There and Back Again

PM's Perspective

We have returned... to Waterford at the conjunction of the Hudson River and Erie Canal.  We have discovered that locking down in the easterly direction is easier than locking up going westerly, so our passage was much less stressful.  Our original intent was to stay one night in Waterford, reprovision, and head up the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain for the month of August.  But why the hurry?  Waterford is a sweet funky little town with friendly people (except for the persnickety town marina volunteer who tried to overcharge us, but why keep score?), a down-home breakfast place called Don and Paul's, and a
Hannaford's within walking distance of the docks.  Bob also needed to work on the engine idle as once again at a critical time, the engine stalled in reverse due to too low rpms.  Fortunately, Rick of the vessel Xanadu had hold of the stern line dockside and was able to cleat the line before Velomer collided with the boat ahead of us at the dock.  Phew! Thank goodness for the helping hands that other boaters provide -- we are definitely a community bonded by love of being afloat on the water.

After two nights in Waterford and a day of restocking, engine care, exploring, and a hearty breakfast at Don and Paul's, we headed north along the Champlain Canal with a goal of making it to Schuylerville (pronounced skylerville!) 25 miles north.  The morning was cloudy with a pleasant temperature.  Velomer hummed with efficiency.  Bob's mechanical skills have grown by leaps and bounds as he tackles each and every situation that arises.  I have never seen him more engaged and happier in his activities of daily living.  If he isn't futzing with engine issues, he's cleaning the fiberglass or doing brightwork or some other wholesome task.  I am perfectly content handing him tools, doing most of the meal planning, food prep and cleaning up, and honing my sudoku skills.

After not sharing a lock with any other boat thus far, Lock 1 had two other boats.  I wasn't sure how this was going to pan out, but we didn't have any major issues even though we were locking up once again.  I think we are hitting our stride on our locking techniques, although there's always room for improvement.  The locks along the Champlain Canal took longer than the Erie.  We went through four locks and each time we had to wait for the lock master to open the gates, once for almost 30 minutes.  But it's the journey, not the destination.

About an hour into our trip it started to rain which continued on and off the entire day.  I donned a rain jacket for my locking duties while Bob stayed dry at the helm under the canopy of the fly bridge.  We arrived at Schuyler Yacht Basin in Schuylerville where we thought we would spend one night and continue on to Whitehall the following day.  We so thoroughly enjoyed this dockage that another day was indicated.  While in town we took advantage of the historic sites and canal trail as well as the friendliness of our hosts, Judy and Phil Dean!

On to Whitehall today.

Bob's:

PM is so good at covering the story, I will just add that this life has settled into a smoothness i did not expect.  We take each day as it comes and have learned to accept the minor inconveniences of running low on wine and chocolate. So far we have always found a store just in time and we do have an emergency supply of both hidden in a highly secretive locker on board.

The days on the move have a special spirit and energy.  This area of the Hudson River and Champlain Canal is very rural with civilization evidence few and far between.  Other than our nightly stops where we see other boats and boaters, we often only speak to the lockmasters and occasionally another boat.  I am still surprised at the lack of use of this waterway.  The history and beauty of this part of the trip is something that should draw more interest, I suppose the majority of American boaters in the Erie Canal portion  (and we are starting to see some Canadians as well as we travel north up the Champlain Canal ) are choosing to travel in their 2 miles per gallon land boats, aka RVs (we get 8 miles a gallon).

The navigation issues on the canals is almost non existent .  Having said that, it is tricky at times and attention to the marked channel is critical.  And along the Erie Canal the number of large trees stuck in the middle of the river, especially between Utica and Schenectady are still a major and dangerous problem. Some of these "deadheads" show only a few inches above the water which is the only indication of a 30 foot tree trunk just under the surface.

Today we are headed north to Whitehall, the birthplace of the American Navy.  If we find a nice spot, we will hang there for a day or two , while I physically disconnect the overboard discharge line ( a fine of $339 is levied if we are boarded by the Champlain Lake patrol).

As we travel along, I imagine the British and American armies of 1775-1782 travelling through the woods and along the waterways, which look today just as they did almost 250 years ago.  We rarely see any  civilization as we navigate the Champlain Canal north.  History has truly passed this way.

We may have some visitors while cruising Lake Champlain, the clearest water and best area so far on this trip for gunkholing and perhaps a swim. The water temperature is 78 so swimming will be comfortable compared to the Atlantic water of Maine or the river water of Colorado. Having others aboard will change the energy on VELOMER but we welcome our friends to share in this special adventure. We will typically be anchoring while here as there are no tides and the bottom is clean and provides good holding ground  in over 8 feet of depth.  Staying at marinas however offers a boaters camaraderie social life and cold beer, so we will mix it up.

I am curious if my idle fix of replacing the limit screws works as well as I hope.  The real issue is an old and brittle throttle cable, which binds: another fall project.  If the idle stays around 700, we will experience no more exciting docking maneuvers, so its safe to return Sam..

I am so loving this life.