Ok everyone, relax! I'm back. I was not kidnapped and ravished by some gorgeous impish creature in Fairport - not this time anyway, that happened last trip! Really! Well, ok, I wasn't kidnapped either, but anyway...
I've been without internet the last three days - this late in the season, a lot of marinas are shut down and that means...no service. So I've had to make do with entertaining Aduana (the Wonder Puppy®) and reading books.
The weather has been great yesterday and today, but tomorrow it's all over again, back down to mid 40s, rather than the high 60s, low 70s of the past two days. Made for a wonderful trip across Lake Oneida though.
Among the things that make you go hmmmm....there are three recreational boats moving on the Canal at the moment: myself, Steve from Port Dover in his 52 foot steel sailboat, and a power boat. One lone 35 foot powerboat. And guess who roared by me today, throwing a big wake and knocking me all over in the narrow canal?
Ok, that was an easy question, wasn't it? Now, all you sailors, try this question on for size - what do these idiots use for brains? We'll assume, for the purposes of the question, that powerboaters actually have brains and that they actually do use them, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. I hope I'm not sounding too bitter here, lol...
I was hoping to exit the canal tomorrow evening, but I'm about 12 miles - two hours travel - too far away to do that, even if I run from dawn to dusk tomorrow. What I chose to do instead was cut today short, stopping here at Little Falls to do some necessary shopping (out of wine again, how DOES that happen?), and I'll do two short days tomorrow and Wednesday to get to Fairport, again with a nice stop tomorrow at Scotia.
While here, I looked around town to replace my inverter, which quit on me. No one in this small town sells them, but I got talking to a local schoolteacher, Chris, who has a hankering to go cruising in a few years. We got talking and he offered to drive me the 12 miles back to Herkimer, where there is a Walmart. Problem solved.
An easy day tomorrow, provided the weather co-operates. About 35 miles, then the same the next day and I'm at the Hudson River, once again the last man out of the Erie Canal.....
