Sloopers – Slow Looping: Eight Years on the American Great Loop… and More to Go!

It’s almost hysterical to look back on our content from eight years ago – back when we set out on the American Great Loop intending to split it over multiple years. Probably .. just.. 2-3 years?

And here we are, eight years later and we’ve not even completed a 1/3 of it.

So we thought this might be a great time to talk about our Looping style:

Slooping. Or.. slow looping.

If you’re video inclined, you can listen to us babble instead:

Why Eight Years (so far)?

We always knew that we wouldn’t be aiming to complete our Loop in the more traditional 1-year time frame. That was simply too many hours underway, especially while still working full time.

So thus we kept our RV (and ended up adding a second) with intentions to store during the winters and return to land based nomadic life.

In reviewing our first year loopiversary post, we had already revised our prediction to 4-5 years.

Here’s our general time line:

• 2017 – We started our Loop in Punta Gorda, FL in April, but we took it slow while we geared up learning how to operate, outfit and maintain a boat. We ended up the Keys, just in time for Hurricane Irma and then managing to limp to Miami by the end of the year with running gear damage.
• 2018 – Our experience with Hurricane Irma hit us mentally harder than expected, and aspirations of getting north rapidly dissipated as stress and fatigue wore on. We ended up getting to North Florida, and then diverting down the St. Johns River in Florida and getting swooped into Sanford, FL.
• 2019 – In the spring time we returned to the ICW and got as far north as Charleston that summer. A family medical situation had us returning to Savannah for temporary storage while we helped, then we hauled out for another approaching hurricane. We decided to just call that cruising season done, and returned to van life.
• 2020-2023 – Pandemic. Nuff said. Everybody gets a pass here, including us. We ended up returning to Sanford to shelter in place, and it became a comfortable basecamp for us in other RV and regional cruising adventures. Our Loop was on pause, while we also attended to transitioning our careers to be semi-retired.
• 2024 – In April we left our nest in Sanford, and officially resumed our Great Loop when we caught back up to where we left off in Charleston. We made it to the Norfolk area last year, and stored for winter.
• 2025 – Back on the Loop, with intentions to explore the Chesapeake Bay, and maybe further? Or maybe not.

If we remove the pandemic pause years, we’ve actually only been actively Looping for about 4 years so far.

Pros of Slooping

We had already been full time RVers for 11 years by the time we bought our boat, and just knew we can’t maintain the rapid pace that completing the Loop in a year would require. 6000 miles at 7 knots is a lot of in motion time.

A slower pace of travel, and in particular Looping, has these advantages for us:

More Stops & Side Trips

Because we’re not maintaining a deadline for a finish line, we can make more stops and take side trips. There are about 140 popular Looper stops along the entire route, and thus far we’ve only made about 34 of them.

But along that same segment those stops cover, we’ve actually made over 120 stops (some of them multiple times).

We’ve been able to explore more remote anchorages and quaint towns that many 1-year Loopers just don’t have time for.

And, we’ve had time to take numerous side trips, such as the St. Johns River to Sanford (multiple times), Waccamaw River to Conway, Cape Fear to Wilmington, Neuse River to New Bern, Pamlico River to Washington, James River to Richmond, York & Rappahannock Rivers and more to come!

Longer Stays

With no schedule to keep, when we find a place we like – we can stick around. We’re able to take advantage of more affordable weekly and monthly rates. And then really immerse ourselves into a city.

Those longer stays enable us to check out multiple local dining establishments (while still balancing out eating at home), get in our exploring by running & cycling, go to museums, attend theater and find events & festivals. And just have down chill days.

Flexible Schedule – Less Pressure

While we have an idea of the places we want to go, we rarely lock in plans (such as making reservations) until we know for sure we’re in route.

This allows us to linger – whether it’s waiting for a more ideal weather window, attending to work stuff or just taking a mental recharge.

More Time for Real Life / Work

A more relaxed pace allows us to attend to all that life stuff that has a way of creeping in. From household chores, provisioning, boat maintenance, medical stuff and family stuff.

When we do happen move daily just a few days in a row, we start to feel all this sort of stuff stack up.

For us, our Loop isn’t an extended vacation.. it’s just life.

Making our Boat Feel Like Home

Because we’re more like extended cruisers than on a one-year adventure – investing in our home makes sense. Over the years we’ve done many projects from solar/lithium, re-carpeting & upholstery, upgrading our toilets, adding a hot tub and more.

If we were just planning to keep our boat for a year, we wouldn’t make that much effort on these more comfort items.

Cons of Slooping

And of course, it’s not all good stuff, there are some downsides too.

Storage Logistics

At the end of each cruising season, we have to find suitable storage for the boat – and understand the expected challenges of an area to be prepared for. When storing during the summer in the south, it was prepping for hurricane season. For storing in the winter in places where it gets cold, it’s winterizing.

These aren’t insignificant logistics, and do take time & money.

Limited Looper Social Life

So often we hear those who have completed their Loop exclaiming that the best part was the lifelong friendships they made along the way. With so many doing the more traditional 1-year Loop, quite often Loopers are traveling in packs in the same area.

This gives opportunity to connect with the same people over and over again, and perhaps even travel with.

Instead, we get to meet some Loopers as they pass us by – generally just within a couple month span. We enjoy the interactions, but more than likely we won’t be seeing our new friends again anytime soon.

But that’s not to say that our social life is any way lacking – we always seem to make new friends and reconnect with old, wherever we go!

Extended Cruiser Challenges

As we are cruising long term, we have to think long term with our boat. This means more maintenance items, extended yard time about every other year and maintaining boating club memberships for multiple years.

Speaking of which, we’ve also had to replace our AGLCA Burgee multiple times because it keeps wearing out.

Saying No to Other Things

Because we’ve made such a commitment to our boat and the cruising lifestyle, it’s saying no to other pursuits. And we have a lot of aspirations – such as international travels and Chris finally getting his Zeppelin.

Of course, now that we no longer have a cat along with us – we can start to use our non-cruising season for other adventures. But of course, that comes at the expense of having not one but two RVs waiting for us.

Oh.. the endless options!

Sloopers Unite!

We’re definitely not the only ones out here pursuing a slower Loop. Sometimes folks are like us, and just start out with these intentions.

And sometimes folks decide that their second Loop should be at a slower pace so they can see all the things they missed the first time around.

But it’s not as frequent that us Sloopers cross paths in person, as we’re all moving slowly around this big huge circle.

Do you have a Slooper mindset too? Maybe it’s time for our own little club?