First lock experience, WOW !

  This day wasn't in the plan. We were to stop short of the Erie Canal so I could have extra hands for help with the locks. The idea of securing a 53 foot, 22 ton boat with one inexperienced deck hand and two Golden Retrievers is enough to make me loose sleep. When we arrived at Troy N.Y. and the beginning of the Erie Canal at 11:30 this morning we decided to give it a try for a lock or two. Please understand, I have not passed through the locks on the east section of the Erie Canal (and I didn't bother to research it). It wasn't until we exited the first lock and saw the second lock 300 yards ahead that I realized we were in for a baptism under fire. 

 

  The "Gateway to the Erie Canal at Waterford" (Waterford Flight) is considered an engineering innovation  and features a series of five locks where boats are lifted or lowered the greatest height in the shortest distance of any canal in the world.

 

  We had a ball and Bill definitely "rose" to the occasion.

The Hudson stays very wide almost to Albany.

Very neat old house and barn.

Downtown Albany.

Keep her close Billy.

By the fifth lock Bill had it down pat.

Swab the decks, fetch me rum, and walk the dogs.

OH BOY, no salt in the water.

Dusk on the Erie Canal, no waves, no tide, no problem.