Lifestyle
Lovin' the Loop! Part 2
Eight weeks after we started our Great Loop odyssey in Pensacola, Fla., we begin heading north from Fernandina Beach, planning to arrive in the Chesapeake Bay in the spring. From here (Mile Marker 717), the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) runs to Norfolk, Va. (MM 0), where we enter the Chesapeake. While some boaters consider the ICW […] Read More
The Complete Listing of Marinas and Locks on the Inland and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways
Boat Bums and River Rats on the Cumberland
If love makes the world go round, it can also cause boat trips. A September family wedding in the Nashville area made the perfect excuse for travel up the Cumberland River. As dedicated boat bums will do, we allowed two to three months for this trip. In mid-August, we left our home […] Read More
Springtime is Crappie Time!
One of the first gamefish to get active across Heartland waters each spring is a favorite among anglers from coast and coast and on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Known as the “fish of a thousand names,” whether you call the popular panfish a “white perch,” “calico bass,” “sac au lait,” “papermouth” or […] Read More
Red and Rowdy
Although Lake Texoma was created in 1945 for flood control and to generate hydroelectric power along the border of Texas and Oklahoma, the timing of the project caused at least one seemingly insurmountable problem. There was no way to get from one side to the other without a boat or driving completely around the […] Read More
Lovin’ the Loop!
Recently on a trip to Florida, my son and I stopped by to visit old friends we met in Canada years ago while our families were doing the Great Loop. The last time we had seen each other, we were celebrating our successful arrival in Florida after traveling down the inland rivers and waterways […] Read More
Kidding Around on Boats
The best students in boating safety classes are kids. I know this because I taught for the State of Michigan, US Power Squadron and Coast Guard Auxiliary. In addition, for more than 25 years, I took thousands of kids of all ages fishing while operating my 30-passenger charter boat on Lake Huron. Youngsters were […] Read More
Naming and Christening Your Boat
Even with the advent of GPS, radar, weather tracking and other sophisticated safety and navigation systems, boat naming is considered serious business by otherwise non-superstitious professional and recreational mariners. While the ancient Egyptians are credited with popularizing the practice of naming boats, it was the Babylonians who performed the first recorded boat […] Read More
The Complete Listing of Marinas and Locks on the Inland and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways
Time and Again
Two-and-a-half decades. A quarter of a century. Two-dozen-plus-one boating seasons. No matter how you slice it, 25 years is a pretty long time, and HeartLand Boating has been on the water for every one of them. Rather than unleash a history lesson on how and why “Mid-America’s Premier Boating Publication” came into […] Read More