I've Got A Mule Her Name Is Sal

Day 22, Wednesday, May 18th, 2016

Another day of locks-locks-locks.  You have to take a patience pill and just go with the flow.  It took us a few years to learn that.  The water dictates and you obey.  I thought we left the rudest boaters there are behind us in Florida.  Silly me.  Out of no where in one of the locks a pretty new boat appeared.  It locked next to us and I read their transom.  It was from Ft. Lauderdale.  When the locks doors opened they zoomed outa there and down the river at warp speed leaving a huge, rude wake and tearing into the fragile shoreline.  It was a race to the next lock.  We locked through a couple of locks with them and then they were off into the sunset.  Obviously they were more important than the other boaters and no need to respect the fragile banks of the canal.  Jerks.

Other than that it was a good day.

With the locks closing at 5:00 we went as far as we could and tied up to a nice wall in Rome. After some wine and cheese on the back deck we walked into town and had a wonderful dinner at the Savoy.  Highly recommend.   Quite full; we waddled back to the boat.  This has been the high carb cruise for sure.

Dave was pretty exhausted and turned in.  The rest of us were right behind him.


Day 23, 2016 - May 19th, 2016

The Long Run & the end of the Magical Mystery Tour

Of course we were waiting at the next lock when it opened at 7:00a.m. anxious to get it on.  It was a beautiful crisp morning and Ray and Lisa helped us get through the remaining locks until we were to meet John at the lock in Phoenix and change crew.  It has been a real pleasure having the Tangents along the last few days and we come out of this with new friends! 

While we were waiting for John at the Phoenix lock we noticed a restaurant, a deli and a barber shop that were in walking distance.  Dave said "should I get my haircut while we are waiting?"  We all decided that he might have a better shot at being acceptable haircut material at the little barber shop in Phoenix (Po-Dunk) NY that he was in Westchester County, NY.  We told him to go for it.  He did and came back in a few minutes sporting a new "do".  The haircut was $5.00 bucks!  Such a deal!

John came aboard and the Tangents took this pic of us shoving off.

 

 

Locking through the last remaining locks put us in Oswego where the canal meets Lake Ontario.  We passed through lock #109 since we left home almost three years ago. 

 

We assumed we would tie up in Oswego for the night and head out early in the morning for the final run of this 3 year odyssey to Pt. Breeze.  But when we saw how placid Lake Ontario was we couldn't resist. The East end of the lake can be a real bitch and usually is.  Today; however, she is in a good mood so we are going for it.  I had previously alerted Kristy and Bobby that one of them might have to pick me up in Oswego if the lake was bad.  I was not willing to have another ass kicking on a large body of water.  It's about an 8 hour run and will involve night boating under a full moon.  Hopefully we will arrive home around midnight.

 

It's a strange feeling to think that this trip is within hours away of being over.  It has been all consuming for so long. Thanks to the Krauses, Browns, Staskos and Tangents for coming along with us. We had a amazing adventure and I loved the time spent doing this with Dave.  When we are in the old folks home someday we can read this silly blog and smile.