Erie to Oswego Canal

Monday, July 4th, we finally left Ilion, NY to finish the Erie Canal, and cross Oneida Lake. The winds were low, but it was still the 4th, so we were expecting some traffic on the lake.

Off we go, with our two companion boats.

This guy is rowing the Loop, we saw him about a week ago in a lock. This proves that slow and steady wins the race, while we were stuck in Ilion, he caught up with us! I couldn't believe it when I saw him go by!

Kathleen and Steve were behind us.

Brenda and Scott in the lead.

This lock leaked a bit.

The locks on the Erie switched from taking us up, to draining, and taking us down.

Getting onto Lake Oneida was a zoo.

But once we got past the bottleneck, we cruised right across in an hour. 

We stopped at Winter Harbor Marina, where we ran into a couple we had met at the beginning of the Erie; Gold Loopers, Ken and Lois. Kathleen and Steve had met them in Dundalk, and cruised the Delaware Bay with them. They were having engine trouble, so we caught up with them and had a nice dinner reunion.

Tuesday, July 5th, we headed up the Oswego Canal with seven more locks.

These signs are helpful, so we know how much further the next lock is. This one dropped 20 ft.

They put barriers and signs in front of the dams so no one accidentally goes over the falls.

This welcome sign came at the end of our New York canal experience. It marks the top of the Oswego Canal.

This was our farewell dinner. Tomorrow Kathleen and Steve, and Brenda and Scott will head toward Canada, and we will get off the boat to attend Kristin and AJ's vow renewal in Geneva, New York. It has been fun playing hopscotch with them for the past few months, and  hope to see them again some day, you never know!