Today finds us in Oswego NY, tied to the canal wall between locks 7 and 8. Today is also day 300 since we cast off the lines and headed out on this adventure!
Yesterday ended up being a perfect travel day. We cast off from Phoenix around 0900, and by 1300 we were tied up to the wall in Oswego. Other than the final lock, we are now done with the Erie canal.
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| Between locks 7 and 8 in Oswego |
Ahead of us, and our return to Canada, lies the crossing of Lake Ontario. We know enough now not to take conditions out there for granted, as the waves in Lake Ontario can be much rougher than the same wave height out on the Atlantic coast. As the Rideau Canal system doesn't open for travel until next Friday, we have some time to be patient and pick and choose our weather window to cross. The window we were watching for tomorrow seems to have slid out a bit, so barring any further changes we'll probably be making the crossing on Monday.
As I mentioned in the intro, today is day 300 of our travels. It doesn't really feel like it's been nearly 10 months since we left our home marina. The reality is that we've put 4866 miles under the keel and 671 hours on the engine, and we're not even done yet. We still have 50 miles across Lake Ontario and 125 miles or so up the Rideau ahead of us.
To put those numbers in perspective, for our 2012 boating season we logged 315 miles and 57 engine hours, fairly typical for seasonal boaters that actually leave the dock now and then. :-)
So, we'll take a couple days to relax, and continue to reflect on the places we've seen and the people we've met so far in our travels. That really is, after all, what this is all about.
Watching your "adventure" has been a treat from somebody who spent 5 years travelling the Rideau system. Good for you to go beyond!
ReplyDeleteWell I for one have enjoyed following along the first 300 days :-) Looking forward to the last leg of the journey.
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