Exploring America’s Great Loop: Artfully Cruising the Rivers and Canals of North America
This is Jim and Jill Iverson’s homespun ode to earning a gold burgee aboard Alvin James, their Great Lakes 33.
The book does not delve into boat preparation or lecture the readers on what to expect when taking on the 6,000-mile trip. Instead, it focuses on the singular experiences of its co-authors, who deftly describe the quaint rural marinas, the small river towns and their maritime museums, the arts-and-crafts galleries, the rich array of wildlife and the riverside memorials that date back to the 19th century.
The couple meets enthusiastic fellow cruisers, chats up riverside raconteurs and tug captains, and spends Thanksgiving with fellow Loopers, but they seem most comfortable alone in remote anchorages, waking under moonlit skies to the hooting of owls.
Jim’s prose is interspersed with journal entries and, most notably, with Jill’s exquisite, folk art-inspired illustrations. They really make this slim volume sing.
