Two very happy cats!

Saturday afternoon around 1:30 we arrived back at North Cape Yacht Club where our boat normally lives.  Eileen and Harold, who traveled with us last fall as we brought the boat down the Hudson River and on to Annapolis, were there to help us tie up.  We spent some time off the boat catching up with friends we hadn't seen in almost a year (and a few people who didn't know that we'd been gone).  Later we got a ride home with our friend Matt, who had done some of the ICW in North Carolina with us last fall.  We got one of our cars off the jack stands, and turned on the water heater, before heading back to the boat for one last night aboard.

Sunday morning we did a bit more visiting and then loaded up the car with our dirty laundry and the cats.  They were a bit upset, no surprise there, but seemed happy once we got them back in the house.  We did a few more house/unloading/unpacking projects and then met Sue's dad, sister Chris, and the newlyweds Ethan & Kristin for dinner at Weber's.  And even though we didn't have any wind to worry about or a 70 mile day ahead of us we were still up by around 7:00.

Tomorrow we plan to unload the boat of the year's worth of stuff (dinghy, outboard, fuel cans, spare parts, charts, you name it) we have hidden below.  Then we have to figure out where to put it all once we get back home.  Then a couple of weeks cleaning and trying to undo all the wear and tear of the last 10 months.  Who knows, maybe we'll even going sailing.

For all of you who are waiting with baited breath - whatever the heck that means - for some pithy, insightful, philosophical comments to wrap this all up, unbait.  That might come in a week or so.  For now I will say, the boat was gone just over 10 months.  We traveled 6,228 nautical miles, through 12 states and only 2 countries.  We locked through 74 locks and waited for more lift, swing and bascule bridges than we care to remember.  We met lots of cruisers having similar adventures and made new friends.  We met lots of old friends along the way who went out of their way to help us out with laundry or driving around shopping or sightseeing.  We saw lots of wonderful places and things, and a few unusual things.  We enjoyed wonderful weather with surprisingly few storms or trying conditions.  We experienced a new culture and a different way of life.  We were blessed with good health and no unforeseen calamities that curtailed our trip.  We're even still speaking to each other.

For all of you who have followed our adventure I hope you enjoyed it.  Hopefully you were entertained, informed, maybe amused, and not too bored.  Thanks for your comments; they kept us amused and we always liked hearing from the homefront.  And, speaking of the homefront, we really appreciate all the help and support from Mark, who took care of the house and yard, and from Chris, who took care of the bills and the paperwork for us.  We could not have done this trip without their help.

Penultimate day - in sight of local landmarks

Last night we anchored by downtown Cleveland.  For some reason we weren't sure if we could anchor where we did, partially because we were right next to a small regional airport.  We were also right next to the Coast Guard station and sometimes they like to exercise their perceived authority.  But mainly we were concerned because we were a Michigan boat in Ohio waters.  Nobody said anything and we had a decent nights sleep until about 5:30 when the first corporate jets started taking off.  We were under way by about 7:00, a late start for us recently. 

We've sailed/motored this stretch of Lake Erie at least 6 times in the past so Sue got bored looking at water that she had already seen.  She got out the metal polish and cleaned the rust stains off all the stainless deck hardware.  One item checked off our "To do" list, and we're not even home yet.  Right now we are anchored within sight of the fabled Put-In-Bay, Ohio on South Bass Island.  Tomorrow should see us back in a friends dock at North Cape.  We'll do a final SPOT position, and in the next few days or week will probably have a trip/blog summation.  If any of you have questions this would be the time to ask them.

Something new for you folks...

I just figured out how I can include video on the blog.  This was from our nice sail yesterday in building wind and waves.  The camera view doesn't really do justice to the noice sail we had.  All you racers and performance sailors will cringe at all the crap on deck - what can I say?

This is for our friends John and Steve who both used to sail on Lake Erie but have since decided that Florida is a better place to live - go figure.

Today we are anchored in Cleveland's harbor right by Browns Stadium.  Any of you Ohio residents care to tell us exactly what a " Brown" is?

Welcome back to Lake Erie!

Earlier I mentioned that we should be finished with tides.  Wrong!  Last night I met a Buffalo Yacht Club member who said he was checking on his boat because of the rising water level.  Sure enough, the water level was up because of a "seiche" tide.  A seiche is a wind driven tide - strong wind pushes water ahead of it.  Because of the shape, depth and orientation of Lake Erie seiche tides are not that uncommon.  If you think of lake Erie as an ice cube tray half filled with water, and then tilt the tray one way, that's what the water does in our lake.  Generally the strong winds are out of the west, and our boat is docked at the west end of the lake, so our water level drops.  We've seen it go out as much as 5 or 6 feet with strong winds in the fall.  And since our dock only has 7 to 8 feet normally it's pretty ugly.  Boats are aground, leaning against each other, or up against the docks.  When the water leaves our end of the lake it ends up in Buffalo, and now I've seen it there.




The docks at our club when 4 or 5 feet of water goes to Buffalo.


Sue already mentioned our sailing conditions today.  It turns out during our easy travel up the Hudson River and across the Erie Canal for the last couple of weeks one of our crew lost his sea-legs so we ended up with one unhappy, sick kitty.  By 5:00 when Sue opened the canned cat food he had made a miraculous recovery.  I hope tomorrows conditions are a little better for all of us.

We just did a little trip book keeping and figured out how many photos we have taken.  We're averaging about 17 pictures a day, or about 1 every mile we've traveled.  And since only 10 or 12 are bad all our friends can start looking forward to a really great photo viewing party.  Of course we will ask that you bring your own food and sleep gear.

The folks who mentioned "the big apple" in New York City lied to us.  We found it in Medina, NY.  Right next to the cement mixer chicken.



I'm thinking it's not a delicious...



I guess just because you can...

Welcome to Lake Erie

Our night at Buffalo Yacht Club was rather noisy and bumpy due to strong westerly winds blowing right on the transom of the boat, causing the water to slap against the hull.  Fortunately it died down some overnight, or so we thought. It was only blowing about 9 knots as we left the dock at 6:00 AM, heading for Erie, PA, about 63 nautical miles.  When we got out on the lake, though, we found the wind blowing about 12-15 knots right from the direction we needed to go.  We put the sails up and started beating upwind.  Our ETA was around 11:00 PM and didn't improve as the day went on.  Our speed increased to over 6 knots when the wind increased to 18-22 knots.  We noticed that the wind direction kept changing so that it was always blowing from whatever course the GPS was calling for.  We started checking out alternative destinations when we realized that we had gone 25 miles in 8 hours and still had another 40 or so to go.  We had heard about Dunkirk, NY but didn't know anything about getting in there. It looked "iffy" on the GPS.  I called Dunkirk Yacht Club and asked for "local" knowledge about getting in there and was told it should be no problem to anchor in the outer basin, so that's where we are now.  It feels good not to be heeled 15 to 20 degrees in four and five foot waves, thinking we would be doing that for another 12 hours or so.  The forecast is for the winds to switch to the north overnight but who knows--the weather people predicted 5 to 15 knots for today so they obviously got it wrong and could well be wrong for tomorrow.

Sue

No more locks or lift bridges, Lake Erie is in sight.

Saturday we had a short day into North Tonawanda doing the last locks and lift bridges of the Erie Canal.  It's a good thing we got in early because there was a concert by the waterfront Saturday night.  Between the concert and the weekend the seawall filled up pretty early.  The weekend ended up being not very relaxing.  The band was not very good - Sue thought she recognized a song or two, and I think I recognized a chord or two.  They were pretty loud though, and they played for 4 to 5 hours.  While that was going on there was a steady stream of boats cruising up and down the river.  A large share of the boats were the really noisy thunder-type-exhaust boats which everyone found to be pretty annoying.  About an hour before the band finally quit the restaurant across the river from us started playing loud music.  We ended up going to sleep with our earplugs in.  And off and on all weekend I thought about all the things that had to happen to get the mast back up safely.




The western end of the canal was man made and looks like this for around 100 miles.
On the right is the old mule path, now used as a bike and hiking path.




The last lock is actually a double lock.  You go up half way...



...then the lock opens up and you meet boats coming down.
Then you lock the rest of the way up.

Sunday morning I watched the British Gran Prix report on line - Fernando Alsonso won for Ferarri.  Then we move the boat over to Wardell's Boat Yard to start getting it ready to put the mast back up.  Sunday is a busy day for Dennis Wardell selling fuel, so when we were finished we walked over to see the Hershell Carrousel Museum.  It was pretty interesting and we got to ride on one of their carrousels.





Check out the pedal boats/boatcycles.  Also the boats rafted 3 and 4 deep because
it was a weekend and there was a concert.





Sue and I on one of the first carrousels that left the factory around the turn of the century.



Fluff in one of his typical sleep positions.  I think the sole (floor) is cooler. 

This morning we started stepping our mast around 9:00, and by 1:30 we were pretty much done with tuning the mast and getting the boom and sails back on the boat.  We fueled up and left around 2:30.  We are now at the Buffalo Yacht Club which is about 10 miles from Wardell's and a couple of miles from Lake Erie proper.

Other things we won't be seeing back on Lake Erie:   dolphins, rays, tropic birds, alligators, sea turtles, pelicans, eagles, jelly fish, sharks, phosphorescence, and the elusive "green flash".

And BTW, I finished Jaws and don't really think the book as written would make much of a movie.

Stuff I've forgotten to mention, and other tidbits.

The eastern part of the Erie Canal follows the Mohawk River which runs through the Adirondack Mountains.  Thus it is rather "hilly" on either side of the canal.  Now that we are further west the land is much flatter and we are traveling through farm land.  Today we saw vineyards, apple orchards, corn and grain fields.  We also passed through the elevated section of the canal where you can look down on the roofs of houses.  We also went over the only highway which runs under the Erie Canal.  This is also the section of the canal that is all pretty much man-made.

Just recently I started reading a book which some of you might find interesting.  It is a book about fishing called Jaws!  The premise is a bit unusual in that the fish is catching the people.  I haven't read enough to find out how it turns out, but I suppose it might make a decent movie.

This is the owner-built boat, "Sow's Ear", we've been traveling with the past few days.
Just under 16 feet long, 6 feet wide, and draws about a foot.

Two nights ago we were in Fairport.  For whatever reason it is the most popular spot we have stopped on the canal so far.  We got one of the last spots along the seawall to tie up.  Last night we stopped in Brockport, one of only 4 or 5 boats there.  They were having some sort of summer fest with sidewalk sales and a street concert.  They also have free loaner bikes which we borrowed to ride around exploring.  We then ate at a decent Greek restaurant, and then enjoyed the rest of the concert - country, blues, and rock & roll.

Other Mothers' Sons (or something similar)

Today we motored to Medina, New York which is home to the model train museum we visited  last fall on the way south.  We stopped again this afternoon and met the owner of the building and just about all of the exhibits.  He's a pretty interesting character.  When we got back to the boat I tried to take a nap.  Soon I heard music.  A DJ from the local radio station  was playing pretty good oldies.  Most Fridays in the summer they have a car meet in the parking lot  adjacent to the docks.  .   Tonight was "Mustang Night" so most of the cars were American muscle cars.  The only thing older than the cars were the owners.  Sue and I felt like youngsters compared to many of the owners.



Over 200 foot long train layout.



I don't guess I'd have the guts to drive something like this with
pink poodles in the back seat!

Not at the car show, but just an idea for you, Mark & Penny.



'52 Chevy, "3 on the tree"
This is just like what I learned to drive -
actually, this one has the optional safety option - brakes!



Panic attack!

For almost 10 months neither cat has shown the least bit of interest in getting off the boat to explore the docks or shore.  So it was quite a surprise last night to realize that when Sue was fixing supper and I was down below reading Fluff had jumped off the boat!  We were tied up along one of the lock walls which was level with the deck of the boat.  All along the wall was lawn, with a bit of a hill with brush and trees a short ways away from the lock wall.  As soon as we realized Fluff wasn't on the boat we both went searching.  Sue went ahead of the boat looking in the brush by the hill.  I went behind the boat looking in the water which was flowing towards the downstream lock and dam.  Fortunately in just a few minutes Sue heard Fluff crying up the hill in the brush.  She eventually found him and I was able to catch him and carry him back to the boat.  He was quite upset and was meowing piteously.  We eventually calmed him down, and then spent the next 45 minutes pulling all the little "pickers" from vines out of his fur.  Later that evening he was quite insistent  about going back out in the cockpit.  We weren't sure if he was ready for more shore leave or just wanted to check things out from the cockpit.  At any rate, we kept him down below.

This morning when we were having breakfast in the cockpit Fluff jumped off the boat again.  As soon as we had him back on board Zim jumped off.  We're now going to have to be more careful about leaving them unattended.  The good news is that we should be back home in the next couple of weeks.  It's also good that they didn't realize they could get off the boat months ago.

Last night we tied up with a home built powerboat. ( Jack, check out "Sow's ear" - it's similar to a Bolger design - you'll probably want to build one.)  They are also here in Fairport with us.  When we tied up this afternoon right ahead of us is another boat that we first met in Vero Beach, Florida and then in Marathon, Florida.  The boat is from Boston, but the owners are full time live-aboards.

No fireworks on the Fourth

Sunday night we had planned to stop at Sylvan Beach which is on the east side of Oneida Lake.  We thought they might have an early fireworks display, and we wanted to get an early start across Oneida Lake before any winds built up too much.  You don't want to cross any body of water with big waves with a mast up on 8 foot saw horses - just a little too top heavy and unstable.  There were some local residents at one of the locks just before Sylvan Beach who told us that boats were rafted 3 deep waiting to watch the fireworks.  No room for us, especially with our mast sticking out 9 feet over each end of the boat, so we decided to spend the night at the last lock before the lake.

Yesterday we got up bright and early to cross Oneida Lake.  No surprise that the winds were higher than forecast, around 12 to 15 knots.  The waves weren't too bad and we had a safe crossing of the lake.  We had planned to get fuel in Brewerton and then spend the day so we could watch the Fourth of July fireworks.  Wouldn't you know it, they had their fireworks display Sunday night.  Since it was so early we decided to head on to Three Rivers, which looked to be a good sized town by the canal.  When we arrived there was no seawall to tie to, and no obvious town, so we continued on.  We got to Baldwinsville around 4:00.  We had stopped there on the way south and they had a nice old diner there.  It was open so we went back around 6:30 for dinner.  Baldwinsville has something we have never seen before.  At several of the cross walks they have orange flags.  When you want to cross the street you carry the flag so cars can see you better.  The cars are required to stop for pedestrians in the cross walks, so you would think the flags wouldn't really be necessary.

Yesterday the canal followed the Seneca River.  The Seneca is narrower than the Mohawk with more twists and turns.  At one point our destination was just over 3 miles away straight line, but about 13 miles as the river flowed.  The last two times we did the Erie Canal it was late in the season and there were hardly any boats.  Now that it is summer, and especially with the Fourth weekend things have really changed.  We saw canoes, kayaks, jet skis, bass boats, water skiers, aluminum pontoon party boats, run- abouts, cabin cruisers, and the occasional cruiser like us.

More canal trivia...

The big 40 foot lift lock holds 5,000,0000 gallons of water.
It's not unheard of to find cars in the bottom of the locks when they drain them at the end of the season to clean and repair them.  They hope not to find bodies in the cars or locks.
The gal on the boat from Louisiana that we have been traveling with the last few days was surprised that the canal is not open year round.  She didn't understand the concept of 2 foot thick ice.
An average day is 10 to 12 boats through a lock.  A busy day is 25 boats.
Our 10 day pass costs $37.50
Boats under 16 feet - canoes and kayaks - lock free.
Yesterday we locked through #22 of 34 locks.

Lots of Locks...

First, I screwed up yesterday and forgot to turn on the SPOT to update our position.  Sorry.  We spent the night in Amsterdam, NY.

Some of the steamboats in Waterford.

Yesterday morning around 8:30 we left Waterford, New York and entered the Erie Canal.  We locked through "The Flight of Five" with one other power boat.  The Flight is 5 locks in 1.5 miles with the highest lift - 150 feet - over the shortest distance of any canal in the world.   Once through the Flight the power boat motored on ahead and we had the next 5 locks all to ourselves.  Amsterdam didn't have much to offer.  We tried to watch "The Da Vinci Code" but I kept falling asleep so we called it a night.

This morning there were three other foreign boats at the first lock we came to - one from Kiel, Germany, one from Toronto, and one from Alabama.  We were all going at about the same speed so we ended up locking through the first four or five locks we came to together.  One boat (Toronto) was slightly faster so they always got to the lock first.  The lock master knew there were three other boats coming so Toronto always had to wait.  Eventually Toronto got far enough ahead in one of the longer stretches so they were able to lock through on their own.  But by then we had picked up another boat so we still had three other lock mates.  Then that boat pulled off for an early stop and the first power boat who we had started with yesterday showed up again.  At the last lock before we stopped for the night we were still traveling with one boat from first thing this morning and the single boat that we had locked with yesterday.

This morning we started in fog.  It was clear behind us on the water so we thought it would soon burn off up ahead.  Instead it got denser as we moved west, until we ended up with about quarter mile visibility.  Made it pretty interesting finding the navigation marks up ahead.  Once we made it through the first lock it was clear the rest of the day.

This doesn't really do the fog justice.

Most of the mechanism and electric motors that operate the locks are from the early 1900s.  Today we locked through one lock with a lift of 40.5 feet, which is one of the highest single lifts in the world.  There is virtually no commercial traffic on the canal these days.  Here in the Mohawk River Valley there is a rail line on one side that has a constant stream of freight trains.  The other side has the New York Thruway (Highway 90) which is a semi corridor.



All hands on deck for the 40 foot lock.




The lower section (below the white) slides down while the counter-weight goes up.



Detail of the counter-weight.  Looks like their initial weight calculations were
a bit off - see the additional weights cabled on top.

Tonight we are in Herkimer, NY which was the setting for Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy".  It's a pretty good book, made even better because it's based on a true story.  (Boy meets girl, boy meets another prettier, richer girl, boy murders first girl...)   For you non-readers you can check out "A Place in the Sun" staring Montgomery Clift, Liz Taylor, and Shelley Winters.  Not as good as the book, but quicker to get through.