July 15, 2010 - Linda's Leaving

Synopsis - We are in Brewerton NY and have travelled 2207 miles total since leaving St. Pete Florida on May 10th. Linda left yesterday to go home for a few days to visit
her father and do a few things in town. I'm babysitting the boat and doing some chores. When she returns we will head North across Lake Ontario and into Canada.

It's hard to believe, but since the last blog (July 1, 2010) there have been no mechanical problems with the boat. Wow! We went North from New Jersey and headed into New York harbor. On the way, we passed a bunch of oyster fisherman who were still using "sails and rakes" in the traditional manner.

The photo at right shows one and you can see his sail (OK, it's a blue tarp!) and he is using a 25 foot long rake and working hard.

There were quite a few big ships coming into NYC along with us. We passed the "biggest cruise ship in the world", the Norwegian "Jewel" which holds something like 6,000 passengers. We thought about staying in NYC harbour for the 4th of July fireworks but after a visit to the statue of liberty we decided to head up the Hudson river. We got to a town called Tarrytown after trevelling all day and when I looked back I could still see the NYC skyline. Boy is this boat slow!

We stopped in Hyde Park and spent a day touring the FDR family mansion (and Presidential Library), a Vanderbilt mansion (one of 40 they built) and the Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA). They were all great but I think the FDR property was by far the most interesting because the history it documents.

We continued North and were joined by our friend Bob Liebling in Troy which is where the Erie Canal heads West from the Hudson. We spent a week cruising West on the Erie Canal stopping at the occasional marina or at the free "mooring walls" provided by many towns to entice boaters to stop and spend some money in their town. In addition to incredibly beautiful lush scenery, highlights included spectacular locks and Fort Stanwix at the town of Rome.

Brewerton, our current location, is mid way on the Erie Canal (to Buffalo) and is where the Oswego Canal branches North to Lake Ontario. To get here, we travelled over 150 miles on the Erie canal and went through 21 locks. Here is a picture of the biggest lock (#17 on the Erie) and the lift gate which you have to go under to get in. It has a rise of 40 feet! It was a great help to have Bob Liebling manning a rope in the locks.

Fort Stanwix in Rome NY (shown below) was the location of a key battle in the American Revolution. The patriots there held up a

large English force for three weeks which contributed to the subsequent English defeat at Saratoga and helped convince France to support the colonists. It was fun to walk in the footsteps of the soldiers who manned the fort.

We are excited to head into Canada and the Trent Severn Canal system late next week after Linda returns. The Trent Severn and Northern Lake Huron are reported to be great cruising. We'll find out.

You all take care and remember that we miss you (well, maybe not all of you)

Next post on August first.