We enjoyed our extra day in Little Falls, visiting the weekend farmers' market that sets up
in the parking lot of the bank. We bought peppers, green beans, lettuce, zucchini, apples
and garlic olive oil. It seemed to be a pretty "organic" group of growers marketing here.
The day was cool and cloudy so after watching the OSU game at the dock (way too exciting)
we walked back into town for three scoops of ice cream at Old Sal's. They had so many
great flavors we had to have three scoops. Needless to say, we weren't very hungry for
dinner but got invited to a cookout dinner hosted by some of the locals for us and the crew
of "Lois McClure". The people have been very friendly and gracious.
The "Lois McClure" is a reproducion of a wooden sailing canal boat from the 1800's and
visits towns along the canals on a large loop including the Erie Canal, Lake Champlain and
some Canadian canals. We got a free tour which was interesting. It has to be powered by a
tugboat because it has no engine. It spends the winters in Vermont at their home museum.
Sunday, Sept. 16
We left in the morning with cool fog in the valley which was very picturesque. We traversed
six locks today and they were difficult because of the 10 - 15 mph wind. The lock tenders said
we were the eighth sailboat through the locks that day although we never encountered any of
them until one joined us at our overnight stop at Amsterdam above Lock 11. Due to the recommendation of several of the lock tenders we had dinner at Russo's, near the lock. They
have very good Italian food at reasonable prices and we both had the wonderful leftovers for
lunch on the river the next day. This stretch of the canal is mostly the Mohawk River so it is
wider than the west end but you have to follow the markers carefully to avoid shallow spots.
We encountered a flock of common mergansers today on the river.
Just as it was getting dark we saw headlights from a huge vessel approaching us, a little
intimidating. It turned out to be a cruise ship ("Blount") that tied up near us for the night.
They started in Chicago and are on a 16 day trip that ends in Rhode Island. They are built
to handle the 20' height restricions of the canal and can handle 96 passengers with 21 crew.
Free wall but no electric despite what Skipper Bob's says. The outlets are there but turned off.
40 miles
Monday, Sept. 17
In the morning while waiting for "Blount" to go through the lock first we got a chance to meet
Patricia and Steven on "Equus", the sailboat that had tied up with us. They are a nice couple
who have cruised extensively and live in Stuart, FL. We decided to travel together and do the
locks together today which worked well.
We did ten locks today including the flight of five at the west end, a tiring day but it was nice
traveling behind another boat and not having to watch the markers so closely. We saw lots of
egrets from Schenectady east. The day ended at Waterford, the western end of the Erie Canal.
After all the locks today we were ready for the next stage of the journey, heading down the
Hudson River.
Waterford has a free dock with ten dollars fee for electric and a two - day maximum stay.
39 miles (total Erie Canal 342 miles)
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