Herkimer, NY then back to Ilion Village Marina

Distance Traveled:   to Herkimer then back to Ilion Village Marina = 40.06nm
Total Distance: 344.06
Days on Canal: 7

We left a little later this morning, about 815am.  We just felt like being a little more lazy.  All the other boats had already left.    Breakfast was cold cereal.  Phil started his watch first, as usual, and I got myself together and had breakfast.   We went through Lock 22 & Lock 21 mid morning which we shared with a huge power boat from Palm Beach, FL that had crew to transport it.    The lockmaster requested that we be as far forward as we could in the lock to make room for them.  Both of the locks were up-locks and the turbulence was very strong pushing Changes towards the wall.  I was constantly using the boat hook to keep the bow off the wall.  The power boat used their bow thruster to keep them on the wall.  I'm glad that the rest of the locks are the down locks. They are much easier to handle Changes in them.

Sharing Lock 20 with 

Boat we shared Lock 21 & 20 going up

Around noon-time it started to rain and the temp outside dropped to 54F.  The winds were out of the East, so am glad we crossed Oneida Lake yesterday as it would have been on the nose if we crossed today.    I have my obligatory many layers on and had to switch to boots and sock liners w/heavy wool socks.  It has been raining since then.  It is nice to have the Bimini to protect us some from the rain.    For lunch I had the last of the potato soup and Phil had the rest of his open face roast beef sandwich.  I also used the "warm up in a bag in the hot water" technique, and then boiled a half dozen eggs in the same hot water.  With Phil's watch having 10-15 min to go, I put his food on a plate covered with aluminum foil and put the plate on top of the eggs while they were cooking to keep his food warm.  Seemed to work well.   I feel like beans for supper, so am making a mixed bean and grain stew and will use the last of Glenn's smoked pork along with some vegetables when making it.  Earlier I brought the beans to a boil for 2 min and then am letting them soak since I didn't do that last night.  I have already cut up the vegetables so when we're ready, I will cook everything in the pressure cooker.  I looked in my cookbooks for a recipe for mixing the beans - not finding one I'm improvising.  We'll have brussel sprouts to go with it.

Tonight we hope to go to a Walmart Supercenter that is not too far from the dock according to Google Maps and Skipper Bob.  The Weather.com future cast radar says that they will be a break in the rain for about an hour, so I hope that is the case!  I had lost my over the glasses sunglasses, but then found them this morning.  I want to get another pair and also one for Phil amongst other things.  It seems like we no sooner go shopping and I'm creating another list.  Using newspaper to wrap the vegetables and fruit really does seem to make them last longer when they are not refrigerated. 

On my watch the Erie Canal was high enough that I could see far into the distance to some higher hills over the canal walls.  It was very pretty, but no photo as I kept the digital cameras inside the boat to protect them from the wet. In fact I took only 19 pictures today.  Typically I'm taking in the 90's to low 100's each day.

350pm  Lorraine

Blog Update:
We went through 4 locks today - 2 up and 2 down - and did make it to Herkimer, NY about 4pm - but we were wet, there wasn't any electricity or showers (last one in Lyons at the Fire Dept) and it's RIGHT next to the NY Turnpike, so Phil decided that we would go back to the marina were he saw "Ladyhawke"  and pay to stay there for the night so that we would have electric, water, & showers.  Bonus is they have washer and dryers.  Yeah!!  After we docked, Phil thinks that we are sitting on the bottom in mud so will need the room in front of us to power out. We are docked behind a big power boat who will probably leave early in the morning (7am).  We were cold, so after we docked we turned on the electric heater and the heater combined with the food cooking on the stove got the inside of the boat to 78F. Off came my layers of clothing. I finished cooking supper in the pressure cooker.  I thought it was good, Phil thought was bland, and we have a tons left over.  Will see how I can doctor the leftovers into something better. 

We did not go to Walmart - in fact we didn't go anywhere except stay inside the boat enjoying the smells of supper cooking and being dry and warm.  I have downloaded some more books for the Nook.  Phil has been on the computer.  We talked to his sister, Virginia, about the mail - what to toss, what to keep, and please open to look at it for us to make a decision.  She'll be Fed Ex'ing it to Phil's friend Chet on Monday morning.  Tomorrow morning when it's nicer, we will take advantage of the showers, go to the grocery story, and fill the water tank, so don't be surprised if we leave 10-11am.  Phil's planning only a 24+ nm day tomorrow.  Sept 19 is the last day the 10 day pass is good for - so that means we need to cover about 76 nm to go to get to Waterford (the end of Canal). 
 

Publish Post

We heard from Dean Bachelor in the Catalina that we passed and met earlier in our travels.  He has shared his blog address with me, so I have added it my blogs on the right hand side in case you're interested in what he is doing.