Bowling, Orange crushes and Hawaiian shirts; 7 more locks – we got this down!

Spent 2 days in the marina in Schenectady in order to be stationary for 2 Zoom calls. Starlink is working like a charm! After the calls, went bowling with Boris, Mayli and their 2 children (aboard SAGA), Matt and Tonya (aboard Lil Sudden), and Steve and Barbara (aboard Coda). A great time was had by all! On our second day in the marina, we introduced the Seattle crew to a MD favorite at docktail time: the orange crush! We shared a delicious dinner together made by Barbara and Steve, chatting well into the night.

Friday, 6/16 we set off for Amsterdam sporting a Hawaiian theme with everyone in Hawaiian shirts and leis. It’s amazing what Mayli can pull out of her bag of tricks! We passed through 3 locks E8-10 (of course with Hawaiian music playing) covering 17 miles. All of these locks were not nearly as tall as the Waterford flight at 14-15’ each (vs 33-35’). In Amsterdam, we found room on the wall at Riverlink Park, but no spots with power… the early bird catches the worm! Also had to raft the 4 boats into 2 positions on the wall. Thought the trains going through during the day were quite interesting – didn’t enjoy them nearly as much all night long…yes blowing their horns….. for a long time….like every 30 minutes!

Enjoyed dinner at a former armory that was built to look like a castle; their big claim to fame was that when JFK came through in his 1960 campaigning for president and stopped there and gave a speech. He and brother Robert sat on a couch upstairs that you can still go and see today! Yahoo!!

Today we are off to Canajohaire and will pass through 4 locks (E11-14) raising another 39 feet between all 4 locks. It’s a rainy/spotty day so our theme is sunshine! We’ll travel about 20 miles today. It’s a sweat shirt kind of day! We’ve been on the loop now for 23 days and not put a bathing suit on yet! Still uncharacteristically cold!

OK…. Who remembers the song about the Erie Canal you were taught in grade school?….. Atleast I was! Here’s the one I remember, but I’ve since learned there are longer versions with several more verses.

Erie Canal: Children’s Song Lyrics and Sound Clip — Read on www.songsforteaching.com/folk/eriecanal.htm