Saturday oct 25

Saturday October 25

See, I knew that would happen sooner or later... I lost a day!  Yesterday’s blog about the sunshine was Friday in Rome!

Oh well...

Last night another sailboat pulled into the dock. It was a 35 ft Endeavour or something... a monohull (Not being a snob, just can’t tell them apart. I’m the same with cars. I do it’s a sailboat... mast on the deck!)

He’s American, heading to Savannah Georgia with his beautiful friendly Lab. See, we’re not the only stupid ones out here!

The canal is full of FOD (foreign object debris or floating organic debris, if you prefer.) Lots of deadfalls that haven’t been cleaned up and future deadfalls that threaten to rip the mast off the deck if you don’t watch the shore while you’re slaloming around the FOD!

The day is grey but the sun sneaks though every once in a while and the weather is not quite so cold as it was on the other side of the Lake. 

When I was talking to the man whose fishing rods I almost destroyed yesterday, he said they were fishing for Great Northern’s but not as big as we have up there. Well something jumped in front of me today the size of a dolphin so I don’t know how big he thinks our fish are!

The canal still has the old donkey trail running right alongside it and people us is as hiking/biking trail. Some of the runners are passing us! There is also a train track and ALL night trains were rolling and blasting their horns. It’s been a long time since I heard trains on a regular basis (Thunder Bay) but these almost seem frantic! You can actually tell the difference between the passenger and freights. The passenger trains are more sedate. The horns don’t sound so desperate and they must have better trucks because they don’t rattle as much. I’ve been thinking that if we decide to park and come home for a visit, we’ll go by train to Buffalo or Toronto (and hope Barb and Dan will pick us up!) I’ve always had a love-hate for trains since I was a little kid. Eh, Gary & Liz?

This morning after we had pulled away from the dock and headed out ,we turned back for a last look and a great huge cruise ship and pulled into our spot! Literally, did not see that coming!

He caught up with us about an hour later and slid past. (See pics!!) It was cool! He came from Kingston and cruises the canals to Lake Champlain and back every two weeks or so, (according to the Lockmaster at Lock 20).

On a personal note, to the brother who thinks I’m grouchy because of the phone comments... if we can put a man on the moon, we ought to be able to make a phone that works properly that doesn’t cost a fortune. I’m not grouchy, I just expect perfection. Besides I have too much to worry about... the drive, the motor, will our mast fall off...I don’t need the aggravation of the phone.

Oh, speaking of panic mode...this morning cruising down the canal, all of a sudden, the motor got exceedingly loud. We looked at each other in panic, not knowing what to do. Then looked at the chart and over the embankment...a freight train was passing us!

There are parts of this area where it seems so isolated you expect to see mule trains, horses and carts or Indians and soldiers pop out of the bush. Then you round a curve and there’s a lock or a town. With WI-FI!!!

We are in the part of the canal where we are over the Appalachians, and dropped down into the Hudson River Valley. I have discovered that I would rather be going down than up.

We are probably two weeks late for the most spectacular colour but here and there you can still see pockets of fluorescent orange and red trees. Although, watching the colour roll up and down over the smooth, really high mountains reminds me of that scene in The Birdcage, where Gene Hackman keeps making inane comments on the fall colours in Virginia, while driving to Florida.

Even when it’s cloudy you can feel the warmth of the sun..okay, I’ll stop talking about the weather! Just wait ‘til we get to palm trees though!

This afternoon we ran into a pile of traffic altogether. We were following the other sailboat, when we passed a kayak...sign said “Kayaking to Statue of Liberty”. As we passed him a huge cruiser came around the bend behind us. One guy was washing the windows while the other guy drove. Florida boat heading south! Very courteous...slowed right down to pass all of us then left us in his wake...pun intended! As he took off a Downeaster (according to Rick) came up the canal...jerk didn’t slow down at all, just waved. We bounced over his wake so heaven knows what happened to the kayak. Probably didn’t even see him!

We got through Lock 17 then made our way through the debris field as far as Lock 16  They pen at 7 am but they close at 5 pm. Hopefully Sunday will not be an issue but if it is... oh well.  The clouds are closing in and it looks like we will be getting a storm. I hope it’s not too rough, because the wall we are attached to is crumbing cement and stone, and it will scrape the crap out of the boat despite the fenders.

Well I have to call homeland Security now and annoy them... I wish that were true then they might tell us to stop calling. We are close to a tiny town called Mindenville, but I can still hear the trains and the highway is just across the river. So we are not alone!

Enjoy the pictures.

cruise ship

back end

coming to Mindenville

Nice dock in Rome

Kayaking to Statue o Liberty