Day 324: Thursday, July 25, 2013
Port to Port: Kars’ free dock to Edmonds Lock (No. 25)
Underway: 6:30 am Motor Off: 4:25 pm Miles Traveled: 34 Stayed At: Lock Wall
First Things First: First time doing 9 locks in one day.
Mile 24 to Mile 58: As I am writing this, the sun is casting long shadows in the grass, a soft low rumble from the nearby dam can be heard in the background and two loons are calling each other out on the river. Today was a good day.
We started early, as usual, so we could get to today’s first lock by mid morning. A light fog was lifting on the water and the sun was almost over the tops of the trees as we started up river with Carina. We made good time but still had to wait for the lockmaster to bring a load of boats down coming north bound. We made it into the next life up and were soon cruising down the river again. This is their busy time of the year so patience is a definite virtue. Our next lock was a triple step lock which, of course, are usually time consuming. We can’t complain, though, since it was a gorgeous day – temps in the mid 70’s, low humidity, a light breeze and an inspiring mix of puffy white cumulus clouds and high wispy sirus clouds making the perfect backdrop to the day.
We started off as a group of five boats but two power boats peeled off at a popular stop in Merrickville while three pokey sailboats decided to continue on a little farther. Locking through was not nearly as crazy as our first day and was almost enjoyable – we are getting pretty good at it. We waved and said hi to our friends on Miss Darlin II and Kiwi II whom we met back in Kingston. They are doing the same triangle we have been doing only in the reverse direction. They made it through the Erie Canal finally and came across Lake Ontario and up the Rideau.
We all locked through our last lock for the day – No. 25 – and found an empty dock just waiting for us to stay at. We did our normal boat projects – restow gear, clean a little, top off the gas for tomorrow and fill our water bottles. I went for a swim to wash off the days grime and cool off a little – the sun is hot even when the temps are only in the mid 70’s.
What an amazing day of travel on the Great Loop. We didn’t want it to end.
