Free at last, free at last ...

The federal lock finally opened on Tuesday, September 13.  Three of the boats we were trapped with left immediately.  We decided to give the lock and lock tenders a day before we went down river.  It had been more than two weeks since the lock was operated and we weren't sure things would run smoothly the first couple of times it was used.  Turned out that we were right, the boats who left first thing Tuesday did have a bit of a wait before the lock actually opened for them.

We left Wednesday morning and ended up locking through the federal lock with five other boats, Bright Star a sailboat that had been trapped in Lock 2 with us and four other boats who came down from the north through the Champlain Canal.  We arrived at Coeyman's Landing Marina about 1:00 PM and spent the afternoon cleaning the boat in anticipation of being hauled out of the water the next day.  Early Thursday morning they hauled and blocked the boat (set it up to sit on the land), we completed the winterizing (anti-freeze in the engines and fresh water systems), we rented a car and were on the road back to Cleveland by 5:00 PM Thursday night. We spent the night at a motel in Syracuse and were home by noon on Friday.  Yeah!!

The boat will be shrink-wrapped sometime in the next week to keep snow off of the deck.  I'll post a picture and tell you about the last of our pre-release adventures then.

Flooding again

It is flooding again here at the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers.  It has been raining for the last four days and the remnants of Hurricane Lee are just about to arrive.  The forecast is for an additional 1-2 inches of rain in the next 36 hours.  The visitor center where we were docked before Irene is under water again.  The docks that the NY Canal Corporation fixed last week are at the top of their flotation and may tip over again.  We're just hoping that the town doesn't flood again.  Those poor people have been through so much.  Many of them have just gotten the ruined flooring and damaged drywall and insulation out of their houses.

We remain safe and trapped.  The rumor was that the the Federal Lock might open on Monday.  With the new flooding I think that is unlikely.  We settling in for our third week as guests of the the NY Canal Commission herein the Erie Canal.