LOCKS, LOCKS AND YET MORE LOCKS

We are exhausted!! Everything hurts, even our eyebrows, fingernails and toenails!! Locking is now definitely not on our bucket list!!

Before I carry on with the next section of our trip, here are some pictures of typical things you would see when travelling “down the ditch” (what boaters call the canals).

In our last posting, we told you about Phoenix. We stayed there until Saturday, Nov. 12. The day before we left, we had a visit from an officer from Environmental Remediation (equivalent of our Ministry of the Environment). Someone had reported seeing an oil slick around our boat. Good heavens!! We were mortified - NOT. In any case, the officer placed an oil absorbent pad in the water and said there was really nothing of significance. It's interesting that someone would report this since small engines (like those on dinghies and fishing boats) consistently pour fuel and oil into the water, and no one reports them. But we are diligent boaters, so we decided to head for a marina to get some fixin' up. Dave will tell you all about it.

After leaving Phoenix, we passed the canal junction at Three Rivers. This is where the Oswego canal meets the Erie Canal. It's a 90 degree turn from the Oswego into the Erie. The locks in the Erie Canal are numbered in ascending order from the Hudson River at Troy all the way to Buffalo. Our first lock on the Erie Canal was Lock 23, and we were lifted 7 feet.

Just 2 miles past Lock 23, we found Ess-Kay Yards, our destination for our fix up. It was really windy that day, and we had difficulty pulling up close enough to the dock, but the owner (Kim) was right there, and she helped pull us in once I tossed her the lines.

EssKay Yards is a nice little marina. It has a fully-stocked marine store and a really great mechanic. They also have a courtesy car - all you have to say is that you need to do some shopping, and they hand you the keys!

We met a great couple (Stan and Laura) who purchased their boat at Port Dover from the same agent that we used to purchase the Hope (also from Port Dover). We were treated to a tour of their boat, and I must emphasize the word "treated". Their boat is spectacular. In 2002, they bought a 68 foot, 1946 fishing trawler, and they have spent the last 10 years fixing it up. Well, "fixing it up" does not even begin to do justice to their work. I wish I had taken pictures. Everything is pristine and gorgeous, from the beautiful cherry wood cabinetry, to the spotless engine room, to the special cedar closet and the room for the ship's stores. Laura did all of the woodwork herself, and Stan did all of the electrical, plumbing etc. When Stan retires in a few years, they plan to spend some time in the Bahamas and then do the Great Loop. We'll be keeping in touch with them for sure.

We got all of our work done on the boat and cast off on Wednesday. In this stretch of the Erie Canal there are a lot of lovely summer homes with private docks. Even with our gawking, we made good time and headed into Lake Oneida. This is the largest body of water on the Erie Canal. It was quite foggy as we exited the lake, and I hate fog, but it cleared up, and about four miles later, we entered Lock 22. This lock is in a quiet, rural setting. We tied up for the night at the free dock on the east side of the lock. We had 50 amps of power, but tying up was a challenge since there were no cleats on the dock – only large bollards and rings. Dude had a great time romping around on the grass.

On Thursday morning, we drew up to Lock 21. This was our first lock where we would be lowered instead of lifted. When you are being lowered, you have to reach down from the level of your boat deck to catch hold of the rope/pipe/cable. I was a bit nervous about this, but everything went smoothly. We were lowered 25 feet at this lock.

Thursday turned out to be a short day for us (only 4 hours) because the lockmaster at Lock 21 told us we would not be able to get past Lock 20. Apparently, a boat had sunk at Lock 19, and we would have to wait at Lock 20 until they cleared out Lock 19.

Tied up to the free dock at Lock 20, on Friday morning, we woke up to a good 5 inches of snow!! Well, since we were served lemons, we might as well make lemonade. So, we built a snowman. From the following pictures, you can see how much snow there was on our boat..

The lockmaster at Lock 20 came by and told us we would be stuck there until Sunday. So, we took a taxi into town (Oriskany) and found free Wi-Fi at a Burger King right next door to a laundromat. We took care of our junk food and email withdrawal AND got clean undies all at the same time. But it cost us $23 each way by taxi. Sheesh!!

One of the emails we received was from a Syracuse newspaper reporter who wanted to interview us about our experiences travelling so late in the season. We talked with her by telephone. It was kind of fun to share with her, and she asked us to send her a picture of our snowman. Then, Dave fiddled away with something electronic for a few hours, and voila, he turned on the TV – and it worked. We got 24 channels and made a significant dent in our TV withdrawal symptoms. I'll let Dave tell you all about how he made this happen.

Here is a picture of a tug boat pushing a barge into Lock 20 preparing to be lowered in the lock.

On Sunday morning November 20, we got up bright and early. We were really anxious now to get through the rest of the locks, into the Hudson River and down to New York City. We did 8 locks (20 through to 13) and were lowered a total of 141 feet. At Lock 15, I lost hold of the stern rope, and the back of the boat pulled away from the wall. We ended up sideways in the lock. The Lockmaster would not lower us until we got set up against the wall. Even with the wind, the magnificent Captain Dave managed to get us back into position using the engines.

That day, we passed by Utica, Frankfurt and Herkimer. At Little Falls, Lock 17 is famous for being one of the only two locks in North America where the lock door is lifted above the boats, like a guillotine. Most locks have two doors that open like, well, like doors. The other lock with a guillotine door is on the Ottawa River. Lock 17 is also the highest lock we took – we were lowered 40 feet there.

Here is a picture we took while we were approaching Lock 17 showing the guillotine door.

We tied up on Sunday night to a free dock at Fonda. It was dark (about 5 PM), and we were exhausted, hungry and, yes, grumpy too. At Fonda, there is a long, high wall but it only has a few rings and a few large bollards to tie up to. The ground was muddy from melted snow, and we had to use a flashlight to find the electrical outlet. Naturally, because we were exhausted, hungry and grumpy, everything went wrong. We were tied up too far from the electrical outlet, so we decided to walk the boat back about 25 feet. During this process, Dave slipped in the mud and fell, losing his hold on the stern rope. I was left holding our 40 ton boat by one rope at the forward end!! But the agile (and I must add, gorgeous) Captain Dave jumped up and grabbed his rope just before it ended up in the water and out of reach!! We got the Hope back in line, ate something (can't remember what) and fell into bed for the night.

Monday morning, we woke up with 12 locks left to go through. Did I mention yet how much we hated locking now? We decided that we just couldn't take another long day, so we tied up at the west end of Lock 7 at about 3 PM. There was just 15 amps of power there, so dinner was made in stages, but it was a quiet setting and just right for two weary travellers and one befuddled dog. So, on Monday, we had travelled through just 4 locks and were lowered a total of 53 feet.

I must tell you about the things we saw as we travelled along this section of the Erie Canal. Here, the damage from hurricane Irene was very evident. Apparently, the water in the Mohawk River rose by 20 feet or so in some spots. At Lock 10, the lockmaster said the water was up to the second floor window of the lock house, and the entire area around the lock was like a lake. As the water receded, it created a new channel around the lock, and as water is wont to do, the river started flowing through the new route. The engineers had a devil of a time figuring out what to do, and the constructions crews have been working non-stop to get everything done. At every lock from 17 to lock 7, there were work boats and tractors etc. Several times, we had to wait for a work boat (barge-like boat) to move away from the mouth of the lock so that we could enter.

Here are some pictures showing the work boats at the locks and the piles of tree stumps and debris.

On Tuesday November 22, we travelled through what is affectionately known as a the “flight of five”- locks 6 through 2. These locks are really close together; you are just recovering from getting through one, and you are heading into the next one. Of course, this time, Captain Dave and Admirable Pat were old sods at this locking stuff, so we flew through with no problems.

We docked at the town dock in Waterford around noon since we had to buy groceries and alcohol (for medicinal purposes only!) and we wanted to use the free Wi-Fi. Waterford is at the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. It's a truly lovely little village with water all around it and the second highest waterfall in New York state (the highest is, of course, at Niagara.) The effects of the hurricane can be seen here as well. The Visitor's Centre right at the dock was apparently under water right up to the top of the first floor windows. We were supposed to be able to get power, water and Wi-Fi there, but all of these things were now unavailable. The people, however, were more than available. The lockmaster from Lock 2 had called ahead, and we were greeted by his son, who hooked us up to power and water from his father's house right alongside the dock. Another gentleman joined us, and he drove us to and from the liquor store, showing us the falls and where the supermarket was along the way. We had lunch at a local restaurant and asked around at other places if there was free Wi-Fi anywhere, but very few people even knew what Wi-Fi was! Later, we were back at the boat and yet another fellow came by and offered to take us to the supermarket. Naturally, we took him up on his offer. All in all, Wi-Fi excluded, we will always have fond memories of Waterford.

So, tomorrow, Wednesday November 23, we will be making a sharp right-hand turn into the Hudson River with just one more lock to go through before we bee-line it down to New York City. We will be thrilled (actually ecstatic) to see the last lock, Lock 1, out of the rear window of our boat!

Great quote: “Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the hell happened.” -Cora Harvey Armstrong-

Captain Dave here - now it's my turn. Where to begin – oh boy, I don't know where to start. So much has happened. I suppose, in keeping with so many of my ramblings, the bilge would be a good place to start. In Phoenix, where else. On the way, I had noticed the port engine was over heating – lovely. The bilge, not dry. So, the forward pump came on. This, I didn't like. Took a look outside, liked it even less. Yuchy oily looking mess. Shut off pump 'till I could figure it out. Turns out some engine oil and antifreeze decided it was more comfortable in the bilge than in its respective places, namely the coolant tank and the crankcase. Not happy. Called ahead to see where there was a mechanic available as I could not see why this happened. Filled the crankcase (port engine) and the primary heat exchangers on both engines.

Ess-Kay yards said they had a mechanic available that knew diesels and was familiar with Lehman diesels. OK. We decided to head there. I'm sure Pat has talked about the great people at Ess-Kay. I dealt with Craig, the mechanic; young buck, probably late twenties or so – also a great guy. Not afraid of engine rooms, even ones cluttered with spare parts and looking gross because of the mess of antifreeze and oil. He listened patiently to the story and said well, it could be this or it could be that but, given their age, the engines may be tired (me, already tired) and need of an overhaul (me too). Turn 'em on and lets see what they sound like. So we did. Hey, he says, they sound great, let's have a look.

Maybe I was impatient, maybe my eyes aren't what they once were, but Craig found TWO coolant leaks (one an each engine) in about 10 minutes. (*&^*(&^ young buck!). What will it take to fix it? Lots of discussion, parts catalogues, phone calls to American Diesel etc. We had a list but, best take it apart first just to make sure. I was not keen on this but I could see his point. In any case, by about 2 pm that afternoon, we ordered the parts to be over - nighted from American Diesel to Ess-Kay.

The parts came in,Craig installed them and Voila! A new leak! An 'O' ring had let go in the keel cooler line (starboard side). Further, the 'seal' between the engine coolant tank and the block was leaking!

By the end of the little extravaganza, we changed 6 clamps, two hoses, a thermostat, a gasket and an 'O' ring. Along with a couple gallons of antifreeze. In addition, I ordered spares for the port side, just in case. Just as an aside, whilst all this was going on, I emptied about 20 (AT LEAST) 5 gallon pails of yuch from the bilge. Pat went shopping – go figure – hey, she brought back my favourite beer, along with some much needed groceries so, kudos to her. The $1500 bill notwithstanding, Ess-Kay and the folks there are great – a recommended stop if you have to do it.

Off we went, on to the next lock and across Lake Oneida. Everything ran fine. At this point, I must say something about Pat. She enjoys being at the helm and has really good eyes – hearing not so mush. But once we crossed the lake, the fog was like soup. She took it all the way, never missing a mark or a bend in the river.

Pat tells me I have to explain how I managed to get TV. I hate to admit it, as Pat was so surprised at getting TV, but it was stupidly simple. Some months ago, when we decided we would be leaving on this adventure, we also decided to unsubscribe from our satellite TV service. Knowing that, at some point, we might want to watch TV, I searched for a marine/RV suitable antenna. It turned out that Radio Shack had an antenna with a power rotor suitable to our needs for $50!! Amusingly, this was only available via the Internet. I ordered it, and it was delivered to the Radio Shack in Stoney Creek. I picked it up and tucked it away, as it was a very low priority project. Well, it turns out this thing is amazing. The antenna is HD compliant. It coupled with our new flat screen TV goes out and searches for both digital and regular TV channels which it then commits to memory. At each stop, we have started the search, and it has found at least 20 channels every time. Mind you, some of the channels are junk, but there are always a few that give us the shows we like to watch – except Dexter, unfortunately.