Sun Sept 5: Rome Free Dock to Sylvan Beach Wall

In which we struggle to come up with descriptors  ...

We were off the wall in Rome early (for me) and on a straight, boring and rainy path.  It’s like, I don’t know…. 15 miles on the Erie Canal. Isn't there a song about that ???!

This is the view on the map.

Same long, straight boring view IRL (in real life).

Our goal was to get to Sylvan Beach, on the edge of Lake Oneida.  It's a good place to wait for the wind on the lake to become Godilock-like (ie - perfect).  It's a very shallow lake and that, plus the fetch, can make the waves into something fierce.  Sylvan Beach is a very popular place - and we wondered how hard it would be to get a spot on the free wall during the three-day weekend.  Luckily the weather had sent some people home and we got a great spot well back from the lake. Everyone came out to welcome us, and to invite us to their Labor Day BBQs.  Rick got to bro-down with the guys, and talk about boats and wives.  It was super cute to eavesdrop on their conversation and to realize they were actually all boasting about what good boaters their wives were! And we even got compliments on our calm and civilized docking job, where I was driving and Rick was quietly giving me short little instructions.  Go Team Rohrbach!

In between rain showers we took a quick tour of the area, on foot. Bear in mind that it was overcast and gloomy, plus the end of the summer - but it was the saddest amusement park I have ever seen.  It was like where fun would go to die.  It was like if Six Flags had been abandoned for 40 years and then had babies with a rusty ghost town. Anyway, words fail me - which, as Rick will tell you, rarely happens.

There are great views of the lake, though.  And we could tell from this sign that boats and Snowmobiles both use the lake!

It feels very fall-ish now, and there is a hint that leaves will soon start to turn.

It turns out that we were parked right in THE fishing spot, so Rick got to talk fishing with all the people dropping their lines practically ON the back of the boat. This lad comes down every night, with his grandpa, to use a throw net to catch fish.  Rick used the same kind of net in his ye olde days in the Peace Corps, so they had some good chats!

Our perfect peaceful spot turned out to be just a BIT to popular long into the night.  And we MIGHT have inhaled a fair bit of second-hand pot smoke.  Whew, as the kids say, that smells LOUD!  

We had a small run in with the weather:

Me: the wind just came up, is it going to rain?

Mr. Weather (tucked up in bed below the open hatch): Nah, girl, nah....  

Me: it's literally raining on you right now, close the hatch you dumbass

But it's now cool enough to sleep with the hatches closed, so we had a great night...