Last locks, laundry, and a lay day.

9/14/10 to 9/17/10 We left North Cape Yacht Club about 7:30 AM with Skip and Kris McCullough. Several people were there to wish us well and it was hard to go. We basically motored the entire length of Lake Erie, only sailing about four hours when we had favorable winds in the mid 20‘s. On our first day a lamprey eel attached itself to the stern of the boat. It must have thought the boat was a giant fish to suck on! The cats wish they were still home. Fluff spends the days burrowed under a sleeping bag in the V-berth and Zimmie sleeps on a settee when he isn’t sea sick.

9/18/10 to 9/27/10 The 18^th was mast lowering day at Wardell’s. He has quite the reputation but he did a quick, professional job and we had the mast down and secured within about two hours. The next day Richard decided to change out the water pump on the diesel, as the old one had started to leak a bit. Then it was on to the Erie Canal. We decided to take it slow so that we could enjoy some of the sights and towns along the way. We visited or stopped in Lockport (two back-to-back locks dropped us about 75 feet), Medina (wonderful model railroad museum), Brockport, Albion, Fairport, Clyde (had to raft with a catamaran, Ragtime II, due to shallow depths), Baldwinsville (great 50's diner there), Brewerton (where we waited out the 25 knot winds before crossing Oneida Lake), Ilion (where we briefly lost steerage due to a large branch getting caught on the rudder), and Crescent (tied to the terminal wall in the pouring rain waiting to go through the Waterford Flight of Five locks). We’ve all been enjoying quiet entertainments in the evenings. Kris and Sue knit while Skip and Richard do computer stuff. We had a couple of movie nights (Capt. Ron and Taken) and baked brownies or had ice cream.

9/28/10 Now we are in Waterford, NY, where we will change crew.  We did two loads of laundry, filled the water tanks, and went shopping for groceries.  Harold and Eileen Hoffman will join us while Skip and Kris McCullough will go home for a short while. They will join us again in Annapolis for the boat show. Then the McCulloughs and Hoffmans will drive home together and it will be just Richard, Sue, Zimmie and Fluff who will continue on.

We're making much better progress than we thought - seen while still in the Erie Canal!