Shanedennis: I enjoyed your website. I enjoyed our sailing in the Great Lakes in 2010-2011 and then we headed back South to (home) Mobile Alabama via the Erie Canal, Hudson, and port hopping down the East coast. In 2013 we cruised to Exumas, Dry Torgugas. The Great Lakes are beautiful in the summer, but you are more man than I to live there and brave the winters. That was the first (and last) time I have pulled a boat and winterized her and paid to lay her up where I couldn't use her. There is one hidden advantage perhaps that "winterizing" has, and that is the opportunity for annual maintenance. We get lazy down south and tend to leave our boats in the water for 2-3 years before putting them on the hard. Sometimes bad things start working down below, and we don't see it until it is more serious than it should have ever been.:-) Best to you on your extended trip. It sounds like a "seachanging" event.