May 30, 2007

Today began in the city of Amsterdam, NY and ended in the little town of Ilion, NY just after lock 18 in the Erie Canal. Weather-wise the days have been perfect, very cool in the morning and then about seventy or so during the afternoons with a slight breeze but I am sure this will change. We are kind of letting the weather do what it wants now that we are in protected waters where it does not matter. It was a day filled with Catskill Mountains as we are still climbing as we are going west in New York State. We went through eight locks today. The reason for the seemingly slow pace was some of the locks are very large. The largest we went through today raised us 20 feet at one time and the rest were smaller but still take lots of time. It takes them time to empty the locks to get to our level and then fill them to the level proceeding westward along the Canal. We also drove under the lock door in one lock as it raises up to let you in and then drops like a guillotine would. We also saw more of the little canal tugs at work today as we ambled along. This will go on until we reach some five hundred feet above where we were in Troy, NY. You also are restricted in areas as to how fast you can go. We have been going about 8 knots between locks so we won’t miss any of the views as we go. We saw what in New York is called a very pastoral and picturesque setting as we moved along today. What they meant is that you would paint some of the scenes we saw today. At times there would be granite bluffs along the canal then there would be a farm scene and then towns and villages. The interstate highway ran alongside the canal today on one side and the railroad on the other plus the regular highways of the state. We passed a point today where they were fixing last years flood damage and another where they were dredging. Another area had the shoreline washed away and it was being filled in. Some of the locks also had construction being done to them from the flood and some of the lock walls were scarred up pretty bad. All in all it was a very pleasant day moving as slowly as the tows would have done in years gone by. But everywhere there are signs of villages decaying away and further on some are growing so it is just like everywhere else in the various states I have come through. Tomorrow will be another changing day in the way the countryside looks if today is any indication.

I will continue to take photos of the canal and post them all at one time instead of daily.