Sep 23, 2007

Waterford, New York

I found a baby snapping turtle floating by the dock in Little Falls. LeeAnn rushed outside with the camera. I thought she was going to take a picture of me. But she gave me the camera, took the turtle, and said "Take my picture!"

Huck and Jim, floatin' down the Erie Canal.The Dock in Waterford. First two nights free, 10 dollars a night after that. after our two free nights we are going to go dock at the Price Chopper Supermarket. Their store is right on the water, and they have a dock! Talk about convenience.

We left Little Falls, made it to Amsterdam, and the following day we finished the Erie Canal which ends in Waterford. We can see the Hudson River from where we are docked.

We started the Erie on September 10th, and finished on September 22nd. It took us 12 days (limping along with the motor) to finished what many people do in just 4 days.

The Erie Canal finishes with what Lockmasters call "The Flight." This is a series of 6 locks which drop from around 260 feet above sea level down to 15 feet above sea level, all within a mile and a half. We have one lock left which will drop us the remaining 15 feet down to sea level, but this is a federal lock and is not considered part of the Erie Canal.

Here in Waterford we've met a nice man named Gordon, who is a delivery boat captain. He lives on his boat in Key West, but he is from Montreal, Canada. His first language is French, so he has a nice accent. It's fun to hear him say things like: "Ee iz aa anale retintive azzhole." He was talking about the owner of the boat he is currently moving. We've only just met him, but I'm excited to hear some of his stories.

Our engine keeps troubling us. We fix one problem and two more spring up. I can't complain much though, despite our engine troubles, it has never completely given up on us. We always make it to the next town. But that has been on the Erie canal, we have relatively little traffic, and no current. The Hudson River however, has large, ocean going cargo ships, swift currents, and is deep (making emergency anchoring difficult). So we would like to resolve any problems we have now, before we attempt this big crazy river.

5 comments:

  1. Eesh. I hope you get that engine stuff worked out. That's scary.

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  2. I'm sorry you keep having issues...Maybe because it wasn't run much in the last several years. I hope you get it all sorted. The pic of Leanne and the turtle is awesome. Hannah will be stoked. Does Sushi have a new playmate (on second thought, that's probably a really bad idea).

    -Frodo
    ps. I want to reserve my copy of the "Hobo Sailors's Ramen CookBook"

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  3. Hey you two - I updated the progress map (cambyration.blogspot.com). I hope the repairs you did yesterday helped.

    We didn't end up going kayak camping (dammit). I guess it was intimidating when I flipped (Teddy leaping aboard a touring kayak is different from Teddy leaping aboard a nice stable all around kayak).

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  4. Okay.......now I 'ave a lump in my stomach! Take it easy out there and be safe :) XXOO Aunt J

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  5. Where are you now??

    Give LeeAnn a hug from me, I miss her! (I miss you too.)

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