DAVE BERNHEISEL

Aboard the Going There towards Lake Ontario

And the song goes on, "Scarcely think we'll get a little drink 'til we get to Buffalo." If that's true, it'll be a long dry spell. The western half of the Erie is closed because of high water and debris.

We've turned north and are set to go up through the Oswego to Lake Ontario. The authorities are even trying to discourage that. We had to sign a waiver that they are not responsible for any damage to the boat -- so what's new?

This morning we had a beautiful trip across Lake Oneida (20 miles). A light breeze out of the east made a real quiet ride. It was at Lock #23 that we finally resigned ourselves that Buffalo was not an option, maybe a one week wait at Lock #24.

Much misinformation surrounds all of the canal status. It wouldn't surprise me if we could get through Lock #24 tomorrow, but we are not willing to take a chance on the wait.

Now we are in Phoenix, right before Lock #1 on the Oswego. Going There is tied to the wall owned by the Bridge Brats. This is a service group of kids that helps passing boaters, a place to tie up, free pump out, water, etc. They are nice kids that range in age from about 10-17.

Phoenix burned to the ground in 1916, and they rebuilt most of it except for the factories that moved on (a factory started the fire). I'm not sure if the town was always Phoenix, or if that was just after it rose from the ashes.

Today is Memorial Day so we did a Memorial Day parade. It was much better than the one in Waterford. In addition to the normal small-town parade stuff, they had draft horses, antique tractors and snow plows. I had never seen a snow plow in a parade. The girl riding one of the horses had him doing some fancy dance steps. It was all good fun.

(Now 5/28) Left Phoenix this morning and ran six of the seven Oswego locks. We are now tied to the wall before Lock #8 (there is no #4), looking out on Lake Ontario.

The run up was good, but 20-2 percent of the channel markers were off-station. When you are missing that many, you can't trust any of them. The good news is that we were pushed by a 2-3 knot current, not enough to be a problem but a nice boost for a 7.5 knot cruiser.

We did a little walk around Oswego, a pleasant town with enough commercial activity to get any needed supplies. The next order of business is to decide what we do from here. Options are to cross the lake. then go west to Toronto or go west on the US side and cross later...stay tuned.

We're enjoying hearing from everyone.

Dave & Mary