Today we reached Brewerton NY on the shore of Lake Oneida. It is a small town with a big love of all things boats.
Tomorrow we will have to take apart our gear shifter as it is not as smooth as it should be and we rely on it to slow the boat down when docking which is our most challenging maneuver. Hopefully it’s not something major and we can be on our way. This canal system closes on the 12th of October so we have to be at the Hudson River by then. We have about another full 3 days of motoring and many more locks before reaching the famous Hudson.
Tonight we invited Jackie and Chris to our boat for movie and popcorn. We watched the last episode of Lord of the Rings that I downloaded. We have a 32 inch TV and we all sat on the Seaberth.. Amazingly we all fit and it was still comfy. We served popcorn and they brought fudge. We are serious partiers us sailors.
Chris told David he would come and help him with the shifter tomorrow. We told them we don’t want to hold them up but they are not in a rush to get to the Bahamas.
So far, everyone we meet from lockmasters to grocery clerks to passersby are amazingly friendly. The lockmaster st Fulton was a woman who looked at our boat TC and said it looked like a “BADASS” I told her the boat may look it but we are nice. She asked if she could take a photo. Of course David was the picture of a proud papa.
The canal so far has been beautiful and quiet. We are getting to see a side of the US rarely seen. Small towns with beautiful homes beside run down homes and yet the people are so warm and polite. Lots of fathers with their kids fishing on the Oswego River. Strong family values reign here.
Slowly I’m starting to get into the pace of the day. We are trying to head out by 9 and finish by 4pm so we can rest and make a nice supper. It’s quite tiring motoring and navigating through the lock systems.
Today, we tried to bake nachos on a cast iron pot and we failed miserably. The chips burned and the rest was mush. We ate it anyway. Next time no salsa til after the cheese has melted. Miss my oven!!!
Still, I am thankful for the opportunity to share in this adventure and see and meet such wonderful people.
An old man sitting on his back deck watching boats pass asked if there was room for another one on our boat. I wish we had a cruise ship and could pick up people along the way to escape the cold that is coming.
