Life In The Past Lane

We were up Thursday morning at 6:30 enjoying a cup of coffee. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day. 6:30 New York time is 3:30 Kelowna time. I'm surprised that I have adapted to the time change so well. It should be easy to go home and readjust in a few weeks.

Our overnight dock was at a really nice park.We shared the dock with two retired Navy Captains who were transporting a sail boat from Florida to Cleveland. They spent their lives in submarines and said now they want to see what it is like on top of the water. They were very interesting. I would have liked to spend more time talking with them.

We hit a 3 locks this morning before leaving the Erie and going south on the Seneca River.

We had to keep aware of where we were on this part of the canal.

The markings for the Seneca River are not all that noticeable.

 Ruth took the picture of this tree. It was a beautiful shot. I love tree pictures.

So that huge barge that got stuck in the locks yesterday is on its way down here to pick this tree out of the canal. It is covering half of the entrance to the locks. The guys on the barge were telling us that the crane on the barge has an 85 foot reach. This is lock 1 on the Senica river. There was a storm pass thru here on Tuesday that took this tree out. We had originally planned to cruse Seneca Lake for the first part of the week. Luckily we changed our plans because there was a tornado came thru Senica and blew down a lot of trees and damaged a lot of boats.

We got into the locks with no problem but the weather has changed. Its cold and windy now.

This was lock 1 coming into the Seneca River. We're 1 hour from our home port.

Ruth made us a brunch of eggs and beans . She also whipped up a home made salsa. I was thinking that this was the best lunch I have ever had when she sat down and mentioned to me that it couldn't get much better. I had to agree. It was a great morning.

We missed that tornado on tuesday and there were trees everywhere in the river.

Here we are coming up to the biggest lock on the Erie. It is a double lock with 49 feet of lift.

It was a little hard to keep the boat straight in the wind but we managed.

I am amazed by the amount of cement they use in these locks. Each door is a minimum of 200 tons. Everything is absolutely massive.

Here I was sending a salute to the Admiral. She did a great job going thru these locks.

We are back in Seneca Falls passing the church that is beside out docks. It is a beautiful building.

All I needed was a snack and a nap to spring back for more adventure. When I wake up Ruth wants to go to the Woman's Museum. I'm afraid it might be closed by the time I come to.

Wednesday On The Erie

So we hit the ground running this morning. We got up early and headed to the boater's facilities for a shower and grabbed a coffee before there was much action happening in Fairport Yew York.

This is the coolest draw bridge I have ever seen.  It has been written up 18 times in Ripley's Believe it or Not. There is not one square cut on this bridge anywhere. It must have been a nightmare to build.

 The left hand side is raised up by using counterweights under the road on the right hand side.

This gives clearance to even the tallest Canal boat

We passed by some beautiful homes today.

I was daydreaming and almost hit this tree.  It doesn't look too close but it was close enough to make me jump.

I love the historic towns and buildings we are seeing along the way.

The lock master at this lock was grumbling about how the locks are run. He can't wait to retire next year.

The water dropped faster in his lock than any lock we have been in so far. I was wondering if he has control of the speed that it can be dropped.

There was a lot of debris floating in his lock.   They get awards for how nice their locks are.  The lock masters that have park like locks are quick to let us know if they have won these awards and when they won them. Ruth thought we should tell this lock master to get a net and clean up the water between boats but I didn't think that was a very good idea so say anything to him.

Lots of old factories.

Beautiful historic buildings along the Erie Canal.

We see lots of fish jumping and lots of geese and ducks. I think this waterway is quite healthy.

So we got stuck at this lock for a little while waiting for a barge to get thru. The had jammed themselves into the doors going in and had to use a cutting torch to cut away a piece of the barge before getting free.

It is a tight fit for these big ones.

Finally

We got back in the boat and headed out.

They were kind enough to call us on the radio and let us pass when the channel widened.

These guys saw me coming towards them and called me on the radio . They told me to blast one blast to confirm I would be passing them port to port. The horn on our boat doesn't work naturally.

Of coarse the hand held doesn't work either. He finally came back on and told me not to move as they came past me. I hate when I look like an idiot.

Finally found a dock for the night in Clyde ,N.Y.  I'm glad to stop and make dinner.

Today We Had A Change Of Plans

It started out as a really nice day. Ruth was up at 6:00A.M. and I slept till 8:00. It was already hot when I got up so we had a coffee together and took the bikes off the boat. The Erie bike path runs beside for dock and we thought it would be nice to take a ride before we left.

This is an action shot. I thought I was going to fall off but luckily I didn't.

I wobble when on a bike.I must be getting old . I started thinking about getting a helmet .

I love the lines of this boat. If I ever buy another big boat I think it will be one like this.

So these 3 white ducks have been hanging around the boat. I started to feed them some bread. I thought they were cute. Ruth thought they would look good in her garden but I said they would look better on my plate.

Turns out that they are bullies. I tried to give theses ducks some bread and the white ones ran them off .

I walked into town this morning after the walk to buy a souvenir T-shirt. I took this picture off of the bridge . The sky's were just starting to change colour. It was getting darker out by the minute.

So we decided to stay here tonight.I have never seen a lightning storm quite as violent as this one. There was a tornado  in Senica Falls that took out a lot of their trees and they expect another one to blow in at 4:00. It is a good day to just hang out.

Nothing like a good cup of coffee while watching a light show. The thunder was so loud that I told Ruth it was almost hurting my ears.