June 16 – July 1, 2011
After 3 nights at Waterford, NY, we traveled west on the Erie Canal. We went through several locks each day, and didn’t have to wait for the lock operator to open a gate for more than 5 minutes. Usually the lock operator called ahead for us and conveniently alerted the next lock operator that we were on our way.
Somewhere between Waterford and Amsterdam, NY, we picked up a foreign object that clogged our raw water strainer and caused the pump to run dry, thereby destroying the impeller. Danny alerted Roger on the radio, after we left the 2nd last lock of the day, that there was no water coming out of our exhaust. That’s a bad thing! And it’s especially inconvenient when there is nowhere to pull off the water highway and call AAA. Roger was ready to put the anchor down, but Danny offered to tow us while Roger repaired the problem. We ended up being towed for 10 miles, with Danny walking back and forth between his boat and our boat and Susan taking her turn driving both boats down the Erie Canal! Our engine room was probably over 100 degrees and Roger was drenched in sweat. He finally got all the pieces of the old impeller out and the new impeller on as we pulled into a lock. Roger and I jumped onboard Danny & Susan’s boat so that we could have more muscle as both boats locked up 15 feet. We squeezed both boats through the lock gate without bumping into the sides – not an easy thing to do – just ask Danny on the port side and Roger on the starboard side!
Once we exited the lock, Roger started the engine and still no water came out of the exhaust. He checked everything again and then restarted the engine, but this time gave it more RPM’s and yayyyyyyy, the water was free-flowing! We cast off from Danny & Susan’s boat and pulled up to the dock under our own power – it was a great feeling! I guess people who don’t know how to change out impellers just call BOAT/US (like AAA, but for boats) and get towed to a boatyard where someone else can do the work, for some big bucks. But Roger has changed out many an impeller in his day, as you know.
The next few days down the Erie Canal brought us to Rome, Little Falls, Brewerton and Baldwinsville, NY. Each town was a little different, but the commonality was the friendliness of the townspeople. We docked along the town walls, many of which are free docks, and the people seemed very happy to see us and welcomed us to their town. Many of these are old mill towns and on top of that, they are suffering under the current economic slowdown, so there are numerous businesses that are vacant. It’s sad to see.
We went through 23 locks on the Erie Canal before we turned left to go to the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. There is a big concern in this area because the heights of bridges and lock gates can be prohibitive. We had taken our mast down in Waterford and lowered our radio antennas along the way, and made it under all the bridges into Seneca Falls, NY. I held my breath as we slid under them with only inches to spare. We had called the lock operators at 2 locations to check water levels, and they assured us that the water was at normal pool level. We didn’t have such blind faith since it is our boat, not theirs. So I positioned myself on a chair, and stood above the top of the pilot house with my headset on so that I could talk to Roger as I scoped out the clearance while Roger slowly edged toward the bridges. Mission – successful! You can see a picture of Susan doing the same thing as they were ahead of us.
Both Roger & I lived and worked in Seneca Falls in our previous lives. We walked by Goulds Pumps and along the downtown area. We met up with some of the people who are still living in the area – Barry Bradshaw, Art Evans, Rose Palmieri, Russ & Moe Young, and Mike & Carol Jackson. It was great catching up! The Jackson’s were nice enough to receive our mail and packages and deliver them to our boat. The 2nd day we were there, Carol Jackson brought us a bouquet of flowers from the Farmer’s Market and a batch of her incredible and famous chocolate chip cookies. We felt very spoiled!
On Friday, June 23rd, we headed down Cayuga Lake and passed by Roger’s old house. We arrived at Robert H. Treman Marine Park in Ithaca, NY and stayed there for 6 nights. The park was enormous and there was so much green grass to walk Louie. Ithacans must love that park because there were lots of people on the walking trail, in the ball parks, at the soccer fields, not to even mention in the marina. The day after we arrived, we rented a car and continued our trip down memory lane. We drove up to Ithaca College, where I went to school and stocked up on school memorabilia.
On Sunday, I drove Roger to the Syracuse airport so that he could go to Indianapolis for meetings. Roger got to spend a dinner at Bazbeaux Pizza downtown with Brett, Kelly, Nicole and Kacee – lucky him! I got to visit and have lunch with my two friends from my Inficon Leybold-Heraeus days’ in East Syracuse, Ginny Brennan and Shirley LaPlante. This time together was too short, but I had dropped Louie off at the PetSmart grooming salon and needed to pick him up and get back to Ithaca. I ended up driving through Skaneateles (pronounced “Skinny-atlas”), and drove by Roger’s and my old house. It was a sweet memory and I could picture Nicole, Brett and Heath standing on the deck spitting watermelon seeds into the grass. I was glad to see that the neighborhood is still beautiful, as is the entire town of Skaneateles. I drove by the old airport, now called Skaneateles Aerodrome and reminisced about flying with Roger and then taking flying lessons myself until my 3 solos.
On Monday, I had a wonderful visit in Ithaca from my Uncle Bob and his friend Joanne. We had lunch and drove through Cornell University and Ithaca College. The next day, I drove back to Syracuse and stopped by the Jackson’s house again in Seneca Falls to pick up more packages. I was able to have a very nice dinner with Carol and when we left the restaurant in Waterloo, I ran into Alice Hetlund an acquaintance from Indianapolis. Years ago, we had talked about her summer home in Seneca Falls, but I had forgotten about that until I ran right into her. Small world!
The morning after Roger returned to the boat, we returned the rental car and headed back up Cayuga Lake. We stayed on the lock wall at the very north end of the lake. It was funny to pull up to the wall and there must have been 7 state workers sitting at a picnic table or standing on the stern of the work boat, just watching us dock our boat. Note that there was NO DOCK, only a wall. So once again, with our headsets on, I told Roger when we were close enough to the wall and I jumped up onto the wall and tied down the stern. He used the bow thruster to pull the bow over to the wall and I grabbed the bow line off the boat. Not one person offered to help us with the lines – amazing! That night Alice & Jim Hetlund (from Indy) found us at the lock and came by for drinks and a hot dogs and beans dinner. It’s the simple things in life!
We continued to backtrack another day up the Cayuga-Seneca Canal again to the Erie Canal. I discovered that Louie had a few fleas on him and you can just imagine my reaction. I called the company that made the Vectra 3D medicine that apparently didn’t work, called our vet in Indy who prescribed it and our current vet in Florida. I was distraught since our dogs had never had fleas before – another new pet experience! I had Roger stop in Baldwinsville and I went to a pharmacy for some flea shampoo. I had to walk across the lock wall, past a sign that said, “authorized persons only” and then out to the street. I was nervous walking across the very narrow bridge at the top of the lock, but no one stopped me. We got underway and I gave Louie a bath while Roger drove. The overnight stop didn’t work out as planned and actually had to go past Plan B, into Plan C where we ended up at a nice free dock in Minetto, NY (north of Syracuse). It was a great spot and we grilled salmon on a cedar plank for dinner.
The next morning we arrived in Oswego and stayed on the town dock with Danny & Susan (who had left us in Ithaca). They were with Ted & Nancy McCarley, “Aloha Friday”, whom we had met in Clearwater back in December 2009. Nancy & Ted had a nice group of people over for cocktails. Earlier that afternoon, my brother David had called me and he drove up from Rochester (about 2 hours) to see us. We had such a great time with him and were able to go to dinner with him before he headed back to Rochester. I can’t emphasize enough how hard it is to make plans to see people when you are cruising. So when it actually works out as easily as this did with people that we love to be with, it makes it that much more special!
And just as an aside, we would like to genuinely thank you New York State residents for all the millions of dollars of taxes that you are allocating so that a few pleasure boaters can travel down the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca and Oswego, etc. canals for a mere $75-$100 for the entire season. Can you imagine how many people are employed to operate and maintain dozens of locks and the work boats? Thank you, thank you! At Oswego, we were ready to leave the New York State Canal System and enter Lake Ontario. Next stop – Thousand Islands, USA.
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