Tues. Sept. 16, 2008

Tues. Sept. 16, 2008

Well we are bound to have a longer day; this is it. We left Brewerton at 0745 & entered the Erie Canal System at Lock 23, then onto Lake Oneida, a crossing of 29 mi. to Sylvan Beach at 5.5knots x 31/2 hrs. in a ESE direction. The Lake is calm; there is no chop, no wind. It is sunny with a few clouds in the am & increasing clouds late in the pm. There is some pretty impressive homes at Sylvan Beach where we pass Lock 22 at 1215, then 1 mi. further through Lock 21 (both New London, N.Y.); zebra mussels are covering the concrete wall & as we are being lowered the mussels are squirting liquid out at us. We push on 18 mi. past Rome & Utica to Lock 20 (Whitesboro) stopping there at 1600; all along this stretch we can see a cleaning up operation of fallen trees & a bike path (all part of the 260mi. of the N.Y. Canalway Trail). I could have biked this faster than motoring! In fact I could have biked from lock to lock. We tied up on the west side concrete wall just before Lock 20. On the east side there are floating docks, but the tie up are to mean-looking steel posts; also sheltered picnic tables, washrooms, & garbage cans (not always present). Distance covered=40.9 nm. Canal depth: 12-19 ft. I feel that I'm starting to get into a groove & a routine; I actually powerwalked at 0650 when the sun was poking its head up. Now to keep the discipline & keep it up.