The day started off yesterday morning with a beautiful sunrise at the Visitor Center Dock in Waterford, New York. The lock there opens at 7:00 AM and we had two early birds that pulled up in line to enter the lock. The rest of us were still working on breakfast and other personal things to go then. While we were having breakfast, the trawler guys were checking engines, checking oil, etc. We checked our oil the night before to make sure that Shorty got the proper dose. I had gotten up at sunrise and was walking around the area doing my morning walk and noticed the similarities in the village of Waterford as compared to the villages on the coast of Maine. They were very friendly and came strolling through the park for there morning walks as well and you could visit with them. I took a few photographs of the area and then it was time for breakfast. After breakfast the boat just ahead of us called, “Just Us” was also up and about and we decided to go through the locks for the day together. We got ourselves in line for the lock and the gates opened, the light on the lock turned green and in we went. The first series of five locks takes you up 150 higher than you are at the dock on the Mohawk River. As we went up each lock it was fun to see the new vista which opened up ahead of you as you slowly rose to the top. Then it was off to another lock not very far away, another lift up and another wonderful area to explore for the first time. We went slowly at about 10 miles per hour and saw villages and people fishing, farmland, boaters, islands, rocky shores, and even an atomic research center. We went through Schenectady which is a city and numerous small towns. We passed marinas, kayakers and then we arrived here in Amsterdam which has a Dutch name and which was the home to Mohawk Carpets. It was sad to see the carpet mills closed as well as a lot of other industry all along the way. But the people have maintained a good personality and that is what counts. After ten locks we arrived at the dock where we are tied up. It is a public dock and only has electricity but it is free.
Also tied up at our dock is the canal tug known as “Urger” which was built in 1901 as a fishing tug and in 1912 it was converted from steam power to diesel power and it has no gear box for shifting gears. The engine must stop and then be restarted to enter reverse.
We got a tour of the boat which is 75 feet long. The tugboat is the only one in existence now that communicates with a system of bells and whistles to tell the engineer in the engine room of the boat what to do. The baggywrinkle is done by a member of the crew which means that he does some very fancy rope weaving for fenders on the boat and the bow piece which is shoved against other boats and the stern which is dressed up and the skirt holds off other boats stiking it by chance. We met the crew and got a tour of the boat and its history on the canal and they are superb with the history. The crew consists of the Captain, first mate, and engineer and fourth drives the car they take with them from place to place on the canal. They do festivals along the canal and travel as far as New York City for tug boat shows. But the real job of the tug is that of education as they go from village to village and cities with the tug to educate the children of New York about the Erie Canal. They say the children come marching down to the boat singing the Erie Canal song called “There Was a Mule Named Sal Who Worked on the Erie Canal.”
Then to top the day off we went to dinner with the crew from “Just Us” and the “Urger”. They knew of a little Italian place in Amsterdam a few blocks from the docks and they used there car as a shuttle for us. We all had a great time visiting and enjoying the food. Afterwards it was back to the dock for more conversation and stories and then it was too late to stay up and write this so I am doing the blog early this morning. The people who are doing the Great Loop Cruise are always so exciting to meet and we all have so many stories to share with each other about what has happened different places on our journey around the country.
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