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.