mvalwayshome

Seems like as soon as we get somewhere, it is time for weather!  The extra rain is causing some concern on the Erie Canal. In the mean time we borrowed one of the two courtesy cars and went to a local Walmart to pick up some of our have to have food items.  For Wayne it is Pringles.  For me, do they have my kind of wine? or Moon pies?  All this river cruising is affecting our eating habits!

Sunrise in Brewerton, NY

Winter Harbor marina owner puts out some fine looking vegetable plants in these raised beds located at the end of the dock near the fuel pumps.  All the vegetables looked great.  The tomatoes were still green so I left them alone.  The peppers were too small to pick.  The owner was actually afraid that all the recent rain had drowned them out.  Nope.  The plants looked very healthy!!  Makes me miss my garden just a bit.  Not enough to start a garden on the boat, though.  We can’t take any plants into Canada.  So, my green thumb will just have to wait.

Peppers!!

Tomatoes

Spices

Peppers again

Here we are at the end of the long side dock.  The current and wind kept us from going into the basin.  This is a great place for our gal, Always Home.  Most of the folks passing by slowed down and we didn’t get rocked too terribly often.

Always Home on the end of the dock

Our neighbors:

An early evening transient.  I don’t know where this little guy was going but he was making tracks!!  I figured that if he had to get somewhere fast, I wouldn’t disturb him.  If he was trying to hide from the Robin in the nearby tree, night-time is a good time to move.

Snail on the walkway

Wayne said he said a brown critter along the water.  Right?!  I dutifully nodded.  I wasn’t sure if he just needed to clean his glasses until I actually saw it also.  Two days later, I saw 2 of these brown critters moving around the water and rocks.  Muskrat??  Too long for rats, right?  Muskrat it is!

Muskrat

The spiders are everywhere!!  They are industrious little insects.  Over night, a spider made a web from our boat to the dock.  We don’t know how these guys make their spinner filament go so far.  It looks like at least 3 feet away.  Yet.  There it is the next morning.

We left it alone.  We figured it was catching all the little “no-see-ums” that were eating me up.  The swallows darted around the boat every morning eating the bugs caught in the webs and the spiders themselves.  Nature’s balance along the Erie Canal.

How about this guy?  Looks large enough for dinner.  But, I couldn’t get anyone to loan me their fishing rod.  OR fishing net.  It looked that close to the water’s edge.

A foot long fish grazing amongst the rocks

Night time in the calm waters along the Erie Canal in Brewerton, NY.

Sunset at Winter Harbor Marina

Sunset Reflections….

Good morning, Campers!!  We went straight to bed after enjoying the country music performance at the pavilion across the river.   This morning is a glorious morning!!  The sky’s reflection in the water is spectacular.

Sunrise at Lock 20

Our side of the river – cool green grass

Today’s journey is to go from just west of Utica (Lock 20) to Brewerton, NY.  The challenge is to cross Oneida Lake.  That might not seem too tough but it is 20 miles long.  It can get pretty rough on the water if you have bad winds and weather.  Today the lake promises to be calm all morning and kick up later in the day as the weather starts to get testy again.

Since we were on the west side of lock 20, we started our day rather early.  We don’t have to wait till 8am for the lock to open.  We have 8 miles to Lock 21 – about an hour away.  Plenty of time for coffee and breakfast.

From Utica to Brewerton across Oneida Lake

Mohawk River and the Erie Canal combine and split apart from time to time along the way.  In this section of the Erie, the Mohawk river is the twisty turning blue line below the more straighter blue line which is the Erie Canal.

Mohawk River and the Erie Canal

There are spillways from the Erie Canal that empty into the river.  We imagine these spill ways are used for water control.  They are great collection points for debris.  Here are some rather large logs and tree limbs.  There are markers to designate the spill way incase you can’t see the small dam.  The current can be brisk around these sections as well.

Tree debris

Tree debris

Guard Gate 6.  Rather formidable structures.  Again, I duck when we go under these.

Guard Gate 6

I thought I would show you what we saw this morning.  A wonderful view.  We are the only ones cruising this morning.  The ripples in the water is from the wind.  Or beasties under the water?!?!  No… really.  The wind was blowing just a bit.

8am view of the Erie Canal from our Flybridge

Lock 21 is the first lock going down.  25 feet!  We weren’t sure what we were looking at.  What is wrong with this lock?  It is open and ready for us.  Just drive right in and get settled.  The ride is a quick one.  Down.

Approaching Lock 21

Of course, I get distracted with the geese on the side of the lock.  Several family groups.  Are they still a gaggle of geese or family gaggles?  Different sizes of young ones.  Wayne yells at me…what’s going on?  Oh, yea… the lines!

Geese walking away from the edge of the lock

With this lock, I have to reach down with our pole and grab a line from the lock edge.  I pull the line up to our deck and hold fast.   We are the only boat going through.

The starboard side of Lock 21

Going down!!

When we are going up in a lock, you can see where you are going to.  The dark edge where the water line stops.  But, when going down, how do I know when we hit bottom?  I like to know.  Then I spied the water’s edge along the lock wall.  See all the growing crusty stuff just below the line?  We must be at the bottom.  Right?  Makes sense.

Water’s Edge tell me we are at the bottom

The air had that just cut grass smell.  You can see the lock wall looks recently cut.  What a beautiful day.

Bottom of Lock 21

This is the second and last lock for the day.  Lock 22.  Another lock going down.

Approaching Lock 22 – going down 25 feet

Entering Lock 22.

Interestingly, on this lock wall I saw moss growing.  Which is very curious.  The wall gets wet but doesn’t stay soaked or the moss would suffocate. There would be the normal slime instead.

Moss on the wall

As we are standing within 2 feet of a concrete wall, what else do we have to do but look and see what the wall looks like.  I saw the moss and the critters growing within the cracks and crevices.  As the water was going down, these little shells spit water out randomly.  The colors are pretty neat.

Shells clinging to the wall

On the east side of Oneida Lake is a free wall to tie up and wait for good weather to cross.  Sylvan Beach.  No one was there.  I understand that this wall is packed with boaters on the weekends.  Quite the party place.  There are picnic tables and trash bins.  No electricity or water.  We don’t need to stop.

9:45am and everyone is gone

Our view of Lake Oneida as we started our trek across.  A few fishing boats in the distance. Flat calm waters.

Lake Oneida at 10am

Another view of Lake Oneida as we start across

The wind did get higher as we finished crossing the lake.  Fishing boats grouped around locations where we assume the fish are.  A few go-fast boats zoomed past us.  We were the only trawler we saw on the water.  Piece of cake!!  Waves were expected to be < 1 foot.  They were.  Tomorrow??  The waves will be over 3 ft high per the forecast.

We found our marina without too much trouble.  It is right along the Canal.  The current was quite brisk and it took us 2 tries to finally make the right approach to the fuel dock.  Then we found our place along the outside wall.  Perfect for us.

Winter Harbor Marina

We got a late start off the dock this morning.  We decided to get a pump out.  The dock master has a portable unit that he takes from one boat to another.  Pretty slick.  We had to wait our turn.  No problem.  We are only going through 4 locks today.  Easy day.  Or that is the plan.

Lock 16 – right around the corner – UP 20.5 feet

We are the only boat this morning going through this lock.  Wonderful!  I noticed a whole gaggle of geese walking down to the lock wall.  2 jumped into the river ahead of us.  The rest?  They decided to wait for us to pass by.

Geese changing their mind and going back up the hill at Lock 16

At the top of Lock 16 and on our way to the next lock.  What a grand day to be on the water.   Another cruiser came up behind us and decided to pass us by.  They must have come through Lock 16 right after us.  We didn’t see them.

View from the flybridge on the Erie Canal

This lock is different.  The lock gates don’t open like doors.  This lock is a “lift gate”.  The gate lifts up and you drive your boat under the gate into the lock.  Pretty scary, if you ask me.  How tall is that gate??  Apparently, it is 20 feet.  With all the rain, will we get under it?  Wayne had called ahead to let the lock master know we were on our way.  It look over 30 minutes for the lock to get ready for us.  We saw the water pouring out of the sides as the water was being emptied to allow us to go into it.  He had to let the water out.  We assume another boat had just gone through the lock ahead of us.  Then another 30 minutes to get us and the other boat all tied up.  Wow.

Approaching Lock 17

This lock will take us UP 40 feet.  That is correct.  40 feet!!  This is the highest lift along the Erie Canal.  And only 2 in North America where you have to drive the boat under the gate. There are other locks that take boats up higher than 40 feet but they have the regular gates that open like doors.  The other lift gate?  In Canada.

We read that we would get wet going under the gate.  I was expecting wet as in Disney Ride wet.  Not us.  A couple of drops but no deluge.  I had all my wet gear on just in case.  I must have looked a little odd.  The lock master probably got a good chuckle.

Lift Gate from the inside.

As we came out of the Lock, we found a group of young people rock climbing.  They had all the safety harnesses.  No free wall climbing today.

Little Falls has a city dock for cruisers.  It looked empty when we drove by.  All the boaters had left already to go west and too early for new boaters to stop for the day.  Looks nice.

Getting close to Lock 18….

Just around the corner and here it is!! Lock 18  – UP only 20 feet

In and out in a normal course of locking.

Ilion Village Marina – where the tug took up almost all the space

The next excitement is the fixed Rail Road bridge.  The guides mentioned this is 21.37 feet tall.  But, with the rains and higher water, we took it slow.  Would I even know what 0.37 feet is?

Fixed Bridge… Bridge E-40

Why is it that when we go under one of these structures I always duck.  Like my head is going to make the difference.  hahaha

Going under the Rail Road bridge

At the top of Lock 19 – UP 21 feet.

These locks have great surrounding areas.  Park like.  In some cases, they even have picnic tables.  Very well kept.

Park like surroundings at the lock

Our sunshine left and we were getting clouds in.  Maybe a bit rainy later in the afternoon.

View from Top of the Lock 19

We were going to stop at the “Utica Historic Marina” along side of the Aqua Vino Restaurant.  But the boat ahead of us got the last open space.  Plan B….  go to the next lock and tie up to the wall outside.  No electric or water.  A secure place to put the boat overnight.  We decided to go through the lock so we wouldn’t have to wait till 8am to lock through in the morning.  The dock master told us it was OK to tie up.  Wonderful!!

Approaching Lock 20

I was able to hog tie a post with our mid-line cleat.  Then I carefully hopped down from the  boat to the wall.  We tied up securely just before the drizzles started.   Across the way, “Canal Park” had a concert.  We listened to country music for a couple of hours.  Very nice.

“Canal Park” concert at the pavillion

Sunset at Lock 20

Yippee!  The Erie Canal is open again!  Time to shake the dust off our engines and go west.  We will be going through 5 locks today.  Going UP all the way.

Leaving Amsterdam River Link Park

We didn’t leave too early since the first lock of the day was only a mile up the river.  The Locks open at 8am.  Plenty of time for our cup of coffee and a quick breakfast.

Lock 11 – doors closed and we are ready to go UP 12 feet

Between Lock 11 and Lock 12 – port side

Houses on the starboard side

Approaching Lock 12 – we are the only boat at this lock! – UP 11 feet

Spillway at Lock 12

Canal Tug Boat – great colors!

Another boat came up from behind to join us for the remaining of the day.  2 boats in the locks together.  Lots of room.  No shoving, pushing, or worry about hitting anyone.

Leaving Lock 13 – after going UP 11 feet – 2 boats this time in the lock

Highway along the Erie Canal – wonder if they know.

Everyone is gone already.  When the word gets out, everyone moves!  Nice looking free dock.

Canajoharie Riverfront Park – free dock

Gorgeous Tree on top of Lock 14 – UP 8 feet

Approaching Lock 15 – last one for the day – UP 8 feet

Is it possible for me to tire of the green?  All the different shades of green?  Looks just so alive!!

We arrived in early afternoon at the St. Johnsville Marina for one night.  A high wall meant that we could easily step off our boat onto dock with no trouble.

St. Johnsville, NY

They had a map near the campground that I thought was neat.  “You are here” along the Erie Canal.  Now we know we aren’t lost!!

Erie Canal Sign

We had time to relax before dinner.  We decided to stretch our legs and go into town for the world’s best cheese burgers and beer at Cosmos Bar and Grill.  The hamburger was excellent.  The beer, cold!  What a marvelous combination.

Across the Bar is the local bank.  I saw the Safety Deposit Vault carved into the door header and immediately thought of Harry Potter the the Gringott’s vaults at the Wizarding Bank of London.  I don’t know why.  Wayne just shook his head and took another swig of beer.  He knows I am a bit crazy.  Also tells me that fiction affects us all.

Vault – for all your special items

Maybe it was the pitcher of beer.  But these signs of Pharmacy and Funeral Home seem to be a funny combination.  See which sign is bigger.  hahaha  Is the pharmacy around the same corner as the funeral service?  Just saying….

Welcome Sign going into town

An interesting view from the top of the pedestrian walkway by the River Link Park.  Early morning mist down the Erie Canal.  Looks like the Smoky Mountains!

Sunrise Mist

Then we got this notice from the New York Canal via email:

(https://wwwapps.canals.ny.gov/news/notices/ntm.aspx?id=555)

“Notice to Mariners

Erie, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca Canals

June 18, 2015

Mariners are advised that, barring additional rainfall, conditions will likely permit the reopening of the Oswego Canal, and the Erie Canal between Lock E-23 (Brewerton) and the Oswego Canal Junction at Three Rivers, on Wednesday, June 24th.  At that time, navigation between the Hudson River and Lake Ontario would be restored.”

Really?  We just got here and now we wait again?!  Wonderful!

Local trivia:  The actor Kirk Douglas is a former resident of Amersterdam, NY.

The River Link Park in Amsterdam, NY is really a beautiful setting.   The river front.  Walkways.  Electricity and water for boaters.  Geese.  Flowers.  Really pretty nice.

THEN a train passes by. 

There are actually 2 types of trains.  The passenger trains when passing by toots a couple of short blasts on their horns and are just a few cars long.  No big deal.  The freight trains usually blasts for at least 15 seconds or more and are dozens of cars long.  The trains run day and night.  Commerce!!  We didn’t mind the trains too much knowing they were moving cargo from one place to another.  At one point, I did ask Wayne if it was the same train just going back and forth to torment us!  hahaha

This video is 3 minutes and 18 seconds of a train going by.  You really don’t need to watch it, but it is loud.  

Every now and again, while on the boat and a cargo train passes by, we can feel the train vibrations.  The train’s movement and energy transferred from the tracks to the surrounding land and to the river nearby.  Then we feel it sitting on our chairs in the enclosure.  Fascinating!!

There were sunny days during out wait.  There were cloudy days.  There was the Saturday Night Sweet 16 surprise party in the tent next to our boat.  It was fun to watch the “youngsters”.  Is that what 16 year olds look like now?  The best part is that we recognized most of the music!  There must have been plenty of family and friends that were much older than the young lady.  No Rap or Hard Rock.  I even saw Wayne tap his foot a couple of moments in time with the music.  A nice evening, after all.

We did venture into the downtown area of Amsterdam.  It needs help in getting businesses to reinvest in the downtown area.  We found the post office and the city library with no trouble.  Nice Post Office building.  Very prestigious.

Across the street from the library I saw these signs.  Church and Stud Farm.  Hahaha

Signage on the corner that made me smile

The Sandford Stud Farm relates to a local Horse Racing Stud Farm that was very big in the area since the 1870’s.  Winning horses.  The Sandford Stud Farm Friends Organization are trying to restore some of the remaining farm buildings to it’s former splendor.

It is interesting that local folks know how to get to the River Link Park.  They must consider the trek normal and don’t think anything at all strange about it.  We found the route a bit unusual.  You have to park your car in the River Link Mall parking lot.  Walk around some old buildings, up a ramp, through this chain link fence, across the pedestrian bridge, and down the elevator ( or stairs).  The pedestrian bridge is the walkway over the railroad track.  Probably explains why we didn’t see too many people come visit daily.

On a sunny day, wild flowers around the park just dazzled.

So did the large rock nearby.  This is a reproduction of Indian art found nearby in the 1700’s.  An old watercolor painting in one of the town’s archives gave the artist the framework for this sculpture.

Not to ignore the neighbors.  Several families of geese came by to sample the eatables in the grass and along the water’s edge.  One family had 5 little ones.  They are so cute!  Just remember…to watch where you step after their visit.

Several mornings looked like this:

Evenings looked like this:

A beautiful place to wait for the waters to recede up the Erie Canal.  Gorgeous views.