Sun July 11: Shady Harbor to Mechanicville Free Wall

 In which we Rock the Lock, giving ourselves a B+ ...

We were ready to get going - today we get to a big (scary) milestone.  Our first lock since last year in VA.

Route of the Day

This is all we saw of Albany - put a pin in that, we will be back.

This is the kind of graffiti one can really appreciate.  Not a Banksy, but still has a compelling message.

You are going to have to take my word for it - there is a bald eagle in this picture.

Shout out to our friend Kim - she used to work in Schenectady...  Also, it's a LOT of fun to say.

Coming up to the big Federal (also called Troy) Lock, we were full of nervous adrenaline.  This was helped by the fact that it had been raining for some time and the current was ferocious.  Also by the fact that there were a BUNCH of other boats around us.  It's always hard to practice a rusty skill set when people are watching.  And hoping you don't bang into them when 8 of you (at 10 + tons each) are trying to fit into a 400' X 44' space. 

Going in!  Turns out 400' is a ton of space.  We could have fit another 6-8 boats in easily.

I was very reassured to see that previous boats had skills even rustier than ours!

 

The big door closes behind us.

The view from the top! Each lock takes the boat up and around its accompanying dam.

And out we go.

Shortly we came to an important decision, at a 'fork in the road'.

Notice EVERY other boat that was with us in the locking fandango is turning left onto the Erie Canal.

Important traffic sign.

Right we go - Lake Champlain, here we come!

We were absolutely alone in our quest to Lake Champlain.  Most other loopers are headed west to try and complete the loop this year.  Since Canada is still closed they can only proceed by exiting the Erie Canal into Lake Erie near Buffalo.  Then they will go around the shore of Lake Erie into the Great Lakes, etc ... There are a few other loopers taking their time, like our friends on Callin' In Gone - but few would be out on such a yucky (technical boat term) with high water warnings.  The next lock we came to was C1 - that means the first in the flight of Champlain Canal Locks.  I took the helm, but was still on the learning curve so Rick had to cling to the lock line to keep us in place.  It was fine - no other boats in the 'chamber'!

This gives us all the stats -

Just south of C3 we pulled over to the town dock at Mechanicville.  All along the canal towns have put mooring walls with power, electricity and bathhouses - to encourage tourism.  This is a dying town (did the name Mechanicville lead you to believe otherwise?!), but we still managed to find a pizza to buy before we had to skedaddle back to the boat due to rain.  It was a quiet, peaceful place to be, and we watched Virgin River on Netflix.  No - I can't explain why.  It's terrible but soooooo bingeable.

Maybe it's a panacea for lock stress.  Like our FBN says - although they would have gotten so many more points if they had spelled it Panasea.