Mon Aug 30: Driving to Brewerton

In which we get to have Lock Anxiety --- AGAIN ...

We were up early and at the Hertz office by 9 am to get our compact rental.  We then took the New York Thruway - Interstate 90, westward to Brewerton.  It was a two hour drive (with Mel in the minivan without AC, mind you).

We arrived at Winter Harbor at about 11:30 and checked in at the marina office. They had us park the car inside one of their two enormous warehouses.  I can't remember if we have explained the plan for the winter already, and, according to Mel, I love to repeat myself, so here it is:   The loop takes us through the Erie Canal and then down through the Great Lakes to Chicago.   However, there are a number of ways to get to Chicago.  This year, as the border with Canada was closed, most loopers went all the way out the Erie Canal through Buffalo, NY and then through Lake Erie, Lake Huron and onto Lake Michigan to Chicago.  We, however, would like to take the route through Canada which includes travel down a series of small, historic Canadian Canals. And we are lucky enough to be in no hurry (many people make the loop a 1-year adventure so as to get back to their jobs, etc) Since the border was closed until recently we decided to leave the boat in NY and return next May to continue the trip.  Winter is harsh up here so we can't leave the boat outside like last winter. Winter Harbor is a “marina” with two enormous heated warehouses and their business is basically storing boats (stacked) inside for the winter.  We will drop Blue Horizon off at Winter Harbor sometime around October 1, where she will stay tucked up all winter until the canals open again in May 2022. 

We found a place for lunch close by the marina where we sat in the sun and looked out over the canal we will see again soon (from the boat).  THEN we received an email from the NY Canal authority letting us know that they would once again begin letting water out of the canal in preparation for Hurricane Ida. ARRRRGGGGGGG - they didn't say the locks were closed yet, but it seemed imminent.  I had to take several deep calming breaths ...

I was so stressed that on the drive back we stopped at Lock 11 so I could speak with the lock master about traveling tomorrow.  He said he thought the locks would be open, just that the water would be low.  He gave us a supervisor's telephone number to call early tomorrow in order to check on lock status. We hope to get beyond Lock 15 tomorrow - the very shallow water will be between Lock 8-13.  We went to bed anxious ...

Sure hope this is the last time we look at the Schenectady Mohawk Marina....