| The Great American Loop #2 |
 Dave Bernheisel  Click on the link above for more information. Basically, Dave says, they're boating up the coast to NY, then up the Hudson to Troy, across the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes, by Chicago, down the Mississippi, around Florida and home. No small journey, eh?
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Posted 06.29.02 On the Great American Loop
Aboard the Going There
Hi,
Today was a short one. We went from Troy to Waterford. This was a total of three miles.
The significance of the journey was that we went through the Federal Lock at Troy. This lifted us above salt & tide; we won't be back to sea level and saltwater until Mobile, AL and that's six months away.
Mary handles the wheel during docking and locking, and she was perfect in the lock. This may not sound like such a feat as you come straight in and go straight out. Tell that to the guy behind us in the lock that got crossways and bashed up his stern (back).
The problem is that, with a boat, you don't have the positive control (start, stop, turn) that you do with a car. Add to that, other forces work on you -- once you are all the way stopped, wind and current are still active.
We are at the Visitor's Center in Waterford. It is a beautiful facility that the State of NY built to be the gateway for the Erie Canal. So here we are at a nice dock, 30-amp electric, etc, and it is all free. They say if you stay more than two nights they would like a donation -- we love it!
Waterford is a quaint little town, somewhat forgotten after the Canal lost its commercial importance. Other than the Canal, claims to fame were that it is the oldest incorporated town in the country and they made great fire engines.
Tonight Waterford had its Memorial Day parade. They schedule it early because over the weekend all of the bands and fire engines are participating in other parades. It was fun but Mary noticed that the people just didn't look a healthy as our Lewes residents -- our high school band does better than theirs, too.
As we are now out of saltwater, Going There got a bath. Other than that, we are just taking it easy and doing little housekeeping tasks. Also, we will reevaluate our schedule and route. We have gotten a lot more local information, including some of the Erie locks are closed for repairs due to heavy rains. More about that when we know it.
Any responses should be fairly short and don't include our message in the reply. We are taxing the capability of the Mailstation. My last hook-up took about twenty minutes and the lady controlling the phone was getting a little antsy.
Best to all,
Dave & Mary |
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