Strange day. The Locks were closed from 07 to 19 and we were just above Lock 17, in the closed section. They closed it because of the rain and high water with strong currents. Todays forecast was rain with thunderstorms and as much as 1.4″ of rain. So it looked like we were going to sit a few more days at the very least waiting for the rain to stop and the water to go down.
Candy and I were able to get the morning wall in at 6:20 between the first shower and when the continuous rain started.
Well about 9:30 the gentleman from the marina, Tom, came to the boat and said the Canal People wanted the boats out of this area and they were allowing them to move west today so they were “out of harms way”. Well Tom gave me a ride to CVS to get the prescription squared around and then he along with the Dock Master Chris, helped us get off the wall.
Lenore had called her doctor on Monday and had a prescription faxed to the CVS in Little Falls. This prescription was for some arthritis medication. It turns out that the State of New York has this medication on a list of controlled substances and without the original written prescription all they could do was give Lenore a 5 day supply. Well the prescription showed up in the mail this morning but if the Little Falls CVS fills the prescription then the refills have to come from them, the prescription cannot be transferred according to NY law. Well I had it filled and Lenore can call her doctor from Canada and we can get the next one filled there. For our situation this is not a good regulation and I told the pharmacist that.
Just as we were departing another boat, The Lady O, was going by so we fell in behind. The Lady O is a large, probably 55′ to 60′ Azimuth with a height of approximately 19′-6″. We called them on the radio and found out they were going as far as they could for the day. We said we would follow. I got a good reading on their height as they went under the bridges. On the 20′ bridges they just cleared. They had a guy right up at the radar arch getting a good look while the captain inched forward until he was sure he had clearance. They were not sure where the water levels were and how they would effect the clearance.
Lenore and I talked about where to stop today and because of the late start we thought we would stay with our plan of going to a marina in Rome NY. The first 2 locks went well and as we were between the 2nd and 3rd we found out that the Canal was closed down at lock 21 which was the lock after Rome NY. When we were in lock 20 the lockmaster came over and talked to the Lady O and Champ III. He wanted us to know our options with the next locks closed. We could stay on his wall, there was a free dock in Rome or we could stay on the wall at the next lock, none of these options had shore power. I mentioned the marina in Rome and he said I probably wouldn’t get anybody by phone. When I tried the number the recording came back that it was disconnected.
We did find out that Lock 20 is the highest point on the Erie Canal and we will be locking down from here to Oswego. We are actually in a manmade canal now and the Mohawk River is much smaller and meandering around south of the canal. The last 5 miles today was straight as an arrow.
We finally decided to go to lock 21 and tie up to their wall because there was no railroad in the area and it would be quite. We arrived at 5:00 and talked to the lockmaster at 21 and he had no idea when they may reopen the canal. He had just been talking to his boss trying to find out.
The radar looks like the rain is just about done but I did not see if there is anything west of us. We will get a good nights sleep and worry about it tomorrow..