Schuylerville, NY Aug 12, 2014

There is smething wrong with my Mac computer. It comes on but the screen is black. Trying to blog with the Android tablet  is painfully slow. And pictures are out of the question.

So this will  be short and sweet. We have enjoyed our travels down the Richelieu River. Then we travelled Lake Champlain. Green Mountains to our starboard side and White
Mountains to port. The weather has been perfect, so our travel has been idealic. Such beautiful scenery. The lake narrows to the Champlain Canal, still with mountains on either side. Brought back memories of travelling the Tennesee River with Steve and Linda Franko aboard their boat Yesterday's Dream.

There is supposed to be a big storm coming in late Tuesday and hanging around till Wednesday.  The lockmaster said it was coming in fast and we should stay at Schuylerville.  We took his advice.  We wen out for lunch, did some grocer shopping, started a load of laundry, and went in search of and ice cream cone. By this time it was 5.30 pm. No dinner tonight. Too full. Finish the laundry, and a cup of tea. Time to read our books and tuck in early.  Storm to come during the night.

Awoke Wednesday morning and still no storm. By 6.30 am a light shower, but still no storm. Flash flood watch tll 6 pm today in the  3 counties we want to travel in along the Champlain Canal to Waterford and up the Erie Canal. We will probably hang around here for awhile. It's no fun locking in the rain. We will wait for it to clear.

Jim and Linda have invited us for breakfast. Pancakes, fried apples, bacon, and we will bring the maple syup. I smelled her cooking this several mornings ago. It smelled heavenly.     Yum. Yum.

Ottawa, Montebello, Hawkesbury, St. Anne, and on to Dorval and Montreal, July 2014

 I do hate it when I do not blog for a long time. We were just having too much fun, with no real down time to blog. It makes it so hard, now I have to really work to remember what all we have been doing. Thank goodness for photos.

Ottawa was such a great stop.  You tie your boat in the Rideau Canal along the wall, with hydro, very central to everything on "the hill" The Parliament Buildings and Byward Market are a very short walk. We spent several days just being a tourist. Here Peter is doing his "Rocky" pose in front of the Parliament buildings.

Craig, Jacob, Jordan and Maddie joined us on the Tuesday evening. We all went out for dinner at the "Tuckers Market" Everyone can have what they want and as much as they want. Then we took them to see the light show on the Parliament Buildings.

Wednesday was a whole new day. They got to see the changing of the guard men march towards the Parliament buildings. They marched very close to the boat. Then we were off to the Science and Technology Museum. The car was too small for all of us, so Peter and Jacob took the local transit and we met them at the Museum with the car. First things first ..... food! Lunch in the cafeteria and then off to see the sights.

Jordan and Maddie doing the weather 

Jacob and Jordan  waiting for a train

After a very busy afternoon at the museum we returned to the boat and I made dinner on the boat. Figured Craig had enough restaurant food when he was in Alberta. This being a tourist is exhausting. 

The next morning, it was up early and get the boats moved to the blue line, so that we would be the first boats to make it down the  "in flight" of 8 locks. Just another "hurry up and wait" situation. We moved over for 8 am. They were bringing up a load of boats from the bottom so our time would be around 11am to Noon if all went well. 

Parliament Buildings from the Ottawa River

Our turn and down we went. Really quite fast. We averaged about  10 minutes per lock, and found ourselves at the bottom by about 12.30pm. We decided that we had enough time to travel the Ottawa River to Montebello. We ended staying at the high rent marina; $3.75 per foot. Wowsers! Chateau Montebello is a beautiful log framed building. The largest in Canada, if not the world. Built in 1933 in 3 months. The property is 65,000 acres. Absolutely amazing. All the boaters had dinner together in a sheltered picnic area to the front of our boats. Tables enough for all. 

 Maddie, our budding naturalist. She found a dragonfly on the deck of the boat and put her finger beside it and it crawled onto her finger and was quite happy to stay there.

The whole gang at breakfast at Montebello.

Full tummies and ready for a boat ride.

Craig, Peter and Maddie

Well, time to say goodbye to Montebello and we are off to Hawkesbury. There is an Enterprise Car Rental in Hawkesbury. Craig and the kids need to leave on Saturday to be sure to be home for Maddie's Birthday Party. It seems like they just arrived.

Craig relaxing

Jacob, Maddie cleaning boat.

At Hawkesbury, the kids cleaned the boat. What a terrific job they did. The boat is gleaming. It was a sunny afternoon, scrubbing and playing with water. Somehow the job seemed to go quite quickly when they could play with the water.

Peter and Craig got the Rental Car and were off for Ottawa to pick up our car.  It was almost dinner time by the time they returned. Made Craig's favourite dinners, Sweet and Sour Meatballs. Let the kids choose the DVD movie. A relaxing evening. The crew was tucking in early. One by one, they made their way to bed.

Jordan cleaning flybridge

 Saturday morning came way too fast. It was time for them to return. A quick breakfast and they got packed up for the return trip. The GPS said it would take them 6.5 hours. They left at about 9 am, and Craig said they were home around 2 pm. HMMM. Speed limit? What speed limit???? Glad they made it home safe and sound. We miss them immediately. The boat seems big, and empty. It was so good to have them aboard.

Off to St. Anne. We went thru the Carillon Lock. 65 Feet down. What a lock this is. It has a guillotine door. Hope it works well. It is the first lock that we have come to that is so large it has a dock inside the lock that you tie onto. The Parks staff are there to catch your lines and tie the boat for you. The sill on this lock is huge ..... the sill alone is the size of previous locks.

Bob and Linda were able to make it into the lock on the first down, but there were so many boats we were unable to get in and needed to wait 1 hour for the next locking. The time passed very quickly.

Quillotine door open.

We will remember this lock for a long time.

We continued to St. Anne. There is lots of spaces along the wall, 20 spaces on one side and 15 on the other. Bob and Linda were tied to the town side of the wall and Jim and Linda and we tied on the park side. We had our own shade tree and picnic table. Communal dinner at the picnic table. Leftover Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Linda's salad. A good way to end the day.

The plan was to spend the following day at St Anne's to do laundry and buy groceries. Off to the laundry. What a shock. $5. and $8 washers. You have got to be kidding. And to add insult to injury ..... the dryers were $1 for 4 minutes. I had two large loads that needed to be done. Oh Well...... $26. for laundry and we had clean clothes and bedding. Note to self ...... "Do not do laundry in St. Anne" Plan it so you can wait for another marina.

Off to Dorval to meet our friends Claude and Yvette Lussier. We met them on The Loop when we were travelling with Jim and Linda. Claude arranged for us to come to his marina, The Royal St Lawrence Yacht Club. It was a rainy overcast day. It is only 10 nautical miles to Dorval. A short hop.  We arrived and Claude and Yvette were on their boat. A short visit. They have their boat up for sale and are getting it ready to show the next day. They invited us to their home for dinner. We had an enjoyable evening catching up. Dorval hospitality at its best. So glad that we have maintained this friendship. Great people.

Bob and Linda have gone on to Montreal. They want to spend 3 days exploring Montreal, and wanted to be in a marina close to everything so they would only be away from the boat for 3 to 4 hours at a time and could return to Sophie, their dog.

Tomorrow, after showing their boat, Claude suggested we go into "old" Montreal and try to meet with Bob and Linda.

Merrickville to Ottawa

 Merrickville definetly did not disappoint. We all enjoyed our stay.
Getting away from being tied to Symmetry overnight was most eventful. 45 seconds of boating hell. We were gently backing up  to ease away from Symmetry. Getting a little close to the concrete wall. The engines were not responding as expected so Peter gave them a shot of power to get the boat moving in the right direction. An entire series of oops began to happen. Now we were going forward at great velocity very close to Symmetry towards another concrete area near the dam at the front of the boat.  And closing in fast. Oh No! Oh No! Go Back! Still at high velocity Reverse. Now screaming by Symmetry in Reverse. Again headed for the concrete wall behind. Oh No! Oh No! Forward! Now! Yes and he finally was able to get away from the concrete wall, away from Symmetry, and under control going forward and slowed down. On each pass, we had missed Symmetry by about 18 inches, and travelling at mach speed. Or at least what felt like mach speed. Way too fast for such close quarters. Apparently there is a nasty current in the pond, which may have contributed. Unsure of where the rudders were positioned during the fiascal. And not enough time to slow the boat down before needing to rev it up to get it to respond. It was amazing that we didn't touch Symmetry, or either concrete wall area front or back. All is well that ends well. We hope to never do this again.

Once away from Merrickville we were off to Hurst Marina near Manotick. Beautiful canal running, with some pretty scenes along the way. 48 miles, and 7 locks.
Canada Geese fenced into a field. Protecting them until it is time to fly south. He, He, He.

 Along the way was a bridge that was turned by hand. It is hard to believe that these bridges can be moved by pushing with one hand. Here you can see the Parks Canada girl with a bar in the middle that she pushes around in circles to make the bridge open. A miracle of science.

Ice Cream Pontoon boat at a beach area.

We left Hurst Marina in reasonably good time to make our final push to Ottawa. While it was only 26 miles, we knew we had 7 locks. 3 of the locking areas had two locks "in flight" and a single lock. We arrived Ottawa later in the afternoon than we wanted.

 The canal along the way is very scenic. And we did not have much traffic at all. Saturday was the beginning of the Quebec construction workers holidays - 2 weeks. All construction shuts down and they hit the waterways. We have been cautioned about boating in these areas during the next 2 weeks. So far so good.

Orientals keep everything they catch.

They sure pack them in.

Peter is auditioning for a job with Parks Canada.

As we get closer to Ottawa, the Rideau Canal narrows, and is concrete and fenced on both sides. Beautiful Sidewalks also on both sides. We shared the waterway and walk way with every form of transportation imaginable. Kayaks, Sea doos, ducks, rollerbladers, walkers, runners, bicyclers, wheel chairs, motorized wheel chairs. Ottawans sure know how to enjoy their waterway. And they do.

These wheelchairs were travelling faster than us.

 We arrived Ottawa a little after 3. Getting a spot along the wall with power proved to be a challenge. We all got onto the wall but were separated. And we all finally got power for the night. We would move the boats closer together on Sunday as boats left to move on and created spaces.





We were off to the Byward Market for dinner. On the sidewalk we came along this girl all in white posing as a statue. She was really quite good.  The Byward Market area is a very lively area, buskers, musicians, sidewalk painters. All very talented. And every restaurant type you can imagine. If you want it, you can find it here.

Peter taking a pic of Murray Clan with Oscar Peterson

 Sunday morning we joined Jim, Linda, Josh, and Leah to go to a Baptist Church. They were a very welcoming congregation. Asked us to join them after the service for coffee, and we did.
We then were off to the National Arts Center to see if we could get tickets to the live theater production "The Book of Mormon"  We were able to get tickets for the 1 pm show. So grabbed a quick sandwich from the cafe and find our seats. The show is very humorous, and a very irreverent satire about the Mormons who try to baptize Africans in Uganda. Perhaps not Jim and Linda's favourite choice of theater production, but they were really good sports. And as always, Linda found some good things to say about it.

 There is a flight of 7 locks (yes, that is right, I said 7 locks in flight) that will lower us from the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River.  "In Flight" means that you leave one lock, and go immediately into the next lock. It will take 4 hours to lock thru all of them. We will have to be on the blue line very early in the morning, i.e. 6 am. to be sure to be in the first locking sequence. Then, wait till about 11 am for our turn. They first bring the boats up from the Ottawa River, and then lower the boats from the top. You know what we will be doing all day on Thursday. Either waiting for turn, or locking thru.

This morning when we went to watch the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, we noticed that there were no boats coming up. Now we are wondering if there are no boats to come up, if they will take us down early. We will have to wait and see.

Now here is one of those "Finding Waldo" Puzzles, only I want you to find "Peter".
63 years old, and still such a ham.

Changing of the Guard.

Parliament Hill is a very active area. Last night we went to see a fantastic light show at the parliament buildings. All FREE. Our tax dollars at work. And WOW what a show. They project lights onto the front of the parliament buildings, with a commentary over loud speakers, depicting the history
of Canada. Makes you proud to be Canadian. Very well done.

  Then this morning we returned to Parliament Hill for the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony, and the tour of the Parliament Buildings. The Central Block. Pic to the right is of the House of Commons. A construction area during the summer break.
Again, tickets were FREE. How do you like that!
The House of Commons, is where the members of parliament debate, and create new bills and legislation.

Here is the Senate where they approve the bills that the House of Commons create. Senators  are appointed, and keep their seats till age 75. At which time, the Prime Minister suggests the names of people who should be made Senators to fill the vacant seats. Like Pamela Wallwin and Mike Duffy. The embarrassment of our country.
And that is all I will say about that. I do not want to get started. This is not the platform for that discussion. And you can be happy I don't get on my soapbox.

Peter has found a local diesel service place that will clean the injectors for the port engine. Back to the boat, remove the injectors, and he is off for a local bus ride, that will take him to diesel service shop, 45 minutes one way. He has replaced two injectors for the port side already. They are an improvement, and we have never travelled so long with both engines running continually, since we bought the boat. But it is still surging once the engines warm up. He wants to replace all of the injectors on the port side, and have that done completely. On our travel down the Rideau Canal it seemed that the starboard engine was doing some surging and revving up over 2000 rpms. Perhaps that will be the next job. Thankfully they behave when we slow down and are docking/tying up.

Merrickville, July 17, 2014

And we are off to Merrickville. We have such fond memories of Merrickville. A few years back we had a weekend motorcycle weekend to Merrickville with Brian and Carolyn Handy. Stayed in a bed and breakfast. We had a great time with friends and we are hoping to repeat the experience with more friends. Only boating friends this time. Above is another picture of the locks on the Rideau Canal. The operating system using chains to open the doors is quite different from the Trent. Hope that it shows in the picture.

 Symmetry making its way thru another narrow channel. Leading the way.
Linda Wilkens and I had made a trip to the grocery store, and Peter started some laundry and I finished it before we left Smith Falls. Bob and Linda Wilkens had gone on ahead to Merrickville.

 They called back to us to say there was a time sensitive situation relative to getting a dock. The lockmaster was willing to work with us to get us some dock space, however there were two 38 foot boats coming from the other direction that also wanted dockage. It would have to go to whoever got there first. So Peter asked Jim if he could power up his Cat engines and see if he could make it there first. Jim was up for the challenge. Here he is as he passed us. And then he let her go. He was revving around 2500 to 2600.  Peter's comment was "he is letting those Cats eat". Bob and Linda Wilkens would call back to us and report the progress of the other boats around them. The boat was in the second lock coming up. The entrance to the pond area for the docking was a little questionable so Linda gave very specific instructions so Jim wouldn't miss it.

And the weather was strange also. We had two or three huge, very dark rain clouds off in the distance. Around us on 3 sides. Looking very ominous. We sure were going to get wet at some point.

We got word back that Jim and Linda got into the dock just as the first 38 footer came thru the lock. Just in the nick of time. Phew.

And the second 38 footer came thru the lock just as we got tied alongside Jim and Linda. Well that worked well. Just another boating experience, again.

Oh and those huge, dark rain clouds. We got a few drops of rain as we were approaching to dock alongside Symmetry and that was it. Gone. Somebody was going to get an awful rain, but it wasn't us.

 All that excitement, should be rewarded with ice cream for everyone. So uptown we go for our ice cream. They even had soy ice cream for Josh. And Leah decided on some chocolates. The men found some chairs to rest in while the ladies got in some "retail therapy."

Leah, Josh, Linda and Jim. Family Pic

 No nearby lawn and picnic tables for our dinner gathering so Jim and Linda offered the aft deck of their boat. It worked perfectly. A deck box for a table and chairs for all. Linda W had made a delicious chicken tortellini soup with fresh bread.

Jim and Linda Murray. Hosts for the night.

Love this pic of Leah.

Josh, enjoying a story.

Bob Wilkens profile.

Linda Wilkens, chef extraordinaire.

The perfect ending to a perfect day. Good friends, good food, and sharing our experiences. 

Kingston to Kingston Mills, Jones Falls, Smith Falls, July 2014

 I woke at 4.30 am. What's with this. Couldn't go back to sleep. May as well start the day. I need to go back a few days. We left Kingston and made our way to Kingston Mills Locks. Only about 4 miles away. As if locking isn't challenging enough at times, they threw in a swing bridge that has to be opened before the boats go into the lock. Just another one of those boating things. Kingston Mills locks is a series of 4 locks in total. Three together "in flight" as they are called, then a small turning basin before the fourth lock. We planned to stay at the top of the lock for the night. Makes for an easy get away if we decide to leave early in the morning before the locks open.

 The Rideau Canal locks operate with a much older manual system for most of the locks. There occassionaly is a lock that is automated, but more often they are manual. Working with chain systems. Quite interesting.

Here is a lock attendant opening up the gates to allow more water into the lock. Quite the system. So very simple.

 There was quite a good little museum right at the lock with a TV video presentation about the construction of the Rideau. I did not know that so many people had died of malaria from the mosquito bites. I thought malaria was only a tropical disease.  50 people died during the construction of the Kingston Mills lock alone. And while we were in Kingston there was a water fountain dedicated to the 1000 Irish men who died during the Rideau Canal construction. The Rideau Canal was built to protect against a possible American invasion. And the Americans never invaded. But they do enjoy the Rideau now.

 Peter, Josh, Leah and Linda Murray at Kingston Mills lock. Cocktail hour before we begin our dinner. I made sweet and sour chicken meatballs with pineapple. Yummy. You are going to begin to think that all we do is travel around on our boat, fix the boat, and then eat. That pretty much sums it up tho'.

This is one of 4 block houses that were built along the system. They were used as a home for the lockmaster and family, and as you can see they were defensible. This block house had an addition put on top in later years, originally it only was the lower block portion.

Leaving Kingston Mills on our way to Jones Falls, the first part of the Rideau reminded us of the Trent shoreline.

 Docking area was a little tight at Jones Falls. We docked first and then Bob masterfully backed his boat in behind ours and tied to a floating dock. Not much room between the boats. Well done Bob. Gotta love those bow thrusters. The lockmaster told Jim and Linda that they could tie to the dock opposite us at the very end of the blueline for the night.

 This is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. We saw our first one in Florida  and fell in love with it. We met our second one at Jones Falls. They are such a delightful dog. I can see one of these in our future when we are not travelling so much. That being said, both of these dogs were on boats and they seem to travel well.





 On our trip from Jones Falls to Smiths Falls the terrain changed again. We spent a lot of our time travelling on lakes. Lower Rideau Lake and Big Rideau Lake are just a few. The lakes are connecting with narrow winding channels. And I do mean narrow. Couldn't help but think that we were the African Queen. Symmetry and Waypoint following us. Yes, that's right, Peter was leading. Comes as no surprise to me. He always says that "if your not the lead dog, .... the scenery never changes."

We had a wonderful day on the water travelling to Smith Falls. Another night that we can meet at a picnic table for dinner. Linda M. has pork chops for all, Linda W made a tasty pasta salad, and I came with potato salad and a rice salad. That's right another day of boating and eating. Josh and Leah seem to be enjoying their time with their grandparents. They are so fortunate to have great grandparents like Jim and Linda. So good to see everyone having a good time.

There was a large dark cloud looming over us as we finished dinner. It wasn't too long until the rain began and chased us all back to our boats. The night was cooling down, and the heat from the Perkins Ladies was keeping the cabin warm. Tonight we are thankful for that heat.