Can a picture paint a thousand words?

I sure hope so, as I have strayed so far away from you folks, it might take me a month just to tell all of our stories using words! I will say a little something before inundating you nice people with lots of pictures of locks and Loopers, and ducks and Docktails, just so we can first catch up a spell.

We are in Hastings, Ontario, Ca, and have a little prop problem.

We dragged bottom a ways back on the Trent-Severn, and dented and dinged our port-side prop. Don't feel bad! As fate would have it, we have a spare prop that, A) exists and B) is the right one! It was a 50-50 shot and we thank the Looping Lord above for having mercy on The Zone in it's time of need. In the game of "Rock-Boat-Loop", rock always beats boat, and could have beaten us out of  our Loop for sure.

This journey sure has brought serenity and patience into my life like nothing before it. I have yet to hear any voices whispering that I'd rather be anywhere else (or with anyone else, for that matter!) in the universe. I cherish this daily gift filled with challenges, surprises, set-backs and spontaneity, filling time and space with my favorite person in the world! I could wax on poetically about the things I am learning about myself, Ross, other people, our continent, Canadian beer....but I'll spare you the icky stuff and put an end to your eye-rolling.

Watch your fingers!

We left Kingston for Troy (NY) and headed to Federal Lock #1.  Once in Troy, it meant no more salt water, no more current and no more tidal water. Oh, and more bugs. It also meant we were at the most easterly point on the Loop. (I know, cool, right?) We then began what's called the Waterford Flight and went through Locks 2-6 on the Erie Canal.  We stayed at Blain's Bay Marina in Cohoes, NY and met some nice folks, as usual.  It was crazy hot and we had a tough time with our shore power.  Mike, who Ross called "Barney", was nice enough to try (unsuccessfully -the marina's issue, not ours) to help us out with our power situation, and also cleaned out our Raycor filter which was filled with diesel crud.  "Barney", who called Ross, "Roy", was a great help with a great sense of humor.  While "Barney" & "Roy" were messing around in the engine room, they took out the staircase leading down below to our bedroom.  Who knew? I took a step right out of a cartoon and had no idea what was happening as I landed on my ass dumbfounded, but unhurt. It would have been great if someone told me...


And so our journey through the locks and on the Erie Canal begins!

We then went through Locks 7-10 and ended up in Amsterdam on the Mohawk River at Riverlink Park where we tied up to a wall.They had the most surprisingly wonderful restaurant there where we enjoyed one of our most favorite meals to date on the Loop.

Dinner at Riverlink overlooking The Zone!

Flash forward now across lake Oneida to Lock 21 in Bewerton, where we spent a few days at the Winterharbor Marina.  We had the boat hauled out, The Zone's tush cleaned, checked the props, replaced the zincs and the next day spent all morning having the guys there fixing our holding tank/pump out.  Dirty work indeed, but we finally left at 1:30 that afternoon for Oswego.  

We had a tough time at the Oswego Canal locks as it was windy, and I actually lost my grip on the wall rope at Lock 6. I was grateful that Ross got to the helm in time, from holding a rope in the stern, to use the bow thruster to keep us from crashing into the lock wall. Phew! He now agrees I can use a cleat as leverage.  (Told you!) He was worried that the nasty lock wall ropes might get caught on a cleat at a bad time and tear off a piece of the boat. (Capn's not ALWAYS right.) 

We enjoyed our time at Sacketts Harbor at Navy Point Marina.  They have a brewery there that makes the best homemade root beer Ross ever tasted! It was a sweet, little town whose local steel drum band serenaded us all day.  We sat by the gazebo where they played and nodded off for a bit on a bench. Now THAT'S Looping! 

Sweet setting for dinner in Sacketts Harbor

We left the next day, June 30th, for Clayton, NY (NY State is huuuge!) and had a beautiful but very rocky ride.  Just minutes after we safely docked and checked in at the Clayton Municipal Dock, we ran out and took a boat tour of the glorious Thousand Islands, which included a stop at  Bolt Castle. I'm so glad we decided to do this!  We had an amazing guide and the stories of the many islands and Bolt Castle on Heart Island are full of romance and fantasy, violence and opulence. Google it- it's a tear jerker! 

The St. Lawrence River was jam-packed with boaters on both the US & Canadian side.  Everywhere you looked you saw pleasure boats, tour boats, jet-skis, water-skis; it was a sight to behold! We slept in the next day, July 1st, which was Canada Day, and celebrated by having an amazing breakfast at Tin Pan Galley and then did some shopping in the local stores and specialty shops before heading to the Antique Boat Museum right next to the marina.

Our tour boat for the Thousand Islands

Mrs. Bolt, who died tragically before the castle was completed

ooh boats...

We left July 2nd to cross the river and enter "Canader" through Gananoque (Gan-an-knock-way).  We had a great cruise through the Thousand Islands and checked in with customs lickity-split by telephone.  They didn't even ask for our passport numbers! We still hadn't seen any Loopers in eons at this point, but were grateful to be docked next to a sweet, handsome couple from Montreal.  We were not at all impressed with the town and left the next day for Kingston, where we stayed at Confederation Basin Marina.

Bridge connecting the US & Canada

Please make sure this NEVER makes it over the bridge into the US. Eeew

Alas, in Kingston, the Loopers reunited!  We watched as one after the next Looper boat arrived with tales of many months of excursions since we met last. Kingston was great and we were able to provision the boat and do laundry and what not (what not=colored my hair & got my toes done).  One of our fave Looper boats, Marc's Ark arrived our last night and shared a fun dinner at a restaurant with the word, "pig in its name. Marc helped us shove off in the morning and we headed to Trenton, ON at Fraser Marina where we were met by old Looper pals from Why Knot, and new ones from 20 Bucks as well as Quest, Blue Heron and others. A bunch of us hiked to the beginning of the Trent-Severn Watery to check out the lock and get our Waterway pass.  The Lockmaster and staff were as friendly as could be and even let some of the crazy Looper guys manually turn the gates and open the lock.

Marc & Michele from Marc's Ark in Kingston

Tamasso's in Trenton with Darrelll & Lisa (Why Knot) & Ted & Pat (20 Bucks),
us & a holy spirit, I think!

Ross in Trenton with a cute Canadian

Loopers unite for Docktails in Trenton

Darrell (Why Knot) & Craig (Blue Heron) open Lock #1 on the TSW

Pride & joy of Campbellford

Captain Awesome on a walking bridge in Campbellford

The Zone gets a Canadian plant (note the gloves)

Next was Campbellford, our first stop on the Trent-Severn which took us about 6 hours and 12 locks to get to.All along the way, at just about every single lock, we were told about Campbellford's bakery.  Apparently, Campbellford=doughnuts to die for! Ross left the bakery with brownies, English Muffins and cinnamon rolls, swearing up and down that he'd freeze most of them.  I went to the Chocolate Warehouse and managed to make it out of there with only 1 item.  A pound (kilo?) of dark chocolate covered almonds.  What control, I thought!  That is, until I got them home.  I was good for the first day or so, with a nugget here and there, but let me tell you, I had at 'em after dinner yesterday and spent the rest of the night moaning about it. Well, somewhere between Kingston & Campbellford we managed to hit that nasty rock. Many it seems are nicking props in the Trent-Severn, as it's a bit tricky and not always charted well. It'll take more than that to keep The Zone down and out!

Marc's Ark leading the way on the Trent-Severn

Marc working hard (NOT) while locking through

World's largest $2 coin ("Twooney" as they say here) in Campbellford

Docktails by The Zone with Looper boats Karma, Passport,
Marc's Ark, Quest & Why Knot

Free concert in Campbellford

Laura loves locking & Looping

Hastings has everything Ross needs

Well, I think we're all caught up now and I can once again hold my head high in Looper-Blogville!
Until we meet again in wifi-friendly country.  We leave tomorrow for Peterborough which boasts a 65 foot lift lock which is one of only two hydraulic lift locks on the Waterway and is the highest lift-lock in the world.It's like a big old pendulum. And then there's the Big Chute just before the Georgian Bay...aren't you excited!