From Michigan Winters to Soundings Magazine

We were featured in an article in the December 2025 edition of Soundings magazine.

When Chris and I bought our Catalina 22, we had very young kids and absolutely no idea what we were doing.

Truly. Everything that could go wrong, did.

But we had the right attitude.

This month, our story was featured in Soundings magazine in an article called Lessons From the Great Loop. It tells the story of how we went from that tiny first boat to completing America’s Great Loop as a family of four: working, homeschooling, locking through, fixing things, and figuring it out as we went.

Reading it made me smile because it reminded me of those cold Michigan winters when I was watching YouTube sailing videos and wondering if there was something like the French canals here in North America. That curiosity eventually led us to the Loop.

The article also talks about how much the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association community meant to us. Spotting a burgee in an anchorage felt like spotting a friend.

And it shares a bit about what we’re doing now... continuing to cruise, building Loop Life Academy, and helping other families see that this life is possible.

If you’d like to read it, you can find it here: Lessons from the Great Loop

There’s also another wonderful Soundings article about America’s Great Loop and the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association community. Reading it brought back so many memories of spotting burgees in anchorages and instantly feeling connected.

You can read that article here: Boaters Helping Boaters Conquer the Great Loop

A second article in the same magazine edition features many of Chris’ fantastic photos from our trip and shares more about the Great Loop.

Mostly, though, I’m grateful. Grateful we said yes to something that felt big and uncertain. Grateful for the miles. Grateful for the people we met along the way.

You never really know where that first small “let’s try it” will lead.