We stayed at Donovan’s Shady Harbor in New Baltimore for an extra few days, waiting for the weather to improve and for the Erie Canal to be repaired. Overnight, Kitty got up to see the Strawberry Moon. Our next journey is north for 18 miles and then — Westward Ho! 150 miles on the Erie Canal.
We left New Baltimore early on the morning of June 11 for the entrance to the Erie Canal at Troy and Waterford, NY, on our way to Schenectady, NY. The day began with fog and a 1.5 knot tidal current against us. Three hours from New Baltimore at 5:00 am to the Federal Lock at Troy for the 8:00 am opening.
I don’t know about you, but I had pictured the Canal as a deep, continuous trench. This proved wrong. It is more basically a series of locks, connected by short (e.g. half-mile) trenches. We were lifted uphill by water flowing into the lock after its watertight ends are closed. In each of the first 6 locks, which took us over the Mohawk/Hudson escarpment, the boat rose 30-34 feet per lock ((184 feet in total in a continuous “staircase” of locks).
A lock filling. The valves are underneath the boat and lift us up with only moderate amounts of turbulence.
We made it to Schenectady mid-afternoon and settled in with our new dock mates and in yet another town. On June 13, the Erie Canal locks finally opened to Oneida Lake, but we stayed through Saturday to have our AC system repaired and left at 7:00 am on Father’s Day.
Between the locks, the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal were peaceful and fun to travel. Wee don’t go very fast…
The life by the canal was always interesting. We had conversations with other boaters but, more often, with people on the lock side who were interested in what we were doing (and why!) We did our best to give them a vicarious feel for the trip. The Mennonite kids were very interested in our Perkins engines and seemed to be familiar with them (they are the same make as found in Massey-Ferguson tractors, and in London taxis.)
On our way to St. Johnsville Municipal marina, we went past the original home of Mohawk Carpets
We stopped at Ilion, NY (ILION — original home of Remington Arms) about 10 miles from Utica. Ilion is a great town with a grocery store, an auto parts store, and several restaurants within easy walking distance. The fuel was cheap ($3.36/gal for Diesel), the pump out of our sewage tank was free, and the dockage was mostly a service to the public ($150/week!) We will leave the boat here while we head to the Adirondacks on Saturday, June 21 for a week with my sister, Carol, and my brother-in-law, John Jackson.
Bluebird's Great Loop Diaries 
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