Just another day...

John says:

We stayed at St. Johnsville a second day so I could tend to my sleep cycle in an attempt to better focus and concentrate. It was very overcast anyway and it is very difficult trying to match a schedule, my sleep cycle and the weather. But enough of that.

We left St. Johnsville under a sky of thick clouds and a light intermittent rain. So what's new. I think we have seen the sun twice since we left Minisceongo and when we had sun we also had high winds. Today was no exception as the wind had boats going every which way and the crossing currents made it exceptionally difficult to maneuver. This made cruising difficult and locking even harder. After pushing off of the lock wall, starting the engines and assuming my position at the helm on the flybridge the boat was already back at the wall. I went to school at that lock and learned how to compensate for this only after scraping the hull alongside the lock wall. A scratch that needs repair and something I will never forget. Luckily when in the channel and under power, cruising takes on a new feeling of calm assurance and the stress level greatly subsides but then we come to another lock and the stress level rises again. We have done very well in some bad situations according to the lockmasters, but they did not see the times I had trouble. Once we were the first to enter the lock and had to move to the front and when the lock was filling it took all of my strength and cunning (and Holly's help) to keep the boat in position.

We arrived at Ilion early in the afternoon, tied up, hooked up the power and went to town. We had Chinese food for a late lunch that was good and the walk to the grocery and wine stores were close by, although the walk back to the boat seemed to be a lot longer while laden with our purchases. Ilion is a lot more lively than St. Johnsville but again there were too many empty stores. Sorry for digressing.

We are getting ready for dinner and one of the burners on the stove is not working so that will be my next item to troubleshoot and repair. I expected some problems but this is getting to be a bit more than I anticipated. Oh, did I mention I burned the fingers on my right hand the other day trying to brush something off of the other burner ? I am the epitome of Murphy's Law.

We will press on with hope for better weather and an absence of technical problems.

Holly says:

After 4 hours with the wind and rain hitting me in the face, I was ready to cry!! I was never a tomboy or a girl scout, so I am really boat-challenged at this point. John always says that for me, roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn. :-)

But, I am hanging in there. I've included a photo at the top of the sunset at St. Johnsville, and the other is of Lock 17, which is the highest lock with a vertical gate at the entrance. It raises the boat 40 feet, and then the exit gate is the regular type.

Ciao--more later.