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Sometimes the Great Loop journey takes an unexpected turn—or, in this case, asks you to slow down and stay awhile.

Attention Southbound Loopers! Don't miss our discounted rates for winter work on your vessel!

There's more than one way to do just about anything. Monitoring locks on the inland rivers is no exception. But when you're cruising the Loop, missing important closure information can add days, weeks, or even months to your plans.

A lot has changed on the inland river system since last year’s Looper fleet headed south toward warm weather and salt water. Between lock closures and the loss of a few much-needed places to tie up, there are several obstacles this year’s fleet should be prepared to navigate.

AGLCA has been working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help our members prepare for an upcoming closure at Brandon Road Lock & Dam (Illinois Waterway Mile 286).

For many Loopers—both those planning and those already underway—the Great Loop is often thought of as a single 6,000-mile route through a connected system of waterways across the eastern United States. It links the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Great Lakes, inland rivers, and the Gulf. It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that the Loop is far from a single fixed path. In fact, there are numerous alternate routes within the Loop itself. This flexibility is one of the reasons many Gold Loopers continue cruising in pursuit of the Platinum Burgee—they discover there are far more ways to complete the Loop than they originally imagined.

This month, we continue down the inland rivers with Carolyn & Peter Westbay (and their feline crew), picking up where we left off in Paducah and taking you all the way to Mobile.

Loopers will soon be headed down the Inland Rivers. Cruising the rivers is a little different and we reached out to Wes Litsey, who has cruised thousands of miles on the rivers to share with us what you need to know before you go.