Safe Return

We have safely returned home. We got up at 7 a.m. today, got the boat ship shape, and motored our way back through two locks to return the boat to Mid Lakes Navigation in Macedon by 9 a.m. Before our departure, I was determined to fish one more time for that elusive nice bass. Again, the power of positive though, the right lure, and that great little weedy harbor at Palmyra did the trick! I caught a nice bass before we had to put out (pictures to follow soon). We ate some breakfast back in Rochester, and Dick and Sandy were on their way back to Ohio. Laura and I have been vegging out since then, catching up on TV and naps. We would recommend this trip to all, and we couldn't have asked for better travelling companions...thanks to Sandy and Dick!

Audio Ship's Blog Night Seven (favorite things)

Back on the Water

Mechanical failure again

We opened the hatches to let the engine cool off. Dick did his best to use his engineering expertise. I think the fans helped this time since we did have power. Didn't need Bob this time, just needed the power of positive thought.

Engine Overheated at Newark

Newark

We stopped here to go to dinner, had a nice dinner at Parker's Bar and Grill.

Pirates of the Canal-a-bean

It was time to break out the pirate gear! Who has gone to see Pirates of the Carribean 2? We almost did, because our engine wouldn't start. We had walked by a movie theatre, and the line was out the door!

Audio Ship's Blog Night Six

Womens Hall of Fame

Future Inductee

Womens 1st Convention

This is right beside Weslyn Chapel, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and company hosted the first Womens' Convention in 1848.

Audio Ship's Blog Night Five

Shout Outs

Double Locks at Seneca Falls

These were truly amazing. So a brief description. You enter the first lock. It raises you up 25 feet. The doors open, and you immediately go into a second lock. It raises you another 25 feet. It was much more intimidating then this picture looks, but it was an engineering marvel!

Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

One of today's highlights was motoring through Montezuma Wildlife refuge. We saw a nice variety of birds even for being on the outskirts. We saw osprey, herons, cormorants, and even two immature bald eagles.

Audio Ship's Blog Night Four

The Erie Canal Song (sort of)

Fireworks

Sandy packed sparklers and decorations, we we had fun celebrating the 4th in Lyons...we were the only boat docked in town! We had our own private party!

Lyons

After three locks today, we are in Lyons. After docking, we hunted for a 4th of July chicken BBQ, but the locals only referred as to The Caboose (i.e a hot dog stand) which was just as good. Now we are getting to blog using the computer due to the wireless connection at McDonalds. Before we head to bed, we are going to break out the sparklers. Good news, we heard from the lockmasters today that many of the locks are now open, so we should be headed to Seneca Falls tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July

Today we celebrated the 4th by decorating the boat!

Palmyra museums

Phelps groceries museum

On the 4th of July we spent the day exploring the historical museums of Palmyra including the Phelps general store, the historical society, and the coverlet museum. We learned how coverlets were woven, learned about the various patterns, and also happened to be visiting on the 30th anniversary of the museum opening. Dick was enchanted with the Aeolian Orchestrelle, a player piano organ, that we randomly came across in the coverlet museum.

Marooned at Old Lock 60 Part II

Marooned at Old Lock 60 Part I

Audio Ship's Blog Night Three

Letterboxing Old Lock 60

Listen n to the Audio Blogs titled "Marooned at Old Lock 60 Part I and II". Listen to how John's lasso skills saved us from drifting away, and the quick reflexes of the crew!

Aladdins to go

Lunch in Pittsford

What fun to use the cell phone and order Aladdins to go and pick it up on the way through by docking at the Port!

Along the gorge

Bat cave ?

Audio Ship's Blog Night Two

Pirate john

Rochester

Our trip up the Genesee.

Captain and crew

Audio Ship's Blog Night One

Night one

We took the first day easy, and headed west to our first canal town, Fairport. Laura and I have been here before of course, being so close to home, but we decided we would see this town in a new way. After some docking issues, we found a nice spot and hooked up. We ate at a nice local pub, and afterwards, invited the Blower family to join us on the boat. We got some late night ice cream and headed to bed. Thanks Julie, Rick, and Sarah for stopping by!

Macedon marina

This is it, the beginning of the trek! We arrived at Macedon Marina at 2 o'clock. Here we are with our home and boat for the next seven days, The Seneca. It is all we expected! We got a two hour run down of the operating systems of the boat by our man Todd, and he took us on our maiden voyage up to Lock 30 to navigate the lock for the first time. Dick cruised us in like and old pro. Then we were back at the marina to drop off Todd. Then we were off, to wherever the winds took us (or at least where canal would lead us)!

Pirate's Loot

The Beerys have arrived! They had a long drive from Ohio, but Dick and Sandy made it without incident to Rochester. We are all anxious to start our journey on Saturday. We are all feeling flexible considering that we may have to change our plans due to canal closings. We are all still very positive and very excited to get under way.

So in high spirits, Sandy broke out a large basket full of goodies. All wrapped and individualized, we took our time and plundered through the loot. And loot it was, there were pirate flags, and Fourth of July flags, sparklers, candy, swords, eye patches, t-shirts, flashlights, and more I can't even remember. Oh, what a treasure. We had a great laugh and decided most of it was indeed going on the boat!

Stormy Weather

Well, we are 24 hours away from getting onboard the boat, and things are looking interesting. Because of the horrible rains and flooding to the eastern part of New York, the Erie Canal has been closed down from Locks E-26 in Clyde, all the way to Lock E-2 near Albany, including Lock CS-1 on the Cayuga Seneca canal. Yes, this is the way we planned to go! Oh No!

We called Mid-Lakes Navigaiton, and they confirmed the report, but cheerfully told us that there was plenty of canal left to explore, and we may just have to delay our cruise to the east. They hope the canal will reopen before our week is up, but of course no one knows what the future has in store. The forecast for the week looks dry, so we can only keep our fingers crossed.

I have to get busy now looking up information for the other towns along the canal that I didn't expect to go to! Life is an adventure!

Theme Music

What would be a good theme song for this trip, was the question I was asking myself? Well, everyone knows the Erie Canal song. Who can forget Old Sal, and his fifteen miles on the Erie Canal. I'm sure I will know this one by heart before the end of the trip!

After a little searching, "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie, recorded in 1929, struck a cord. You can download this song free, or you can read the lyrics. The music not only reminded me of an old time blues song, but also a song you might hear floaitng down a lazy river. However, the lyrics rang eerily close the the events on the Gulf Coast last year, and recent rains here in New York as well.

Along those same lines, Dom sent me a great link to Bruce Springsteen's new album, "The Seeger Sessions". You can listen to the tune "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" This song was written by Blind Alfred Reed and recorded a month after the crash of '29 that heralded the Great Depression. Springsteen has rewritten later verses that focus on the Katrina tragedy and sings, "There's bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to Hell."

Perhaps too depressing for a vacation theme song, it does remind us that our fore fathers build this country with blood and sweat. This canal we are travelling on is an amazing engineering marvel, but only because of the hard back breaking work of the men of this country. Let us not forget our roots.