienced before, each one different from the others with a natural, unique charm reflecting the owner’s personality, paired with interesting aspects of remote boating.

So, in the middle of winter, we began getting organized. Jim concentrated on the trip routes out west, both road and water travel. He also started several lists of spare boat parts to purchase and what needed fixing on the boat to get it ready. I started my list of what we would need to purchase and pack to survive in the wilderness. We both also had lists of what we needed to do to our house to get it ready for our absence. We tried to look forward while remembering what the challenges were the last time we cruised the Broughton Islands. That process helped us prepare for a successful trip.

The Long Goodbye…

Spring arrived, and we got the boat out of storage and started loading supplies onto it. Then, the long goodbye started! We arranged extra time with our adult sons, daughter-in-law, our grandchildren, and friends. As I have said before, when you embark on an adventure, there is always someone/thing you leave behind. We had a lot of support from them all, but saying goodbye is never easy for me.

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