JULY 6,2007...MECHANICVILLE. NY

We got a late start for us after meeting with Mike Connley who detailed the boat while we were in Findlay. Since we are out of salt water, we decided to give her a good cleaning and new wax job. We have found the trade off is more bugs when you get in fresh water.

Our first stop was Van Schaiek Marina to have Ron Bloom remove the radar. It was about an hour job and the hardest part is getting it down from the hard top. It weighs 70 pounds and has an array 4 feet wide, which you can't hold on to. It took three of us.

The Champlain canal starts at the intersection of the Erie canal and the Hudson River. If we were to turn left we could be in Oswego in 3 or 4 days, instead we went north and will be in Oswego in 5 weeks. I think ML thought something is wrong with this picture.

The Champlain canal is nothing more than a deep creek for 30 miles and then is a ditch. We have 12 locks, slow zones, and lot of rocks to avoid. The channel sometimes looks like you will be on shore to avoid rocks in the middle of the canal. The locks so far have been fairly easy and we are getting back in form. ML is doing a great job catching the lock cables as long as I get her near the wall.

As we cleared our third lock (lock 2) a storm started coming at us and the radio gave us a warning. We quickly sought safe dockage along the city wall in Mechanicville and decided to sit the rest of the day out here. Problem was the lock master was lowering the pool of water between lock 3 and 4 so we could clear the next bridge. The bridge is 15.5 feet and we are 16.5 feet with the radar off. He agreed he would lower it again in the morning if we wanted to stay put. That was a good decision, since we had 3 or 4 more fronts pass through during the afternoon. Plus the dockage, water, and electricity is free!

We did find a break to walk up town, and there isn't much there. There is a nice babbling brook that runs through the town and out to the river near the marina. ML fixed one of her great dinners and we polished off a bottle of wine. This put us both to sleep early in the evening...plus not getting to bed till after 1:00pm the night before might have helped.

Tomorrow we head for Schuylerville, 3 locks and 13 miles and hope to reprovision the boat.