Waterford, New York (on the Hudson River)
We arrived here around noon today after spending three days on the MohawkRiver. This completes our transit of the Erie canal. Tomorrow we willtransit Lock 1 on the Hudson River and journey about 30 miles south toRiverview Marina to be reunited with our masts and again become sailboats.Another day or two on the Hudson will put us in the Big Apple where weplan to take a mooring at 79th St marina and walk on Broadway !!
I have previously referred to the Erie Barge canal as a series of rivers,lakes and dug ditches. I’d now like to modify that statement somewhat. The several lakes are just that; very nice picturesque lakes. The riversare not the rivers we tend to be familiar with in south western Ontariowhere we refer to Kettle Creek as a river. They are majestic rivers thatflow through highlands and lowlands, marshes, and rock cuts, valleys andmeadows, marshes, and urban America. The Mohawk comprises the greaterportion of the eastern branch of the canal and it is a wondrous river totraverse. Now to the ‘dug ditches’ that comprise a goodly portion of thecanal’s western branch. I retract this description. The man madeportions of the canal are well build watercourses, with banks built of cutstone and carefully laid rock. For the most part they follow the highlandso you are always looking down on the villages and rural areas around you.In several cases they form aqueducts taking you over orchards androadways . They are a great tribute to man’s abilities to work in harmonywith nature and harness her potential for our use and enjoyment.The waterway is abundant with waterfowl over its entire course. Weexperienced hot sunny days, cool to cold evenings, fresh mornings, rain,fog, mist, wind, calm. And every sensation reminds us of the joy it is tobe alive in our world. If you’d like to learn more about the Erie canalgo to www.xxxxxxx . There’s more than one way to experience the canal. We chatted with a middle aged couple (that’s code for ‘our age’) at one ofthe locks who had taken their boat through the canal many years ago. Thisyear they were doing the canal on bicycles We just spoke with them againin Waterford meaning they traveled by bike at about the same rate wetravelled by water.
We may not travel the entire journey in the company of Sinn Fein and GraceC but being together these past two weeks has been both enjoyable andprofitable for all of us. We have fed off each others strengths and atone time or another would have been ‘lost’ without the others. But,sometimes, what happens on the canals stays on the canals !!
Life aboard has taken us enjoyably from the life we lived ashore (albeitin Niki’s case kicking and screaming. She misses her friends and the lackof “E” connectivity 24/7). OTOH, I’m hardly missing news of the world,the nuances of the current political debates and with financial markets asthey are why would I want to know anyway?
We’ve only just begun this odyssey. There are countless miles ahead. Ifthey measure up to the past two weeks we shall succeed with flyingcolours.
Wayne Kentner
sent from the S/V 'Nice Butt'
wkentner@amtelecom.net
519 854 5800
VHF Call Sign: CFN5158
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1 comment:
I do have to say you are most descriptive than Niki. =]
And haha, at the fact that I definitely imagined Niki kicking a screaming x] ily Niki~ <3
And random fact: Did you know that The Mohawk is a tribe of Native Indians from Canada who are cannibals? Well if you did, oh well, and if not, you just learned something from me.
Happy yayay~
<3
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