June 9-11, Days 43-45     Leaving the Hudson River, and turning west into the beginning of the Erie Canal (which is the Mohawk River - made famous by the movie, Drums along the Mohawk), we reunited with Carried Away & Quest in Waterford, NY.    Since Waterford is the "Gateway to the New York State Canal System", it offers a lot of amentities and information about the canals to the migrating loopers... plus a free wall to dock on - or, if no more room, to raft up to other boats.    At this juncture, we were to part ways with the other boats, with Rickshaw proceeding west along the Erie, Carried Away & Quest going north along the Champlain Canal & Moor $tuff hanging around in Waterford for a couple more days.    Following a celebratory, good-bye dinner with our friends at a local restaurant, Rickshaw left Waterford on Sunday, June 10th, heading west to continue our hard knocks lessons about transiting the locks.    At the beginning of the Erie Canal, within 100 yards of Waterford, is the beginning of the "Flight of Five" which is a series of 5 locks in close proximity to each other.    The locks on the Erie Canal are needed to raise westbound boats up over the foothills of the upper Appalachian & Catskill mountains in central New York and then back down to the Great Lakes.    While in the locks, there can be a significant amount of turbulence either pushing the boats into or away from the lock walls.    The locks (in the Erie Canal) usually have either very slimy ropes hanging down from the top or pipes that the strong, muscular line handler, aka Belinda, passes a line from our boat around to kind of (not really) "secure" our boat during the filling of the lock.  During the first few locks, we tried driving the boat from downstairs to allow Jim quick access to helping with the lines, but soon discovered that if Jim reduced the throttles too much from the downstairs helm, the engines die!  (another to-do on Jim's list to fix).    Since the engines are the main method for steering the boat at low speed, in one of the locks we ended up at a 45 degree angle to the lock wall, and since the lock is about 45 feet wide and our boat is about 50 feet long, we crunched against the opposite wall taking out the corner of our swim platform (another to-do on Jim's list to fix).

After the first few locks, we finally managed to figure out the best method for
working together at a level below panic and terror, and keep Rickshaw under
control

By the end of our first day, we had gone 35 miles and transited 9 locks, and were greatly relieved to be able to stop in Amsterdam, NY on a canal wall.    

On Monday, we proceeded further west along the Erie Canal, and went through the tallest lock (#17) on the Erie Canal system, which lifts boats up an amazing 40 feet.

We ended the 2nd day at a very nice town, Ilion, after 50 miles and 8 more locks, where Rickshaw will stay until we return from Memphis.   

June 5-6, Days 39 & 40:  After Jim returned from the airport yesterday we took a short four mile trip directly across the river to anchor out in Haverstraw Cove, a very protected bay.  We were the only boat so it was very quiet.  We pulled up the anchor Tuesday morning, met up with Quest and Carried Away, who had stayed in the marina,  and we all headed up the Hudson.   I was very surprised by the topography.  I didn't realize how mountainous this part of New York State is - we were only 50 miles north of NYC and I felt like I was cruising in the Smokey Mountains.  Absolutely beautiful!   Joyce on Carried Away took Rickshaw's picture as she passed by a modern day (1900s) castle on Bannerman's Island.  We made it the new Blog picture at the top of each page!  Thanks Joyce.    The castle was built by a Scot in the early years of the 20th century for storing his extensive munitions collection.    He is credited with the idea of buying excess military surplus after wars and reselling it...the original army/navy store.  It was designed to resemble a Scottish castle, complete with drawbridges and moats.

Tuesday afternoon we stopped in Kingston, NY.   All three boats backed into adjacent slips. We didn't do much here - just walked around and visited a few of the shops.  Everyone gathered after dinner on Rickshaw where we served minced meat pie and hard sauce. 

On Wednesday morning, all three boats headed north towards Saugerties, New York which is on Esopus Creek.  We were delighted to hear that Moor $tuff was going to join us - they had spent an extra day in New York City and skipped Kingston.  When we arrived at Esopus Creek we were stunned to see how narrow the anchorage was.  The only way all four boats could anchor and not swing into each other was for all four boats to raft up (tie up to each other).  The boats face opposite directions - dropping their anchors.   This way we had anchors in two directions which would keep us from swinging.   Since Moor $tuff was the last to arrive they took pictures of Rickshaw, Quest and Carried Away already anchored and rafted up. 

We ended the day with a dinner on Quest - Ricki made a wonderful taco soup!

June 1-4, Days 35 - 38:  On Friday morning (6/1), Jim's 11-year old grandson, AJ, arrived at LaGuardia Airport from Memphis to start his visit with us.  Getting from the west side of the Hudson River in New Jersey to the  northeast side of New York City to retrieve AJ proved to be a bit of a journey, requiring a subway trip and a long taxi ride to the airport and back.    Rather than fighting the high seas in the slip in the marina, we decided to move the boat 30 miles north to Half Moon Bay near Croton-on-Hudson, a quaint commuter community north of the city and just beyond the famous Sing-sing prison.  (A bit of history trivia...Half Moon Bay was named after Henry Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, when he explored the Hudson River in the early 17th century).  Before going up the  river, we had to make one more drive-by visit of the Statue of Liberty, just south of the New York marina for AJ.

Ever since AJ was small, he has always wanted to see New York City.  So, when he finally arrived,  we asked AJ what he most wanted to do during his visit, and his first answer was "ride in the dinghy",  which he thoroughly enjoyed last year, speeding up and down the Potomac when we visited Washington DC with him.    

Saturday morning, we caught the train for the 40 minute ride back into NYC, to continue our sightseeing adventure in the big city.   During his visit, we took a bus tour of midtown & downtown Manhattan on the hop-on/hop-off bus, went on an NBC studio tour, the Top of Rock (again), Times Square (again), and the main attraction, the Broadway play, Spider-Man, which was an eclectic combination of cartoon imagination and high-flying acrobatics with Spider-Man and the villain, the Green  Goblin, flying around the theatre and off of the balconies back onto the stage.   And, back at the marina, of course, the dinghy ride.    
 
During the visit on Saturday, we got caught up in a relatively small peaceful protest march by the Occupy Wall Streeters which we jumped on as a photo op by prompting  AJ to join in the march very briefly so we could send a picture of AJ demonstrating back to his mom & dad, so that they could see how well grandaddy was taking care of him in NYC.

AJ commented that, during his visit, he had ridden on an airplane, a taxi, a bus, a subway, a train, a big boat (Rickshaw), a small boat (Ricky-Dink), & a bicycle (around Half Moon Bay shoreline).  On Monday, Jim returned AJ back to LaGuardia to fly back to be with his mom, Andrea (Jim's daughter) in Norfolk.

May  29-31, Days 32 - 34:    While Jay, Laurie, Mary & Will were in New York, we tried to wear them out with a variety of activities to give everyone a good taste of the Big Apple, including a visit to Ground Zero, the Natural History Museum, a  fantastic play...Mary Poppins, a trip up to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller  Center), Times Square and a stroll around Central Park.  Sadly, they had to leave Thursday (5/31) morning to return to Tucson.  

After Belinda's family left, we decided to move Rickshaw to a slip from the back of the marina (where there was no power) in order to give the batteries a full charge and cool off the refrigerator & freezer.  Since we had never been in the main part of the marina during a workday,  we were in for a BIG SURPRISE!  The marina was extremely rolly from the passing ferries.  So much, in fact, that it felt like we were in 6 foot seas offshore, and requiring us to secure all of the cabinet doors to keep all of the dishes from crashing onto the galley floor.

That evening, we were again surprised to discover 3 fellow looper boats arrive at our  marina, Moor Stuff (Skip & Barb from Chicago), Quest (Carl & Ricki from West Virginia,) and Carried Away (Bill & Joyce from Williamsburg).    After a great dinner prepared by Ricki, Jim met up with a long, lost ex cousin-in-law, Louis Otey, who is an opera singer in New York.    A very full day it was.    

May 28, Monday - Day 31: Belinda's son Jay, his wife Laurie, Mary (7yrs) and Will (4yrs) arrived Sunday night from Tucson about 9pm. They had never seen Rickshaw so they had lots of questions – especially Mary and Will.  Monday was boating day - first we went about four miles north up the Hudson River  to see the west side of Manhattan from the water.  This was the best side to see the Empire State Building and the new Freedom Tower. 

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May 27, Sunday - Day 30:  We got up early so we could research the ferry dock area for a place to rendezvous with Linda and Ashley.   Looking at the satellite map we noticed a marina next to the ferry dock, so we called to ask for 'local knowledge' about suggestions for docking a 44 foot trawler to pick up passengers from the ferry.  The marina said - "No problem - use our dock its a short walk from the ferry dock.  We don't mind and we'll even come catch your lines if you need some help."  Fantastic!  We were docking Rickshaw as the ferry was coming in; Linda could see us from the ferry so she knew where to go.  She and Ashley were aboard Rickshaw by 9:15.  Everything when perfectly - except - did I mention it had been pouring down rain all morning?  UCK.  Everyone was wet.   We waited about 45 minutes for the rain to let up then we pulled in our lines and headed for the Big Apple - a three hour trip.

Within a hour the rain was gone and the skies were blue - it was great weather for the challenges of entering the BUSY New York Harbor.  First we went under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, then we passed by the Statue of Liberty and the new Freedom Tower was standing tall in Manhattan skyline - how exciting!!   But with all the sites we wanted to take in - we still had to keep a sharp look out as NY Harbor is buzzing with huge ships, ferry boats, tour boats, power boats and sail boats.

We arrived at the Newport Yacht Club and Marina in time for lunch with our crew at a nearby restaurant.  Then it was goodby to our Houston friends - we had a lot to do to get ready for our company who will be arriving about 8:30 tonight!  I can't wait - its been 4 months since I've seen my son and grandkids.

May 26, Saturday - Day 29:  After the long trip up to Sandy Hook on Friday we took it easy on Saturday.  We put Ricky-Dink in the water and took a ride into town.  It didn't take long to tour the entire town of Atlantic Highlands.  Later that evening we were eating dinner on the aft deck talking about trying to meet up with our friend Linda, from Houston, who was visiting New York City with her daughter, Ashley,  over the Memorial Day week end, when Jim had a brillant idea!  Why not see if Linda and Ashley want to jump on an early ferry to Atlantic Highlands and then ride with us into New York Harbor??? So, at 8:00 on Saturday night we called Linda to pitch the idea - they loved the idea and just needed to know where to catch the ferry.   Within minutes we found a ferry that left somewhere in Manhattan at 8:00 am and arrived somewhere in Atlantic Hightlands at 9:05.  We weren't sure where the ferry dock was, or if there was a place to take Rickshaw to pick them up - but hey - if the ferry can dock there we should be able to pull in there too - right?  Another adventure - !