Sat Aug 21-Thurs Aug 26: Stuck In Schenectady

In which life starts to resemble a movie - and not in a good way ...

We sort of hoped (this is back when we had hope) that the locks would open Aug 21, but with Hurricane Henri on its way, and flooding rain expected, the canal authority sent out a notification that all locks would remain closed until further notice.  Awesome ...

Being skeptical, we rode our bikes from Scotia about 3 miles up to (mythical) Lock 8,  to see for ourselves.  It was an impressive sight. The dams in this part of the canal have movable top sections and on this dam they had been removed and water was pouring out right next to the lock.  This lock will not be functional anytime soon.  Again - awesome...

The old lock controls - still in use. Wish they could be used for us.  TODAY.

With resignation we moved the boat across the river to the Mohawk River Harbor marina.  It is a small basin off the main river and out of the current/debris flow.  We liked the idea of being in a safer, more sturdy marina in case Henri came in as a strong storm.  It's a good thing we weren't still in Long Island Sound, where they were preparing for a direct strike.

Mohawk Marina is part of a big complex of buildings, next to a Casino.  They are charging us a LOT, given that there is no shower or laundry.  There is, however, a small outdoor amphitheater and as we pulled in a band was warming up for the Saturday night concert with a rock and roll cover band!  The boat was directly behind the stage and, while we couldn’t actually see the performance, we could hear it loud and clear. Normally the idea of being held captive to loud music and a crowd would make my blood run cold. But it turned out to be nice to see/hear normal summer life going on, and to have a front row seat without having to be in the crowd. Sadly the cover band's interpretation of Eric Clapton seemed to rely heavily on long screechy guitar riffs.

If you look to the very back left you will see Blue Horizon 

Sunday morning we rode over to the Schenectady farmer’s market.  It was a nice summer market with great produce - fresh corn and tomatoes, and wonderful baked goods that we couldn’t resist. There seemed to be little we could resist, actually - and I like to think we helped the local economy.  Which could really use it.  It probably counts on the 4 colleges in the area, none of which have been open for the last 1 1/2 years.

For several days we remained upbeat - we can always find something to do, and Schenectady has some hidden (some VERY hidden) gems. The market was a great start.  Then there is Union College, founded in 1795, which has a pretty campus and the only 16-sided building in North America - the Nott Memorial Building.  It's like a building you would see in Florence, Italy.  

The Stockade Historical area cries out for a walking tour. There are some wonderful buildings, some as old as 1680.

 And if you are into trains, you would love this place:

Part way through the week we hunkered down for the storm/rain, but it never really opened up as Henri went a bit further east than originally projected. Most of the time it was bright, sunny and hot-which is just what you look for when trapped in a concrete basin.  Our plight did not move the canal authority and locks 8-15 remain closed until early sept…

We ate this artery-stopping French fry bacon poutine, thinking we might die and end it all… 

160+ hours later we have given up on life, much less on keeping track of what we are 'doing' and writing about it in the blog.  No point in all you (4) readers dying of bordeom too.   Basically every day has started to seem like a new, and terrible, movie adaptation:

We started out in a cute rom com travel adventure, where we were exploring a new city and trying new things - like Two for the Road. Then we added the disturbing Groundhog Day element of waking up every day in the same unchanging place. Soon there was a dash of Hamlet where we overthought our life choices and the meaning of life. Occasionally we would try to amuse ourselves by bursting into song over everyday things, like in Enchanted.  About the time I became convinced that all life in the planet had been wiped out by a meteor, Rick decided we were in The Dome-unable to escape or communicate outside of our fishbowl. Today we have arrived at the understanding  that we are in one of the awful Saw movies, and will have to chew our arms off in order to escape.

160 hours +  This is what we feel like drinking…

Thurs Aug 19- Fri Aug 20: Scotia, NY free bonus days! Hooray???

In which we get to know Scotia way better than is strictly necessary ...

Yup.  Sure enough - I should have stayed awake and helped Rick worry.  At 9 am we received the update from the NY Canal authority (they send information each day about things happening on the canal - maintenance, hazards, frickin locks, etc) letting us know that, due to the amount of rain, the locks (starting at lock 8 - remember we just went through lock 7) would be closed to allow them to let water out of the system. Stuck. In. Scotia. (cue dramatic music)

Scotia is just across the Mohawk River from Schenectady and everything there is ... we have now seen/patronized: a diner, a coffee shop, a grocery store, a liquor store, Jumpin Jacks, and an old timey single-screen movie theater.  

The theater was showing the new Ryan Reynolds film “Free Guy” so we went to the matinee.  Tickets were only $6.00!  It was like going back in time.  We thought the movie was totally worth it, especially given we have NOTHING ELSE TO DO and it was air conditioned.  It had a nice message about taking charge of your life - which will be lost on the gamers who are its target audience. Of course Ryan Reynolds, in any movie, just plays his IRL (in real life, you non-gamer losers!) self, but we enjoy him so it's a win-win.

I thought I would never again go to a theater - too many people.  But there are no other idiots stuck in Scotia, so we were very safe.

 

We did try to make the best of the Groundhog Dayz in Scotia. Although Rick, who has a very rigid set of rules that govern how much one should have to pay for an avocado, bought one for the unacceptable price of $2.50. THEN the pints of ice cream at Stewart Shops were on sale for the SAME PRICE AS THE AVOCADO.  This so messed with his sense of the world that he had to go take a nap...

We spent some quality time in the Scotia Library - a historic landmark, open only on random days seemingly based on the Druid Calendar, or something else equally indecipherable...

I found us a 'bike trail' to ride. Which had not been ridden on by actual humans since the Eisenhower Administration, apparently.  The trail, when there at all - mostly we hacked through underbrush, was only 4" wide. But I felt like, if those little gymnasts can do double back flips on 4", we ought to be able to ride a stupid bike.  Note the other sign, though.  The gymnasts don't have to worry about Lyme Disease on their 4" - so WE WIN!!

Jumpin Jacks has a water ski show every Tues night, so we got to see the cutie-peas practicing.  It was the most exciting thing that had happened to us in days!

Mostly it was just warm and humid.  As the canal authority began to dump water from upriver, the current streaming past picked up speed, carrying lots of debris.  Our little finger docks stuck out into the river itself, and over 24 hours a huge mat of debris built up between the dock and the boat.  By the time we realized what was going on, it was so thick that we couldn't even jam a boathook through it.  It was watergrass tangled around sticks and logs, some huge.  It eventually got so thick that it blocked the water intake for the air conditioning system.  Which was THE LAST STRAW.  We worked on it for over an hour, but finally got rid of it.  Knowing that faster water and more debris would be coming, thanks to storm Henri, we decided to get to a sheltered (and expensive) marina.

Wed Aug 18: Blain's Bay to Scotia, NY

In which technology keeps us from starving to death ...

The first thing we needed to do was re-provision the boat - but the closest supermarket was a 20 minute bike ride away, and we needed a LOT of stuff.  (Remember that food is a critical piece of the 'cruising/retirement' experience - we are always either eating, talking about what we are going to eat, looking for things to eat, discussing past things we ate, preparing things to eat, or regretting something we ate earlier...) Fortunately my genius husband remembered Instacart.  We put together an online order and voila, 2 hours later we had everything we needed for the next week of cruising.  (I'm sure we will find other, unnecessary, things to buy along the way - like pastries and ice cream.)  The digital world we live in can sure make things easy (as well as hard ). 

We filled the water tanks, stowed groceries and started the motor by 1 pm. The planned cruise through lock 7 up to the town docks between Schenectady and Scotia was an easy one, to get us back into the swing of things. We were tied up tight on the Scotia city docks by mid-afternoon. 

On the way to Scotia we noticed how much debris the river is carrying.  We get an up-close look at debris later on in this saga...

 

The docks are right next to an old time drive in, "Jumpin' Jacks", which is a major draw in the area, offering simple burgers, fried fish/clams/shrimp and great soft serve ice cream (nope - not called creemies here).   The town hosts summer concerts on Wednesdays and we found ourselves treated to a fun-filled evening of swing music, which we enjoyed while we ate our ice cream. (This is back in the days when we were full of hope and enthusiasm for Scotia....and, indeed, for life itself.  Keep reading).

Tropical Storm Fred, which had visited us in Atlanta, made a repeat appearance almost directly over us in the evening.  It was a nice night with rain tap tap tapping on the boat.  It never rained hard but it rained all night long and we (by which I mean Rick) began to worry that it would create problems on the canal.   In July, when we were in Lake Champlain, this section of the Eri closed due to high water, and a few of our friends were stuck for 5 days. I tried to stay awake and help Rick worry, but la la la - the rain put me right to sleep.

Tues Aug 17 - We're Baaaaccckkk!

In which we encounter Beetlemania....

We had a nice, but busy intermission in Atlanta during which Melanie made an emergency trip to Colorado to attend to her sick mother (don't worry, she is fine now), and Rick spent the week moving William back to UGA, and preparing the house for our next set of visitors.   We needed to get back on the boat so we could have a break from real life....

We flew back to Albany International Airport and took an Uber back to the marina -  where we encountered a boat covered in little beetles.  It was an insect inundation. The marina is surrounded by aquatic growth - freshwater seaweed - and apparently it is home to millions of small black beetles, and these beetles love a big white boat.  The boat is going to need a bath!

It was late and we were tired.  We ate a small dinner of leftovers from Melanie's airport lunch and went to bed trying not to think about all the dead bugs on the boat.

Fri Aug 6 - Tues Aug 17: Atlanta Hiatus

In which our regularly scheduled programming is interrupted while we go to Atlanta for a few days ...

 

In the interim please enjoy this boat-related photo sent in by alert reader (and sister) Janet.

I think the name of the boat must be Frisky Business! I hope they have insurance.

Thurs Aug 5: Waterford to Blain’s Bay

 In which we take flight…

We have done the Champlain Canal bit (vertical yellow line on right)-we will spend the rest of this year’s trip on the horizontal yellow line, the Erie Canal.

You have to zoom in to really see this, but it outlines all the locks in the area.  There are 35 on the Erie alone.  We are going to have some mad locking skills by the end…

Here is the chatter with which we began our day:

• Me-Lock E2, this is Blue Horizon standing by on the Waterford dock.  We are westbound and await your next opening.

• Lock E2-copy that, give me a few minutes to prepare the lock 

• Me-copy, Blue Horizon standing by on 13 for the green light
  

• Lock E2-E3, preparing to fill to lift one

• Lock E3-copy….repeat for locks 3, 4, 5 & 6

Remember-this is what we have to get up and over today:

Cohoes Falls close to Albany, NY

Now I’m going to turn the mic over to Rick, so he can tell you in  D-E-T-A-I-L about our first Erie flight!

So as Melanie says, we’ve entered the Erie Canal.   This first set of 5 locks (numbered 2 - 6, not sure what happened to #1) is called the Waterford Flight.   The locks lift us a total of 165 feet up to the canal above the roaring Cohoes Falls, in less than a mile.   These falls are second only to Niagara Falls in the eastern USA for drop and they are impressive. The locks take us around one side, so you do not see the falls from the locks.   Each lock lift uses about 3.5 million gallons of water to lift our boat between 33 and 35 feet (the largest lock on the canal, E-17, has a lift of 40 feet) and is done in close coordination with the locks above and below in order to keep the water level (the “pool”) at the same height, and to avoid a rush of water that might hit and damage a closed door.

There is an amazing amount of history here.   The original canals were built between 1813  and 1826, and opened the area for commercial development and settlement.  The original locks were 4 feet deep, 90 feet long and 15 feet wide.  Within just a few years there was so much commercial activity on the canals that the locks were rebuilt/widened to 7 feet deep, 110 feed long and 18 feet wide.  After that more canals were added and the canals were constantly improved to accommodate the growing activity.

As I’ve mentioned before, this area was always important for transportation (remember the Hudson/Champlain corridor?), but once the canals opened the area filled with “boom towns”.   If you look at a map of upstate NY there is a line of cities - Albany, Schenectady, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, Lyons, Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo that all grew up around the Erie Canal.  The canal opened the Midwest (then the frontier) to settlers, who then sent farm products back to the cities along the canal and all the way to New York City.  The canals spawned industries like lumber mills, iron works, cement works, textile mills and many others that took advantage of water power (everything was run with water wheels) and cheap freight costs to buy and transport raw goods, and then ship finished products to New York City.  These goods were then shipped to other major cities in the east (remember how close Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC are to NYC) and New York City became the largest port in the US.   I imagine that I studied the history of this area in a high school US History class, but it is so much more interesting and understandable to actually be on the canal going through these cities.   It all really comes to life and fills us with wonder and awe as to the importance of this area (some of us are more filled with ice cream).  

Here we go!

The locks in this flight are so close together that we stair-stepped up quite quickly and were soon at our stopping point - Blain’s Bay in Cohoes, outside of Albany.

We were relaxing when this dragon boat with an all female crew went by, and we cheered on their hard work. Rick looked up the name written on the side of the boat, and we found they were all working even harder than we realized. 

The sun went down on our swampy, but safe, little port.

Even when we need a break from the boat we have to keep pinching ourselves to realize this adventure is really happening - we are knot dreaming!

Tues Aug 3 and Wed Aug 4 3: Ft Edward to Waterford freewall + bonus day in Waterford

 In which we are 'go' for long sleeve shirts!

What glorious days the last couple have been!  It feels like fall - the sun seems low in the sky, the leaves are twinkling in the breeze and the temps are PERFECT at 68-72 (well, my friend Donna would think that was too cold).  If we are going to complain about the yucky days, we should remember to celebrate the good ones.

We waved goodbye to our new boat friends, and headed out.  Today will be long, as we opted to stay and bike ride yesterday.  We have to be in Albany on Fri for our flight to ATL. I’m not saying we need a break from the boat….but I’m also not NOT saying that. 

This is what we are locking around, today on the way down.  Better this way, you’ll have to trust me on that. Blue Horizon does NOT want to go tubing over those falls… 

Apparently the Hudson is also a runway ??

We ended up in Waterford by 3pm - perfect for my 3:30 conf call. This is the little town where, 3 weeks ago, we went right at the blue sign to get to Lake Champlain. Now we are on the other fork... 

 

It has come to our attention that we are possibly wearing the EXACT same clothes in every picture.  Please just disregard that glitch in the Matrix.  It's a small boat and we don't have many options along.  Just be glad this is not a scratch and sniff boat.  I'm not gonna lie - it’s many days between laundry loads.

There is a long freewall, and it’s being used by people coming or going on the Erie Canal.

You can see Blue Horizon at the front of the pack.

This is our, rather intimidating, view of E2; the lock that will start our flight up the Erie on Thursday. 

Lots of people to talk to-Rick and I each had a perfect afternoon, in completely different ways. Rick got to help people dock, share beers with and talk to them.  I got to sit inside and work, and NOT talk to anyone.  Excellent afternoon!

These two ol salts were REALLY happy to see other people. That’s their little tug behind and to the left.

The Peruvian owner of this sailing boat was very happy to get to speak Spanish with Rick.  You will note that their mast is 'unstepped', that is - taken down so they can make it under the low bridges that pepper the Erie and Champlain canals.  With a big, heavy mast like theirs it will have to be professionally 'stepped', using a crane. Only a few boat yards will do such a job.

We walked the waterfront a bit, and were able to get up on top of and walk the whole of lock E2. It will be our deepest lock yet-a 33.5 ft. lift.

Inner doors.

Outer doors.

This is a very cool look at the old lock, on the right, and the one we will use tomorrow. Those were some narrow boats!

We also learned about a paddle trail that allows canoes/kayaks to travel the Hudson from here to NYC.  That would be a HECK of a long way to paddle, if you ask me.  Later on we were treated to a spectacular sunset.  Thank you, Mother Nature!

Wed morning began with the super scary sound/sight of the water surging out of the lock as it opened.  We clutched each other and waited for it to hit us.  Somehow it must get dispersed quickly because it was barely a ripple by the time it got to us ...  Whew.

After breakfast at a local diner (where the waitress was apologetic that the corn beef hash was from a can and not scratch, and I was super excited because for me it's not the real thing unless it comes in a Hormel can, like my mother used to 'make') we jumped on bikes to make a LONG tour of the local bike paths.

The area around us has some great old houses-but most need TLC

Rick planned our outbound bike route, so that went smoothly.  I planned the return, so we got lost.  But it turned out to be a good thing-we ended up by accident at the Cohoes Falls (plunging 100 ft), which we would never have seen otherwise! This is exactly what we will be locking around and up on top of tomorrow. 

It still looks very much the same as when it appeared in this ye olde ad.  Which is reassuring. So often natural things have been ruined by humans.

Finally we ended up at the Waterford Historical Museum, which Rick had on his to-do list. I did not, so I got to sit outside and read.  Everyone was happy. 

This is the kind of ‘museum’ it was-Rick saw everything in 20 mins, and it was only $6.  The perfect museum!!

We stopped at McGreivey’s for dinner-anytime you see avocado fries on a menu just go ahead and order them. The sun was going down as we walked home.

Love what they’ve done with the downspout here

Also love a faux facade-looks like a movie set 

And goodnight from Waterford...

Sun Aug 1 and Mon Aug 2: Ft Ti to Ft Edward freewall + bonus day in Ft Edward/Hudson Falls/Glen Falls

 In which we discover the joy that hides inside Stewart Shops ...

We pulled up the anchor to discover we were the proud new owners of a large load of aquatic weeds.  Sadly it was my turn to pull up and clean off the anchor and chair.  Because, of course it was ...

Then Rick got out his balls (the fenders used for the locks) and added air so they were nice and plump!  With the cooler air his balls had lost their edge, and they were going to be under some pressure to perform in the coming locks.  See - endlessly hilarious!!

 Today we are headed back to the Fort Edward free town wall, t.he best of the freewalls  The town is small and not much is happening, but it is a pleasant place and with rain in the forecast we were happy to be heading to a known location.   We had three locks (12, 11 & 9) that would take us back up and out of the Champlain Valley and then 2 locks (8 & 7) that would start lowering us back into the Hudson Valley.   It was a long day but we made it through all 5 locks like we had been locking since before we could walk.   Apparently we did learn something on our way up here. Also - Rick's balls were AWESOME.

Getting ready for action.

There were a bunch of boats on the wall - it was fun to see activity for a change, but the rain hampered socializing.  We bought supplies (Beer) and went off to sleep with the sound of rain on the boat. 

The last time we were here we tried to find the trail that would lead us to the old (or original) Champlain Canal.   Unfortunately we didn’t end up finding it - it turns out we stopped about 100 yards from the start of the trail.  This time we did better research, took our bicycles and rode the old tow path the whole way.

Those must have been awfully narrow boats - boats, perhaps like everything else in America, have grown larger.

The old door hardware - you can see the door recess on the far wall.

 

We rode though the towns of Hudson Falls and Glen Falls.  Fun to see all the different architecture. 

 

Home for Aged Women - I'll have to remember that for when I am 'aged'.

1830s coal silos - not lovely but a good example of how much preserved history is in the area.  As soon as the canals were finished all kinds of industry sprung up around them.

We ended up stopping for lunch in Hudson Falls at a little local diner that had an inexplicably creepy Christmas theme...

 

 

 Someone had told us we needed to check out Stewart Shop, a local 7-11 type store.  Or so we thought. It's SO MUCH MORE!  On the way back into town we stopped at one and discovered that they are also an ICE CREAM STORE with GREAT flavors!  And they are all over the place, at least in NY. Two scoops each put the topping on a great day of biking!

 

Back at the freewall all the boat owners came out for docktails, and we made a bunch of new friends!

It truly was a Festivus.