40 Days and 40 Nights

It continues to rain in the Northeast!  Rain, cold, windy conditions persist over us, which makes "Boating" not near as much fun, especially if you are 13 or 9. Hell, its no fun if you are 60.   But we are trying to make the best of it.  With Max and Leo on board (our two oldest grandsons) we moved north from New York City up the Hudson River.  What is otherwise quite a beautiful river with mountains on each side, if you cannot see them, well...not so much.

Leo helping the Captain look out for logs in the river

Max is just trying to stay warm!!

In fact, we felt like it had rained for 40 days and nights, and the Hudson River and its main tributary, The Mohawk River proved it.  They both went over their banks.   OK that happens everywhere, but when it happens in the Mohawk and the Erie Canal, then that is bad news for the locks and dams.  It was.  Big trees and logs floating down the Mohawk rammed into a lock gate at Lock 9 on the Erie, and practically destroyed it.  It has been closed for 7 days already, and the word is that it will remain closed for at least another 2 weeks!!!  Talk about a major monkey wrench in your boating agenda!!

So there are perhaps 100 Loopers and other boats sitting on the downriver side of Lock 9 on the Erie Canal, which is the only way north to Canada and completing the Great Loop for most boats.  There is an alternate route north through the Champlain Canal and up to Lake Champlain, and then through the Chambly Canal to the St. Lawrence.    Here is the rub.   The Champlain Canal is really old and has old bridges, most with heights over the water of only 17 ft.  The vast majority of cruising boats cannot make that, but guess what?   Rock Chalk can.   So after waiting 6 days for the locks to open in any direction, Rock Chalk made its way up the Champlain yesterday when it opened.   We were one of the first through....are you really surprised by that revelation?

The good news is that we are moving, in a northerly direction with just a small bit of change in our float plan, ie we will just reverse the direction we make the Canadian triangle.  We are all really happy to be moving, and lo and behold, the sun came out today.   Yea, that always makes one feel better.

This is new territory for Shelley and I, and we always like that.   It is fun to explore new waters.  So after two days of moving through the Champlain canal and locks, we are at the bottom of Lake Champlain, which is one of the prettiest spots in the US.

Skene Manor above Whitehall, NY

Sunshine and a free dock at Whitehall.   Free is good.

Whitehall is quite the historical town.   It is the birthplace of the US Navy, as Benedict Arnold built the first of the US fleet here in the mid 1770's.   Whitehall is strategically located half way between New York City and the St. Lawrence River.   Naturally the British wanted to control this important waterway and split the emerging colonies in two between the American strongholds of Boston and Philadelphia.   The battles in the hills of Saratoga and on Lake Champlain were important victories for the young American forces.  

I mentioned the low 17 ' bridges, right?  Well, today was one of those days.  One of my goals for this trip with Leo and Max, was to have them really learn about driving the boat, navigation, etc.  So today I was giving Leo close instructions as we were motoring down a pretty open safe part of the Champlain Canal.  Rock Chalk has a very tall Digital VHF radio antenna, whose top is easily over 25 ft.   But it also easily lays down on the deck to go under those low bridges.  Max had asked me if it was OK to put the antenna up after our last lock of the day, and I said sure.   I thought we were through with the low bridges for the day.  So as I am giving Leo this intense lesson, we approached another bridge.  I am getting older you know, and can't remember what I had for breakfast, alright.   How do you expect me to remember that the antenna was up when I am paying so much attention to Leo.  Under the bridge we go, and I was so proud of Leo as he steered to the exact middle of the bridge where I was asking him to steer.   CRACK!!!   Down comes our antenna broken half way up.   

Shelley can hardly contain herself from laughing.   I mean major belly laughing.  Max and Leo look at me and then at each other to see if either one of them is in big trouble.  But the look on my face kept everyone silent...for awhile.  I do not screw up very often, but when I do, I like to think that I do it in a big way.   My kids remember me crunching a Dodge Neon in Shana and Craig's apartment parking lot many years ago.   No one said a word.  Yea it was like that.  

Duck tape can fix anything

So once we were docked, we found a piece of wood and with lots of ducktape, we put our antenna back together again, at least for awhile.

It will be 42 tonight here in Northern New York.  Chilly.   The good news is that tomorrow's high is forecast to be in the mid 70's with even warmer weather coming.   Great.  Cool nights and warm days.   Now we are talking.  Better days ahead.    Marc