Day 8

We spent a very pleasant afternoon yesterday visiting with Janet and Russ and hearing the boating adventures of Gold Loopers Deb and Mike on their 42 foot Grand Banks Europa, Carousel.  Beautiful boat.  They finished their 1st loop in 2016.  Now they seem to be concentrating their time on specific parts of the Loop. They shared some misadventures too!

Rained very hard overnight bringing welcome relief from the heat of yesterday.  Because of the weather we chose a later start of 09:30, letting the last of the raindrops pass us by.   We saw an eagle but I couldn't get a pic. 

Workboats dredging the canal.

There are SO many trains going by!

It has been pretty breezy all day making the locks a bit harder to do, lots of pulling and tugging on the lines by the wind and us.  This is Tug Bussel in the lock.  Russ is working hard to keep his boat in control.

Safely out of the lock!

Erie Canal version of a cruise ship!

We arrived at Ilion Marina in Ilion NY by 2pm.  Short day but a little stressful.  Once we got settled in we walked into town in search of a hardware store and the local Aldi's.  Mission --milk, a piece of 2x6 lumber and some U bolt clamps.  Boat chore this afternoon was to create a motor mount for the dinghy on the fly deck. Original plan was to store the motor in the hold at the back of the boat. Jerry spied how Russ did his and it may make more sense and be easier on his back.  I  must say that the customers in Aldi's did a double take.  Maybe they were admiring his wood....

Tomorrow our goal will be Sylvan Beach.   39 miles and 4 locks, raising up 37 feet and then lowering us 50ft.  It will be a long day.