Buffalo

We finished the Erie Canal today. We’re on the town wall in Tonawanda NY. Tomorrow, we’ll head up the Buffalo River to RCR Yachts to have our mast stepped. After that, we booked a marina for 2 nights so I can put our boat back together. There was a lot of work to prep the boat for the canal trip and it’s going to take a couple of days for me to undo it.

I always viewed the Erie Canal as a transportation route, similar to driving an interstate highway through the middle of nowhere. But the reality is, it’s a great cruising ground. There seems to be small towns around every bend in the canal, that still have vibrant downtowns with small shops that haven’t been run out by the chains. Of course the liquor store wanted $13 for a $10 bottle of wine, but it was quaint and wasn’t a big chain store, so I paid the charm tax.

Once the boat is ready, we’re most likely going to sail to Put-in-Bay. We’ll top off our diesel, rest up, and head out to tackle Detroit and the River. Lake Michigan-Huron is very high and the Detroit River, which dumps it into Lake Erie, is flowing fast. We have to try and fight the current to make it up the river to get to Lake Huron.

Our entire trip through the canal we buddy boated with the trawler M/V Sea Lord. We met Joe and Robin in Waterford at the eastern end of the canal and we’ve been running together. They’re a younger couple from Minnesota who are doing the Great Loop, and like us, they’re trying to make it home. We had a great time with them and we’ll miss their company.