My Route

Believe it or not, there are several options for a trip of this magnitude.  My general route (shown in magenta on the above map) and timetable is as follows:

Mid August of 2016:  Leave Spring Lake/Grand Haven headed south to Chicago. I will pick up the Illinois River there and continue south to the Mississippi. Continue on the Mississippi and then pick up the Ohio River (going upstream) until reaching the Tennessee River system which I will follow south into the Tenn-Tom Waterway and ultimately into Mobile Bay.  I will then follow the Gulf Coast intercoastal waterway all the way to Carrbelle,  I plan on hugging the coast all the way to Fort Myers arriving there by the end of October, 2016.

I will keep the boat in the area for the winter and hang out in Arizona until spring of 2017.  At that time, I will continue south to Key West, FL and make the turn north up the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.  From there, up the coast into Chesapeake Bay, the Erie Canal, and then the Great Lakes waterway system.

Hope to arrive back in Spring Lake/Grand Haven area by mid August of 2017.