Today we completed the Erie Canal. We traveled the last 20-30 miles going though a few more lift bridges and the double set of locks in Lockport. The big thing I noticed was how much rock they had to blast though to create much of this section. Up until now most of the canal looked rather natural like a river but most of this section looked like they had cleared a highway though a mountain. It was quite impressive and would have also been hell should multiple boats be traveling this section at speed at the same time as there was no where for the wake to dissipate. Luckily we were the only ones and it was no big deal.
After going though the double set of locks we asked the Lock Master if there was a place to tie up so we could see the mesume about the locks there. Turns out there is one spot and its first come first serve and we were lucky enough to get it. We wondered over to the museum that told about how they built the original flight of five locks, why they picked that location, then how they modernized it in the early 1900's to just the two much bigger locks but had also recently restored the one side of the lock so we could see what the original 5 looked like. While wondering about the lock we ran into a Swiss couple that had come over and were biking from Boston to Denver over a planned period of 7 weeks averaging about 50-60 miles a day. Their daughter had also just completed an exchange year in the US and was the same age as ours. Seems I may have to get in shape and start thinking about the kinds of adventures we could have on a bike?
On the way back from the museum we stopped by the local farmers market and picked up some locally made cheese, salsa, and organically grown beer. Once again a strange thing happened we saw an ice cream shop and walked right on by for the second day in a row.
After taking the dog for a quick walk we all piled back into the boat continuing on until we got to Buffalo completing a 50 mile day. After coming though Tonawanda we ran into quite a lot of current in the river and decided to take the ship canal. After I called the lock master and we were locking though I started to read about how much notice the new 2-3 bridges in this section needed before they would open. It seemed I may have made a mistake as most wanted 2-3hrs notice and were no manned. I'm not sure how it worked out but as we got closer to each they all opened without any calls needed. Not sure if the Lock Master controlled them or what but it worked out great for us there was no current and no waiting for bridges!
We pulled up to the fuel dock in Buffalo and got stuck paying the most for fuel we had yet on this trip at almost $7 a gallon. Luckily we had only used 70 gallons since winter harbor and really probably didn't need to fill up but with our next leg being a 240 mile run across Lake Erie I wanted to ensure running out of fuel would not be an issue. They gave us a decent dock for the night and we decided to walk around a bit to explore the harbor area. I was impressed with the size. They had two ex navy ships and a sub on display that one could tour if they so wished. 4 or 5 restruants (maybe more?) and lots of other docks. This is where we ran into our 3rd 42 Nordic Tug that was made in 2000 and looked much more like ours. Unfortunately the owners were out to eat so we just left our card and wondered off. As we walked back to the boat we decided to break the streak and bought some ice cream. Turns out we were not sick of it yet we just needed a day off :)
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