Looping Lake Michigan with “Naida”
We recently caught up with Megan Sunderland about her trip around Lake Michigan in a restored 1935 Grebe wooden boat. Click here to check out the interactive route on Wayward. All photo credits to Megan Sunderland.
“Looping the Lake”
1 Let's start with the basics: How long was the trip and what was your vehicle of choice?
12 months on a live a board 86 year old wooden boat
2 What inspired you to take this trip?
Touring the US looking for adventure
3 Did you plan the route / stops in advance or did you just wing it?
We left Chicago thinking we would go down the Mississippi River but needed to do a few boat projects. Once these were done we headed back up the Illinois River with the plan to spend the summer touring around Lake Michigan. The stops were weather dependent.... nice weather meant "go", bad weather meant "stop".
4 Was this a 'sleep in the ditch' sort of trip or did you stay in 5-star resorts?
We stayed in our 1935 Grebe designed, Hollywood built wooden motor boat. Rumored to be owned by Humphrey Bogart.... A "Renovators Delight" with 5 star ambitions
5 What was the worst thing you ate on this trip?
We don't eat bad food, beautiful fresh food only supplemented with a "cocktail du jour".... I still dream about the Golden Eagle peaches, Washington Island Brandy Old Fashioned with cherries, Green Bay cheese and delicious meats all from across Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan
6 Did you have any notable interactions with the local folk?
We attracted a lot of attention in our old boat and met many lovely people, so much so that we became a tourist attraction in some smaller towns.
In Port Washington we cruised into an artist gathering, made friends and ended up with a lovely painting of our boat. We also made lifelong friendships with fellow boaters and ended up cruising lake towns together in a little convoy. People were fascinated that we worked and lived on the boat. We also had visits from our Chicago friends who followed our trip on Wayward.
7 Have you ever done a trip like this before?
We definitely plan to keep doing these adventures.... we have shipped our old boat to Australia and have dreams of cruising the east coast and around the Great Barrier Reef
8 Tell us about some unexpected / surprising things that happened.
Cruising on a 86 year old boat you can bet something is going to go wrong but we became very good at fixing bilge pumps, listening to changes in engine noises and avoiding very large barge boats.
In the early days cruising through the river locks was a huge challenge, especially with the old steering ..... in those early times we would arrive into our marina, shaking our heads, reach for a cocktail and high five each other that we survived and didn't sink the old girl. As we progressed we became more skilled but never lost that thrill of cruising into new terrain.
For more, follow Megan on the facebook page for “Naida.”
