Made it to Canada!

We're in Canada!!  Gananonque to Campbellton    

June 20, 2013

Well, guess where I am.   Did you guess a bar?  You are amazing.  And what am I doing?  Did you guess watching my Blackhawks in a Stanley Cup Playoff game?  You are soooo very good.  And what is the score?  Did you say tied, in overtime?   Right again.   What surprises await me tonight?   Debi was too comfy after her shower to dress and come out – she’s tucked in and reading.  

This bar is not much bigger than our boat – and yet we have a pretty good singer/guitar player – though I’d rather be hearing the sound from the game.  Too much to ask.  Actually, I didn’t know Brown Eyed Girl could work as an acoustic half-tempo melancholic almost-ballad.  It’s working. 

Some days are like others – there is some degree of repetition on this trip.  How could there not be in five months of boating?   But today had a couple of different elements. 

It started with some of the same, six locks in fairly short order.   Two were interesting because they were connected.  After one giant lift, the doors opened and we simply drove forward a couple hundred feet and we were inside the next one.   As you know, Debi is the captain, but she has been making me dock inside these locks, not always an easy task, but definitely easier than backing into a slip. 

After a fairly full day of beautiful travel through marshes and woodlands, we ended in Campbellford.  We docked at the town docks, right alongside a park.  As luck would have it, Wednesday night is music in the park night – so we had a perfect seat within 50 yards or so of the gazebo with a pretty good bluegrass/country band.   Debi fixed a quick dinner, picking some peppers and tomatoes out of our bow garden.   We brought that meal out to the folding chairs on the bow of the boat, and joined the hundreds of locals who came out for the big entertainment.

The other beautiful event was a great bike trail alongside the river, connecting to a 300 foot suspension bridge over some waterfalls.  After the bridge, we rode up the other side of the river on a great dirt trail, with the river and falls on one side and woods on the other.   That brought us back to town and the park concert.

Let me back up.  I think I last left you in Cape Vincent, waiting for Bob and Peg Webber to arrive.  They spent time with us on the Potomac  last year, so we knew they were great guests – enthusiastic and helpful.  And they did not let us down this year - we had an adventure-filled six days and 5 nights with them.   As you may know, Bob is a great cook and has an appreciation for good food -some of which he brought with him and some of which he bought in markets along the way.   And I’m now a fan of Rare Eagle bourbon.  He was also a guest chef on Sea Fever, for a lovely brunch.  

We left Cape Vincent and headed up the St. Lawrence, crossing onto the Canadian side of the river at Gananoque.   This is one of the primary ports for cruises through the Thousand Islands – so the four of us signed on for “a three hour tour” (repeat…”a three hour tour).   Beautiful scenery, interesting history, communities, architecture. 

Gananoque led to Kingston, a pretty major metropolis.  We arrived in time for a French culture festival, live bands, markets, etc.   How many of you have seen the Gay Pride parade in Kingston?   Well, that’s been checked off our bucket list.  Good English and Irish bars for watching the U.S. Open, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NBA playoffs.   Bob and Peg treated us to a first class dinner at Chez Piggy, a place they had enjoyed 20 years ago.  We had a waitress who had worked there for 31 years  - maybe they had met before?   

Kingston was good enough to stay for two nights – then on to Picton, which was a much bigger small town than we had expected.  Big enough for me to get a haircut, for each of us to do some shopping and for all of us to have a decent dinner before retiring to (guess what?) a bar to watch hockey and play pool.  Bob beat me handily (as many of you have), but in Kingston I extended my National Bocce Championship to International Championship status, by beating Bob and Debi soundly. 

We left Picton yesterday morning and cruised about 30 miles to Belleville.  Belleville was not on our itinerary, but it turns out they have a train station – so we docked long enough to let Bob and Peg off to end their journey with us.  They took our boat to a train to a car to a ferry to another car ride to another ferry to their car.   The car referred to above was driven by John – a guy who just happened to be docked next to us in Cape Vincent (on the right in the picture).   He heard Bob and Peg’s proposed transportation logistics and offered to pick them up at the train station in Kingston and take them across in the ferry.   These are the things boat people do for each other, because life can get complicated out here and if there is any easy way to help – people do.   Plus Canadians are just plain nice.  They seem to have that northern California sensibility – mostly mellow, liberal, good taste – but without the attitude (Debi says she doesn't think there is a lot of whining in Canada).  John is also the guy who spent hours going over future charts with me – giving me local knowledge of where to go, what to avoid, what trouble lurks where – above and below the water.   We are still a bit daunted – especially the stretch of nearly 200 miles that are pretty remote in terms of dockage, cell service, internet, stores, etc.   Sometimes I wake up thinking about it. 

But I digress (and digress and digress, and sometimes progress, occasionally regress).  After dropping our friends off we continued on to the start of the Trent-Severn Waterway, a 240 mile stretch of rivers and lakes, occasionally linked by man-made canals that wind in a very roundabout way through Ontario – connecting us from Lake Ontario to the Georgian Bay.  We are only 31 miles into it,  but have already done 12 of the 45 locks.  The locks here are much smaller (narrower) than the Erie Canal – much less room for error, especially when there are other boats involved.  

At each lock, boats are invited to tie up for the night on either side (top or bottom) of the lock, alongside cement walls.   These walls separate the river from park areas, so it creates a very nice setting to hang out.  Last night, we docked under and alongside a weeping willow – and lucked into one of the few such areas that have electricity.

OK – this place is Cheers.  Everyone knows everyone – except me.  And now the bartender has taken the mike for a song– and damn if she isn’t just awesome!   Like professional awesome. 

And meanwhile we are trying to keep up with the adventures of Emily and Drew as they move into the last couple weeks of their seven weeks in Europe.   Texts, emails, Facebook, Skype and Viber have all contributed to this crazy cross-continent communication. 

Hawks win!

Our First GREAT LAKE

 

June 6 :  When we last left you we had done a long day’s ride across the Erie Canal.  The following day we did the same – completing 130 miles of the Canal and 22 canals in two 10 hour trips.  Given that the locks are only open 8-6 and that most of the canal is under a 10 mph speed limit you can’t do it in less than that.  We got increasingly comfortable with the locks, and after rising for 20 locks, took rides down in the last two.  Lock 17, the highest at 40 feet, found they couldn’t seal the door behind us due to debris at the bottom.  Finally, they turned on all of the valves anyway, and flushed it down the canal – before they solved the problem, we were discussing how long could we make it living inside a lock, on our current provisions (since that day, several locks have closed due to high water and other Loopers are stuck in between locks).

The goal was to get to Lake Oneida (settled in the resort village of Sylvan Beach) before the weather turns bad, which could be any minute now.  Otherwise we could be stuck for several days in a less desirable location, and not be able to take advantage of any break in the weather which will allow us the opportunity to cross the 22 mile lake when it is relatively calm.  During a long stretch, I looked out on the bow to see a most peculiar site - Debi all bundled up in her sweat pants, with her lock gloves...doing PILATES!!  

Our marina adjoins a rather upscale trailer park, the kind people choose to live in, instead of have to live in.  I think Debi said they were people that had life by the tail instead of the other way around.   Last night we had dinner at a beachfront restaurant, watching the sun set over the lake.  On the way there we passed through the town square, where a bluegrass band from Syracuse was performing the summer Wednesday night concert in the gazebo.  Each Thursday night everyone brings out their classic cars from miles around.  And Friday nights are fireworks nights (just like Turner Field!).  I was talking to Steve on the phone at the time and noted that this was Garrison Keillor country.   It even has an old small amusement park with a roller coaster on the beach (with a carousel with baby tanks as the seats)!   

So today will be a day “off” which means two phone meetings for me, a trip to the post office and somewhere to find internet, the usual exercise and email, edit some photos, read, Bananagrams, practice my keyboard, argue with my health insurance, washing windows, maybe a crossword puzzle, etc.  Semi-normal life in a semi-abnormal environment. 

June 10:  After enjoying some low key time in Sylvan Beach, we took the ride across Oneida Lake.  It’s not a Great Lake, but it’s a Pretty Good Lake – a warm-up for things to come.  Again, we are going to hang here in Brewerton (just north of Syracuse) until we get a couple of good weather days to head to Oswego on the coast of Lake Ontario – and then to cross the narrow end of the lake and into the St. Lawrence on the Canadian side.   Enjoyed a riverfront bar on a beautiful Sunday afternoon yesterday.  Today we will borrow the marina courtesy car for some provisioning. 

June 12:  Provisioning day went well – had our neighbors over for drinks.  The following day (yesterday) we made a decision based on weather.com that couldn’t have been more wrong.  The result was a rain-soaked, wind-battered trip of five hours finishing our portion of the Erie Canal and turning north onto the Oswego River.   Holding onto those ropes while getting lowered into the locks and holding the boat off the walls in the wind and rain was particularly fun.   Debi laughed at me multiple times – it gave me great pleasure to be the source of such amusement standing there in soaked clothes and shoes.  Hey – it’s an adventure – not a luxury cruise! 

We made it to Oswego but were too tired to go explore the town, other than a bike ride to Radio Shack for a camera cable.  We were finally blessed with a nice sunset – Debi cooked a delicious salmon dinner for us - and a good night’s rest.

That led to an early morning departure and our first experience with a GREAT Lake – Ontario.    We had taken that long, wet boat trip yesterday because today was going to be our only good window for the crossing – and it was great.  Sunny and smooth – we were appropriately impressed with the huge body of water.  Landed in Cape Vincent, on the U.S. (New York) side of the St. Lawrence River – just off the lake.  We had to get here today, because tomorrow we will be joined by Bob and Peg Webber – who are driving up from Rockville MD to spend 4 nights with us.  And crossing tomorrow would not have been an option – 20-25 knot winds in our face.  Serious waves.  Friday we will cross into Canada - not to return until early August.   Met some great Canadian boaters - very lively conversation....which led to p.p.s. below.

We are on a free dock – which sounds great – but it comes with no electricity, no water, no nothing.  Nowhere in town has the 50 amp service we need.  And we are beginning to realize that electricity is going to be an on and off thing (so to speak) for the next couple of months.  But I think that’s going to be easy compared to no cell phone service, no wifi, etc.  It’s not like we’ll never have these things, but they are going to be luxuries instead of normalcies – until we get back to the states in early August.  It’s not that Canada is behind times – but the Georgian Bay and northern Lake Huron are just extremely isolated.  The positive reframe is that apparently we are going to be in a land of intense beauty – islands, cliffs, crystal clear water.  Who needs email?   (I can’t believe I said that).  You’ll just have to be patient to get our blog report. 

Some of the stories of our travels are dramatic (e.g., tornadoes, passing the Statue of Liberty), some are small little slices of life.  While it is not the most amazing story, see the p.s. for an example of the latter. 

Love, Jim and Debi  

p.s.  While in a bar watching the Blackhawks’ double overtime win in the Stanley Cup, I was surrounded by about 10 of the loudest drunkest least competent karaoke singers imaginable.  10 was about capacity for the bar (just a small room on the other side of a restaurant).  They weren’t exactly obnoxious, but they were on the edge.  All of a sudden, one of the waitresses from the restaurant appears with a guitar.  This girl is 15, looks more like 12 or 13, dressed in one of those couldn’t-be-less-flattering frumpy waitress outfits, like Alice wore.   She starts singing, “Oh where or where could my baby be…The Lord took her away from me” – a song that was an oldie when her parents first heard it.   That was a curious choice, but she got the attention of the small crowd.  That was followed by a song she wrote, which she introduced as “Memorial Day”, written on the holiday a couple of weeks ago.   And while I was expecting some sort of “I’m Proud to Be an American” schmaltz, nothing could have been further from the truth.  It was an incredible love song by anyone’s standards, using the colors red, white, and blue to describe her emotions about different stages of a relationship – I would be doing it a disservice by trying to recreate it any further.   You could hear a pin drop – and I was watching HER instead of the Blackhawks in the midst of the second overtime!  So weird to be in this little bar in this little town watching this little girl completely overwhelm this drunken audience.  This trip is as much about moments like that as it is about seeing the “sights”.

p.p.s.  So the p.s. was about missing part of the Chicago Blackhawks overtime playoff game because of an unexpected turn of events in the bar.  A couple of nights ago I was back in another bar in another town watching the same Blackhawks in another overtime game in the same Stanley Cup Playoffs.  And, once again, an adventure broke out interrupting the game.  This time, we were having a fine time with the Canadians in the picture. The guy on the left headed for home...and came back 30 minutes later, calmly explaining he had just wiped out on his Harley, trying to avoid a deer that jumped in the road.  So, the three of us guys hopped in his truck with him, leaving our women behind – and off to the bike we went.

What we found was unbelievable.  There was no shoulder where his bike went off the road – just a pretty steep bank  heading 25 feet down into the St. Lawrence River.  The only thing between the road and the river were a couple of boulders, and the bike was more or less hanging off the edge of one of them.   He decided we were going to strap that thing to his SUV up on the road, drag it off the rock, up the bank, and into the road.  And after several nearly DISASTROUS false starts, we did just that.  Then we shoved that 900 pound pile of metal with stuff hanging off every side and end of it up a ramp and into the trailer behind his SUV.  He drove us back to the bar – bought everyone a round – and we went back to watching the game.  I missed the first OT due to duty with my boys, saw the second OT (no score) and for some reason 5 periods of hockey were 4 too many for Debi and we went home before the Hawks won in the 3^rd OT.

And the hits just keep happening.  

Back on Sea Fever - Great Lakes Here We Come.

Well – here we go.  It’s been  8+ months since we left you with pictures from the Hudson River – where we concluded Sea Fever 2012’s Boats Notes.  Now we return with a real blog – I’ll thank Debi (actually Emily and Samantha) for getting us into this century.  We are reconstructing some of the previous Boats Notes posts into the blog – along with many pics from the old days on For Play.   All of that work is in progress, but have a look if you are interested.

It was exactly a year ago yesterday that we started the 2012 trip with the tornado.  The 2013 trip started haltingly, but much less dramatically.  We took two days driving from Atlanta to just south of Albany where Sea Fever was waiting patiently inside a large building.  Of course, there were some immediate fine-tuning issues associated with sitting still for a winter – but nothing too serious and the boat has performed flawlessly since we got it in the water.    

We had the good fortune of being in the Albany area at the same time as Wayne Dow, along with his two favorite women, Virginia and his mom, Marge.  As a result we had a car loaned to us for a few days which was great for finishing our provisioning – and for my two trips to the emergency room (the second in the middle of the night) for a blood clot.  The first time they told me I did not have one.  When I woke up in the night 36 hours later, I was sure and went back.  They confirmed and I’m finishing my last couple days of two shots per day. 

Great start, eh?  We also got to spend some nice time with Wayne et al at Marge’s house, seeing her gardens, going out to dinner, spending the night, etc.  Very interesting to see the house Wayne lived in from age 12 on.  Then they all came down to Coeymans (where the boat was) for the short ride up to the Albany Yacht Club. 

Debi kept things under control while I detoured to San Francisco to play a gig with the Mothers of Prevention and see Adam and Doyanne – LOTS of good time with them – thanks, guys.  My artsy pic (right) is from the lobby of our Hyatt:

Upon my return from SF 5 days later, we finally got things rolling – taking a short trip up to Waterford which is at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers.  Taking that westerly turn onto the Mohawk began our first official entry to the Erie Canal.  The Waterford grocery store encourages boaters to take their carts the 2/3 mile from their store to the docks – then they pick up the carts once per week.  I hadn’t run yet that day – thus, the picture below.  Debi said the locals were staring, trying to decide if I was one of those crazy boaters making a supply run or a homeless person who had just scored a big haul and making a quick get away...  I never pushed Emily along in a jogger stroller, so this was my make-up.  We also visited a local history museum there, along with the usual small town bar – and breakfast café (two places).

After two days in Waterford, we took off for REAL on today’s journey.  In the span of 10 hours we covered 60 miles of the Erie Canal and 12 locks (20 minutes per).  We had done one lock on the Hudson, but this was the real indoctrination.  It didn’t take long to get the routine down – fenders (bumpers) down, pole ready to catch a rope hanging over the wall.  Each of us would hold one of these lines connected to the top of the lock, keeping the boat near the wall (but hopefully not scraping – thus the fenders).  Held onto the ropes as the lock filled and we rode the rising waters.   Some locks have a vertical cable along the height of the wall that you can loop your rope around to guide your ride up.  The first five locks, called the Waterford Flight, took us up 169 feet in less than 2 miles – the largest lock elevation change in that short span in the world.  All of today’s locks were rides up – eventually we’ll come down before entering Lake Ontario.   We had to make an “emergency” rescue of one dropped pole and one lost fender – but both had only moderate drama associated.     

Debi's dockings have been masterful - has had to basically parallel park the boat on several occasions and has even garnered some high-fives and applause from by-standers...that, of course, makes her day!

We went farther than expected today – we’re trying to make good time today and tomorrow before another round of storms comes through.  We’ll probably hole up at Sylvan Lake at the eastern end of Lake Oneida until the weather passes and we can do the 22 mile lake crossing with minimal turbulence.   

The boat traffic was extremely light.  In 8 hours we saw 4 other boats.  The scenery was pastoral, rolling green hills, Canadian geese, old river towns, trains riding the rails alongside the river.  It was much less developed than we had expected – very peaceful traveling. 

Took time for one celebratory brew at the local pub, and one round of bocce ball in the park by our boat but decided best to sign off and get to bed – early departure tomorrow.  

COME JOIN US!!!
Jim and Debi