Week two – Plan B

HAH! Bet you thought we did not have a Plan B. Well we did,

Since we were going to rent a car anyway, why not keep on moving to some new places and rent a car from there? After all in a boat (ours anyway) 40 miles is a day and 100 miles is several days. In a car 100 miles is two hours! So we moved on.

Monday, June 7

Traveling extra slow today – wind and current are against us. The Hudson River between Peekskill and Kingston is really beautiful. Traveling upriver in a canyon surrounded by green mountains (so OK to you westerners they are hills) is almost surrealistic at times. This is the section where we go past West Point, Storm King Mountain, Hyde Park, Bannerman's Castle and several lighthouses. As we approach Kingston we are passed by another Looper, "Magoo"(The Great Loop is the name given to the trip we are taking). Stayed at the Kingston Town Docks. There were finger piers that were about ten feet shorter than our boat, so a lot of boat was sticking out into the channel. There were no pilings to tie to so our dock lines were tied to the next dock over to keep us in the slip. Fortunately there were only two of us there that night. Kingston is a nice town, shops near the docks and a nice park. In keeping with our exceptional timing this trip, we arrived at 3:30, the market closed at 3:00 and was not open on Tuesday! The wine shop was open however so we were O.K.

Tuesday, June 8

Long day planned – 53 miles to Waterford and the Erie Canal. Clear and Cold. Wind kicked up a bit around the clouds, otherwise an uneventful day. We arrived at Waterford with no problems. We are now on the Erie Canal.

Wednesday, June 9

Work day. I fit one of the hatch covers and installed it. I shortened and fixed Annie's ramp. It rained heavily several times and we crammed seven people into the restaurant's jeep as we went to dinner at Trader Ed's with the crew from Magoo. Very good meal – no I skipped the wings. Watched the Flyers lose the Cup – bummer.

Also met a couple that used to keep their sailboat "Cygnus" at Greg's Neck Boatyard. For those that do not know- Greg's Neck is a really small yard in a really out of the way place. We had our boat there for several years, but since they left in May and did not return until after Labor Day we never really met them. It does amaze me how small the world is.

Thursday, June 10

We rented a car and drove the 100 miles back to Storm King Art Center. WOW! This is a 500 acre Sculpture Garden. It is modern sculpture, and they do have a tram that rides around to give you the overall picture, but to really appreciate it you need to walk. Many Alexander Calder and Lieberman steel sculptures, most of which were huge. After 3 ½ hours there we were bushed and we had really only scratched the surface.

On Magoo's recommendation we went to the Angry Penguin Bar for dinner. Fish and chips was the attraction, which Carole had. Of course I had to try the Buffalo Wings. After swearing she was not going to get fish and chips again unless it was in New Zealand, This place did it right. It was definitely a local as when we arrived they were in the middle of a two table Poker Tournament, which we watched for a while and got to talk with several of those that were out.

Wing score: Flavor 2, Meaty 4, Hot 2, Crispy 0 – Total 8

Friday, June 11

Lickety Split – into the Canal System

Carole is starting to take the wheel into the locks. I am now relegated to deck hand/line handler at the locks with cables. If there are ropes I get the wheel again – Carole can handle the boat part, but not the quick dash out of the flybridge to the back deck to grab a stern rope.

Weather is really nice today.

We went as far as lock 11 – 10 locks in all. Stayed on the wall past the lock. We had one working 15 amp receptacle which was being shared by a sailboat and a boombox. The boombox belonged to some picnickers who left shortly and we at least had a battery charger for the night.

The people on the sailboat invited us for drinks and found out that they were live-aboards and were planning to travel the Erie Canal and return this year.

Saturday, June 12

Annie Jumps ship.

This morning Carole accidentally turned on the Windshield wiper while Annie was laying against it on the foredeck. Annie jumped into the air and immediately abandoned ship on to the dock. She then turned around and sat down and looked at us. When we called her back aboard, she got up, put her tail between her legs and trotted down the dock to the sailboat and jumped aboard. I guess they were cooking breakfast and that smelled better than Windshield wiper up the butt.

Rainy and wet today – seems to rain harder when we have to get out on deck to go through a lock.

Our planned stop at Canajoharie was thwarted when the dock was full as we passed by. We continued on and stopped at Little Falls Canal Park. The dockage was not free, but was reasonable. We had a really nice evening with a Canadien couple on the Sailboat in front of us. They had completed a circumnavigation about four years ago and were living in Honduras. They were bringing this boat back to Canada to sell. They had a large Catamaran that they chartered in Honduras. Carole had made a beef stew and Laurie brought a Ceasar Salad. The salad reminded me as to what Ceasar Salad was supposed to be like.

Sunday, June 13

Short day today. Went to Lock 21 New London, NY, where we stayed at the lock wall. Lots of goose poop for Annie to roll in. A really quiet stop once Annie finished chasing the geese away. I spent the afternoon finishing the other hatch cover.

Monday, June 14

Across the little big water. We crossed Oneida Lake and stopped in Brewerton at the Terminal Wall. We thought we were going to the quiet end of the wall. As soon as we stopped, three dogs on the boat behind us got the barking started. It did quiet down after a while. It started again when a couple with two black labs and two teenage boys showed up. One lab loved to jump off the wall and get a ball. If the owner did not throw it, the dog would walk over to the edge and drop the ball in the water. He then waited until it floated a little way and jumped in after it. Meanwhile the other lab barked at him. Joined by Annie after a while, and then the three from the boat behind us. So we all contributed. Once they left with the labs all was quiet again.

I finally finished installing the rods for the new drapes at the back of the main cabin.

I noticed today that the batteries were not getting charged properly and the system was loading down. We needed the generator that night for about two hours and again the next morning. I will have to look into it.

Dinner at the Waterfront Tavern – Wings rating: Flavor 3, Hot 2, Crispy 4, Meaty 2 – Total 11

Tuesday, June 15

Day started out sunny. We moved about a mile upriver to Winter Harbor Marina for a planned two day stop. We refueled and moved to a dock. I used the afternoon to do an oil and filter change. We also refilled our water tank. There were about 12 looping boats there for the reunion by the evening. We wanted to go out to dinner, but both courtesy cars were gone – so corned beef hash and poached eggs for dinner – pretty good really.

Wednesday 16 June

Reunion Day

The Winter Harbor people sponsored a reunion. There were two speakers and then a barbeque. It was a great day for socializing – seem to be doing a lot of that lately.

I also used the day to swap out the alternators. I had been planning to install a high output alternator in place of my original (this is not the same one I had so much trouble with last year). I started the replacement by having the yard switch the pulleys on the two alternators. What a fiasco! To make a long story short – it would not work. The reason for the switch was to put the double pulley on the high output alternator (it cam with a single) as two belts can carry a higher load. It was not to be. By the time the yard got through with all of the changes, back and forth I had two beers in me and did not even consider finishing that night.

Winter Harbor put on a super bbq. There were about 40 people there. The women that worked there had mad several salads, and the owner and managers were cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, coneys, sausage, chicken and cheeseburgers. They also served Salt Potatoes. We had a really good time. We also learned a lot from the other loopers that had been to the places we were thinking about.

Thursday, 17 June – Saga of the alternator

I planned to finish my alternator installation this morning and get underway about noon, only a three hour trip planned. Carole was going to do laundry and we found out her prescription would not be ready until 1:30. No Problem.....

The first thing I found when I started to bolt the generator in place was that the fan was just touching the mounting bracket. Take off the alternator and grind a few thousandths off the bracket. Put the alternator back on. Put the old belt on – too long. Walk to the Marina shop and get a smaller belt. Walk back to the boat and try the belt – too short. The marina has nothing in between. Take a courtesy car to the NAPA store . It is about 5 miles away. Get a belt. Back to the boat. Try the belt – still too short.

Now there is no car available. Start back to the boat to wait. While I am waiting (Carole is still st the Laundromat) I decide to find out why our refrigerator will not work on Propane. So I take it out of the wall to check it out. An initial inspection finds nothing wrong and with one pair of hands I can not try starting it and watch the the ignition process at the same time. So I leave that and go to see if a courtesy car has returned. No joy. But another looper that has a car there offers me a ride to the NAPA store and I get another belt – finally the right size! I finish the wiring, clean everything up and a quick test shows all looks good.

Meanwhile I have a refrigerator on the cabin sole. When Carole returns we get to test everything out, and I find nothing wrong. I opened up the gas line all the way to the burner and it looks like the burner is not clogged. I blow it out anyway and put everything back together planning to call the company later. Just for grins I tried to start the refrigerator on propane and it makes a fool of me and starts.

I did get an idea as to why it uses so much power when it is on electric. There is no compressor. It uses the electricity to produce heat and electric heat is really an inefficient way to use it. That is probably one reason our batteries are barely getting through the night.

We were able to leave at 2:30 and we arrived in Fulton at 6:00 where we met up with Tony and Liz on "Two Turtles (this is the Greg's Neck people).

Free dock in Fulton – with power and water. Docks are much like Kingston – fin

ger piers about 10 ft. shorter than the boat. However the docks are in a small backwater behind the lock wall, so it was not an easy entry or exit. The dock was long enough so that when I w

as bow in we could use the side entrance to get to the dock. It was so low however that Annie needed the ramp to get down (She does not like aluminum Docks.

After cocktails on board with Liz and Tony we all went out to eat at the Blue Moon – highly recommended – good, but not up to its billing. No wings tonight.

Friday, 18 June Sunny and warm finally

We went for a walk in the Morning and had a really fun tour of the “John Wells Pratt House” An 1860's house that the local historic society restored. Not all of the interior was restored as some of it was used for informative exhibit space. We were met by the volunteer maintenance man and he really was very interesting. One of the tour highlights was the attached outhouse! By the time we returned to the boat we decided to stay another night in Fulton. Carole took a bus to Kmart and I spent the afternoon rewiring the bridge for AC and DC outlets. The freezer on the bridge had been running from an extension cord so I wired in a weatherproof outlet for it. Also one of my AHA's was that it is more efficient on DC as it does not have to invert the current to run, so I also wired in a DC outlet for it. It naturally did not go as planned, but it got done and is working. I also wired an extra AC outlet so that I can take a laptop up on the bridge and do not have to crawl in to the cupboard up there to plug it in.

That evening One of Tony and Liz's Daughter and Son-in-law came up from Northern Pennsylvania for the weekend. We had cocktails again and talked so much that it was almost nine o'clock before we went to the Tavern on the Lock for dinner. Food was good and yes I had wings.

Wing report: flavor 3, Meaty 4, Hot 2, Crispy 3 Total 12

Things seem to be improving

Saturday, 19 June

Another Sunny Day!

I have noticed that with all of the socializing I am not getting much blogging done. I think that might change a bit – not the socializing, but we are slowing down, so I am getting more time to spend at the writing. Also the most urgent of the maintenance and upgrades are finished.

Went to the farm market in Fulton in the AM. Small, but some really nice veggies for this time of year – radishes, peas, snap peas, sugar snaps, some zucchini, greenhouse tomatoes, scallions. The Amish (or Mennonites) were there with some nice looking bake goods.

We left after the market for a quick 2 hour 4 lock trip to Oswego. The trip was somewhat unpleasant as we were following a converted crew supply boat. This boat had two large diesel engines and if there was a muffler on them we could not tell. There was a boat in front of him in every lock, so we were nose to tail in each lock. Not only did we have to breath his diesel fumes, but we were locking down (which means we were going down into a box, and we also could not hear anything as the sound was deafening. We survived and I can actually hear the music across the canal.

As we passed through lock 7 we noticed a critter swimming in the lock. This time it was a groundhog. I think its parents should ask for a refund on its swimming lessons.

We stopped above the last lock since we learned that the harbor gets rather bouncy. No electric, We will see if the changes I made work, but it is a nice quiet park. We will go through tomorrow and head for Sacketts Harbor.

The Adventure Begins

The Adventure begins … or maybe it just continues.
It seems as if we have been on an adventure ever since we decided to make the trip. Just getting the house in shape to sell and then (when it did not sell) renting it was its' own adventure. We listed the rental in Craig's list and had a number of people looking. Within two weeks we had it rented and had exactly one month to move out. By the end of the month we had moved out of the house proper and were living in the Apartment. It took another month to get stuff moved out of the Garage.
Monday, May 31 – Memorial Day
Closed up the house and left with the pickup truck bed filled to the top with boxes of stuff for the boat.
That is after we already loaded everything we thought we needed on board the day before. Last year when we left it looked like an explosion in a Walmart inside. Last week it looked like an explosion in a Home Depot. This time when we left it looked as if the moving van was emptied in to the main cabin. There were boxes and bags everywhere. I would have taken a picture, but we could not find the camera. We knew where it was, it was buried under the boxes and we could not get there.
We did get under way about one o'clock and had an uneventful trip to Cape May.
Having to establish a Buffalo Wing Baseline for this trip, it was necessary to have dinner at C-View. Also got to watch the Flyers Stanley Cup game after Carole beat on the bartender to change the channel. He kept pleading that he needed to take care of customers. Like we were just bystanders.

Tuesday, June 1 – Skinny Water - Cape May to Atlantic City
Hot and humid. We wound our way through the shallows and marshes of the New Jersey ICW (inland waterway). Kicked up mud several times, but nothing serious. Stayed at Gardner's Basin. $1.50/ft. This year sure beats the $4.00/ft. We paid last year at Trump Castle Marina. Of course there are no showers at Gardner's, but $90.00 for a shower is a little steep.




Wednesday, June 2, - Muddy Water - Atlantic City to Brielle, NJ (Manesquan Inlet)
Hot and Hazy, no wind. Visibility about a mile – that lasted for about 1 hr. and then the fog dropped in. Visibility went to about 200 ft. We could not see from one channel marker to the next. If the channel in the marsh was narrow enough we could see the banks, but sometimes there were no banks to see and the deep area was only 50 ft. wide. The GPS on the chart plotter was fortunately very accurate – mostly. We were traveling in water only about 1ft. Deeper than our boat needs to float, and inevitably we did get stuck in the mud. It took about ten minutes to find deeper water and get moving again. The fog finally lifted and we made decent progress. The gremlins were not done with us yet! Just past the Beach Haven inlet we were running outside the channel in what the charts (three of them) showed as 12' of water when we ran aground. This time pretty hard on a sand bar. “Serendipity” came to our rescue again. Just as I realized that we were really stuck Tow Boat US came by. In five minutes were off and on our way again. I expect that he patrolled that area since after he freed us he just hung around that spot. I will say that when other boats called him to ask about that area (the markers are confusing – as well as the mismarked shoal) he told them where the deeper water was.
The rest of the day was uneventful and when we pulled in to Brielle Yacht Club we met another Looper Boat that had just made the same trip from Atlantic City. They took 3 days to do it and only traveled on high tide so never touched bottom. I later learned that they followed a boat that had 1 ft. less draft that constantly radioed them where the deeper water was.

Thursday, June 3 – Ocean Voyage - Manesquan to Atlantic Highlands.
So far we have not taken much time put stuff away. On the ICW it took both of us to navigate much of the time. When we left Manesquan we thought being out on the Ocean (it was fairly calm and there is not much to see) that we might get some stuff done. Once again we departed with 1 mile visibility and when we got to the Ocean the fog was so thick we were lucky to see the front of the boat. With radar and no worry about shallow water we were able to keep going. We did however keep both of us on watch.
The sun came out as we approached Sandy Hook and we got to Atlantic Highlands easily.
The docks at Atlantic Highlands SUCK. They are fixed docks and with a six foot tide we had to climb a ladder to get to the dock at low tide. Annie needed to use her ramp from the deck box on the back of the boat to the dock.

Friday, June 4 – Clean up the mess day.
Eileen and Sal (sister and Brother-in -law) were coming up that night and we were going out to dinner at a bar/restaurant that a friend just opened. We took the opportunity to sort out much of what we had on the boat and sent back four boxes of stuff that we either did not need or were duplicates of things we already had on board but did not remember. They say that the first thing to go is your knees - boy are "they" wrong.
We had a great dinner at Twin Light Bar in Highlands with Eileen and Sal. Our friend Mark also gave us a beer sampling. They have about 15 beers on tap.
When they left that night we only had one layer of boxes, bags and crates to put away!

Saturday, 5 June – The Back Side of Manhattan - Atlantic Highlands to Nyack, NY
I was surprised that NY Harbor and the Lower Bay were empty of boats. On a beautiful Saturday morning there should have been a thousand arrogant NY Boaters out there trying run us down (Sorry New Yorker's, but that has been my experience every other time I was there). We decided to take the long way past Manhattan and went up the East River to the Harlem River and on to the Hudson below Yonkers. A different trip. The Harlem river not very spectacular, but it was certainly interesting. The trip goes by Yankee Stadium, Columbia and several other interesting buildings. One big surprise we got was that the tidal current in the Harlem River runs opposite both the Hudson and the East Rivers. We were doing 9 kts in the East River and 4.5 kts. in the Harlem and then 8 in the Hudson.

We finished the day on a mooring at the Nyack Boat Club. They have a launch service that took us (and Annie) to shore. Wind picked up a bit that night and we did drag their mooring about twenty feet.

Sunday, 6 June – Stormy Weather -Nyack to Peekskill
Bad weather forecast so we hightailed it to Peekskill. With several phone calls we were able to secure a dock. Peekskill Yacht Club is run by the members. They have no paid staff, so it can be difficult to find someone to get a dock for the night. Lat year we made some friends there and I had phone numbers. We got there early and with difficulty tied up securely. It was a floating dock and we had to back in to it. I could not back all of the way in as our keel was catching on the bubbler pipe. We got in far enough so that we could get off the side of the swim platform. Annie was another story. The Annie ramp training took about 15 minutes, with me holding the ramp with my arm while Annie would start on it and then back off. With a lot of coaxing she finally went down the ramp. I then had to reposition it so that she could get off the side of the swim platform on to the dock. At some point I will get pictures of this. The next time she did not hesitate and in fact she did not wait for me to even get a good grip on the ramp. I almost dropped her. Now when I go down the stern ladder to the swim platform she is right there waiting for me to set it up!
We went for a walk. I wanted to find a bar that would have the Stanley Cup Game that night. On the way back we got to the yacht club parking lot when the front came through. We stood in a shed and watched the rain fly by horizontally. Wind was blowing about 40 kts. With gusts as high as 55. All boats were secure and after the rain stopped we went back to the boat. Wind did not let up until about 11 that night.
Our plan was to stay there and rent a car to visit the Storm King Art Center. It turns out they are closed on Monday and Tuesday. So on to plan B!
End of week one!

Waterford

Waterford- everything after this is from 2009

Tuesday 29 September 2009
Cleaning and catching up day today. The surprise was that as we were eating lunch I looked up and here was a really big canal boat (about 65') that looked like it was about to hit us while trying to dock in the space just vacated by two 37' boats. As I got there to help with the docking I took a second look at the boat and it was a steel hulled Dutch Sailing Barge, complete with two Dutch men aboard. Check out the pictures when I get them posted. They have been here three weeks with 17 other Dutch Sailing Barges. They came over on a ship and are participating in the commemoration of the 400th year since Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson River. The owner gave us a tour of the boat and answered lots of questions. The boat was built in 1888 and is used for pleasure now. They also do charters in Holland on the canals, IJsselmeer, and Frisian Islands. We now have a new charter destination. Anybody for a Dutch Sailing adventure?
As soon as they tied up they raised the mast. It took about two minutes. The setup was definitely the product of hundreds of years of innovation. The mast is counterbalanced on a swivel and they pulled easily on two ropes and the mast pivoted up into place. The lift ropes were made off on to cleats and they were done. The boom and gaff were raised using windlass.
Inside the boat was set up for living quarters. A circular dining table and a kitchen (not a galley) this was a KITCHEN. Charterer living quarters were dormitory style for 12 (8 singles , 2 doubles) with only curtains across the bunks. They only recommended sailing with 6, after that it becomes crowded.

Wednesday 30 September

Decided to hang out another day in Waterford. There is a big HooHa here. The Motor Canal Boat Day Peckinpaugh is returning today. It is the first self propelled Canal boat that was specifically built to fit the canal locks. It is 259' long and 35' wide. It was built to just fit in to the lock. There is about 10' extra in length and about 3' on either side in the lock. She is one of only five built and is the last surviving vessel of it's kind. It's arrival was accompanied by the high school band, three buses full of school children, all of the local dignitaries, many Park Service representatives, three historic tugboats, the local fire company, and one of the Dutch Sailing Barges. It was a real happening. We did get to tour it along with touring the 1928 tug “Governor Cleveland” which is a riveted steel hull with wooden gunwales, unusual for a boat built at that time. Fresh water is certainly much kinder to boat hulls than Salt water. The Governor Cleveland is still in service in the canal system and works daily pushing barges and moving dredge piping.
A fun day.

Thursday 1 October
A right turn and we are heading south! One lock and we are back in tidal water again. It was nice while it lasted. I really got spoiled not having to think about tides and currents.
Mitch
New pictures posted at:picasaweb.com/mitchb88

Friends and Family

Friends and Family
Tuesday 15 September
Nice slow day down the canal. Cool and clear (mostly). Arrived in Pittsford early and tied up next to a large collection of Duck poop. There were several hundred ducks on the lock wall when we arrived. Found out that they sold duck food across the canal and people were continually feeding them. Annie took on the mission of clearing the wall of ducks. Anytime she saw several ducks along the wall she ran down the walkway chasing them back in to the water. It was hopeless, no sooner had she run one way when they were back on the wall behind her.
That afternoon we watched the local high school rowing team come by, several times. The coaches boat threw up a larger wake than any of the power boats cruising the canal. They would probably curse me if I did it to them.
Our friend Roger arrived at about 8:45. He is going to ride with us tomorrow. It is nice to have a friend along for a day.
Stayed up jawing til 11:00 (that is late for us on this trip)

Wednesday 16 September
Headed out about 8:15 today. Coldest day yet. Really nice rainbow this morning. The rain was west of us and we never saw any of it.
We were held up at the Fairport lift bridge for almost a half an hour. The bridge operator never answered our radio call or our horn signal. Had to find a dock, Carole got off and walked up to the bridge tower. She opened the door and called in and got no answer. Went upstairs and the door was locked, but the bridge tender's dog was there. She had to walk to the library where they made several call until they located him. Meanwhile I had called the canal office, they gave me the regional control phone number, for the wrong region, but they helped anyway and called around. The bridge operator returned, called me and without any comment he said that he would open the bridge when I was ready. No apology or any other comment. When the regional office called back I told them he had finally been found. At least they apologized.
The rest of the day went well. Lock tenders were really nice (this is the norm), little wind nice scenery.
We arrived in Newark, NY about 1:00, took a short walk around town until Roger's cab arrived to take him back to his car in Pittsford. Sorry to see him leave so soon.
It was really nice having him aboard. A fresh view of the trip and different conversation was fun. Besides I got someone else to steer for me without bothering Carole.
Another quiet day.

Thursday 17 September

Bummer! My package has not arrived. It is a computer chip with the charts for the part of the canal and Hudson river that are missing from our charts. It was due to arrive in Tonawanda last Thursday or Friday, but never got there until Monday – Three days after we left. I arranged for it to be sent on by priority mail to Newark. It was mailed on Tuesday, should have arrived Wednesday or Thursday, did not make it again. Post Office was really helpful, but no package. They are supposed to forward it to Seneca Falls. We shall see.
Easy trip to Seneca Falls. Canal goes through Montazuma Wildlife Refuge. We did not see much in the way of Wildlife. Birds have been about the same for most of the trip, although we did see several Bald Eagles. The bird life so far has been lots of Canada Geese, Black and Mallard Ducks, Gulls, Kingfishers, Cormorants, and Great Blue Herons. Also some swallows and maybe martins. We have also seen several Green Herons, and a few flickers. I guess that this is not the best time of year for birds.
We met three other couples at the dock in Seneca Falls and were having cocktails with them when Eileen and Sal (my sister and Brother-in-law) arrived. They drove to Watkins Glen and the dockmaster, Terry, drove them to Seneca Falls. Terry runs a sailing charter in Watkins Glen in addition to his being the dockmaster (or dockboy as he puts it). He has a cutter rigged Cabot Rico 38. He and his mate Lisa drove Eileen and Sal up to Seneca Falls and we spent another hour talking and swapping stories before they had to leave.
Dinner out again.

Friday 18 September
Cold morning and we are off to Seneca Lake
Not many boats out on the lake. In fact we only saw two, and one was Terry's as he was on the charter he told us about. We did have a helicopter flying by as if it was strafing us. It made about ten passes. We were near the Navy Underwater Research Laboratory on the lake, so Carole thought they were trying to chase us away. We did eventually go away at our leisurely 7 mph.
Arrived at the Marina about 2:30 in the afternoon, and struggled to dock in a 15 mph crosswind and a very tight dock. With help from another boater I was able to spring the boat around a piling and slide in.
After settling in we took a ride out the Race Track(We had Sal and Eileen's car). Sal had raced on the Watkins Glen Course in the sixties and we were interested to see what it looked like. He even remembered how to get there from town. Once there we could not find an entrance that was open. We did find a field we could walk across and could see that there were cars running around the track, but we were looking through a chain link fence. As we backtracked around the race track we finally found the main gate. We were not allowed in, but were told if we came back the next day at 11:30 we would be allowed to follow a pace car around the track. 25 bucks for the whole carload and we could hang out and watch the SCCA races until 2:00. It was a no brainer – we were coming back!
Lumpy night at the dock with a steady north wind and dock lines singing all night.

Saturday 19 September
Clear and cold again, but the morning was in a car so the cold did not bother us.
We arrived early 10:30 at the track and it was good that we did. We were about 4th in line for the “Thunder Road Tour” as it called, and we went up in to the stands and got to watch some sports cars practicing, followed by a sports car race and then a formula car race. It was really great fun, sitting in an almost empty grandstand watching the cars race by. We were between turns two and three (I think) and we could see some passing (and attempted passing) and see which cars were were running well and which were not doing so well. In the Sports car race we saw every make and age of car from an MG TD (circa 1951) to Porsches, Triumphs, MG Bs, Mustangs, and a Cobra. We watched two cars in the Formula Race dueling for the lead most of the race. There was a crash (which we did not see) during the formula race and it held up our track tour until almost 12:30.
The track tour was really fun. Sal got into the spirit of it and even though we were only doing 55-65 mph the only thing missing was the roar of the engine – we did think that we should have removed the muffler for the run, but we did not have any tools and they did not let us near pit row.
When we returned to the stands we found out that the racing would not resume for a while and there was no place to get lunch so we left.
Next it was my turn – I wanted to hike the Watkins Glen Gorge in the State park. After all that was what we came for in the first place. The racing was a bonus.
After lunch we headed for the park. The park was free although they charge a whole 6 bucks for parking. The gorge is spectacular. The Gorge is a mile and half long and rises 900 ft. with 19 waterfalls., The pictures (to be posted later) do not do it justice. It is an amazing sight. I walked both up and down and it was awesome both ways. Every turn was a new vista, and they just kept coming, and each was unique and beautiful. The water had carved the rock into pools and cuts. The canyon was 50 ft. wide in many places and maybe 200-300 ft. deep. Just spectacular. It is times like these that I wish I was really good at descriptive prose. I do not seem to add lots of adjectives when I write. Must be the engineer in me.
Later we even had time to get to two wineries before they closed. Can not say that I would recommend any Seneca Lake wines.
Quite a day! Really one of those you remember for a long time.

Sunday 20 September
Really cold this morning – 43 degrees out. A sea smoke fog layer on the water and very little wind.
Said goodby to Eileen and Sal and headed back up the lake. By the time we got to the canal it was shorts and T shirts.
We'll spend tonight and tomorrow in Seneca Falls.

Monday 21 September
Still no package. A call to the Newark, NY Post Office confirmed that it had just arrived (they remembered me) and would be going out today. Should arrive tomorrow – we shall see. The postal workers have been really helpful and courteous. Not what I expected, but have found to be the norm in the two Post offices I have dealt with.
Sightseeing day today. Seneca Falls is where the first woman's suffrage meeting took place in 1851. A declaration was signed on the second day (by men and women) to declare that women should have the right to vote. The original church that held the meeting is almost not there (two walls left) and is being rebuilt as best as can be determined. When completed it will be easy to see which is original and which is new. We went to the Elizabeth Cady Stanton house. She was one of the organizers of the convention. Much of the artwork in the town is about the Women's Rights Movement.
There is also a 1.5 mile sculpture walk. Again much of it is themed towards the women's movement. However two of the last ones were not. One called “pump man” was made from pump parts (Gould Pumps is the largest employer in the area and has been here well over 100 years. The other was an interesting glass and metal sculpture that looked like it was a waterfall or maybe the canal. I hope that we have a picture.
Got to try a wing place for an appetizer. It was a local bar and I took the wings back to the boat. They were in fifth or sixth place. Decent, but nothing outstanding about them.
Tomorrow it is back to the Erie Canal.

Lakes End

Lake's End
If you saw the last pictures I never mentioned the Green Goo. Going to Erie we came to this green goo. It looked as if it were green food dye in the water. As you could see from one of the pictures it stretched for about two miles. It was some sort of algae we think. It did not plug any of the filters and seemed to break up really easily.
Erie was a great stop as it was the first time. We were docked with a Looper who was probably the last to be going around this year. He and Carole took the bus to the Walmart for shopping while I watched over Annie and did some housekeeping.
Went to dinner at Molly Branigan's Irish Pub and we now have a new leader in the Wing War. These were definitely the best yet. Fives on all points except Heat. Only a 4.7 for spice heat.
Wednesday 9 September
Left Erie for Dunkirk. Weather was pretty good only 1-2 ft. seas to start and then it got better. It kicked back up a little by the time we arrived, but not bad.
Dunkirk is a town For Sale. It seemed like every other house or business property was for sale or rent. Not a bad place, just seemed like it has been hard hit. Pretty much like most of the industrial towns in this area.
Thursday 10 September
Flattest water yet. Barely a ripply all the way to Buffalo. Left the lake in Buffalo on to the Black Rock Canal and the Niagara River.
I once again reaffirmed that motoring on the lake is boring. Other than the green goo there was nothing to see or distract us. I did do a lot of reading underway. If we were sailing it would have been a little more interesting. I can see why most of the power boaters on the lake have fast boats. As I said before at least on the ocean there is a possibility of seeing something interesting, like whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, sunfish, even jellyfish. On the lake – nothing.
We Stopped at the Smith Boys again, Geoff Smith offered a free dock and we took him up on it.
Friday 11 September
This was going to be a work and shopping day, but hedonism prevailed. We rented a car, got haircuts and drove to Niagara Falls. Took in both the American and Canadian sides. The view is free, but parking is not. It was especially hard to find anything close on the Canadian side – even if I was willing to pay $18.00 for a one hour stay. That said the view on the Canadian side is spectacular. The American side gets you closer to the falls, but you can not see the entire panorama from there. We did not do any of the side tours as we got there rather late. We really liked both sides and are glad we did take the time to go.
Went to the home of wings in Buffalo – Anchor Bar. This is where they were invented, by mother Theresa (the owners mother) – his words. Well they were good, but come in fourth IMHO.
Saturday 12 September
Geoff offered to loan us his truck today to visit an antique boat show, and invited us to stay for the Marina year end party. We seriously considered it, but decided to get underway again.
The canal is fine with Annie. She really likes the flat water. Arrived in Middleport about 4:00 and were helped at the dock wall by a boater from Canada. We met two more boats also. These were weekenders making the trip from Buffalo for the weekend.
I got a good insight as to how subjective the evaluation of Buffalo Wings can be. The Canadian was telling us how great the wings at the local Irish Pub were, and he and his wife were headed there tonight (they make this trip two or three times a year). The people two boats in front of us came back from the pub and said that the wings were not as good as the wings at Anchor Bar. The two on the boat in front of us cam back and said that the wings at the pub were way better than the wings at Anchor Bar. So there you have it Folks! My opinions are just that. Mine alone.
We however went out to The Basket Factory a restaurant recommended by Geoff. All of the other boats concurred that it was a really good restaurant, and they were all right. The meal was excellent.
I just could not face wings again for three nights in a row.

Sunday 13 September
Took another recommendation and went to Peggy's for breakfast. Then spent some time looking at a car show on the main street of Middleport.
We left about 11:00 and traveled to Holley. Nice easy day.
We are docked at a nice parklike setting. Took a walk down to a nearby waterfall. Annie had a good swim in the stream and is now laying contentedly on the foredeck. Her double just walked by. I actually thought the woman had Annie on the leash. Her dog was also a rescue dog and of unknown heritage.
This place has grills, so it is barbecue tonight.

Monday 14 September
We went all of 5 miles today. Stopped in Brockport, NY. The canal wall is really well done and the welcoming committee was so thorough that we were convinced to stay for the night.
Long walk through town to look at the historic buildings and some of the artwork around. This is a college town (SUNY at Brockport), so the town has not collapsed like many of the other towns in the area. However, Pizza seems to be the predominant business here. There are actually more pizza parlors and laundromats then normal, but lots of others not college related also.
Really nice Bill Stewart sculpture at the dock and several other sculptures around the town. Many buildings date back to the 1850's. Some are on the historical registry and have been restored by local volunteers, others are still in use. Nice pleasant town.
Annie is continuing to work on her social skills. The walkway along the canal at most of these stops is the local hangout for dogs walking their people. Annie sits on the boat and watches them go by. If she sees that one of us is not watching her she will take off to put the other dog to the sniff test. She has however been very polite and sniffing the nose first – then the butt! With people she mostly does it the opposite.
We passed on the opportunity to head down the canal a few miles to eat what three different people told us was really great Barbecued ribs. Instead we took a local's suggestion and went to the Smokehouse, a local barbecue joint. It was Monday night and the Buffalo Bills were on. That combined with it being a college town created one of the noisiest places we have ever eaten. We were also the by far the oldest people there. We were older than the combined ages of any three other people in the place, including the staff. There were about thirty TV screens and two projection TV's most of which were tuned to the football game. Every time the Bills made a good play there was a huge cheer, and conversely if something bad happened there was a huge groan. Oh! The meal was pretty good, but not outstanding.
Tomorrow it's Pittsford.

Wind and Waves

Thursday, August 20
Looked calm this morning. Weather Guessers thought the waves would not build until afternoon and the wind would be 10-15 out of the south. As with most weather predictions on the lakes this one was wrong also.
When we go out on to the lake at 10:00 the wind was about 10-15 from the south and the waves were 2-4 already. As we only had 17 miles to go we kept going. Well it did not take too long (just long enough to keep us from turning back) for the winds to pick up to 20-25 mph from the south.
You sailors out there know that if you gt in the lee of the land (for non sailors-the lee of the land is the area where the land blocks most of the wind) the waves will be smaller since they do not have time to build. Does not work on Lake Erie! The wind was coming from the land, but the waves were coming straight down the lake – plenty of time to build – and before long we saw the occasional 6 footer.
Annie the canal dog was really unhappy, and Carole was not thrilled either, nor was I But we persevered and with only the glass covering a picture broken in the end.
We entered Fairport Harbor about 1:00. Seas were gone, but not the wind. We will stay in a Marina tonight and probably tomorrow night. It looks like we won't get back on the road until Sunday or Monday.
Went to Pickle Pete's for an appetizer of Fried Pickles. Kosher Pickle quarters batter dipped and deep fried. Pretty good! Interesting place. Clothes mannequins all over in strange dress and wild poses. Like two women at a table. One with her shoes on the table and the other doubled over laughing wildly. Pretty popular place and if the pickles are any indication the food should be good. We may give it a try tomorrow.
Meanwhile we are sitting out a series of violent thunderstorms. Sky black and high winds.
On to dinner at home.
We are actually in Grand River Ohio – across the river from Fairport.
Friday August 21
Work day. Sanding and treating the teak. Cleaning the inside.
Weather very nice in the river. We hear it is nasty on the lake.
Carole and I took a walk through town. Small town, nice houses, mostly well kept. One house had a pig sty. Got a rather stony look from the pig
We will have to see about tomorrow.
Had dinner at Brennan's which was recommended for lake perch. It was good but greasy.
Saturday August 22
Clear and cool today. Wind is from the North. Lake is still messy.
We sat with our neighbors and had coffee this morning. The entertainment was watching Carole chase Annie who was chasing a mink around the dock. Seems there have been a couple of wild mink around the dock and Annie saw this one about halfway across the walkway. When she chased it ti ran under the steps and out the other side. Then back under as Annie came around. They went back and forth a few times until the mink ran down the dock and around the corner of a boat, about the same time that Carole caught Annie. Haven't seen the mink since, but Annie is ever hopeful.
Sunday August 23
Went to breakfast this morning with our neighbors on both sides. The slipowner next to us returned last night at 10:30 after a 14 hour slog from Canada. They were on a sailboat and were motorsailing all day. Waves were 4-6 and they were beat, but this morning all was well.
Today we did a little work and one of the neighbors took Carole to the market while I helped troubleshoot an electrical problem on the sailboat. We then all sat down with a couple of beers and some Salsa and several other local slip owners.
You see all of these emails with a mouse and a cat or a cat and a dog, or a hippopotamus and turtle, or whatever and the caption “Why can't we all get along. Well in my pictures you will see that we can. Speedboat, Trawler and Sailboat sailors all having a great day together. Thanks, Dave, Dave, Chris, & Renee, for being hospitable and fun,
Had Dinner at Pickle Pete's and the food was good. the steamed mussels were excellent. I had perch here and it was really good.
Tomorrow looks like departure for Cleveland and beyond.
Cleveland, Ohio that is – did you know that there is a Cleveland in 21 different States?
Take Care,
Mitch

You Have got to Believe

The charts and engineers that is. When the bridge heights are only inches above your boat height it looks really scary. The first really low bridge we slowed way down to double check the clearance. I stood at the doorway and reached up and smacked the bridge with my hand. After we cleared it Carole's comment was: “Ugh”
We do not slow down now, but I still hear an “Ugh” every time we go under one.
One boat called the lockmaster of the lock we had just left and told him that the clearance was really close. The lockmaster told him that if the bridge he had just gone under was tight, the next one was worse. He then told him that if it was a matter of an inch or two, the next lock master could drain the lock (the boat was on the higher side) which would lower the water level at the bridge for a minute or so. The boat would then go under the bridge, the lock tender would then fill the lock and the let the boat in to lock down. I am sure glad I am not that close.
Thursday, August 6
We spent the day in Newark, NY. I managed to get some shine back in to the sides of the boat. Also got the blue stripe to look blue instead of the faded, chalky color it has been. I am using a polymer coating as I tried compounding it and got nowhere. The Poly-Glo requires two cleaners. First is a powder and then a liquid, followed by four to six coats of the Poly-Glo. By the time I was finished it was close to cocktail time.
Actually I took some time off between applications to fraternize with the other boats at the dock. Meeting really nice people on the way. They are not all big boaters either. Two yesterday were traveling on pontoon boats they trailered up to the canal. They had complete covers on the boats so they could sleep, and eat aboard. Another couple we met were in a chartered canal boat. And others are in express cruisers (that frustrates them since they can only go 10 mph most places). But all are quite friendly, and fun to meet. I expect we will meet up with them again when we get to their home areas.
Buffalo Wings at “Parkers Pub” in Newark took the number two position! Good flavor, nice and meaty, just O.K. On the hot and only slightly crispy.
Friday, August 7
Left Newark at 8:50 this morning. Only two locks today. We were going to make a sightseeing stop, to look at one of the original canal locks, but the lock tender told us it was really overgrown and we would not see anything but vines, so we kept going to Fairport, NY. Another small town that has refurbished tie up area. Not free, but very close - $9.00/night including electric and pumpout.
Again a clean, well kept park and tie up.
The bridge at the end of the docking wall is in Ripley's Believe It or Not. It is a lift bridge. That is it goes straight up and down and stays level. The reason it is in Ripley's because it is the only lift bridge that is higher at one end than the other. Also there are no two angles on the bridge the same.
Annie is really settling in to this life. She lays on the deck wherever she can fins shade and watches the world go by when we are at the dock. She will even stay on the boat when we walk away to another boat. Up until now, if one of us left the boat she would jump off and follow us. At the locks, when we pull on she up forward to watch Carole catch the line. Then she comes to the back to lay down while we lock up. When we get to the top and she can see over the side of the lock she will get up and check out the area again. So I guess she has figured out that the boat is home.
We went to dinner at Joey B's and had a first class meal. By far the best on the trip. Interestingly everyone we told that we had a really great meal said: “Oh you ate at Joey B's”. We picked the place because we liked the menu when we walked by it. “Serendipity” again
Saturday, August 8
Farm Market Day again. This time in Fairport. Much larger market here. About 30-50 stalls and a good crowd. Great selection, and Carole got a Hot Carrot Sandwich – its like a hot dog made with a grilled Carrot instead. It was pretty good, I only got a taste – she ate the rest.
Left about 11:00 and headed west again. We went through two locks (32 & 33). No more locks for 64 miles. Weather was slightly overcast.
We went past the Genesee River. A right turn would have taken us to Rochester. The Canal here is cut through rock and the walls are straight up solid rock. Had to slow down to let a squirrel cross the canal! I wonder if he paid a canal fee. I have never seen a squirrel swim, nor could I imagine one getting in the water. In fact I needed to look at it with binoculars to make sure it was a squirrel!
We arrived in Spencerport about 3:30, pumped out and got another free dock with electric. We are also getting a serenade from a Bavarian Band. Oompah and Polka Music. I hear that they play till 11:00. They are pretty good, but I do not know if I can take it that long.
Met some really nice people who gave us all kinds of tips for Buffalo and for next year on the Trent Severn. These folks also said: “Oh you ate at Joey B's”. It seems they are getting a well deserved reputation.
Sunday August 9
An easy day. Left at ten and arrived in Medina, NY at 3:30
Lots of lift bridges, nice bridge tenders, and some rain. We passed a lot of walkers and bikers on the old tow path. We go so slow that we have time to wave and even exchange a few words on the way.
We went by the most northern point on canal and also the only place on the canal that a road runs underneath it.
Tomorrow is a sightseeing day so we may only go to lockport.

AND I have finally got a mess of pictures up on the web. They are located on picassaweb at:
picasaweb.google.com/mitchb88/

to view them in some sort of order it is:
Miniloop2009
Waterford to Fairport
Fairport to Medina

Here's to swimming squirrels