I AM IN SALT COUNTRY

Salt ‘n Sand here. I am still sitting on the ground, Rich and Carol came to see me on Monday and gave me the information that I am posting here.  Jim gave Rich an update and showed him the parts from my transmission that had been damaged.  He also told Rich that my turbos were leaking oil and that is leading to soot on my transom, Rich told Jim to replace my turbos as well.  I heard Jim say that he thought I would be back in the water next week.  This is the longest I have been out of the water.  Being out of the water is uncomfortable for me as all of my weight is put on 9 small points rather than spread throughout my hull when I am in the water.  I can’t wait to get back into water.

Rich and Carol went to see the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY.  The museum is located in the old Weigh Lock house.  In this lock each barge was weighed to determine the amount of toll it had to pay to use the Canal. 

Rich also learned that Syracuse was the salt capital of the early United States and salt was shipped in all directions.  The salt was obtained from boiling the brine of Onondaga Lake in large pans with fires under them.  Men with shovels would dig the salt out of the pans.  I guess that is where the phrase “working in the salt mine” when discussing hot, hard work came from.  Prior to the invention of refrigeration salt was critical was for the preservation of food, production of chemicals and tanning of hides.  One of the ways, England tried to control its colonies was to control their access to salt by shipping it all from the Northwest England.  Syracuse salt help give independence to the new country.  Salt was very valuable and so arose the phrase “Worth his weight in salt.”

I SIT, THEY TRAVEL

June 23, 2011

Hi, Rich here.  I got a request from Salt ‘n Sand to post something to her blog while she is in the hospital, as she calls it.

As Salt ‘n Sand told you the last time that she posted, Carol and I rented a car.  We decided that we would go to the 1000 Islands at Alexandria Bay, Clayton and Cape Vincent.  The weather was bad for both Tuesday and Wednesday but it has improved this afternoon.  We are staying at a hotel that is across from Boldt Castle and the view is incredible. 

The Boldt House Barge

Yesterday, we went to the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY.  The museum is full of guess what, antique wooden boats.  It also contains a house boat built by George Boldt, but never occupied by him.  It was towed around by a tug and placed wherever the client wanted it to be.  It is large enough to hold not only the family renting it but their servants as well.  The wood work has been restored and it is in grand 1890s style reflecting Mr. Boldt's status at the time.  He did rent the barge for $100.00 per day, that was when a dollar was worth a dollar.  Following Boldt’s death, George Noble purchased the Castle and the barge.   Noble was a candy maker.  A child had swallowed one of his candies, gotten it caught in his windpipe and died.  Noble vowed it would not happen again.  He invented a candy with a hole in the middle of it and called it a Life Saver.  If it went down the wrong pipe the eater would still be able to breath. McNally of Rand McNally purchased the barge and had it restored as it had sunk in 12 feet of water. The McNally family has since given the boat to the Museum for all of us to enjoy.

Below are pictures of some of the boats that we saw at the museum.

Look at the 8 exhaust pipes



Speed Boat Stern



 











We went on to Cape Vincent and did not see much there.  Our original plan had been to bring Salt ‘n Sand to the 1000 Islands to cruise there but that will have to wait for the next time.



George Bodt who was the proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York and the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, PA began his castle in about 1900, when his wife died suddenly he ordered all work on the castle to stop that very day.  While he had extensive holdings in the 1000 Islands he never returned to his Heart Island.  The house was left to the elements and vandals for 70 years.  The Noble Family finally gave the Castle and Island to the 1000 Islands Bridge Authority who are currently restoring it.  It can not be restored beyond the point that Boldt left it and has to be open to the public.  Many of the rooms are unfinished and will always be that way, but the grandeur is still there.  The Authority has spent more than $40 million restoring the Castle and its grounds.



Boldt Castle Main Staircase



George Boldt arrived from Germany at the age of 13 with nothing and without government

help built this castle and the boat house across the channel as well as several very successful hotels.  His wife was the daughter of the owner of the Bellevue Stratford in Philadelphia.

Here is the Castle with an ocean going freighter going past it.  This picture was taken outside of our room.





I AM REALLY SICK

June 21, 2011

Today was not a good for me.  The doctor concluded that I had destroyed some of the splines on the shaft that comes out of my transmission and connects to the propeller shaft.  I had to be pulled out of the water and tomorrow one of my transmissions will be removed for further investigation.  The doctor will open the transmission to see if anything else was damaged. 

Rich and Carol rented a car, Rich gave me a pat on my rear end and off they went.  I hope that I can get going again soon.  I don’t like sitting on land.

I will be off line until I get back together.  the doctor said it will take atleast a week or two to put me back into the water.

See the lady standing below my bow?

THE DAY OF A HIGH, A LET DOWN--NOW HERE I SIT

June 20, 2011

Rich took me to the doctor today at Winter Harbor Marina and he said that the oil leak I have is coming from my port transmission.  The yard worked very quickly and began to take me apart to make sure they understand what needs to be done.  The doctor said that I might be here for a week or more. Depending on how much damage has been done.  He asked about my medical history and if I had been driven on the ground and stalled the engine.  Two years ago while in the channel coming out of Onancock I hit a sand bar and stalled the engine.  That may have been the start of the problem, who knows?  I will post again when I have further details.

June 19, 2011

Today was a high followed by a big letdown.  They got me going early again so they could make the first of 5 locks that had to be traversed.  The trip today was 50 miles long and took us from Little Falls to Sylvan Beach on the Erie Canal.  Rather than travel in the Mohawk River I actually traveled in the dugout portion of the Canal.

The high point of the day was when I reached 420 feet above sea level, the highest point on the Canal. I traveled through 20 locks to get that high.  Then the let down came, within a two mile distance I was lowered forty three feet.  From this point on I will be going down to Lake Ontario.  I like going down in a lock, it is lot easier on me than going up.  Rich and Carol bought some nice hangers for the big Aeré fenders.  While going up the fenders pulled and rubbed on the lock walls, there was so much pressure that the lines bent the line guides on the fender hangers but nothing happened to the fenders, Aeré fenders are really strong.

The trip was pretty boring; I did see the steam powered boat heading toward Little Falls where there will be a canal steam boat festival the weekend of June 25.

Sylvan Beach is an inland version of the New Jersey Shore but on a smaller scale.  People anchor their boats off the shore and jump into the water.  The beach is sand and about four miles long.  There are amusement rides for the children, games of chance, bars with loud bands, and a large public park.  The rides are old but they are there. There was a roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl, fun house, Himalaya and bumper boats; but there was no Ferris wheel or merry go round. The fun house was touted as the “world’s scarcest ride”, easy for them to say they haven’t got up in a 40 ft lock with the wind blowing.   There are lots of little cottages in the area that are rented out for the week or the season.  Rich and Carol saw a sign that that read “Parking Full   Overflow Parking Straight Ahead 4 Blocks ”  Nothing unusual about the sign except that straight ahead was into Lake Oneida. 

There are a very large number of boats here; most of them are small or pontoon party boats.  I saw this one pontoon boat that had a second story on it.  Off of the second story came a slide that must have sent the slider up into the air and then down in the water.  The slid looked like it would be good fun for a human but not for me.  If I jumped on it I would sink the pontoon boat.

Tomorrow I start the journey across Lake Oneida. If the wind is out of the west, our ride could be very bumpy. My next stop is at Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, NY where I hope someone there can fix my oil leak, so Rich doesn’t have to clean my bilge each evening. Check in tomorrow to see if I’ve been repaired.

WONDERFUL PEOPLE

June 18 ,2011

I said goodbye to Riverlink Marina at Amsterdam NY early this morning and the three of us got on our way.  Today was a busy day for me I went through 7 locks and I was lifted 121 vertical feet.  One lock was a 40.5 foot lift.  That lock was different than any one I had gone through before.  The lower gate opened by lifting vertically.  I drove under the lock door and got wet from the dripping water.  It was an interesting lock to enter and we were so focused that they did not get a picture

When Rich was doing some old property searches in New Jersey, he found that property lines were marked by trees or piles of stones.  I noticed that the New York State Canal System marks the location of buoys by nailing a sign on a tree.  Since the buoys have to be removed over the winter, the signs make it easier to place them in the spring.   Here is an example

 

Carol saw this house and even thought it was homier than the Esopus Lighthouse on the Hudson River.  How could she leave me, there isn’t even enough space to put a dock.  Oh well see how nice I will be to her.  I did like the river waters they were flat and as smooth as glass.  Even when the ocean is flat it is still rolling, a flat river is flat.  Along the flat straight section Rich opened up my throttles and off we went.  I told him he better keep my turbos spinning otherwise they will get gunked up.

Along the way, I showed them this neat little Canal system tug.  Kewl huh?

We stopped at Little Falls, NY today.  What did they do?  They walked to town and left me behind.  Rich did wash the lock mud off of me before they left, I am happier after a bath.  There was a canal built around the “Little Falls” in 1790 so boats could travel along the Mohawk River unimpeded.  The town is old and has some interesting buildings below are two pictures Rich took.  A lady in one of the stores told Rich that the water in the river was almost up to the building with the balcony last month.  Little Falls was once the cheese capital of the United States, those days have long since past. 

 

Yesterday I mentioned how nice the people were here.  There was a graduation party going at the dock property.  A man named Dave came over and invited Rich and Carol to the party ---he didn’t offer me any diesel.  Later while I was writing this, his wife Liz came and offered Rich and Carol cookies and some barbeque and still no diesel for me.  These people are wonderful here---they are real Americans.

I almost forget to mention that Carol and Rich were married on a Saturday 45 years ago today----are they getting old.  But don't tell them I said that.

RAIN AND THE PWHF

June 17, 2011

Salt ‘n Sand reporting from the Mohawk River portion of the Erie Canal in a place called Amsterdam, NY.  The title of this post tells it all.  Rich and Carol told me that we were going to get up and get going early today. Getting up was the easy part.  Looking outside all they saw was water coming out of the sky.  Had they asked me I would have told them it had been raining for a while, I know because I was the one getting wet and keeping them dry.  Well they thought for two hours and then decided to get going. 

We had to go through only three small locks and we traveled about 29 miles to Amsterdam.  There was rain almost the whole way getting to Amsterdam, but someone smiled down on them as each time we went into a lock the rain stopped. 

They did stop me in a nice marina called Riverlink with a restaurant next door.  After they arrived in Amsterdam, they decided to go for a walk and they got caught in a big down pour, serves them right.  It was their turn to get wet.   I bet they just go to that restaurant next door tonight so they don’t get rained on again.

When they came back from their walk they told me that they saw the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame or as it is known locally PWHF.

As I type this, Rich and Carol are having cheese and crackers, all I get is diesel fuel.

They did have dinner at the restaurant, they ate outside with the owners of Bavarian Creme.  Nice people from Louisiana, Bavarian Creme is from Germany.  They were staying in Amsterdam for another day.  They have the recipe for Bavarian Creme on the back of their boat card. 

The people here, I am told, are really nice.  At dinner one of the restaurant owners came and said he was going to the store and asked if any one anything, Carol said yes she needed a loaf of bread.  A little while he comes back and gives her a loaf of bread.  He would take nothing for it.

I thought that I would see a lot of other boats on the Loop.  So far I have only seen 5.  Rich told me that he had met three of the owners either in Cape May or at the Norfolk Rendezvous.  Perhaps I will catch up with some more along the way .

Here is a picture looking east from Riverlink.

THE START OF THE LOCKS

I got up early this morning. My new friends, the Karen Ann and the Potest Fieri wanted to catch the first opening of Lock #2 at 7:15, so my CATs (Caterpillar diesel engines) were brought to life about 7 AM.  We were first into the lock, but Karen Ann pulled in next to us so she could pull out of the lock first and I would follow.  The lift of about 35 ft went without much happening.  As I went into Lock #3 Carol grabbed the cable that should be bolted to the top and bottom of the lock so she could hold me against the wall.  Carol would loop a line around a cable and Rich grab a line at the stern.  Rich stopped in the right place and Carol looped her line around the cable.   Surprise,   the cable was not attached at the bottom.  Rich and Carol scurried around and I was proud of them as they found another cable and held me against the wall. 

Coming out of Lock #3 we encountered this east bound tug.  There is still some commercial traffic that uses the Canal.

To the left is a picture of Karen Ann going into Lock #5 as you can see; it’s a long way up.

There are two guard locks west of Lock #6 that control the water float.  This picture shows Karen Ann going under one of them.  The second one must have just been raised because as I went under it I got a dirty water shower.  But that is Rich’s problem, with all the dirt from the lock lines he had to wash me later.  The lock walls and lines are really dirty and it all seemed to come off on me.

The Erie Canal follows the Mohawk River here and the scenery is pretty, but not as pretty as the New Jersey Palisades.  The side of the river has some very steep embankments.  I ended the day early at the Schenectady Yacht Club.

3 MILES TO WATERFORD

Today was another easy day, Rich filled the fuel tanks this morning before entering the Erie Canal System.  I heard fuel is really expensive there and Rich paid $4.69 a gallon the other day.  There was a 48 foot Sea Ray who filled up just before me and took off for the Troy Federal Lock.  I only took 50 gallons and the dock master had the lock tender hold the lock gates open until I got there, so we went through together.  These one picture is of what I saw going into the lock and while the other was taken when the lock was full.  I was lifted about 13 feet.  The purpose of this lock is to stop the tidal waters from going any further north.  The Hudson is a flat river and it is tidal for more than 145 miles.  Once through the lock I was in fresh water and will not return to salt water until we get to Mobile Bay next year.

 

This is the famous sign that everyone on the Loop takes a picture of so, Rich had to take one too.  It is located in Waterford, NY.  Rich turned me starboard into the Erie Canal and we stopped for the day. Today was sunny and warm.  What a difference from yesterday.  Rich gave me a good bath and took down my anchor light to make sure I can get under the bridges.

Rich and Carol bought the lock pass so I can begin traveling the Erie Canal tomorrow.  While Rich and Carol were out walking I took a look at one of the books they left behind.  Within the next 2.0 miles I will be lifted 170 feet from where I am today by passing through 5 locks, and I thought the travel lift at Canyon Club picked me  up high.

While in Waterford, I was docked below a bridge that was about 3o feet above the water.  Four were jumping off the bridge into the water.  They were having a good time, but then the police came and that ended that fun.  That was almost as much fun as on time in Onancock, VA when I watched some kids ride a bicycle off the town dock into the creek.  That had a personal floatation device on the bike but nothing on them.  I guess they wanted to make sure the bike didn’t sink so they could do it again.  The white pole in the picture is my VHF antenna that Rich had to drop down so I could get under some of the low bridges.

Good news I saw a flock of geese heading north today, I guess, they must have changed their mind from yesterday.

A GRAY CLOUDY DAY

Today was an easy day, I only had to travel 54 nautical miles.  It was a boring day, last night and early this morning it rained so we left a little later.  As we pulled out of Rondout Creek, Carol took a picture of the Rondout lighthouse.  The Rondout Creek is part of the remains of the Delaware and Hudson Canal which was built to transport coal from Pennsylvania to New York via barge.  The City of Kingston, like many other cities on the Hudson, was very wealthy and the buildings that remain show it.  As you can see from the picture the sky was gray with big dark clouds.  We had rain almost all day and the wind was coming straight down the river right on my bow.  But I pushed on and got us to Troy by mid afternoon.

This Lazzara express yacht did a slow pass and then opened up after she went by.  She was 96 feet long, sleek and beautiful.  When we got to Troy the Lazzara was at the dock taking on 1,000 gallons of fuel.  Rich had to guide me against the dock just in front of her fighting the current and the wind.  I heard Rich say something about having to go change his underwear.  Rich, Carol and a dockhand got me against the dock and tied down without incident

My friend BlueSkies was also in the marina before we got there.  We will part company tomorrow as BlueSkies is heading up through Lake Champlain and I am going out the Erie Canal.

Because of the gray skies and rain, today was not a good day for taking pictures.  Carol did get one almost good picture of the Saugerties Lighthouse.  Just past the lighthouse I looked up and saw a formation of geese in a perfect “V” flying south.  It felt cold with the wind and rain.It was no wonder the geese were heading south.  I was going north I thought there was something wrong.

Troy is a depressed city but its buildings that were erected in the later 19th century show how much money and what a thriving city it was.  Troy was also the city where Uncle Sam was created.  Sam Wilson a local meat packer packed beef for the Army during the War of 1812.  He stamped the beef with his initials and "U.S. Beef" later a caricature of him became the Uncle Sam we know today. There is a statute of him in the city----Rich and Carol did not have their camera with them so I can’t post a picture. 

I LOVE IT

I left Half Moon Bay Marina this morning heading "up the river" for Kingston.  The Hudson River is a beautiful place.  It is surrounded by green mountains on each side , but the day was hazy so the pictures that Carol took didn't turn out so well, so you will have to believe me on the river's beauty.  We first went under the Bear Mountain Bridge.  The water on the river so so smooth, I am not use to that.  Rich usually takes me into the ocean or a tidal bay, WOW this is fun

We saw a neat waterfall just south of West Point, you can only see it from the river

Next we came to  Esopus Lighthouse.  It sits out in the middle of the river and appears to be only accessible by boat.  Carol thought that the house would be a nice place to live.  It is small and certainly the neighbors will not come to borrow a cup of sugar.  Esopus derives it's name from the local Native American words for "land of the flowing water and high banks"

While pulling into Rondout Creek in Kingston.  Rich notices a World War II PT boat parked on the dock wall.  Carol and Rich's son-in-law really likes PT boats. So Matt, here's a picture for you

 It took Rich 1 1/2 to put 565 gallons of fuel into my tanks.  The marina they stopped at had two fuel hoses.  A high speed hose and a "sailboat" hose.  The high speed hose would not reach me so I got the sailboat hose and I sure was thirsty.  They left me behind as usual and they went into Kingston.  Rich told me they went to the Maritime Museum and saw some really interesting things.  They saw a 45 foot ice boat and were told that it could go up to 170 kilometers an hour with only a thirty kilometer per hour wind.  I don't think I would like to go that fast, some of those ice boats weighted a full ton,  I am a little fatter and weight a little bit more.  A lady never tells her weight.

In Kingston Rich and Carol saw a pay phone.  These things are very rare here now since cell phones came into being.  I wonder who goes around and collects the money.

They also got to see Larry and Christine on Blue Skies.  Rich and Carol met them in Norfolk a month ago.

Its now time to call it a night I am sure Rich will make me work again tomorrow.

WE FINALLY LEFT

At 7 AM this morning I left my comfortable, but shallow, slip at Canyon Club Marina in Cape May, NJ.  Rich and Carol's human friends were there to take pictures and help me get away.  I said good bye to Dealer Breaker, Yankee Girl and Bacchus, who share the dock with me.  We had an interesting ride up the Jersey Coast.  It was a lot like San Fransisco---if you don't like the waves wait 15 minutes and the wind and waves would change.

Carol wanted to take a picture of Lucy the Elephant, good thing that Rich's sister sent us the picture below because the fog was so bad Rich decided not to go in toward shore.  Lucy is a building in the shape of an elephant, built in 1881 that stands about 6 stories high and was originally used as a real estate office. It has also served as a summer home, a tavern, and now a tourist attraction in Margate NJ (just south of Atlantic City).


When we got to New York Rich took a picture of Lower Manhattan at about the same spot he took one in 2001. Below are both pictures, can you figure out which is which ?

 The dark building in the left center of the above picture is the new World Trade Center being built.  There are two cranes on top of it.  Today was a gray day so today's picture is not so good.

The New Jersey Palisades are an awesome sight.  Rich told me that the top of them is covered with condos and apartments, but you can't see them from the water so the lava flows look pristine

We ended the day at 4:30 PM when we pulled into Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton on the Hudson. The day was long but we managed to cover 154 miles.

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