October 8, 2010 friday

She looks tired. While in Brewerton NY she will get some well deserved rest and TLC. After we took a few things off to take home (no room in the vehicle for a pack of crackers!) we headed home for the winter. Second pic is a sunset from the back of the boat in the marina. The trip so far has been an experience that we will always remember. Everything from the cold & rain on the Ohio River last October, the many friends we have met along the way, the places and things we have seen and the time together will be something we will set in our rocking chairs many years from now and travel back to. So, until next May or June, when ever summer is up here, we will see you on the improved model of Annie Lee III. Sincerely, Captain Jeff, First Mate Cheri and Admiral Frizz.

Oct 7, 2010 Thursday

Yes, this is exactly how it looked when we left Sylvan NY this morning around 8:00. Windy. Very windy! Captain says 1-2 but I say 2-3 chop. Lake is about 20 miles long and very wide in some places. Lots of white caps. Frizz did not like the waves. Last night was a wild ride at the wall. Waves hit the boat almost all night and the rain blew. We pulled into Winter Harbor around 11:30 and started getting everything packed and out up for the winter. The other picture is of the water just behind our boat. The sun is shinning (finally) but the wind is really blowing. Read that the gust were to be around 25. Captain got the generator winterized today. He will do the rest tomorrow when they pull the boat. This trip is ending a lot like it started last October. Wet, overcast and cool.

October 6, 2010 Wednesday

We are still on the move going through our last locks today. Still raining! Will it never stop?

First picture is of the park next to lock 22. The trees are so pretty. When we got to lock 21, we started going down in the locks. We rode the highest point of the Eric Canal today. Of course, it didn't seem to matter. It rained even harder in the locks. I know it waits for me to be out side. The second is of the canal. This parts was so straight. Seen two other boaters heading east. We stopped in Rome NY and tied off. We were going to ride our bikes into town but it never stopped raining so we untied and headed for Sylvan NY. I did one load of laundry there because Captain needed his jeans cleaned. We rode from end to end in about twenty minutes. This town is on the Oneida Lake. Cute little town but it is a summer resort town. Even the restaurant we ate supper at (Eddies) was about to close for the winter. Town was shutting down. Captain had a new dish...beans and greens. Greens cooked with soup beans. We are tied off to the wall with no electricity. Cool temps, high winds and rain. Should be an interesting night. Tomorrow we cross the lake to Brewerton. Our final stop for the year.

Oct 5, 2010 Tuesday

We talked to the lock master around 9:30 today and they gave no promises. Got a knock on the boat around 11:00 and was told we could leave. I was so thrilled, I had to hug the guy that told me that. We got to leave lock 16!!! By 11:20 we had pulled in the electric lines, untied and was heading toward lock 17. Trash in the water and some current. Picture two is the flood gates they kept closed. We had to go under them. First and third picture is lock 17. It is the only lock with a gate that lifts up instead of opening like a door. The water lift is 40.5 ft. Picture one is a close up of the gate open waiting for us to go into the pit. There was a tree waiting for us when they opened the gates on the up side. Captain got out front and pushed us off the tree while the boat glided by. We got through locks 18 & 19 but ran out of time to get to lock 20. They close at 5:00 so we stopped at Utica for the night. Had our 36th anniversary dinner at Aqua Vino. Rainy day and cool. We could see our breath when we were out side going through the locks. We are moving again and that feels great!

Oct 4, 2010 Monday

Another rainy day on the wall at lock 16. Yep, we are still here. They still don't want to open the flood gate until they check the water level. Here is a picture of West Point. A huge castle growing out of the hills. Really huge! Second picture is what you see when you come through Troy Lock on the Hudson. Go left and you go up the Erie Canal (Waterford, NY is on the point) and go right to the Champlain Canal. Sign on the point that tells you this information. One more meal on the boat. We are down to a couple of chicken breast, a steak, soup and can chili. We could also have spaghetti again. Where is Wal-mart? Starting to get a few things packed for when we do finally get to Brewerton, NY to pull Annie Lee out for the winter. If we get these before the snow flies.

Oct 5, 2010 Pics

Here kitty kitty (Frizz wants to go)

Z0om in on picture #2. The birds are lining up waiting to pick our bones if we don't get out of here soon.

COWS! COWS! WE HAVE COWS!!!! (you had to see Twister to understand)

October 3, 2010 Sunday

Day 4 and still at lock 16 on the Erie Canal. What fun : ) . I guess it could be worse. Our water tanks could be low, just canned foods to eat and no electric. We rode our bikes into town today. Two miles each way on a bike/snowmobile/x-country ski trail. About half an hour ride around town, a stop at the local gas station/convenience store and the dollar store and we were done there. Nothing to see and the half hour ride pretty much took in the whole town. So..back to New York City. First pic is of the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge over the East River. If you look in the back ground you can see a boat. This is one of many coast guard that patrol the river. They all have machine guns mounted at the front and a guy setting right with it just waiting to use it. We thought it might have something to do with the fact the the UN building is on this river. Maybe just because it is New York and 9-11. Next is another pic of the city sky line with the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building in the back ground. This was taken from the front of our boat in the marina. Wish we were stuck there. At least there were things to do. Oh well, we aren't spending any money setting here. That makes the Captain happy.

Oct 2, 2010 Saturday

We are still here on the wall at lock 16. Hoping for the waters to be better tomorrow. The weather was sunny and cool. Expecting 38 low tonight. They still have not lifted the flood gate on west of here. Moonshadow took a walk today and said the waters east are moving fast. They doubt that they will be allowed to travel east for a few days yet. Since I posted extra pics today of this area, thought I'd back up a little to the Hudson. These are pics of the Catskill Mountains. Really pretty sight. We took our bikes a little spin today (about 2-3 miles) and found nothing. Really! We took the bike route near the waters edge and I thought we might find a town but ...nope.

We are really out in the middle of no where. Glad I always keep extra food on board. So far, we have had three nights meals on board. Still have enough for about three more if need be. Lets hope not.

Oct 2, 2010 pictures

Just wanted to share a few pictures with you. #1 is how the wall/spill way looks right now (11:45 a.m.) . That's our flag you see. As you can see, we are right across from all of this. Probably 20-25 ft away. #2 was the wall last night and #3 is the wall yesterday morning when all the water was flowing over into the fields. #4 is from the east looking west at the lock. You can see how close we are to the lock gate.

October 1, 2010 Friday

Woke to rising waters and more rain. It rained until noon. We are going no where today. Everyone is getting restless except Moonshadow. We did learn they will extend all Erie Canal permits for the amount of days we were stuck here. There is a spill wall across from our boat that lets the waters flow down through a field and into the river. Erie Canal and Mohawk River are the same water system in the eastern section of the canal. Right now we are in a man made section of the canal. There is a gate at the far end that is down and protecting us from most of the waters. Sun came out in the afternoon and the waters are starting to recede. Pic of the Captain checking the lines at lock 16 where we are stuck.

Sept 30, 2010 Thursday

Red sky at night, sailors delight....who made up that saying? This was the sunset last night looking toward lock 14. Rain started at 3:00 this morning. By 11:00 the lock master was at our boat telling us to get the boat moved...now! I had just gotten out of the shower. Great timing. We pulled the electric cords and lines in about 5 minutes. Moonshadow will be traveling with us even though he is really heading south. He cannot make it to a safe place in time going that way so he has to head up stream with us to lock 16. This lock will take us off the main river (Mohawk) which is also the Erie Canal and put us on the canal in a protected area. They are expecting major flooding. Locks 14, 15 and 16 were waiting for us. By 1:30 we were 36 feet higher on the Erie Canal ,12 miles further and tied to the wall atop lock 16 with 4 other boats. It rained and rained and rained. It rained even harder every time we went through a lock. You have to use the ropes to walk your boat up the wall in most of these locks. Which means you have to stay in the rain. Being a good first mate, I took the bow and let the Captain stay undercover in the stern. Oh well, my hair was already wet from my shower.

Sept 29, 2010 Wednesday

Once upon a time, there was an Iroquois Indian that saw a hole in the river that looked like a "boiling pot". Hence, the name Canajoharie. We got the bikes out and rode around town and found the creek that this story comes from. As you can see, it does look find of like a pot in the water. It is a very deep hole, perfectly round and clear. The creek is very clear and runs fast. We walked down to this spot over all the flat rock. We rode over the bridge and took this picture of our boat. That is Moonshadow in front of us. We are at a little park and you can see the Beech Nut factory in the back ground. Bad weather is heading our way. T.S. Nicole is going to give us some rain. Looks like quite a bit so we are staying put here until the weather gets better on Friday.

Sept 28, 2010 Tuesday

Untied from wall and headed up stream around 10:00 Overcast day and kind of cool. Fall is in the air! Went through locks 12 & 13 (another 19ft up) and tied off on the wall at Canajoharie, NY mm #60. This little town is just below lock 14. We went into the local art museum and walked a little on main street. Had supper at a little Italian restaurant. Ok meal. First pic is of the Beech Nut factory. This is (was) their home town at one time. Building has 1905 on the front. There were some old cars driving by. Got a pic of at least one of them in front of the building. Thought the time frame kind of matched way back them. Second pic was a real let down for the Captain. This is (was) the old Erie Canal. It is now Erie Blvd. There is another boat tied off on the wall from Canada..Moonshadow. They have been here for 6 days. Nothing here to see for even two days. We think they like the free price of docking and electric.

Sept 27, 2010 Monday

Okay....got the electric blanket out last night. It was cool in here. Pics 2 & 3 are of the old Eric Canal lock that the boat club now uses as a boat lift. They closed off the end with cement and wood. Pic 4 is a lift gate on the canal. They use this for flood control. You have to call ahead for them to lift up for you. A boat heading down had already called and it was up and waiting for us. Pic 1 is again of the beautiful fall colors we are seeing. We made it thought locks 9, 10 and 11 today. 42 feet higher and 15.4 miles closer to our winter destination. We cannot get pulled out until Oct 6th and we only have a total of 150 miles on the Erie to travel so we are taking our time and only traveling a few locks a day. It is raining so we ate on the boat, We are tied on the upper wall of lock 11 tonight. In case you are counting locks, there wasn't really a lock #1. Lock 1 is Troy lock on the Hudson. Erie canal starts with lock #2.

Sept 26, 2010 Sunday

Went to farmers market before we left. Traveled through locks with another boat heading up to their marina named Lee Ann. Bet we confused the lock masters...Lee Ann and Annie Lee!. We had to purchase a permit to travel the Eric canal. $50.00 for 10 days. Pics 1 and 3 are of the locks. A few were so close you went out one and into the other. We went through six locks, traveled 12.6 miles and went up 197 feet in three hours. Pic 3 shows just how pretty the trees are getting up here. Stopped a Lee Ann's marina and got a pump out. They have part on the actual Erie Canal behind the marina and now use part of an old lock as a pull out for the boats. I''ll include a pic on next blog. Went through lock 8, another 14 feet and another 12 miles, tied off for the night on the upper wall of the lock. Another free night. No electric. Nights getting a little cool.

Sept 25 2010 Saturday

Beautiful day today. These are a few pics I took yesterday. Pic #2 is a side step lock. Many years ago, the boats cane down these locks. Door are gone now but you can still see the "steps" of each lock. Zoom in on pic #1. Warning about not eating the fish in the canal. We were told that many moons ago, local factories dumped chemicals in the waters that will never go away. We got the bikes out and road from one end of town to another. They were having a community yard sale. Jeff learned why you don't take me to yard sales. I purchased some antique brass flat ware. Box has three layers with 144 pieces. The challenge was to get it back to the boat on the back of our bikes. He put on the back of his and made it with out any mishaps. I carried the tools he purchased. We finally ran out of places to ride so had a pizza delivered to the boat and spent another (free) quiet night. Getting ready to head west/north on the Erie canal.

Sept 24 2010 Friday

Isn't she cute! Frizz was laying on the back of the flybridge just watching the world go by. You can see in the first pic how the free docks are laid out. Really nice area. Mike and Laura left around 7:00 this morning. They are driving our car back to Richmond. Jeff and I walked to the grocery for a few supplies. While Jeff took a nap, I took a walk and took some pics of the lock. We ate on board. We went out the night before and had left overs to get rid of. Jeff and Mike went to NAPA looking for a sending unit for the boat the other day and Jeff was kind enough to leave some red paint on the bridge guard rail by the lock from his vehicle so they have something to remember us by. He was busy looking at the canal instead of where he was driving!

Sept 23 2010 Thursday

See this big ship. It sailed right by us when we were still tied up at the marina. It was very close but put out very little wake. Other picture is of a lighthouse close to the marina. We took a walk into town and had breakfast. Fueled up at Castleton Boat Club (315.00) and sailed on north up the Hudson. Temps today were in the low 70's but tonight it is suppose to be close to 49. Went through the Troy lock which is the end of the 150 miles of the Hudson River. When you lock through you can go right up the Champlain River or left to the Erie Canal. We went to Waterford, NY.. Erie Canal. Free dock and electric. Annie Lee is setting to the right of lock #2 which is the first lock onto the Erie Canal.

Sept 22, 2010 Wednesday

We left Stony Point Marina at 6:45 a.m. Get a good look at this pic because I don't get to many sun rises. We are heading north, up the Hudson. Weather is warm when you stop but cool when under way. We made it to Catskills. Took a walk through town. They have cat statues all over that people have decorated. They auction them off for up to $7000.00. We had supper and then headed up to Hudson Yacht Club. $1.00 a foot.

Sept 21, 2010 Tuesday

We took Mike and Laura up to New York City by water this time. Pic #2 is a lighthouse on the way there and pic #1 is a train that passed us as we were heading to Hells Gate. I saw this stretch of water the day we drove to the city and about peed my pants when they said we were bringing the boat up to it. The boats out there looked like they were on a roller coaster. We had to go on the Harlem River to get there. Jeff planned it so were were going with the tide so it was a fairly smooth ride. We took then around Miss Liberty and Ellis Island. In other words, we turned left at the Washington Bridge off the Hudson River and looped Manhattan Island by doing this. Got back to the marina just as the sun was setting.

Sept 20, 2010 Monday

Today Mike and Laura took our car to Waterford, NY where they will get off the boat at the end of the week. They rented a car to drive back to Stony Point. Jeff washed the outside of the boat. I cleaned the inside and got things put up and ready to move tomorrow. Weather is really nice today. This is a picture of a subway express car. Really! It was all painted up like a little house. The other car looked like a brick house. We were surprised at how clean the cars are in the subway. The subway itself is hot a dingy.

Sept 19, 2010 Sunday

We got in the car and drove to NY city. Parked in a garage for $30.00 for the day. First on the list was brunch. We found a little deli with very good food. We started in the Empire State building. This is a pic of the Hudson River from there. We then headed to the subway to go down to Pier 17. From there we walked to China town and had supper. Then to Little Italy and back to the subway. The ride home was entertaining. The driver (initials JC) took a wrong turn out of the garage and then we (the girls) talked him into turning left after he was in a left turn only lane which took us to the tunnel and by dark we ended up in Queens. Mike added his two cents by telling Jeff to stay in a lane that took us back on the interstate. We all had a hand in getting lost! We finally made it back to the marina. We had the GPS but she was as confused as we were.

Sept 18, 2010 Saturday

Here is a pic of the four of us at Green Turtle Bay last year. Today the girls went to the grocery while the guys did .... not sure what they did but they stayed at the boat getting things settled. We developed a slow air leak in our dingy earlier in the trip that we can not find so we have decided to pack it up and put it in the car to take back. We think that the water beating it seperated a seam some where. We had supper at the marina club house. Really good meal. Frizz is happy Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura are on board. She has two other people to play with her. Weather is warm but not to hot. Fall is in the air. We saw some trees changing colors on the ride here.

Sept 17, 2010 Friday

We made it back to Stony Point around 11:30 p.m. This time, Mike & Laura Lytle will spend about a week on board with us. We ran into three traffic jams in a row. Make for a very long day. The hi point was when the GPS told me to turn right and that our destination was 200 ft...we have arrived at our destination.....where? We were in the middle of a block of houses. Where was the marina????? We were in a bad part of town and remember that it is Friday night. Captain put the right address in the GPS and the wrong town! We had a good laugh. He set it for Haverstraw which is about 5 miles from our boat. Thought you'd like to see a picture we took in New York on our last trip. A pub in and old chapel.

Sept 5, 2010 Hurricane update

Hurricane Earl....We talked about this storm and decided that Jeff should get the boat moved up the Hudson River just in case. A few calls and on Tuesday 9-2-10, Jeff, Norm Carpenter and Jim Fletcher headed for Jersey City around 2:30 in the afternoon. They arrived at boat around 2:00 on Wednesday morning. After a few hours sleep and only a refund of $700.00 on our slip, the guys toured the harbor and then Captains Jeff and Norm headed up stream while Jim drove the car to the marina Jeff had found. Annie Lee III is now setting in Stony Point, NJ safe from strong winds and rain. That is about 30-35 miles up stream from New York City. Better to be safe than wish we had moved her.