Homeport at last

We arrived in homeport October 13, inauspiciously a Friday the Thirteenth. We'd closed the loop we'd started seven years ago on our training cruise and our maiden voyage from Holland, begun in the middle of July this year. Now, almost exactly 3 months later, Imagine circled the lock to our homeport like a duck circling the nest. I recalled our attempt to enter this tricky lock on our maiden voyage. Paul had this approach nailed now...didn't he? I sat at my post on the bow with my boat hook in hand, ready to enter the deep entrance to the Canal Rhone au Rhin. I imagined a triumphant entry, a welcoming lockkeeper, our friends alerted to our arrival, lining the side of the lock or waving from their boats. It didn't happen that way. Instead, I watched as Imagine's bow lined up with the entrance, waited…and felt us sideslip toward the wall. There was much more current in the Saône than we'd thought. No, no no. That's not right, I thought. I glanced back at Paul, cast a quizzical look, and hoped he read my concern. But over 80 feet away, I didn't have a hope of reading his expression. He surely couldn't read mine either. Maybe he'd see my face turned toward him. I breathed a sigh of relief as I first heard, then felt, Paul shift into reverse, back up, and try the entry over again. This time, he did nail the entrance and we were home. And so, we finished our Centennial Cruise. The highlights of the trip will stay with us always. And, American that I am, I can't help but rank them. And so (pretend there's a drum roll) the highlights were: