Days, miles, locks roll by.
Sun shines, birds sing, lakes ripple.
Full moon radiates.
OK – true story. I
was going to follow that opening with “I’ll write a haiku later.” Then I read my syllables and realized that I
already had!
The full orange moon coming through the pines and onto the
water last night really was magnificent.
We’ve now completed 190 miles and 40 locks of the Trent
Seven Waterway (out of a total of 240 miles and 45 locks). We are tying up for two weeks and
flying back to the states for various reasons. The Trent-Severn has been beautiful, peaceful and somewhat slow to traverse, because much of it is 6 mph canal, the locks take awhile, and the lock hours are only 9-5 M-F. Those hours are a source of great
controversy up here – as they are greatly reduced over previous years and
locals fear that this will discourage the important boating tourist
traffic.
The boat has been 100% reliable, not a hiccup. Yesterday, we thought it was acting a bit sluggish and I jumped
in the cold Canadian water to try to inspect the props and shafts for
weeds (because Canadian waters are FILLED with their own version of seaweed - who knew?). I found none, but this boat is
too big to get great access to the running gear before having to swim back out from under the boat – especially with a
current. I only ended up with a cut foot
for my troubles.
That night, we were joined by Peter Lindsay, wife Kate, and kids Jake and Claire. They were great but brief guests. We had time to relax for awhile, go to dinner in town, play some cards, check our blood pressures (Peter and I are borderline and talk about this fascinating subject frequently) - what's on the table below could be contributing to our problems - and go to bed. They left the next morning after smoothies – and we departed shortly after they did.
That night, we were joined by Peter Lindsay, wife Kate, and kids Jake and Claire. They were great but brief guests. We had time to relax for awhile, go to dinner in town, play some cards, check our blood pressures (Peter and I are borderline and talk about this fascinating subject frequently) - what's on the table below could be contributing to our problems - and go to bed. They left the next morning after smoothies – and we departed shortly after they did.
The next night was spent on a lock wall – very relaxing. We took a riverside trail (me running, Debi on bike) for awhile, watched others picking leaves in the woods around us (don’t know what kind), and went to bed early.
We’ve moved from farmland to marshland to woodlands to rocky
islands and shores that provide a preview of the Georgian Bay. Part of our travels have taken us past pink
granite outcroppings popping right out of the water around us. Also stacked limestone that reminds me of
Michigan or Wisconsin. Much of this territory
is very resort, tourist, and vacation oriented, but hardly over-developed. Mostly lots of cottages – of all sizes and
ages. The waterway is a series of
rivers, lakes, and canals and we are clearly in the serious lake part of it
now.
One really fun experience was the Peterborough Lift (below). Unlike a lock which fills with water to lift
boats, this is a pan/bathtub that you drive the boat into. It is connected to another pan parallel to it and 65 feet above us. The upper pan is just sitting on a steel tube filled with water - which is connected to a similar tube under us. When they pour
an extra foot of water in the pan above it, the extra weight pushes that pan and tube down, which lifts our pan up on the tube under us. It felt and
looked like we were floating above the river, just rising like an elevator. The next one will have us entering high,
putting the boat at the end of the pan, looking out over the river 60 feet
below us with nothing visually supporting us – and then we will drop down as
the other pan lifts up and passes us midway.
We were heading for a full day of cruising today, but after
about 2 ½ hours, we were passing through Fenelon Falls. It is a very nice little town that caught our eye
– so we called it a day. First time in a
week we haven’t traveled the better part of the day. We toured by bike, as we do at every stop,
bought a couple of DVDs to pass the evenings, sanded some rusty spots on our
bikes and touched up with paint, practiced using our anchor (a must
for the July portion of the trip – as docks and marinas will be fewer and farther
between) with some help from a friendly fellow boater, and enjoyed watching other boats entering and leaving the lock next
to us.
As you can see below, we are just waiting to be sitting on the bow, relaxing, with you! And these white pots light up at night (Debi loves that).
As you can see below, we are just waiting to be sitting on the bow, relaxing, with you! And these white pots light up at night (Debi loves that).
June 24
A fairly long day of travel with a hiccup and a
resolution. We left early to make sure
we could get through to our final destination before the locks closed. We were relieved when we did so, but when we
pulled into our marina we found their power supply just wasn’t working for our
boat. Imagine driving 8 hours, finding
out your hotel is closed, and realizing that you are hours from the next
option. As it turned out, we did find another
one, further on up the "road" – about 2 more hours of unexpected cruising, but
not out of our way. The good news is
that it is much nicer than the one we were in – the bad news is that we are
paying top dollar for a place where the boat will sit for two weeks while we are
home. Again, imagine you have to rent a
hotel room for two weeks to hold your luggage while you are out of town – and
instead of leaving your stuff at the Hampton Inn, you are now leaving it at the
Hyatt Regency. Oh well.
The other advantage is that it got me close to a sports bar
where I got to see the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup, having won 3 straight
after going down 2-1. And more
amazingly, scoring the tying and winning goals with a minute left in the game,
after only scoring one goal the first 59 minutes. Stunning in the best way possible – and it
was fun watching it with Canadians who know and love the game. It's their Super Bowl.
June 25
Our first FULL day of
not traveling since the 16th.
We needed it to wash the boat, our clothes, arrange for a new battery
charger to be installed (it wouldn’t be good to leave the boat with the
batteries not charging properly – eventually they would die, and the ability of the boat
to pump bilge water out in the event of a leak (just a cracked hose would do it) would be compromised to say the least.
One of the dock hands offered us a ride halfway to Toronto
tomorrow – making our trip to the airport considerably easier. So tomorrow, we are on
our way home, having completed the eastern half of the Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Lake Ontario, a portion of the
St. Lawrence River, 85% of the Trent-Severn Waterway and 70 locks! We are ahead of schedule, and feeling pretty
content with our progress and the lack of any major complications – it’s just
not like us to not have something more interesting to say! No fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, accidents,
breakdowns, psycho killers…. Just me and you and a boat named…
P.S. This photo was actually taken while home in Atlanta - can you guess where?
Jim and Debi
P.S. This photo was actually taken while home in Atlanta - can you guess where?
Jim and Debi
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