2021 DA reconnaissance mission in western Erie canal

[WillieC]

Thanks for correcting the title.

[DesertAlbin736]

Except for the lock closures & wet weather looks like a successful cruise. Here's what Flicka looked like when we saw it in Midlakes Marina in 2015.

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Not sure I'd like the "coupe" enclosure. Seems like it would restrict rear visibility. But to each his own.

Here's our boat docked at the same spot in Fairport. Or maybe not the same spot? We docked just east of the Parker Street bridge where there were red brick pavers.

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One of the neatest buildings we saw in Fairport was this old Victorian Green Lantern Inn

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With a horse draw buggy parked out front

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[tribologist]

Close…. We cut the trip short due to Baldwinsville and Cayuga-Seneca lock one being closed. We had plan to pull out at CS-1 where DA did a few years ago but with that closed we decided to go to Fairport and pull in Macedon. We passed The guard locks on Friday. Water was high then and today they closed that section.

[DesertAlbin736]

Sorry for the absence lately. We're on the road & had to deal with some issues of data allowances & setting up mobile hotspot on my smart phone. Since leaving our friends' house near Flagstaff, AZ we've made it to Guymon, OK & set to get Topeka, KS tomorrow PM. After that Hannibal, MO, Springfield, IL, Toledo, OH, & Tonawanda. After that drive over to Hudson River & find suitable launch ramp south of Albany, skipping the Erie Canal. Then on to NYC.

[DesertAlbin736]

We're in Fairport NY today. Going to stay tonight & head down to Macedon tomorrow to meet up with Tribologist. Hull #736 & 737 will be together for the first time since they left the factory 50 years ago.

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[Nancy]

Your adventure has begun! Fill me in here - you scoped out a ramp in Albany (presumably to haul at the end of your trip), and then you went to NYC? Just for the fun of it? And then drove back to Tonawanda to launch? I assume you left the boat in T while you went to the city?

Is your middle name Waldo?

[tribologist]

Left Hartford CT yesterday around 5pm so we drove up till Syracuse and stayed the night. 6:40 am now and we just got up to go to. Mid Lakes Marina to launch.

[tribologist]

La Dolce Vita and Driftless got to meet again! We put the boat in the water in Macedon on Thursday morning and picked up Steve and Helen that had arrived a few days earlier in Fairport for a daytrip to Corning Museum of glass.


Today we got the boats together in Fairport for pictures

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Then we traveled together to Newark where La Dolce Vita docked for the night,

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We continued with Driftless a few locks further East to Lyons, picking up Jim D on the way, a super nice lock operator we met last trip where we met at Lock 28A last trip. Arriving in Lyons we found Vackra Flicka, a Albin Vega that a guy in a wheelchair is single handing up to Lake Erie and Blue Moon, a Albin 25 Delux from Virginia that David Westoff owns. He walks with a walker so he put railing around the boat. His daughters are taking turns helping him on the trip. Very nice people!

[tribologist]

Today we returned back from Lyons to Fairport and had the chance to wave La Dolce Vita goodbye. In Fairport we got to see Blue Moon again.

[tribologist]

Pulled Driftless in Macedon today. Got to see Don Cartwright and his Coey again, he was heading to Seneca falls with a friend piloting the tug Tulley.

We got an adventure on the way home. One of the springs snapped on the trailer just when passing Utica. I found a Tractor Supply Company store 5 miles away so i got a new spring and had that replaced in about an hour. All bolts had a decent layer of antisieze so it came apart quite easily.

[DesertAlbin736]

Quite an adventure. Many thanks to Ulf & Elizabeth, especially for driving us out to Corning to spend an afternoon at the blown glass fine arts museum. Was awesome! Also donating a 30 amp marine to 15 amp house plug adapter to us when the one 30 amp outlet on a pedestal at Newark was in use & the one we have didn't fit.

We have decided to end our adventures at Lake Onandaga near Syracuse NY where we have been in a slip at the county Onandaga Lake Marina the past 2 nights. Remnants of TS Fred are supposed to bring rain here & storms on the Chesapeake over the coming days. So we've rented a car from a Budget lot in downtown Syracuse & bright & early tomorrow will drive the 150 miles back to Tonawanda to retrieve our truck & trailer & on Wednesday morning will haul out & head for home. We have scrapped plans to proceed further on the canal beyond Lock 24 in Baldwinsville & Lake Onandaga just east at Mile 166. We did 176 miles, 11 locks, and numerous lift bridges from Tonawanda. It's been too hot to use the stove to cook in the cabin so we've eaten out in restaurants much more than anticipated. Also scrapped plans for Hudson River, NYC, & Chesapeake Bay. Weather has been just to hot & muggy for us desert rats who aren't used to humidity & the Admiral is suffering from bug bites which she's very allergic to. Unlike Driftless we don't have A/C installed, only a couple small house fans to run when we're on shore power & smaller 12V fans underway or at anchor. Mostly we miss the Pacific NW & our A/C & swimming pool at home.

Pictures later when we get back home in a week or so.

[tribologist]

Thanks for coming by! It was really fun to get together after all online interaction. I hope you guys get a safe trip back home. We lost many weekends the first year we had Driftless where we had to scrap our plans for the weekend due to hot weather. The AC has been very good and it can even run off the little Honda 2200 generator we are bringing with us for times we don’t have shore power.

[DesertAlbin736]

Epilogue: We are back on land & on our way back across the country & will be home in AZ in a few days. Our original plan was a bit over ambitious & it's just as well we ended it when we did. The area along the Erie Canal got hammered with the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred this week. Wednesday night, the last night on the water docked at the Onondaga Lake Marina, it just poured cats & dogs all night long. It was the wettest night we've ever spent aboard La Dolce Vita. So much so the Sunbrella canvas enclosure over the cockpit got so saturated it started leaking though the stitching seams & got every thing wet between the wheel house & aft cabin. It's just as well we pulled out when we did. Yesterday a notice to mariners came in that once again several locks are closed to traffic due to high water flows including the last lock we went through, Lock 24 in Baldwinsville. Had we not made it to Lake Onondaga we would have been left stranded. Now Tropical Storm & soon to be Hurricane Henri is poised to brush by the mid Atlantic coast & hit NYC & the lower Hudson by Saturday on the way to slamming into Long Island Sound & coastal New England. We might have been there or close to it with our truck & trailer parked hundreds of miles away in Tonawanda. Out of the week we were on the canal only a couple days were actually pleasant weather. It didn't rain that much except the last few days, but much of the time it was hot, muggy, & sticky. Not like dry desert heat but much more uncomfortable without A/C. The dinghy stayed stowed on the back of the truck the whole time.

I just started having a bad feeling about continuing on. Meeting with Ulf, aka Tribologist, & wife Elizabeth turned out to be the most memorable part of the trip & made the whole 4,900 mile road trip (out & back) worthwhile. La Dolce Vita performed flawlessly. The only issue I had was with the trailer's tailights. A couple bulbs went out & the sockets they plug into have gotten rusty and not making good contact on the (-) side. Easy fix but they need to be replaced for a permanent fix.

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[DesertAlbin736]

Epilogue, Part Deux:
From NY Canal Corp, notices to mariners, August 21, Locks E2-E7 (Waterford Flight to Vischer Ferry) closed due to Hurricane [now Tropical Storm] Henri..

August 21, Mariners are advised that Erie Canal Lock E-23 (Brewerton) is closed to navigation due to continued high river flows and debris from recent heavy rainfall. Updates follow.

Hurricane Henri update. August 21: In preparation for potential impacts from Hurricane Henri the NY State Canal Corp will preemptively lift it's moveable dams along Erie Canal and Mohawk River between Lock E-8 (Rotterdam) and Lock E-15 (Fort Plain). The initial lowering of water levels throughout this area will begin overnight with the lifting of moveable dams commencing at 7 AM Sunday 8/22.

By lifting the moveable dams out of the water, water levels within the Erie Canal will be significantly reduced to near winter levels, which could result in grounding of any vessels left unattended.

End quotes.

Turns out our decision to end our canal passage when we did was serendipitous.

[tribologist]

These guys were with us in Lyons on Saturday. Been in Little Falls E-16 for a week…. Got to check out their Wanderer. What an awesome trailer trawler. Only downside is that it needs a pretty deep ramp and a heavier tow vehicle.