You may or may not know what the Great Loop is all about, but it’s a voyage reserved for those with a keen sense of adventure, patience, and fortitude. It’s funny how some things just align for lifelong dreams to come together. Bryan and Carol Megginson have the 2020 pandemic to thank for their recent adventure.

First, what is America’s Great Loop? In this case, it was a 6,214-mile boating excursion that took eight months and four days to complete. Beginning from their family home on Fowl River in their “new” Shine On, a 1984 40’ Ocean Alexander Europa trawler, the trip was about two years in the making before setting sail in February 2024. Truth be told, it started much, much earlier than that.

“As a boy, I used to sit on the dock of my grandparents’ home here on Fowl River and imagine that I could get anywhere in the world, by boat, from right here,” says Bryan. “In high school, I became a river rat, exploring the Mobile River Delta with my friends. I would look at maps and atlases and see that you could draw a blue line from Mobile to Chicago. When the internet came along, and Google Earth, I could see all the possibilities.”

In the early 2000s, Bryan heard about someone who had actually made the trip from Mobile to Michigan and back. Not only can you do it, he thought, but people are doing it! “I’d never heard the term ‘Great Loop’ and felt like someone had stolen my idea. I had dreamed about this most of my life, from a kid’s perspective, but when I realized others were making this trip, I knew I had to do it myself.” 

His friends will tell you that Bryan was born to be a boat captain. Over the years, he dreamed of making a longer voyage instead of the usual one-week vacation to Florida or the Caribbean. It was when COVID first appeared, and Carol was required to work from home, that Bryan’s Great Loop thoughts really ramped up. 

“I’d been selling surgical medical devices all my career, and was ready for a break. Now, with Carol able to work from home, making this voyage became a real possibility.” The idea quickly evolved from a possibility to a definite plan. When talk of retirement plans was discussed with his business partner of over 25 years, Bryan revealed his plan. The last day of 2024 would be his final day with his team.

That summer, Bryan and Carol got serious about finding a suitable vessel. After months of searching, they found a local boat, a ‘Loop’ veteran, that fit the bill. It was a small but comfortable boat that was practical and fuel-efficient. When the boat surveyor gave it the green light, the purchase was made.

“Most important,” says Bryan, “was equipping the boat, aptly named Shine On, so Carol could continue working while on the voyage. This trip doesn’t happen if Carol can’t work successfully from the boat.” With blessings from her employer, the trip was on!

A Starlink Satellite system was installed, connected to a solar-charged lithium battery bank onboard, with two redundancies to ensure that power was always available. Bryan contacted a seasoned mechanic on Dauphin Island whose boat had the same type of diesel engines as the Shine On. He visited on three different occasions to help Bryan better understand what he was dealing with and offered maintenance advice to keep them running. After a long “shakedown” weekend at Petit Bois Island off the Mississippi coast, the couple was ready to cast off.

Beginning from the mouth of Fowl River into Mobile Bay, the Great Loop voyage truly begins by entering the Intracoastal Waterway (IWC) in Bon Secour. Traveling east, toward the end of the Intracoastal near Apalachicola, Florida,  a decision needs to be made whether to hop along the Gulf of Mexico around Big Bend, inlet to inlet, or take the passage straight across the Gulf to Tarpon Springs. Then head back inside the protective waterway down Florida’s west coast, and on to the Keys. They choose the latter. 

“We caught the Gulf passage just right,” says Carol. “The waters were flat, the sun was shining, and the dolphins swam alongside the boat the whole day. As day turned to night, a full moon illuminated the calm seas all the way to Tarpon Springs.” Carol tells me she had never been to The Keys and, with stops in Key West, Islamorada, and Key Largo, she loved it. 

Back in the Intracoastal Waterway heading north on Florida’s East Coast, Carol had a fantastic view from her new office in the motor vessel’s salon, looking out over the stern of Shine On. “Bryan was in heaven up top on the bridge while I worked below. I didn’t feel the need to see every bird, ripple, or leaf that fell, but Bryan was loving the sightseeing the whole time. I never knew where we were each day, but I did know what day it was. Bryan was just the opposite.”

I had to ask what it was like being together, just the two of them together for so long. “We never quarreled the whole time,” they both agreed. They made many new friends who were also traveling the Great Loop. There were many times when they would travel together and share anchorages with other Loopers, especially in Canada, and on river systems, but they mostly enjoyed their time alone and traveling at their own pace. 

To put it into perspective, only about 240 to 260 boats make the Great Loop trek each year. Bryan quotes the adage from the American Great Loop Cruise Association, “More people climb Mt. Everest than complete the Great Loop.” 

Friends and relatives kept up with their travels through frequent Facebook posts. Interestingly, I received a message from Bryan and Carol early on in their voyage. They had run into a couple from Texas, whom Linda and I had met a month prior on a trip to Spain. They were also traveling the Great Loop and ran into Bryan and Carol in Belhaven, North Carolina. When they learned where Bryan and Carol were from, they asked, “Do you know Zeb and Linda from Fairhope?” (no last name) ”Yes!”  What a surprise!

Bryan explains that many Loopers often take breaks to travel home, interrupting the voyage. “We had decided to make a continuous voyage, and let our families know, except for an emergency, we were not coming home during the trip. Our only real concerns were our moms, who both live in Mobile, and being away for so long.” It turned out that Carol’s mom flew to celebrate her birthday with Carol and Bryan while they were docked in Chicago. “What a gift for all of us!” they said.

They tell me there is a small flag that Loopers display on their boats called a burgee. The burgee is issued by the AGLCA and identifies the boat as traveling the Great Loop. Bryan says that if you have the burgee flying, you are guaranteed that other Loopers you encounter will either be cordial or become your best friends. 

With only a few navigational decisions to make, mainly choosing which routes to take to Lake Michigan, the journey took them through more than 110 locks. Carol became a very accomplished deckhand, handling the dock lines, deploying, and weighing the anchor. Bryan says the boat they chose was of some age, but had everything they needed to complete the trip. 

“It had everything I wasn’t familiar with,” he jokes. Carol says neither one of them even had a cold the entire time. Bryan adds, “We feel fortunate to have completed this trip mostly unscathed. As far as being in a box together for 8 months, that was the easy part.”

Traveling at their own pace meant coffee at their leisure, overlooking wherever they happened to be that morning. Two-thirds of the time, they were at anchor, or tied to a mooring, when they weren't dockside at a marina. After pulling anchor, the couple would head to their respective stations, Carol at her office in the salon, and Bryan on the fly bridge. After 6 or 7 hours, they would arrive at the next location, get things squared away, open a bottle of wine, and watch the sun set on the horizon.

“It was wonderful,” says Carol. “I had no expectations and was able to stay in touch with the office and my family the whole time. Along the way, they saw a space launch at night at the Kennedy Space Center, loved mooring in St. Augustine, and Annapolis, Maryland. But the biggest thrill on the East Coast was coming up the Hudson River, into New York Harbor, and seeing the Statue of Liberty in person and from their own boat. “It was too awesome for words,” says Bryan. “I felt like I had really accomplished something grand.”

From New York City, they traveled through the Erie Canal, across Lake Ontario, and up the St. Lawrence River to Clayton, NY, and the Thousand Islands area. They passed the Bolt Castle and shared the river with ships passing right next to them. “It was incredible!”

They did stay with friends on three different occasions, and especially enjoyed visiting Mt. Vernon in Virginia. “We ran aground a couple of times, but that was expected,” says Bryan. “It took a minute to get used to having two tides a day on the East Coast. You had to pay attention.”

Bryan says he learned something new every time he entered the engine room and learned to enjoy the daily checks. They learned that water was a priority and to always top off the tanks when in port. “We searched for coffee beans a lot,” says Carol. They enjoyed the marinas and appreciated the harbors that had dinghy dock access. 

Then it was to Canada, passing through the Trent-Severn waterway, actually taking Shine On up and over a hill on land on a contraption called the Big Chute, into the Georgian Bay, and further into the North Channel in Canada.

Both said the six weeks in Canada were amazing. “Baie Fine, Ontario, was like entering fjords in Norway, with float planes and boats providing the only access in some areas.” There, they enjoyed a wonderful meal of freshly caught fried walleye at Henry’s Restaurant. “I can’t overstate the beauty of these random places where we dropped anchor and watched sunsets with a glass of wine,” says Carol.

As the North Channel turned into the intersection of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, they were back in the United States. They visited Mackinac Island in the Upper Peninsula before heading south, down Michigan’s west coast toward Chicago. They stopped in the coastal Michigan towns of Petoskey, Muskegon, and Saugatuck along the way. “Michigan was totally unexpected, with Bahamas-blue water and high sand dunes,” says Carol. “We will definitely go back.”

On September 16, Bryan celebrated his 64th birthday. On October 31, 2025, Bryan and Carol crossed their wake at the entrance to Fowl River as they made their way back to the family home where it all began more than eight months earlier. They both agree that this trip of a lifetime was well worth the time and effort it required. 

They feel that, but for a few minor inconvenient circumstances, they were extremely lucky to have fulfilled a lifelong dream. As they catch their breath and take stock of their adventure, Bryan knows he needs to determine his next career move. “I told myself I wouldn’t think about that until our trip was complete.”

I so appreciate Bryan and Carol sharing their story. The Great American Loop is not for everybody. Yet for this adventurous couple, it was the trip of a lifetime!