We started early this morning (7:00 am) from Catskill in order to take advantage of the tidal current to Albany. It worked and we made really good time, arriving at Lock #1 (Troy Lock) at 1:00 and at the city dock in Waterford at 1:30.
This is a treat. Very nice floating docks – FREE – they even provide electric, water and showers. The attendants are volunteers and they are really nice and helpful. They do not help with the docking, but it is an easy long dock and the other boaters were helpful.
Plan to stay here for two nights and do all of the things I expected to do underway. It is not that I have been procrastinating, I am just laid back, steering and navigating and enjoying the ride.
Meanwhile Carole has been packing everything away – tomorrow it is my turn. Hopefully I can find some spaces that she has not already filled.
Wednesday-July 29th
Got a good start on the day – I managed to wire the computer to the TV, and using a blue tooth mouse and keyboard the computer can live in a closet. Finding a way to run the wires was really fun. Like into the space between the salon bulkhead and the forward head bulkhead, and finding that there is no opening out of that space so I had to make an opening into the locker under the forward head sink, then back in to the engine compartment, across the boat, up into the electrical panel and finally into the hanging locker where the computer is located. It took me about two hours to run the wires. It works like a charm! No exposed wires, and the only thing on the table top is the keyboard and mouse.
On to the next - cleaning up all of my tools and junk. They were all residing in the V-berth. That took the rest of the afternoon, but it got done. And the really good news is that if anyone cares to ride with us for a few days there is a place to stay. Prior to the cleanup you would need to sleep on top of the tool boxes and parts cans.
Late afternoon it started to rain, and rain, and rain. Not hard most of the time but really steady. Some real bad flooding just south of us. We did not get most of it. We did have to walk about six blocks to a restaurant in the rain. Had a pretty good dinner. Portions were so large that it is also dinner tonight. We met “Bonnie Lass” at the restaurant and wound up eating together. Nice people- retired Air Force. They were coming up from the York River and only going as far as Oswego, NY before turning around and heading back. By the way. on the Loop Trail we are known by our boat name, not our own name. Thus we are now “Serendipity”.
Water was about three feet higher this morning, and Waterford is not in a tidal zone. It is above the first lock. The real flooding was mostly further south.
We only went 25 miles today, but we are 210 ft. higher.It takes a lot of effort to lift 20,000 lbs. That high. The first five locks raised us 180' in the first two miles. Actually went pretty easily. Of course Carole was on the lines and I handled the boat. The locks had these cables running up the walls. The cables were plastic coated and fastened top and bottom. So all we needed to do was put a line around the cable. Tie it to the boat and ride the the cable up while the lock filled with water.
Scenery here is really pretty. With all of the rain everything is very green. Hills, nice architecture (for the most part) and quiet water. We did have to dodge a passel of two man sculls this afternoon.
We stopped for fuel in Schenectady and I noticed that the battery voltage was low. After a quick check I found that the alternator had gone south on us. Our plans changed rather quickly from tying up along a lock wall (for free with no electricity) to taking a slip at a Marina. We did find a nice little marina in Glenville, NY. Not very expensive and very friendly. Quite a nice location as long as we did not mind donating blood to the local mosquito population! Of course since we had power we could close up the boat and turn on the air conditioner. So much for roughing it!
Several hours later I did fix the alternator. We will see how long it holds out this time.
The air has cooled off a bit and it looks like tomorrow we should be in Canajoharie (don't ask how it is pronounced). It is 35 miles and five locks away. Could be a long day. I hope to find some replacement parts there (they have a NAPA store near the docks).
I expect I will get the electrical situation straightened out before too long. Then we can get down to the real work of getting the boat spruced up to look the way she should
As far as Annie getting on and off the swim platform, there are so many tie ups at the locks, that anchoring is not an issue. I am continuing to work on a solution (mostly a mental exercise at present0 and expect to have something workable eventually.
I have straightened out the phone card and expect that I will have pictures soon. Nothing spectacular, mostly nice and quiet (except for the trains which run along the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers).
One of these days I will probably get in the rhythm of the cruising life. Carole seems to be there. I am still operating as if I were home.
Friday dawned dark and rainy. We got underway early (for us) and operated from the flybridge until the rain started blowing in our face. We ran for a while with the plastic windows zipped shut but I finally moved everything into the main cabin an ran the boat from inside. The day was not as long as I anticipated and we were at the city dock in Canajoharie by 2:30.
My search for a spare set of brushes for the alternator was successful although it took some turns I did not expect. The NAPA store did not have anything and referred me to a local rebuilder who was only 3 miles down the road. I called the rebuilder, but he could not identify the part from my description. He sent his wife to pick me up. The three mile ride was more like eight miles. When I got there, he looked at the part and was baffled. He called in his brother. It took about 30 minutes before they finally found the right part. At fifty bucks an hour labor rate they lost money – they only charged me $10.00.
While I was chasing parts, Carole went in to a local Gallery and Museum – The Arkell Museum. It was a nice museum built around the collection of the Beechnut Chewing Gum and candy company owners. The collection had some really nice paintings. It has several Winslow Homer paintings. There was also a special show called “Then and Now” which showed the works of contemporary painters alongside 19th century artists with similar themes. Worth the visit.
We did run in to our friends from Bonnie Lass. They were leaving as we pulled in. They stopped to visit the museum. We talked for a while and let Annie swim in the river and chase a few sticks. So she got some exercise. The locks befuddle her. When we pull in to a lock all she sees are the walls on both sides, so she either barks at them or runs and hides in the cabin. As the water rises and she can see over the edge, she then starts to think about jumping off on to the walkway around the lock. So far she has not tried it.
She really likes it here in Canajoharie. There is a great park. We are tied up to a city dock with free electricity and water if we want it. Annie gets to sit on the deck and watch the ducks and some geese (not Canada Geese), probably feral geese. They were white and had speckled bills. She just jumped ship to chase the ducks and geese that were swimming alongside the dock. No, she did not go off the dock, just ran up and down to let them know it was her territory and they better get out!
That's it.! I am sending!
I am calling this episode “The long winded – much ado about nothing” episode. I promise to get better.
PS. Thanks for all the encouragement. Too bad you did not get this one before you encouraged me.
More pictures are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mitchb88/
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