Chapter 65: Two Weeks Remaining...

Log 65
2 Weeks remaining---Update

5:45 AM
Sunday, July 16, 2000
Sitting in my study at home


This is the first weekend Deb and I have been home since the first of May. (At one point I hadn’t slept in my bed at home for over 7 weeks) I’m sitting here planning our last two weeks of the trip, and I thought I’d get out an update to our status, and what we have left to do.

As I write this, the boat is in the small town of Brewerton, NY. If you were to look at a map of New York you would see a lake that runs east and west almost in the center of the state. That lake is Oneida Lake. The boat is located where Interstate 81 crosses that lake. Actually it is just to the west of there, but you get the idea. As I have written before, my original plans were to get it to Oswego, NY, and the bottom of Lake Ontario, But we ended up finding a great little marina, close to the Syracuse airport, so we decided to leave it there. I think it is going to work out great.

The remaining two weeks of our trip should be very exciting. Early last summer when we were testing the boat, we were in Michigan at a marina next to a fella, and we got talking about our boat, and that led us to the fact we were going to make the “Great Circle”. This guy went on to tell us he had made that trip. Twice! Well I must say I was a bit skeptical, but as he went on you could tell he was telling the truth. Anyway, during this conversation he ask me which way I was going once I got to Lake Ontario. I told him my plans were to go on to Lake Eire, then Lake Huron, and back around to Lake Michigan. “I went that way once” he said, “bad idea”, and he goes on to tell me the only way to make the trip is to cross Lake Ontario, and take the Trent-Severn Waterway. (I had heard about the Trent-Severn, but that’s about it. I didn’t have a clue what it was, or even where it was) He went on to say that was the only way to go, and it was some of the prettiest water he had ever seen in his life. Well I never forgot that conversation, although I was still planning on taking Lake Eire, because I didn’t feel we had enough time to take the “northern route”.
One of the great things about making this trip (or cruising in general) is the different people you meet, and listening to their stories. You normally start to talk to people when they see your boat name, and where your homeport is. You don’t see many boats from Illinois on the waterway, so they all want to know what you’re doing here. “You’re sure a long way from home” is a common response, and that starts the discussion. We have met people from all over the world, and they all have a story to tell. (Just thinking about all of the docks we have stood on, and had these discussions, gets me excited) The point of all of this is that during these conversations I have had many a discussion with captains who have taken the “northern route”, and every one (every single one) said it is some of the best boating, and most beautiful water they have ever been in. With all of those conversations in mind, I started doing some homework, and trying to figure out what all of the fuss was, and……… could we do this? After a fair amount of reading I figured out what the route would be, and…….yes…..we could do this.

So with that introduction, here is what our plans are for the final two weeks:
We get back to the boat on Friday, July 21st. Terry and Jeanie (Deb’s sister, and brother in law) will be with us for the entire time. They have been with us before, and they are a great crew.
We will depart Brewerton, NY on the 22nd, and finish the few miles remaining of the Eire Canal.
After 1 lock, and about 5 miles on the Eire Canal, we will join the Oswego Canal, and head due north.
On the Oswego Canal we will go about 20 miles, and through 5 locks before we reach Oswego, NY, and lake Ontario.
Depending on the time, and the lake conditions we will either stop for the night, or head northeast across Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario. We will now be in Canada for a while, and we will need to clear customs. (Some say they will board our boat, some say they won’t)
From Kingston we go a little southwest, to the town of Trenton, and to the beginning of the Trent-Severn Waterway. This waterway is about 240 miles long, with 42 locks. (Yes, 42 locks)
The Trent-Severn drops us at Port Severn, near the town of Midland, and the southwest corner of Georgian Bay. (You can see this on an atlas)
From there we will (depending on the weather conditions) either cross the Georgian Bay, or wind our way around the “small boat route”, and what they call the “Thousand Islands” (See…I told you I have been doing some reading) They say this area is absolutely awesome, but we will have to see how much time we have.
Across the Georgian Bay we come to Killarney, and the start of the North Channel. The North Channel is the body of water at the very northern end of Lake Huron. We will cross the North Channel, and end up joining Lake Huron at the northwest side, near Drummond Island.
From here we will skirt the northern end of Lake Huron, and join Lake Michigan at the Straits of Mackinac. Hopefully we will have time to stop at Mackinac Island.
Once we reach Lake Michigan, we will follow the eastern edge of the state, and work our way down to Benton Harbor, or maybe even Michigan City, before we cross Lake Michigan to Chicago.
From Chicago we have about 90 miles, and two days running to get us back to our slip in Ottawa, IL. (Our plan is to be back by Saturday, August 5th) where we left 11 months before that.

So that’s it. Our plan for the final two weeks. On one hand, it’s pretty straightforward, on the other, there is a lot of open water on this leg, and depending on the winds we will have to see how far we can get each day. There is also a tremendous amount of navigating, which I love, and Terry does as well. I’m sure we will have to sit a day or two along the way and wait for better weather, and I’m also sure we will have to “blast” on some other days to take advantage of “flat” water. That’s the adventure part.
What ever happens I want to be sure to soak all of this in, and enjoy the final leg.
It’s hard to believe it is getting close to being over. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve got a ways to go.

YeeeeHaaaaa!

BK