WOW, we woke and dressed early this morning super excited to finish the canal. We also knew that the last flight, called the “Waterford” flight, would take 2 hours once we started it. It would be 5 locks straight through. It was Saturday and it was possible we would get stalled by westbound traffic. Leroy, the attendant in charge of Guard Gate 2 stopped by our boat around 7:30 to see if we were ready to go through. That was a good sign! We ate…Continue Reading “We finished the Erie Canal”
We went to bed with the sun (as usual), so about 9PM and rose early since we didn’t put many miles behind us yesterday. It worked out very well as the tugboat that was also tied to lock 15 wall gave us a call on VHF 13 around 7am. He wanted to coordinate to go through the lock together. So we left together and said goodbye to our biker friend Joe (by the way, no bear visited in the night thank goodness!) It turned out…Continue Reading “Nine locks in one day”
Started the morning with the usual coffee but we decided to stay in Little Falls for the morning so I could get caught up on the blog. We have had limited wifi access and being so frugal I refuse to use our cellular… may have to give in to this at some point! Well we stayed and lounged for a bit too long and found ourselves waiting about an hour for lock 17. But as it turned out this was OK because we had rock…Continue Reading “Rock climbing at Lock 17”
This morning we set off with yoga complete and our protein shakes made and in the fridge. No electric so no heater this morning. A bit nippy but warmer then other mornings – about 50 degrees. The terrible pilings we were attached to were somewhat challenging to disconnect from – but we did and were off by 9:30. Today was spent dodging dredging barges, submerged logs, floating debris etc. Tiny had alerted us to several trouble spots which was very helpful and I had noted…Continue Reading “Finally an unlocked Shower!”
The morning was another cold one but our little heater to the rescue… this may be the last morning for a while that we will have electricity to run the heater. Our mornings begin pretty much the same way – we boil water for coffee and we also fill two 24 oz thermoses with hot water. We use these to either “reheat” the coffee as the morning progresses and/or to make our oatmeal on the road. After the water is made we do yoga.. yes,…Continue Reading “Landed in Rome (NY)”
Morning broke in Newark and it was very cold (36 degrees). Luckily we had electric and could run our little heater to warm things up. The facilities here in Newark were really great with wifi, showers, and free laundry. Yesterday we took advantage of all of it! Even with the cold, the sun was shinning and it looked like an awesome day on the canal. Lunch was easy as we had our leftovers from the restaurant last night. I have these great tin storage containers…Continue Reading “We hit bottom”
Last night was even colder than the night before. The morning was very overcast and 40 degrees. We were really freezing as we started the morning on the canal. Our friends continued on last night and did not stay in Spencerport. Although we had no additional facilities we did have electric to run our little heater… they ended up at a dock with no utilities – we hoped they did not get to cold through the night! We have discovered you need to plan your…Continue Reading “Great Facilities in Newark”
Last night was a cold night on the canal. It was about 40 degrees and 41 degrees as we started out this morning from Gasport. It was pretty funny – the lift bridge that we needed to open had somehow not be assigned an attendant today… so they had to wake up someone on their day off to come open the bridge. When she arrived, dog in tow, she was very apologetic, even though it was not her fault. How does a lift bridge not…Continue Reading “Good day on the Canal”
It was a long pandemic summer in Erie but we made it and the Erie Canal was finally open to “thru” traffic. So on Tuesday September 12th we pulled out of Presque Isle Bay and headed to Buffalo to unstep the mast and head down the Erie Canal. Enjoy Episode 4:
We got off to a late start from our Buffalo Marina, exhausted from the previous day. But we headed up the Black Rock Canal. The canal is for pleasure craft that cannot fight the current in the Niagara River. It was crazy rapids over in the Niagara River so I was really happy to be in Black Rock Canal. Because it is a slower current there is a Black Rock Lock to lower you down to the Niagara River once you pass the worst parts….Continue Reading “First Night on the Canal”