Erie Canal - Waterford, NY – 6/2-5/06

This day was somewhat exciting for us in that once we arrived at our destination, of Waterford, NY, we would not have any more tidal waters to deal with and we'd be into fresh water again. The dockage here is free for the next 150 miles. Waterford is the start of the Erie Canal with 29 locks ahead of us until we leave NY. When we arrived, about 5:00pm there was an Irish festival in progress. Everyone is so friendly and welcomed up warmly. Lisa got her hand kissed by one of the harbormasters just like in France. There are 6 Looper boats here ready to start moving west – however it rained for 3 days and there is too much water to open the locks. So, we're not sure when we'll leave here.

In the meantime all the Loopers got together for cocktail hour Saturday night on "River Quest" and then we all went to dinner at the local Irish tavern. Sunday we plan to do some cleaning, walking, exploring and catching up on correspondence.

We are on the same parallel as Grand Rapids, MI and we have only 800 miles to go.