Chapter 63: Erie Canal to Ilion

Log 63
Eire Canal-Ilion NY.

5:20 AM
Thursday, July 06, 2000
Ilion Marina
Ilion, NY.

Day 81

This is what I thought the Eire Canal was: A long narrow man made channel that went through towns that had docks next to their downtown areas. As you traveled this canal, you would stop each night at one of these little towns, and enjoy their local flair. Sort of like the canal systems in Europe. (Who knows where I got this idea)
I now know what the Eire Canal is. It’s a road of water. A scenic road that is in the middle of nowhere, and takes you to somewhere, but along the way there is no place to really stop. If you picture this kind of road, (like maybe a desolate back road) only water, that’s what the Eire Canal is. With all of that said, it is beautiful. There are lots of hills, and some mountains, and almost always there are trees growing up to the canal edge. Most of what we are on is the Mohawk River, but it is connected by man-made waterways, and lots of locks. (We have gone through 19 in two days). Yesterday we went through a lock that lifted us up over 40 feet, in about 11 minutes.
We untied at about 6:30 yesterday, and made it to our first lock at exactly 7AM. The sky was a bright blue, sunny, and with a slight chill in the air. (About 64 degrees) This is one of the few times since we have left home that I had to wear a sweat suit to drive the boat. The night we spent in Amsterdam we had the misfortune to meet a couple of boats that were going the same place we were. These were two McKenna 57 foot boats that had captains on them and they were delivering them somewhere. We don’t know where because we didn’t want to talk to them. (To long a story, let’s just say they were not your normal kind of boaters) Anyway….as I have said there is a speed limit of 10 MPH on the waterway, and we wanted to get ahead of these guys, so we wouldn’t have to lock through with them all of the way. When we left the lock wall in Amsterdam there was no sign on life on their boats so we knew we would make it to the first lock before them, and stay ahead of them all day. Well, by the second lock (where we had a slight delay getting in the lock) they were right behind us, and we knew they would probably catch us at the next lock. As we were locking through, and talking to the lockmaster, we mentioned these two boats behind us, and he said he had heard about them. It seems that they had already had two warnings about their speed. He went on to tell us that although he personally couldn’t give them a ticket, he could sure make their life miserable, by finding all kinds of ways to slow down the lock process. Well that was at lock # 12, and for the rest of the day we were talking to the lockmasters warning them about the two upcoming McKenna boats. It became a game to Steve, and he was really having a good time trying to get the lockmasters to delay these guys coming through the locks. (Like saying “Why do you think those guys feel that all lockmasters are hicks”?) By the end of the day they ended up being a couple of hours behind us, and I’m sure very frustrated with the slowness of the New York Canal System.
We reached Ilion NY by about 2:30 in the afternoon. It was really too early to stop, but it was the only place for quite a while where you could tie up, and have electricity as well. So we took advantage of it, and made it a relaxing afternoon of cleaning up the boat, and telling stories.
At the marina (they call it a marina, but actually it’s not a marina, it’s just a long wall where about 8 to 10 boats can tie up) they said you could you could call two different local restaurants, and they would come and get you for dinner. We studied the different menus, and decided on one, and I called for reservations, and a pick-up. It really worked out great. Not only did they pick us up, but the food was great, and on the way back the owners wife stopped at the grocery store so we could run in and get a couple of things. Back at the boat we had a nightcap, watched a little TV, and off to bed. Two good days on the Erie Canal.

I’ll keep you posted.

BK.