Saturday – Day 50 – 9/20/08

Today we got an early start and left the harbor at first light. There are two reasons to get up and leave early. The first is the days are getting shorter and the extra daylight can be most helpful if problems arise. The second is there’s little to no wind at sunrise! The sky was filled with color and wispy clouds as we turned north.

We entered the Oswego Canal an hour later and began another adventure. This canal is large and drops 118 feet into Lake Ontario. We turned another mile stone as we entered Lake Ontario today. That makes four out of five of the Great Lakes since departing on this trip. We will get to number five, Lake Superior next summer on our return trip home from the east coast. We refueled the boat then rented a slip for the night. We took the time to walk around the lake front in Oswego then walked to Fort Ontario. Life was hard during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries as compared to today. The Fort has had a colorful past and was well worth our time to visit.

Picture on left is Fort Ontario.......................on the right is a view from the fort of Lake Ontario

This evening when its cooler we will do some of our domestic chores - adjust a few hinges, tighten a few screws, do some laundry clean this and that and you know the rest ----. There comes a time when you must stop moving around and take care of business!

Tomorrow we will enter the Oswego Canal to rejoin the Erie Canal! In the process we will be lifted 7 times in as many locks. The Oswego Canal has a few locks that are not for the weak at heart! The locks are next to large dams with hydroelectric plants, resulting in fast water with strong currents. I will be happy to rejoin the quiet and peaceful Erie Canal tomorrow. It’s time for chores, then a late dinner some where in town.