Life on Zingara

Thursday, June 15th  Left Palmyra around 7:45 am, after having breakfast with the 3 brothers*, then arrived in Brockport around 3:00 pm  Locks #29 through #33 >> 42 Miles Today was the first time I held onto Zingara in a lock in the pouring RAIN.  My clothes were so wet, I had to take them off in the shower stall.  Once we docked, I threw them into the wash machine. Remember how I thought I was being so cool, using my dryer for storage? Note to self: double check before running a load of laundry!!!  I should have taken a picture of the crumbs in Rick's fleece and my socks, but I was too upset with myself at the time. Brockport – college town –  Stoneyard Brewing Company -- inside and out *We met these three men, all who were in their 70s, as they docked behind us in Palmyra.  Their story (as I heard it): The youngest brother, who lives in Alaska, and the middle brother who lives in Iowa, bought a boat along the east coas...

We left Cross Lake @ 6:45 am, went  through Locks 25-29, and finally docking in Palmyra @ ~ 2:30 pm >> 50+ Miles  Palmyra is the home of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church. At a nearby hill, in the early 1820s, Smith was prompted by an angel to dig up golden plates on which the Book of Mormon was written.  I guess every July, tens of thousands (over eight days) of spectators come to this tiny town for the Church’s annual celebration, and hillside performance, in Smith’s honor. In June 2017, I found Palmyra very sad –  Though they did have a great little Chinese restaurant. You know the food will be good when you can see the “chefs” chopping the fresh vegetables, and when the only person that speaks English is the 10-year-old boy taking orders by the cash register.  –  Besides the few restaurants, the shops in Palmyra were either used-bookstores or antique/flea-market shops. Towns along the Canal: Although some of the towns a...

The Erie Canal After 31 years (almost 32) of marriage --- Today, I heard Rick growl it, right out loud   “Patience is not in my vocabulary.”  I knew that all along, but I’m glad he finally admitted it!  OVERVIEW: Below is another picture of the same map of the Erie Canal that I posted before, but I'm hoping that you'll be able to read this one better.  We traveled (right right to left) from Troy (near Albany) and would finish up in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, NY. Maybe you can read this one a little better ...   Monday, June 12th, We left Ilion at 6:55 am, we went through locks 19 – 22 (Locks #21 & #22 were our first DOWN locks); then went across Lake Oneida  to Brewerston.   Heading into Lake Oneida Tuesday, June 13th, We left Brewerston around 8:00 am, went through locks 23 --34.  What do you think about these cool “Road signs”?  Along the way, we had a wonderful lunch with Cousin Jim and Beth in Baldwinsvil...

Just when we thought we were making up for lost time ... An Interlude in Ilion, NY, (you'll have to Google it yourself) along the Erie Canal. Zingara is stuck here with a bunch of other boaters.  It seems that they closed the next lock, due to a double barge coming down from the other way. Originally, it was just for 2 hours, --- now, it looks like we're spending the night.  

Saturday, June 10th. We pulled up the anchor at 7:10 am – We were trying to see if we could go 50+ miles today. In advance, I'm sorry if today's post is a little boring. Along the Erie Canal, two towers usually guard each lock.  Inside one of the towers sits the lock-master, a US-government employee who controls the lock.  Surprisingly, each lock-master we talked with seemed to really take pride in his lock, and was very helpful and friendly.   Once Zingara was about a mile away from a lock, we would get on the VHS radio and call  “Lock # (whatever lock it might be), Lock #, this is a westbound trawler.  When is your next opening?”   We would get info/timing from the lock-master.  Once the lock was in view, a light near the top of one of the towers would confirm our directions – it was mainly a traffic light – red means >> don’t enter; either the lock was being used by an eastbound boat or filling up, OR the light was green >...

The Erie Canal!     We left Coeyman Landing around 11:00.   Per the internet, the Locks #8 – 20 would open at 1:00 that afternoon.  So we headed north up of the Hudson River.  I never knew there was so much large ship-traffic on the Hudson River! And then we came to Albany :  Now I really want to visit this city on land!  It really looks like a cool place! A little bit north of Albany is the town of Troy   >>> and  Lock #1    A lock is a way for a boat to go up/down along a river/canal to a different elevation.  The concept is basically easy.  A boat(s) motors into a big cement & metal trough that has gates on both ends.  The far gate is closed, holding back the waters of the different elevation. The “close” gates close behind the boat(s) and water is pumped in to raise a boat(s) or pumped out to lower the boat(s) so that it/they can continue on their voyage. So...

As we’re stuck here south of Albany, we had our first lazy morning in two weeks – showering, laundry, catching up on emails, very exciting!  LOL According to Rick, the Canal will be opening tomorrow – Friday.  We’ll know for sure then. Now --- to go try that infamous Calamari --- it's almost Happy Hour!