Erie Canal - 20

The Erie Canal breaked at Sylvan Beach and picked up again on the other side of Oneida Lake. This town is like a township one would find by the coastal shores back home. It caters to weekenders and has a park with rides. Joey and I had a nice dinner out and laid on the front of the boat that night and listened to a band in the backyard of one of the houses on the wall where we tied up. Sylvan Beach has a wall on the Erie Canal where boaters can tie up for free. There's no power and water, but hey it's FREE.
We enjoyed watching a little girl, who made a seat out of the boat tie up apparatus. The weather was beautiful there and we looked forward to crossing Oneida Lake where the Erie Canal spilled out onto. Oneida Lake is a thirty three mile crossing and we crossed it early in the morning on a beam sea. Not a great ride, but after the six to seven foot waves on the Chesapeake, it was a piece of cake. I like to get my blanky and pillow and sleep on these days.
Once we crossed Oneida Lake,and continued on the Erie Canal and once again began the locking process. We stopped at Winter Harbour for fuel and potty pump out. We stopped at Illion for the night after the Winter Harbour stop.
The next day we arrived at Oswego, which is the last stop on the Erie Canal. Oswego also had great places on the wall of the Canal to tie up. We stayed at Oswego for two days. Reason being, Lake Ontario was too rough to cross, so we waited for the oppertune time. Some fellow boaters tried to cross and fifteen minutes into their trip, decided to come back to the safety of Oswego. Who wants to get beat to death. Well maybe Steve Kaeiser. He's the only guy I know who loves any kind of weather on a boat. Good Luck with that Steve!!!
We met two nice couples in Oswego. Jill and Richard from Georgia and Mark and his wife from Houston. We crossed together on Lake Ontario. Always safety in numbers. We arrived in Kingston, Canada in the middle of the afternoon and stayed two days there. It is a beautiful city. We washed the boat, did some maintenance and shopped some. I took pictures of Kingston's City Hall and of the Turrents there across the land. The turrents were armed with guns for protection of the city of Kingston. Very friendly people in Canada. Very clean place and well organized.