June 30, 2017

The day started like all the other days on the Trent-Severn.  WET

We went through the second highest lift lock in the world at Kirkfield Lock #36.  No one was there or waiting, just us in the rain.  It is impressive but not as much as the Peterborough lock.  We then entered a lake and Jim tried to get us up to speed.  Looking at the water it was filled with what I call Mermaid Hair.  Lake weeds floating in beautiful waves.  There must have been a convention of mermaids.  I think they need to invest in ribbons or scissors to control all that stuff.  We finished the remaining 6 locks 

for the day before entering Simco Lake.  Lagoon City was our destination today and wouldn't you know it, now that we have gone thorough 41 of the 45 locks, we have a Canadian crew meeting 

us tonight. Can't wait till Alex and Susan to finish the locks for us in the rain.  I made  a song the the tune of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues".  My inspiration came from Beth.  See if you can feel

Susan & Alex

our blues.  Trent-Severn Blues

I hear the rain a coming.

It's rollin down the bend

And I aint seen the sunshine

Since I don't know when

Kirkfield Lift Lock

I'm stuck on the Trent-Severn

Mermaid maid Hair

And I can't get free

But the locks keep on rollin

And that's what soakin me.

June 29, 2017

I can't remember how many days we have been on the Trent-Severn

Canal System, I know we just crossed the 1/2 way mark at lock 31. 

Lock 32 or Bobcaygeon is where the very first lock was built back in 1833.  It took 87 years to complete the system. This was the 

busiest and most crowded of all the locks we have been through.

There were 3, 40+ft boats on one side, 3, 40+ft boats on the other side, 2 floating in the water waiting to go into the lock, and 1 trying

to get out of the lock.  This was in the space of maybe a 3 car lane

150ft long.  we all put on quite a show for all the lock watchers on each side of the water.

The weather today was wet, but no wind or thunder.  Jim has gotten

driving the boat down.  He can pretty much do anything he puts his mind to with the boat.  Me, I am getting much better at throwing lines,  snagging cleats, and tying to the lock.

heading into a lock

There really were not many canals today.  They were only connecting the lakes to each other. It is official, tomorrow we start

Big lock

down the canal system.  I guess we have about 100+ miles to go.

Traffic jam on Trent-Severn

I will be ready to retire my locking gloves.  They are the only pair of work gloves that I have ever worn out.

Not sure what kind of boat this is

June 28, 2017

Today was quite interesting.  We only traveled 21 miles in about 8 hours with an average of 4 knots an hour, but the things we saw and did were really something.  Our day started by doing the Hydraulic

Lift Lock.  It was one of the world's largest concrete structures at the time and was and still is an engineering wonder.  The lift locks raises and lowers boats in 2 water filled steel chambers.  Each chamber is 140 ft long and hold 228,000 imperial gallons weighing 1,700 tons. The 2, 7 1/2ft diameter chamber rams each lift 65 ft in the air .  Any movement of one chamber must force an equal and opposite movement of the other. It was built between 1896 and 1904 of unreinforced concrete. It takes about 45 minutes to fill the chamber and 2 minutes to ride the chamber up.  It is truly amazing.

We will get to do it one more time before we leave the Trent severn Canal. We finished 9 more locks so were are more than halfway done with the locks, but not halfway done with the canal.  The scenery is more and more beautiful, the water is becoming clearer,

Our one and only road sign

and the air smell like a forest after a rain.  One spot today was called "Hell's Gate".  Not sure why because it was like a post card.  Pink granite rocks, bolders in the water with fir trees and flowers.  

Hell's Gate

There are small cottages on many of them.  Very tranquil.  If that is hell's gate, what must heavens gate look like.  Tomorrow we have 2 more locks and several lakes to cross.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  Take time and look up the Peterborough Lift Lock.  You  will be amazed.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

we go to the very top of the tower

Looking down from the top

Looking down from almost at the top

entering the lift lock

June 27, 2017

Sorry about the blog being a day late, but we were very busy doing NOTHING all day.  What a change of pace.  After going through the lock we slept under, we docked at docked at the marina by 10 and relaxed.  It was great.  We found charts for our next section of the trip, Georgian Bay.  Pristine waters, beautiful scenery, 30,000

islands, a small scattering of hamlets, and very few services.  We will be like pioneers for 250 miles.  I'm sure we will be out of communication for about a week.

Yesterday we discovered a small tid bit.  Peterborough has black

squirrels.  Now I have seen white in North Carolina, tufted in

Arizona, black in Ontario, and grey in the US.  Darwin at work.

Jim and I went to lunch at a small restaurant that was featured on the food channel, Two Dishes. The food was delicious.  The chef, not cook, made interesting combinations of food.  Jim had Korean

fried chicken and ate every bite with a satisfied  smile on his face.  My smoked salmon sandwich also was very yummy and someday I

hope to try and copy the ingredients as there are no recipes for them

she makes them up as she prepares the dishes.

As we continue travel North and West on the canal, the towns become smaller, the locks are more diverse, and the scenery is

more beautiful.  We were very fortunate to meet fellow loopers that

are from Pinellas county, a former Marine and she was a teacher in

Sharing a lock

the county.  That is where we were last night , relaxing and having a good time with new friends who we hope, will become good friends when we are off the boat. The picture is a map of theTrent-Severn Canal system.  We are in Peterborough heading North and west.  Maybe this will help you see what lies before us.  For some reasons I am able to send pictures today. Enjoy 

We started at the bottom by the freighter, going out at the top by the pine trees.

June 26, 2017

Our second day on the Trent-Severn Canal was much like the first, locks, canal, lakes and then repeat.  Yesterday we barely missed a nasty rainstorm.  Today we missed the bad part but we were differently wet.  So far Ontario's weather is a lot like Florida, rainstorms in the afternoon but the scenery is beautiful.  It looks a lot like Maine.  

There is no commercial shipping on the waterway only pleasure craft.  The houses are decorated for Canada Day, July 1st.  As we cross Rice Lake we went by Hiawatha's First Nation Reservation.

Tonight we are in Peterborough, Ontario.  We were suppose to go through lock #19, but we were 15 minutes late which meant the lock was closed and we were stuck on the wall outside the lock.  I guess the best thing about this spot is that we are first in line.  To get this spot was a test of Jim's driving skills and my roping the cleat skill.  A lot of tense moments in docking.  We were told Lake Ontario is the highest it has ever been.  So much water is coming into the lake that the rivers are all swollen and flooded.  Canada is dumping as much water as it can to help out.  They dump the equivalent of 4 Olympic swimming pools every second to drop

the water 1 centimeter a week.  Needless to say it is a loosing battle.  I guess the Trent Severn Waterway was closed 2 weeks ago because of high water.  We lucked out.  We are going to stop tomorrow in Peterborough for a couple of days.  The crew needs

. Verizon informed us that we can't download pictures because we are in Canada and our plan doesn't  cover that.???

 So you will just have to use your imagination.

Plan to come to our house when we get back to see all of our pictures of this area.  I promise you'll love them.

June 25, 2017

Well we did it, we started on the Trent-Severn canal system today.

It opened at 9:00AM and of course Jim and I were there at 8:15AM.

Do you think they opened 1 minute early, absolutely not.  We were waiting tied off like we were suppose to do, when a Canadian who knows what to do pulls out in front of us.  That is all right, we just did what they did in the lock and it went pretty smoothly.  About the 8th lock the wind started howling and the waves were not very nice.  We got to lock 8 and they quit.  So we went the rest of the way by ourselves and it was great.  Canadian locks  are far better than US locks.  More consistent, and better maintained.  We

did 12 locks and 27 miles in 8 hours.  We are 1/4 of the way through!! I am afraid that tomorrow we will be catching up with other loopers and a slower progress.  One of the locks we traveled through was 2 locks in one.  By the time we finished it we had gone up 48 feet.  Doesn't sound like much but if you are at the bottom looking up, it is a big deal.  Glad we did it, ready for it to be done.

Tomorrow we hope to do 8 locks and 60 miles.  If you are watching on a map, we are in Campbellford, Ontario.

This is the double lock.
Did 2 of these back to back.
48feet

June 24, 2017

Today was a great day on Lake Ontario.  We motored to Trenton

on the Trent River, about 61 miles.  The marina we are in is a 6 star place.  Nicest one ever.  The cart to carry your stuff to and from the boat is a fancy hotel luggage cart, not the wheel barrows we usually 

have.  There is a lounge and an office center for the boaters.  Felt

like a high roller.  The best part of the whole experience was that we were able to watch Kyla play on TV in a  AAU tournament in

Orlando.  Here we are on a boat in Canada watching Kyla play in

Florida.  Technology is great when it works right. So far Jim and I are very impressed with Canada.  There isn't any trash in the water, 

the marinas are nice and affordable.  I hope I feel the same way tomorrow after we start

tackling the locks.

Way To Go Kyla

Sunrise on Lake Ontario

Kyla Serving

June 23, 2017

Kingston, Ontario is a wet place to be sitting around all day.  It starting raining last night and is still raining now and will be all night too.  We explored Kingston today.  Jim went to the Military 

Museum and Ft. Henry.  I of course went shopping and there were lots of stores to nose around in too.  When dinner time came we

tried an Irish Pub and had Bangers and gravy.  It was pretty good.

Ft. Henry

The sausage could have been spicer, but the gravy was yummy and we love green peas.  Tomorrow we head for Trenton and the beginning of the Trent-Severn Canal.  I am not very excited about it. It looks as tho my blog may have a few problems getting out of Canada.  I can't seem to get enough bars to get pictures downloaded.  I will keep trying, as you know I am computer illiterate.  

GPS Showing Bottom Of St. Lawrence River

Average Island

June 22, 2017

Today was a long day, a great day but long.  We traveled 74 nautical miles.  Leaving Sackets Harbor we entered the St. Lawerence Seaway and stayed in it most of the day.  The land of a 1000 islands is the most scenic we have seen on this trip and we have seen some pretty sights.  The islands are smooth granite with all kinds of trees and beautiful houses.  A plot of rock is considered an island if there are 5 or more trees, otherwise it is

Flooded Boat House

just a rock pile.  There are more than 2400 islands, 1600 are true

Big Victorian

islands, of that number 1000 have private homes on them, the other 600 are either a Federal or Provincial park.  There are little houses,

Bridge connection Canada and USA

big mansions, victorian, modern, and a massive castle.  The biggest problem this year is the water level.  It is way to high.  Most of the boat houses are flooded.  The docks are under water, there is only one town that can pump fuel, and it is suppose to stay this way until August.  Kingston, Ontario is our port tonight.  We would like to keep moving tomorrow, but there are suppose to be

Boldt Castle

thunder storms.  Another day of wait and see.  If you ever have a chance to come to this area, be sure and do it.  You won't regret it.

June 21, 2017

Happy First Day of Summer.  Our first day was rather cool, and windy.  We decided that we wanted to go sight seeing so we rented 

a car and drove to Clayton, New York.  The Antique Boat Museum

was there and it was great.  There were 300 restored boats that made you drool.  One was a 121ft, 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom, screened 60 ft patio and dance floor.  There were even crew rooms.

It was built by the man who owned the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and built a complete castle for his wife in 1904 for Valentines Day.  Then there were motor boats, and even antique snowmobiles the oldest one was built in the 1950's. The racing boats were really something.  They usually have some in the water for you to cruise on, but the water is so high they don't think it's safe.  It was a very

 enjoyable day.  We decided that on a road trip, weather doesn't slow down the trip. On a boat that is a different story.  Tomorrow we are going to try and go into the St. Lawerence Seaway, and explore the 1000islands.  This part of New York is definitely on our

1950's snowmobile

list to come visit  again, only in a vehicle.

Antique Race Boats

Beautiful Woodwork

1904 House Boat

This was Jim's First Motor
1966

June 20, 2017

Our new home port in Sackets harbor

One of the 30 locks we have  finished

This was not one our better days.  We needed an electrical part and the dock master was nice enough to pick it up for us and deliver it to the marina when he came to work.  That meant that we would have a late start.  That wasn't  big deal as we didn't have far to go.  While we were waiting for the part we went to breakfast.  It did not live up to our expectations and was kinda pricey.  When the part came it was to small.  So our late start was for not.  Once we got out into the lake the winds were

depth of lake Ontario 1 1/2 miles off shore

Flooded boat ramp

blowing at a pretty good clip and the waves were way higher than my courage level was.  Thankfully Jim turned the boat around and we went back to port.   We then had to dock ourselves, we did it but it wasn't easy or smooth.  After checking the weather I guess we are in Sacket's Harbor for at least 2 days.  I should have kept my mouth shut and let Jim go on to Clayton.  More time to get ready for the next round of locks.  

flooded marina

June 19, 2017

When we started this epic journey of ours we had no idea how long it would take to travel from Florida to Canada.  We figured that it would take at least two years.  We have not rushed just plugged along and stayed where ever there was something to see or do.  As of tonight we are 1 DAY from Canada.  We could have done it today but there were things to see along the way.  So tonight we are

moored in a little harbor called Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario  about 50 miles to Canada.  We are in a state of shock.  We really are doing the Great Loop.  Sackets Harbor was a good stop for us (me really).  The Oswego Canal locks just about did me in.  I needed a day to just hang out and relax.  When we get to Canada we get on the Trent-Severn Canal System (that's  equal to the Erie Canal).  It has 43 locks and 240 miles long.  It connects Lake Ontario to Lake Michigan.  It has the biggest variety of locks in the world, as well as the biggest lock in the world.  I can hardly wait.

If anyone wants to join us we will be in Kingston in 2 days and we will wait 1 day for you to get here.  It is definitely a once in life time experience, at least for me.  We have to be out of Trenton 

Ontario by July 1 as that is Canada's 4th of July.  Surely there is a brave soul who wants to experience LOCKS. Once again my computer and I are at a stand off.  It won't let me download pictures, so you will have to experience our trip from my flowery language.  Good Luck!

June 18, 2017

Happy Father's Day!  Another holiday celebrated on the boat.

Today we left the Erie Canal and entered the Oswego Canal system

and finished it too.  It was a Very Hard Day today.  Yes we have gone through 23 locks on the Erie Canal, but the 8 on the Oswego Canal we brutal.  First we had to share the canal lock with 2 arrogant captains, the wind was blowing of course, and no one canal is the same as any other.  So you learn as you go.  I am a very slow learner.  Needeless to say today SUCKED.  But we made it through and if the weather is good we will leave on Lake Ontario

tomorrow for Canada.  It will take 3 days to get there as there are several little towns we want to see along the way.  That is OK as we just found out we need a special permit decal to enter Canada and come home, we don't have it so we are scrambling to get it done.  I hope they will accept a printed version, if not the boat may become a Canadian boat.  Right now that is fine with me.  Since we are leaving the USA, I thought I would follow David Letterman and do

my least favorite things about the Great Loop in the US.....

10.Not having friends with us to share the fun.

  9.Finding a Marina

  8.Arragant Captains, or Channel Hogs

  7.Thunderstorms

  6.Strong Currents

  5.Rough Water

  4.Winds in Open Water

  3.Docking and Undocking

  2.Anchoring Out

  Can anybody guess what #1 is?

   1.LOCKS  GOING IN, COMING OUT, AND STAYING INSIDE THE LOCK

Other than these 10 things we are so happy that we are doing this.  We knew it was going to be a stretch for us, (and some days are very stretchy), but overall we would give it a 9+.  Sure hope some hardy souls will come and enjoy the Trent-Severn Canal system with us, only 43 locks in that group. Canada is suppose to be beautiful.  Trouble comes in 3's.  Our third problem is my pictures won't come up.  That's ok, I didn't take many, as I was to busy with
the locks to take many.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better in sooooo many ways.  Miss you all terribly.

June 17, 2017

Lake Oneida

In keeping with the Bailey Great Loop Tradition, we are traveling today to a town that is described as the "Atlantic City" of northern New York, on a Saturday with wind.  We started out as the leader of the pack of 4 through the 4 locks to get us to Sylvan Beach.  After arriving we decided to take on Lake Oneida and stop in Brewerton New York.  Our goal this weekend is to figure out the Great Lakes 

Sylvan Beach

weather Forecasting  Code.  If you want  a challenge look up MAFOR on the internet.  Sitting on on the bow of the boat you can hear the song birds singing, the hardwood leaves rustling, and the purr of our cat making its way up the Erie Canal. It is most enjoyable and peaceable.  We made it to the top of the Erie Canal and saw the very beginning of the canal and then at lock 20 we headed down hill.  I guess awe are on a downhill slide Lake Oneida.  As we crossed the lake I decided to do the unthinkable, not anchor, but stay at the city docks with no electric or water, but there was a bar within walking distance. That is as close to anchoring as I want to get.  Tomorrow we will be on the shores of Lake Ontario. OMG. The first thing we do is find a chart for the rest of the trip.  Sure hope someone joins us soon,  they can bring the charts so we know where we are going from here.

The very beginning of the Erie Canal 1817

June 16, 2017

Another day in New York and on the Erie Canal.  We woke up to rain but no wind,  so we turned the motors on and headed out.  We like being first in line for the locks and we have a lot of locks to go through.  By the time we finished today we had traversed 10 locks, 55 miles, and gone more than halfway through the Erie Canal.  Our

locks went from 8 feet high to the world's highest lock of 40 1/2ft.

The last lock was really something, it felt like we were in a cave on very slow elevator up to the top floor.  It rained ALL day and we were drenched rats.  But we were the only ones on the the water,  first in line and the only one in the locks.  In fact the Lock master was very impressed how far we had come today, we were too. Tomorrow more locks, hopefully better weather.

Aerial view of Erie Canal

.

Going into the last lock

World's highest lock

June 15, 2017

Today was a very exciting day.  We entered the Erie Canal.

Waterford is the very beginning of the canal system.  Little did I know the first of 23 locks was about 100 yards from the city docks.

Our first lock there were 6 boats in a long double garage about

3 stories deep.  I had to wrap a line around a cable and hang on 

while the lock fills up with water.  The other 5 boats were very helpful and we did it without any mishaps.  When we were in

Waterford there were at least 10 boats waiting to go on in the canal.  We decided that we needed to get an early start and beat the rush tomorrow, so we left after lunch today.  There were two boats and more room to work around in.  Our first attempt was not the most graceful, but we got through it. By the time we finished the 7th lock

we had the procedure down.  I hope the remaining 18 are just like these.   

Deer In The Mohawk River
(Erie Canal)

Jim Working the Lock

Our First Lock

Our second lock

l

June 14, 2017

We traveled by several lighthouses today.  These were truly houses.  

We even saw a family enjoying the deck that was around the house.

The river was beautiful.  The Catskill mountains were framing the river on the west side and large farms and homes on the east side.  There were quaint towns every few miles and you knew that the area hasn't changed in the last 150 years.  Every hour or so a commuter train would come zipping by on the east side and the west side was only freight trains.  There were a few barges and very few pleasure boat crafts.  The Hudson River is by far the most scenic place we have been to since we left on the Florida.  We spotted 

a Bald Eagle and  have been lucky enough to see one in every state

we have gone through except Delaware, and New Jersey.  I don't blame the eagles for not going there.  Not much to see or eat.

It hard for us to believe that in 2 days we will be starting WEST.

As Jim and I ponder our next destination, I feel like the pioneers that traveled up the Erie Canal, to find a new adventure.  You can never predict how your life will turn out.  We never thought we would be doing anything like this. Due to a problem with the internet, computer, or the operator I can't get any pictures other than the eagle to load up.  Hopefully they will tomorrow.