Oswego and Erie Canals

We left Oswego about 8:00 AM Sunday morning. I felt a little anxious and nervous about the first lock but that subsided quickly. We traveled the full length of the Oswego Canal and a portion of the Erie as far as Brewerton, NY. We tied up on the wall (free dock, free is good) for the night. It rained off and on during the night and late in the evening before we settled in it poured. We were glad to be finished with travel for the day.

Monday we decided to go only as far as Sylvan Beach. We left Brewerton around 9:00 AM after a brisk walk to town and traveled about 2 1/2 hours across Oneida Lake. We went for another walk and had dinner out with our traveling buddies Amy and Doug. It was good to take a short day of travel. We were all still tired from our preparation and long first day.

Tuesday we traveled about 40 miles and locked through four locks. The picture shows Amy and Doug on Stonefire prepared for locking. We spent a pleasant evening on the wall at Ilion Marina. Amy and Doug came over for cocktails after dinner and to watch our video on cruising the Bahamas with the Shards. Watching the aqua blue water and sunshine helps when it is getting very cold here in New York.

This morning after a shower and lite breakfast we walked to the Remington Factory to visit the museum. We were quite amazed at their history. Besides guns at one time they manufactured sewing machines, cuttlerly, typewriters, cash registers and bicycles. Today will be a good day, we learned something.

As I am writing this entry we just locked through the largest lock, lock 17. We have been through it three times now and it still impresses me. When you think about the time frame these locks were built about 100 years ago and the lack of big machinery it is very impressive.