Yesterday we spent the whole day taking care of little things on Blue Moon that have been ignored because we were too busy traveling. By the end of the day she was detailed and polished. It was a challenge because the winds picked up and averaged 20-30 mph plus all day. Never have I been tied to a dock and on the verge of being seasick. It was like dealing with 4 footers while tied to the floating docks. Good thing they were floating in the lurching water or we could have had a real issue.
It was quite uncomfortable and lasted all night into today. I have been manically checking the weather every ten minutes hoping it would end soon. It was supposed to end sometime during the night.
You had to time it just right to get off the boat between it lurching up and down to get on the dock. We made it and walked the half mile into the little plaza where there was a "salon". That's all it said on the sign. Dave (and I) badly need haircuts and are looking pretty scruffy. He had on his usual dressed down boat attire complete with back pack. I think he was going for the homeless look. He walked into the "salon" and asked the cute little fashionista girl behind the counter if they did haircuts there. You could see her backing away from him and she gave a curt "no". You could tell she wanted him to go away and go back under what ever bridge he might be living under. Dave and I had a good laugh at ourselves. We do get quite caught up in what ever we are doing and often let "fashion" fall by the wayside. Hey, that's us.
Ray and Lisa Tangent were due to arrive around 5:20 via Amtract but they texted and said their train was delayed. Ahhh...mass transit. They made it there around 7:00 and we helped them onto the still bouncy boat and had some pizza for dinner. They had a long day of travel and we all turned in rather early. That happens a lot on the boat.
Day 20, Monday, May 16, 2016
I worried through the night about leaving the dock in high winds and getting onto the Hudson at it's widest, most unprotected area. The winds did calm down to a manageable level and once we got out into the river it was more level and calm than back at the dock. Crazy. Blue Moon is so heavy and the way she's built she cut right through the light chop and wind and gave us a nice ride. It wasn't long before we passed West Point.
It's amazing that Lee and Grant were class mates there and then went onto fight each other on opposite sides in the Civil War. Eisenhaurer, the great architect of D-Day and my favorite World War 2 rogue General Patton were also graduates of this prestigious American military school.
We had a nice, scenic ride up to the Waterford Town Wall that is right before the first lock on the Erie Canal.
We tied up and walked into town for a great meal at pub. Thanks Ray and Lisa. We had to walk through old residential streets of houses built when the canal was built. No driveways (built before cars) and they were very small and almost touching each other they were so close. I love these old towns.
Lisa met a young girl, early 20 something, who was pitching a tent on the town park near us. She was to meet her mother the next day in Schenectady and they are riding their bikes to Seattle! I was worried about her sleeping in a public park all night by her self but she seemed cool with it. Not to be unkind, but she was quite large. Maybe by the time she pedals to the west coast that will not be the case.
Day 21, Tuesday, May 17, 2016
You Can't Always Get What You Want
We arouse around 6:00a.m. to get ready for the first lock opening right in front of us, at 7:00a.m. There were 3-4 other boats doing the same thing and to our
dismay, a couple of them were slow boating trawlers. That meant we would make it to the next lock and have to wait for them to show up to lock through. We are on a mission to get home as soon as possible and they, lucky them, are probably not in a hurry. So we poked along until we found a big open stretch and Captain Speed put her up on plane and we ditched them at the next lock.
The locks are only open until 5:00 this early in the season so we wanted to make it to lock 12 and call it a day. But first we had to get through lock 11. That proved to be quite the adventure. We were headed into lock, past the pre-lock walls ready to grab the slimy ropes to secure us in the lock. Routine? No.
The dam next to this particular lock is really close by and the current caught us and just about slammed us into the wall. Dave quickly pulled her back but the current swirled us into the opposite direction. There were a few pretty hairy minutes of Dave getting control of the boat back and getting us into the lock safely. That was completely unexpected and has never happened in all the hundreds of locks we have gone through. When it was over I asked Ray if he ever thought he was going to go white water rafting on this trip!
We tied up to a canal terminal wall for the evening. It was out in the wilderness and turned out to be a good, quiet place to be. We made a nice dinner and tried to sit outside but it was still a bit chilly so we dined inside the galley.
The day's excitement made us tired so again, early to bed.
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