After a day of rest after that rockin’ Doobies concert, we headed back to the Erie Canal in hopes of doing 60 miles and 10 locks. There is no commercial traffic any longer on the Erie, so there’s usually no waiting or delays at the locks, in fact, many of the lockmasters call ahead and let the next lock know you are on the way, how’s that for service. We met up with our friends on Side Piece, Kasey and Jim, and traveled with them through the remainder of the Erie. Although it’s the middle of summer, we had a temp of 56 degrees and brisk, with that wind out of the North. We had our winter jackets hats, and wool socks on again.
The Erie is known for having many free city walls to tie up to for the night, we found that with the larger number of Loopers this year, availability was hard to come by. We also found that many docks were no longer in existence probably due to flooding. So it worked out that we found a marina with a cement wall and electricity in a small town called St. Johnsville. We paid $1 a foot and were never happier to pay it knowing we would have heat that night. It was Saturday night and we thought surely there would be something going on in town, an open bar or restaurant? Nope, nothing, like a ghost town. We found many of the quaint river towns that used to be are no longer because of COVID, sad but true. We ended up having Docktales with Side Piece and another boat we had been traveling with, Pilar, making dinner and enjoying having heat on the boat. We didn’t quite make our goal that day, but made it 48 miles and got through 8 locks. Cruised from 7:30 a.m-4 p.m.
Headed out early the next day and was immediately delayed at Lock 16. But cruised 58 miles to a town called Sylvan Beach, it was a town out of the past. We were rewarded with warmer temps, a space on a free town wall with electricity, and met by many Loopers who helped us tie up for the night. We really enjoyed this quaint town, with its beautiful beach, fun restaurants, and nostalgic amusement park.
To finish the Erie Canal and get to the Oswego Canal we needed to cross Lake Oneida, only 22 miles but the wind can kick up and turn pleasure boating into not-so-pleasant boating. We were fortunate enough again to have calm seas, sunny skies, and little wind. Our stop for the night was Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton where we reprovisioned on groceries with the marina’s courtesy car and got fuel for the boat at ? per gallon.
Finished the Erie Canal and headed North on the Oswego canal, which is 32 miles and 8 locks, easy enough day with just one short delay on Lock 8 due to maintenance. We landed in Oswego Marina, our last stop in the US.
We explored the town of Oswego and found Fort Ontario. This fort had a role in the war of 1812 and the Spanish American War but the most interesting fact about it was that it was the only WW II refugee camp. FDR invited refugees to be our guests but they were not allowed to leave the Fort even if they had relatives in the states. After 2 years and much lobbying, FDR allowed them to become citizens and leave the Fort.
Reimanns 'round the loop in 2022 