4Oct2022 Tuesday
Today, we left Little Falls at 7:47am. It is a beautiful stunning small town in between 2 mountain ranges, cliffs on either side and rivers running through it. I feel like I’m in a 1940’s Americana time warp-so warm and old-style.
We went through lock 16 through to lock 11 inclusively. David and I are struggling to manage TC through the locks. This boat is very “slippery” and narrow at both ends. As a result, its hard for David to get me close to the lock wall and still be close for his stern line. This means we struggle to catch the lines and if one catches the line, it brings the boat out of line and makes it harder for the other. We have tried many different systems. Both I and David managed to drop our respective boat hooks today at different locks. The boat is powerful and very difficult to stop as if we put it in reverse to aid in stopping the boat, the “prop walk” takes us starboard and then we can’t grab the lines. We were almost sideways in one lock but David was able to gain control and we were able to grab the lines. YIKES.. This is stressful!!
The lines for the canal heading down to Hudson River are more difficult than catching lines that are hanging from a tall wall as we are raised. In Lake Oneida, we started the descent from the Adirondacks. The canal system raises the boats over the mountain ranges and then lowers them into the Hudson River.
Our friends, Chris and Jackie, chose to stay in paid docks with showers in Amsterdam but we chose to go further to just before lock 10 where there are free docks on the south side of the canal. We met the lockmaster after we docked and he said he would see us in the morning. His name is Joshua , a super-funny and kind young man.
Our friend Tony who is ahead of us asked if we could take his boat through to the end if he had to rush to his son , who was rushed to OR due to appendicitis. We were ready to take that on but we learned later that all was well and his son recovered from surgery well. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that kind of stress while stuck in a canal system far from airports.
After our stressful day, David made an excellent t bone steak , potatoes and broccoli. I LOVE beef!!! Then maybe a downloaded movie. I’m watching The Durrells in Corfu.. A British series , funny about a single mom with 4 kids who packs up and moves to Corfu Greece from England. I can’t wait til we get to warmer weather. I’ve been wearing my winter parka the last 2 days.
I hope tomorrow, the locking will go more smoothly. I guess, we just need to get experienced but this boat loves the open water. Locks and docks are not it’s home.