Day 314: Monday, July 15, 2013

Port to Port: Chambly, QC to Saint Ours Lock

Underway: 11:50 am      Motor Off: 4:50 pm      Miles Traveled: 28      Stayed At: Lock Wall

First Things First: First time travelling with another boat – Carina – for an extended period of time.

Mile to Mile: As I am writing this at 6:15 am on Tuesday, the sun is just starting to peek above the trees, the temps are in the low 70’s, we have a cool breeze in our hair and we are traveling 8.4 mph with the current. Wow. It’s worth getting going early when you can enjoy this kind of travel.

Did you know they speak French in Quebec? Well, they do and it makes life interesting. Most of the people we have met speak English too, but not everyone. I bought a “burner” phone at the grocery store to use while in Canada and the clerk did not speak any English. Talk about a challenge. By the way, be thankful with the crappy phone system we have is the US. It is much more difficult to get a decent phone plan in Canada than at home. They still have something called “long distance” here which they charge an arm and a leg for to call from one province to another. So what is my home province – Quebec or Ontario? International calls (i.e. US) cost another $0.25 per minute on top of the base charge. We won’t be doing much chatting on the phone.

Today was a relatively short day. We waited in Chambly for the bank to open at 10 am to exchange some cash for Canadian money and try to buy a cheap phone to keep in contact over the next month and a half. We were successful on both accounts. When we were done with our errands, we got the boat ready and headed down through three small locks – one right after the other. (I haven’t added them all up yet but we will go through close to 75 locks by the time we are done with our little detour). We headed across a small bay and down the channel at an average of 7.4 mph all the way to our last stop for the day.

It was hot again today. Unlike most boats, we don’t have a full cover over the cockpit/steering station. Many of the powerboats can steer from an inside station in air conditioned comfort. We just get to sweat. Our sunshade works ok when the sun is high in the sky but doesn’t protect us from the side. Easier to enjoy the scenery, though.

It was a little busy on the water with ski boats weaving in and out along the channel but nothing like the weekend boat traffic. Last week and this week are the most popular vacation weeks in Canada so once we are done with this week, it should quiet down and be relatively peaceful again – especially during the week.

As we approached our last lock of the day, we saw one of our friends from Kingston – Bill and Joyce on Carried Away – tied up on the high side of the lock. It is so weird to randomly see someone you know in the middle of nowhere in Canada. This doesn’t happen very often in our hometown. It seems to happen everyday here. Bob and Jon on Yinzer invited the Looper boats over for margaritas so, after a few boat projects, we wandered 2 boats down the dock and enjoyed another boat-tail session with friends. By the time we got back to the boat, we weren’t very hungry and were too tired to bother with dinner so we called it a night. Tomorrow we get to see how we fair going upstream on the St. Lawrence River – its going to be a slow few days ahead so we will have to reset our expectations and enjoy the ride.

Day 313: Sunday, July 14, 2013

Port to Port: Nichols Point to Chambly, Quebec

Underway: 6:14 am      Motor Off: 5:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 48/47      Stayed At: Lock Wall

First Things First: First new country; first manual locks; first time hearing the weather report on the VHF radio in metric units.

Mile 19 to Mile 0 and Mile 69 to 40: It is 9:07 pm and we just finished dinner. That is how good our day was. We got an early start again and cruised in relative peace and quiet for most of the morning. The weather was perfect and the water calm.   We stopped for gas and ice at a marina just before the US/Canadian border and we arrived at Canadian Customs at 10:16 am. We were on our way again six minutes later. No fuss, no muss.

We ended up paying our dues today, though, as every Canadian that owns a boat decided to head south down the channel toward Lake Champlain making for a rocky and rolly passage. We stayed way over on the edge of the channel and slowly made our way north. The scenery was amazing again. More houses now but still lots of woods, hills and farmland. The best was yet to come.

We had planned to stay at the first lock of the Chambly Canal but it was only 2 pm so we decided to keep going to see how far we could get. What an amazing change from the hussle and bustle of the last 4 hours. We were basically the only boat in the lock system going north. Just a few power boats passed us going south. The water was calm and protected. Most of the canal is only about 50 feet wide – barely enough room for two boats to pass. The locks are the smallest ones that we have transited. They are completely hand operated. One person on each side cranks the gates open and closed and walks to the other end to open the gate valves letting the water out. A busy bike path followed us the whole afternoon just along the shoreline. This lock system is a National Historic Site. And we discovered that the season passes we already bought to get through the Trent Severn also allow us to transit all the locks we are going to go through over the next week and a half on our unplanned detour. We also have a pass that lets us stay at any lock or bridge for free. What a welcome surprise.

The Chambly Canal is beautiful. (I took over 100 pictures today just to remember it by). We didn’t want to stop (except for the ice cream stores we cruised by). The canal passes through some small towns, near small, neat homes with manicured lawns., through cornfields and past farms. Sometimes Plan B ends up way better than Plan A. We could have finished the system of locks but decided to stop before Lock 3 in the protected basic along the west wall with a park on both sides of us and, more importantly, shade.

Kent and Jane on Corina helped us get tied up and of course we started chatting about our experiences on the Loop. We soon discovered we had something very important in common. Not only do we both need to get some Canadian money and phones that work in Canada (much more complicated than it sounds), we actually did the crossing of the Gulf the same miserable day back in November. They were at Captain’s Quarters – the same marina we were at. What a small world. We faintly remember them – they were parked down at the end of the marina but we didn’t spend time with them before the crossing. They remembered us though because everyone was talking about the little 22’ sailboat doing the Loop. We had a wonderful reunion comparing notes and stories while cooling off in the shade. We finally broke up the party so everyone could get something constructive done – I dove in and cleaned the slime off the boat (and me) and scrapped the last of the barnicles off the bottom (I wonder if we will go faster now?). Cindy and I walked a couple blocks into town and found three ice cream shops in two block (see what you are missing Eddy and Linda), got groceries, found a gas station for in the morning and avoided eating out.

We returned to the boat and quickly heated our taco meat and had dinner ready in 10 minutes – lots cheaper and usually better than eating out. The sun was setting and the sky was multiple colors of pink, orange and blue. We are so lucky.

Day 312: Saturday, July 13, 2013

Port to Port: Porter Bay to Nichols Pt.

Underway: 6:05 am      Motor Off: 5:25 pm      Miles Traveled: 41/35      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time we couldn’t get a slip because a marina was full.

Mile 54 to Mile 19: We started just after sunrise on a beautiful calm morning to make the short 18 mile hop to Burlington, Vermont. We had hoped to stay at the municipal marina but it was booked for tonight. We could have gotten a mooring ball but that would mean putting the dinghy back together (and taking it apart again) and remounting the motor. Too much trouble to do laundry and sight-see but not buy anything. We took advantage of the courtesy dock (one hour free and $5/hour after that) for a couple of hours. We walked to the post office, got gas, used the restroom, stopped at the grocery store, perused the farmers market, bought ice and even did some window shopping. This would have been a fun stop to explore but we will have to come back some day when it is not so busy.

Our four-hour detour was productive but we were actually glad to get back on the water and make some miles while the weather is ideal. There were a lot more boats out (hot, sunny weekend) and the wind had started building up some nice rollers sliding under our stern. It was a challenge to hold a steady course but Aurora and Boris did great. This is a phenomenal sailing lake – good winds, deep water and beautiful scenery – and the lake was littered with white sails. After puttering north at about 5.8 mph, we arrived at our chosen anchorage that we ended up sharing with 75 of our closest friends. Actually, we didn’t see any Looper boats but we did find an amazing spot to anchor along the rocky shore on the outside edge of all the other boats in one foot of water – that’s what the chart said – but it actually was 7 feet which is plenty for us. We have our own quiet private cove. There are advantages to a small boat sometimes.

We were shocked to find out we have cell service here in the middle of nowhere so we were able to make a few phone calls and even connect to the internet to do some research. After tomorrow, our phones will not work in Canada so we will probably buy a cheap flip phone for use in Canada. We’ll see when we get there.

After a quick dip in the lake (Cindy chickened out), we had soft shell tacos for dinner, planned our route for tomorrow and relaxed before crashing after another wonderful day on the Loop.

Most Expensive Ice: Burlington Boathouse – $3.29 for 5 lbs. We paid $2 for 20 lbs in Florida.

Deepest Water: 415 feet on Lake Champlain

Day 311: Friday, July 12, 2013

Port to Port: Whitehall to Porter Bay

Underway: 6:34 am      Motor Off: 5:03 pm      Miles Traveled: 54/52      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First cable ferry – they pull themselves across Lake Champlain using a cable laid across the bottom of the bay; first zebra mussels on the wall at Lock 12 in Whitehall; first time in Vermont – ever; completed our first complete river – the Hudson.

Mile 60/109 to Mile 57: We got up early this morning even though we didn’t know for sure if the lock would let us through before 8 am. Online, it is supposed to open at 8 am but Roger talked to the operator and he said he would let boats through earlier than that. I called right away and the lockmaster said he would get it ready for us. So I ran to the gas station to get ice and coffee and Cindy said goodbye to Roger and Dorothy – at 6:00 am. Hopefully we weren’t too noisy. It gets harder and harder saying goodbye to our new friends – our Loop in rapidly getting shorter and we don’t know when we will see each other again. We will, one way or another.

We flew with the current down the channel and right into the lock ready for our journey onto Lake Champlain. We have a good weather window for several days so we want to make some miles and get off the big water ASAP.

  We love cruising early in the morning (yes, even Cindy). The winds are usually light, there aren’t any other boats, the temps are comfortable and the morning light is beautiful. Today was perfect. We had a little boost from the current and wound our way through some amazing scenery. Cindy had to drive because I was taking so many pictures. The water on Lake Champlain is almost at flood stage and lots of trees and lowlands are flooded. This just made the scenery more surreal.

The high, tree covered foothills and cliffs surrounding us gradually gave way to rolling hills dotted with barns, silos and a random cow here and there. The narrow waterway opened up and spread out into bigger bays as we steadily moved north. The haze shrouded mountains in the background reflected different shades of green depending on how far away they were. It was impossible to capture on the camera. You’ll have to use your imagination.

What an amazing place to sail. As we entered ever bigger bays, sailboats were tacking back and forth upwind. The bright sails against the dark granite cliffs stood out like neon signs in the bright sun – the conditions were ideal as long as you didn’t want to go north and had your mast up (which we do and don’t, respectively). After a long but inspiring day, we turned into Porter Bay – a nicely protected anchorage – where we anchored the first time and relaxed with a wine spritzer on ice. For the first time in a long time we cooked a normal meal on the boat – Cindy’s favorite spaghetti and salads. We will sleep good tonight.

Day 310: Thursday, July 11, 2013

Port to Port: Fort Edward to Whitehall, NY

Underway: 7:40 am      Motor Off: 1:50 pm      Miles Traveled: 24/23      Stayed At: Free Dock

First Things First: First time Cindy lassoed a bollard on the first toss.

Mile 37 to Mile 60: After waiting until 8:45 am for a barge to get through Lock 7, we locked through with two other sailboats and a power boat and started a beautiful cruise toward Lake Champlain. The sun stayed hidden behind puffy white clouds keeping it cool, the humidity was down 10 points, a gentle breeze cooled us off, we were going with the current finally (6 mph – woohoo) and the scenery was amazing. One of the boats we locked through with – Wind Spirit 3 – gave us some wonderful advice on getting through the bad current near Montreal. He did it years ago in a 22’ boat with an 8’ hp motor so that helped ease our worries.

We made it to the Whitehall Town Dock faster than expected and we were happy to see our friends Roger and Dorothy on Slow Churn waiting to catch our lines – again. What a fun reunion. We never thought we would get a chance to see them again. They had wanted to stay at Brewerton for a while around 4^th of July but couldn’t because the Erie was closed. They have been exploring the Champlain for a while and are now heading south again.

We chatted for a while and caught up on their adventures and took a break to get some boat projects done before dinner. I walked to get gas and we took free showers at the town dock courtesy building. The bathroom facilities are in the running for the cleanest and nicest of the whole trip. The dock even has electric and water available. Whitehall is trying hard to attract visitors any way they can to try to boost their downtown. I bet you didn’t know that Whitehall is the birthplace of the U.S. Navy in 1776. Like many of the small waterfront towns we have visited along this trip, Whitehall is struggling to stay afloat – literally and figuratively. There are more buildings empty or for sale than ones with businesses in them. The architecture is beautiful but that doesn’t pay the rent or taxes. I hope these towns figure out a way to preserve these old buildings and build new economies around them.

After our errands, it was time for dinner on Slow Churn. Dorothy slow cooked a retread or retired or something-like-that chicken they bought from a street vendor to make BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches. It sounded sketchy (just kidding Dorothy) but was tender, tasty and amazing. We ate dinner and shared stories sitting on the fly bridge as a cool breeze kept temperatures perfect and the sun slowly set over the hills. We all decided ice cream sounded good so we took a scenic hike to the Stewart’s store across the channel and sat outside sharing a couple pints. We closed out our wonderful reunion back on the fly bridge until the sun set and a few bugs showed up to break up the party. We are going to miss them. We have learned so much and hope to follow in their adventurous wake someday.

Total Miles: 4,201

Day 309: Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Port to Port: Mechanicville to Fort Edward, NY

Underway: 7:35 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled:       Stayed At: Free Dock

First Things First: Saw our first flood gate across the lock channel poised to be closed in case of inclement weather.

Mile to Mile: After a quiet night in Mechanicville, I got up early and hiked to the nearby McDonalds for breakfast and free internet. It was so cold in there, the humid air was condensing on the windows and dripping down onto the tables. They finally turned off the AC but when the heat came on it set off some kind of alarm. Oh well, free internet. Cindy wandered in a little later and had a fruit parfait. We dawdled until 7:30 am and went back to the boat to cast off and wait at the lock for the first opening at 8:00 am.

Today was a four-lock day – all were easy and fast – they were basically ready for us each time. Great service from the lock operators. The Hudson River was quiet in the morning with very little traffic. The afternoon was a different story. After waiting along the lock wall above Lock 6 for a couple of hours to let a line of storms move through (a good decision since about 10 minutes after tying up, it started to thunder and pour), we met a half dozen barges coming and going along the narrow channel. They are doing a lot of dredging on this part of the river. We had to go around the correct side of many more barges parked in the river. It all added a little excitement to the day (along with the thunder and rain).

After a productive day on the river, we pulled into Fort Edward and found a nice quiet spot along their free town dock wall. You never know what you will find when you come around the corner. I went to get gas and Cindy took a sponge bath in the cockpit. I discovered they have showers in their courtesy building so I took a long cool shower to wash away the grime of three days of travel. What a treat.

We like to give back to these communities that provide nice places for boaters to stay so we wandered downtown and, based on the recommendation of a couple locals, had home cooked pork/turkey and mashed potatoes at the Ye Old Fort Diner. We also were surprised to learn that there will be a concert in the park tonight right by our boat. I wonder if it will be as good as Eddy and Linda’s impromtu concerts everyday in Kingston. That seems so long ago already.

Day 308: Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Port to Port: Houghtaling to Mechanicville, NY

Underway: 7:30 am      Motor Off: 5:55 pm      Miles Traveled: 37/34      Stayed At: Town Dock

First Things First: First night without docktails in a long time.

Mile 25 to Mile 0 to Mile 9: After a quiet, uneventful night we woke to overcast, foggy skies. We would have had to wait until 1 pm to get a favorable tidal current – too risky at this time of year with the afternoon thunderstorms. So we resigned ourselves to a slow slog north for most of the day and got going early to get the most miles in that we can. It will be good practice for when we get to Canada.

We were passed by Adagio and Daybreak late morning – they had stopped at a marina north of our anchorage. It was fun to see them again. I think everyone is glad to be moving again.

Except for the heat and humidity, it was a nice travel day. The scenery along the Hudson is surprisingly beautiful and we soon passed through Albany and Troy before encountering our first lock. (We passed by Shady Harbor Marina where Spiritus, Miss Darlin II and Oyster were tied up but it didn’t look like anyone was home. We waved anyways.) The water below the lock was churning like crazy – a lot of water was flowing over the dam – but we crabbed our way into the lock and things calmed down and we soon were raised up 14 feet – more elevation gain than the entire Hudson River from New York City to the Troy Lock. Amazing. I like going uphill like that.

After two more (much easier) locks we arrived in Mechanicville to park for a night at their free dock. Luckily there was space for us and we set to work on boat projects – get gas (an nice gentleman fishing by the pier offered me a ride which was immensely appreciated on such a hot tiring day), clean up, fill the water bottles and get ice cream. This is probably the most convenient spot we have ever stopped. Free electricity and water plus everything is close by including restaurants, a Laundromat, drug stores, gas stations, and even a dollar store. All within 10 minutes. Maybe we will spend more time here next time.

Day 307: Monday, July 8, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY to Houghtaling Anchorage

Underway: 9:45 am      Motor Off: 5:03 pm      Miles Traveled: 40/37      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First day we traveled with the mast down.

Mile 62 to Mile 25: We finally cast off our lines and escaped from our home away from home. Adagio, Daybreak and even Battered Bull all left today. The marina will never be the same. (Although a beautiful fully restored 70+ foot long sloop – the Belle Aventure – pulled in a few minutes after the Battered Bull left). It was tough to say goodbye but we hope to see some of our new friends along the way.

It took awhile to get back into travel mode. We were worried about the currents, the weather, where we were going to anchor and all the little worries that go into a normal travel day. By afternoon our worries subsided and we really enjoyed the beautiful scenery passing us by along the Hudson River. All was right with the world. We went by and recognized one of the anchorages we stayed at on our trip in 2002 – I could picture it like it happened yesterday. The thunderstorms formed to our east and behind us so we stayed in bright sunshine all day. As a bonus, we got one last boost from the tidal current and made 40 miles towards our goal – Canada or bust!

We had forgotten how much we like the quiet solitude of a lonely anchorage. We listened to the thunder from a far off storm, the loud squacks of some type of waterbird, the splash of fish all around and even the passing music of an ice cream truck traveling along an unseen highway. Okay, so its not totally quiet but it was peaceful.

Unless a surprise happens in the next couple of days, we have decided to take the long route around to the Trent Severn. There are too many uncertainties about when the Erie will be able to open. We are better off taking our chances by going north. It will definitely be an adventure. To the north and beyond.

In Passing:  Turkey Point, Skilpot Island, Duck Cove, Foxes Creek, Corlear Kill, Stotville, Stockport Middle Ground, Caryman Hill, Rattlesnake Island, Coxsackie Cr.

Day 306: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0       Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: The exodus has begun. We said goodbye to Spiritus today. We have had an amazing three weeks exploring Kingston together. We have created a lifetime of new memories. We already miss them. Tomorrow, several other Loopers will be leaving including us. The Erie Canal is not open yet so we are planning to go straight north into Canada and just bang out the miles to get to the Trent Severn. Hopefully we cross paths with our friends again soon.

After watching Spiritus motor off towards the Hudson (after almost four weeks stuck in Kingston), it was time for boat projects. With sweat pouring off of our faces, we cleaned up the boat, added an extension cable to rewire and reposition the VHF antenna (the mast is now sitting in a cradle) and get everything ready for travel again. We made another shopping run to get a few things we forgot yesterday, organized the cabin and got ready for our first day of cruising in over three weeks.

Our slightly smaller Looper posse met for one last group dinner in Kingston – at the Armadillo again. Our gathering this time was a little subdued without Eddy and Linda and with the realization that we will all be saying goodbye over the next few days.

Ron and Jan gave us a tour of their boat Adagio – a 34’ Nordic Tug. They are perfect boats for traveling the Loop. There is even room on top for two kayaks and two bicycles. They are leaving tomorrow too and plan to go the same route we are planning so we hopefully will meet again over the next couple of weeks.

We are not looking forward to leaving – we have really enjoyed our stay in Kingston – but it is time to go and see what other amazing adventures we will find up ahead. We will just have to take it one day at a time.

Day 305: Saturday, July 6, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time I have ever docked a 170’ luxury yacht – the Battered Bull.

Mile to Mile:  We started the day the same way we ended yesterday – more food. After throwing in 11 loads of laundry from our three boats, we joined Spiritus and Adagio at our favorite restaurant – the Rainbow Café – for there breakfast special. Excellent as always. We finished our laundry and drove (yes, drove) back to the marina to work on boat projects and, for some of us, get ready to leave in a day or two. Spiritus is leaving tomorrow and we are probably leaving on Monday. The locks aren’t open yet but it is time to get moving somewhere until they do or maybe head straight north if we have to.

The summer heat has really set in now – our thermometer read 103˚ in the shade this afternoon. We didn’t do a whole lot of walking today. Ron very generously gave Spiritus and us a fresh apple pie from the Apple Bin over the bridge. We agonized over the decision (ha!) but finally decided to go on a road trip with Ron back over the bridge to the Rainbow Café to get ice cream to add to our pie and we sat on the picnic table, ate all but one slice of pie and enjoyed the shade and breeze at the top of the hill. Ron took us to the Apple Bin to see it for ourselves and then took the scenic route back to the marina giving us a history lesson of the area as we went.

After such a busy day, naps were in order for some of us (reading for others). Rick and Leila on Sun Gypsy got back from their long trek to get a new water pump mid-afternoon so we took the car and made a Walmart and grocery store run to restock and find some nice cool air conditioning. We were late getting back and missed most of docktails but everyone had decided to head to the Armadillo Restaurant for Mexican food and, of course, we joined the crowd. Our posse of 12 stranded boaters enjoyed another wonderful meal together and, after an invite from Jeff on Not So Fast to go back to his boat for apple pie, we all hopped in various cars and headed across the river for a nightcap.

What a great way to end the day. Jan (Adagio) brought her dulcimer and the lyrics to the two songs she wrote and we had a wonderful sing along with all of our Looper friends. And more pie. (We showed rare discipline and abstained). And almost continuous laughter. Have I mentioned how lucky we are to be here, doing this?

Day 304: Friday, July 5, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: We finally escaped from Kingston – by car. We split a three day car rental with Sun Gypsy and decided to do a little road trip down to Storm Mountain Art Center – a 600 acre outdoor sculpture garden. So Cindy and I, Linda, Jeff and Nichole (on Not So Fast) all piled in the car on a hot sunny day and drove the scenic route to Storm Mountain. (Eddy was in “time to move” mode so he stayed home and cleaned Spiritus from top to bottom in preparation for their planned departure on Sunday). The large scale metal, wood and stone art was amazing but the location stole the show. The art was spread out over the entire landscaped site and has tree covered Storm Mountain as a natural background. It was well worth the trip.

  We took the toll-way home and arrived just in time to start cooking for probably our last potluck before our little group starts splitting up and hitting the trail again. Jeff and Nichole contributed some amazing beef tenderloin and Jeff cooked them to perfection. With all the leftovers from yesterday and new additions, we had another amazing meal. To top it off, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra gave a free concert in the park as part of the holiday weekend festivities. I don’t think we could have been stranded in a better place.

Day 303: Thursday, July 4, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: Today was a perfect Fourth of July – hot, humid and sunny. The current news on the locks is that it “may” be open by Friday next week. The long range weather forecast also looks dry, hot and calm – perfect for travel. This actually complicates the decision of whether to go north into Canada or wait a little longer for the Erie to open. We may go slowly north and explore some new places and wait to get some more accurate information before deciding which direction to go.

Eddy and I put together a charcoal grill that Jeff on Not So Fast donated to our party. Eddy inflated his 6” deep, 4’ in diameter pool for our pool party later. Between that and multiple chat sessions with everyone who walked by wondering what we were doing, we had a busy morning.

We decided to take a walk over to our favorite ice cream place and ended up with 8 people in our entourage. We stretched our visit out to almost an hour – it was cool and comfortable in the shade – and finally wandered back to the marina to take naps and get ready for our potluck party.

Although we weren’t going to eat until 7 pm, the party started around 5 pm as the ladies found out how nice and cool it was put their bare feet in the pool and the guys started getting the grills ready. And, of course, we had a variety of cold drinks to enjoy. You would think that with all the time we have all spent together that we would run out of things to talk about but that is not the case. We enjoy each other’s company and somehow find things to laugh and cry (Erie Canal news) together.

Our potluck was a huge hit. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, salads x 5, cupcakes, cookies and everything in between. What a blast. And this is with 20  people from three different marinas who were mostly strangers a week or two ago. We ate too much and finished cleaning up just in time to set up our chairs on the dock by Spiritus and watch the fireworks shooting off the top of the bridge a few hundred feet upstream. The life of the Looper – how lucky can we be.

Day 302: Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time we have rafted up with another boat.

Mile to Mile: No rain today. What a treat. When you look at the national weather map, the entire country is devoid of clouds and weather except the eastern seaboard. It looks like we will have a reprieve tomorrow too so all the July 4^th festivities will be rain free. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Today was moving day. We needed to move back and raft off of Spiritus to make room for some boats with reservations for the Fourth. We decided to take down our mast and get it ready for the next month and a half of canals. This went surprisingly easy and we had the mast tied down in its supports and all the cables bundled up before 9 am. Aurora always looks forlorn with her mast down – kind of like a really slow powerboat. We won’t put her back together until we get past Severn, Ontario sometime in August.

After our big move, we decided to wander over to our favorite diner – the Rainbow Café (today’s word-of-the- day happened to be “rainbow”) for the breakfast special with Spiritus – and by the time we left, two other couples joined us and a third couple showed up after we got there. We ended up having a leisurely almost 2 hour breakfast and gab session before heading back to the marina. We are really lucky to be “stranded” with such a great group of boaters.

We joined Eddy and Linda again in the afternoon and hitched a ride with Ron up to the grocery store where we stocked up on all the essentials for our Looper Fourth of July celebration tomorrow. We are having a potluck BBQ and it looks like we won’t have to eat for a week given all the food people are planning to bring. The bus system here is borderline useless – it only runs on the hour and that assumes that the driver isn’t taking a break somewhere. So we walked home – I don’t recommend carrying 20 ears of sweet corn and a watermelon home from the store but you do what you have to do. My shoulders will feel it tomorrow.

We got an update on the Erie Canal (during docktails, of course). The newest official update is that most of the system will reopen soon and the portion with the worst damage “might” open as soon as next Friday. This kind of fuzzy information makes planning really a challenge. We would really prefer to go the Erie Canal route – it is a lot faster and shorter and easier for us than going all the way into Canada and back down. Right now we plan to leave on Sunday but we may push that out to Monday to wait for a little more information, after the holiday weekend, to see how much progress they make. We won’t know for sure until we actually get going. Tomorrow will no doubt be a new story.

Day 301: Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: Not much new to report today. It didn’t rain 2” today, thankfully. We just had some intermittent sprinkles. I spent a good chunk of the day looking at our options. None of them are easy. We could stay here and wait for the Erie Canal to open but it could be two weeks or it could be next year. We just don’t have enough information. We could trailer Aurora 250 miles to Oswego and continue our trip from there. This would save a lot of time but Cindy wouldn’t be able to say she completed the Loop which isn’t fair (the girls and I already traveled this section of the Loop in 2002). A third option is to continue north on the Hudson and enter the Champlain Canal and head for Montreal, Ottawa and the Rideau Canal and ultimately end up in Kingston, Ontario. This choice adds about 10 days to our trip and 300 miles but the scenery is beautiful and we avoid having to cross Lake Ontario. We don’t know if we can handle the currents in some parts of this route – especially on some sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway we have to traverse. Again, we don’t have enough information. We will not get to Lake Michigan until the end of August so we may be delayed because of weather and might have to leave the boat in Michigan or Wisconsin until next summer to finish the trip. It all depends on the weather. Right now we are leaning towards Option 3. Ask me again in 10 minutes and I may give you a different answer.

Whatever we decide, we are planning to stay for the Fourth of July festivities. There will be music in the park, some wonderful fireworks and a bunch of other events in and around Kingston. We have already planned a potluck BBQ with the other stranded boaters for Thursday. We might as well have fun while we are waiting.

We definitely don’t have anything to complain about, though. We are incredibly lucky to be where we are right now. A lot of homes along the Erie Canal have been flooded and some people have lost everything they own. This has been the story along all the waterways we have traveled. Sometimes water can be beautiful and useful, other times it can get ugly and destructive. We can do very little to control it. All we can do is live with it and do what we can to enjoy it.

Day 300: Monday, July 1, 2013

Port to Port: Kingston, NY

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

Mile to Mile: I wish I could have gotten a picture of the tree going by this afternoon. It was at least 50’ long and still had branches sticking out. It was traveling at about 3-4 mph with the current and headed to the Hudson. Somehow it got washed off the shore of this little creek and started its journey towards New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. This was just a tiny example of the kind of debris that has been flushed into the river systems around here and creating a challenge to navigation. We got another 2+ inches of rain this morning to add to the 5+ we have gotten over the last week. This has been the rainiest June on record in many places in New York. I think I like drought better.

I got a haircut today, bought some garlic knots for dinner and started considering a huge change in our plans. The outlook for the Erie Canal is bleak at the moment. There is a lot of debris in the system and this most recent rain has caused more damage to the locks and canal. Our best guess is that it will be 10+ days at a minimum before it will reopen and that is assuming more torrential rains don’t cause more problems. We are starting to get to the point where we need to start moving or we won’t be able to get off Lake Michigan before September storms start. Some people are considering turning back south and quitting the Loop for this year. We are now considering going straight north toward Montreal and then west and south back to Lake Ontario along a series of canals and river systems in Ontario. This adds a minimum of 10 days to our trip and 300 miles – it is beautiful countryside but we don’t know if we can do it yet because of strong opposing currents along some sections of the route. We don’t know yet how all this rain has been affecting this part of Canada either. We have a lot of planning to do.

The highlight for today was docktails and our impromptu sing-a-long. Jan on Adagio wrote some original lyrics to the tune” I’ll Fly Away”  - now renamed “Can’t Sail Away” – capturing perfectly our stay here in Kingston and even accompanied us on her dulcimer. It’s amazing how everyone makes the best of a frustrating situation and, many times, our best experiences are the result of hardship or challenges. This is one of those times.