Erie Canal Cruise, September 2009

CTYankee

Hey Canalers,

Let's start a separate thread on the just completed Erie Canal Cruise from Sept 19 to Sept 27, 2009. Participants inclued: Knot Flying, Will-C, Crescent Girl, Inn the Water, The last Dance, C-Lover, Placid-C, and the Jersey Boys. We had perfect weather, perfect company, perfect boats, and on one of the great cruising grounds in this country. We went from Seneca Lake, NY to Middleport, NY and back in 8 days. My log shows about 260 miles. Many, many laughs, a few adventures, great (and cheap) food, and no disasters (Except maybe for Lou at Allens Marina Cool

). Please share your stories and post your pictures. We are already planning next year's adventures. What a cruise!!!

Dun

colobear · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:08 am Post subject:

Good idea! The Erie canal is high on our wish list of places to cruise.

Thanks.

Will-C · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject: Erie Canal Cruise, September 2009

Hello,
For those of you who have not done the Erie Canal you are missing a great destination. The canal, the local people and the food are have to be experienced to be believed. This was our first C-Brat event. I could not believe how much fun we had. The restaurants seem to be at 50% off or better.The hospitality of upstate New York has to seen to be believed. My wife does not even do well on long car rides and we lived on our boat for a week. We got off for walks into town, meals and showers/laundry. I'm sure I will miss some but the Taste of Texas, and Grandpa Sams in Spencerport along with The Basket Factory in Middleport were three of my favorites places to eat. Grilling steaks on the wall in Newark was very cool which we did on our return trip. The radio chatter on channel 69 was hilarious. Put the Erie Canal on your bucket list. If you can go with any of the people we went with on this trip you just can't go wrong. We only lost 1/2 of a boat hook, one glove, a pair of glasses, and a wireless mouse which was last seen swimming around near Spencerport and o yeah I saw a swimming squirrel. One more thing, Great Blue Heron's are like sparrows up here don't even mention them it's bad karma. I haven't smiled this much since they let me out of the Marine Corps.
Dave and Ginny Deem

journey on · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject:

Well, Crescent Girl, where are your pictures? Love to see them.

the Eire Canal is one of the worlds great trips, equal to the French canals, and they even speak English.

Here is our Eire Canal picture, on Our Journey:

It's hot, but my feet are cool.

Boris

teflonmom · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:26 pm Post subject: Erie Canal Cruise Sept. 09

Hi Gang,

Pat and I are glad you all had a wonderful cruise. The Western end of the canal is sure our favorite and we have done it all. I was waiting for your posts and thinking about you all last week. We sure wish we could have stayed and met up with you for at least one meal. I trust you got your load of good fat at the Newark Diner. Post your pictures we always love to see anything on the canal.

We hope you enjoy the fall season and the holidays.

Fred, Pat, and Mr. Grey(the cat)

Will-C · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:32 am Post subject: Erie Canal Cruise, September 2009

Hi,
We have started to post some of the pictures in an album titled Erie Canal Fall 2009. It is currently on the home page under recent photo activity. More to follow.
D.D.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:49 am Post subject:

Ours too, Barry. December 31, 2013 (2012 if Austin can graduate in 3 years!) can't come soon enough!

Dun - I will follow this thread, I have a folder on the desktop of the Macbook called "Great Loop" where I am accumulating info on any part of the grand adventure, and from all accounts the Erie Canal is a major part of this whole deal!

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:52 am Post subject:

Boris - they have canals in Ireland? WAY cool!

jhwilson · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:59 am Post subject:

This event was a first for us in many ways and what a great experience it was. It was our first C-Brat group cruise. The great company not only made the cruise more enjoyable but, for us novices, the experience of the other participants greatly enhanced our cruise craft techniques. Our appetites are now wetted for the next C-Brat cruise we have an opportunity to attend.

It was also the first multi-day cruise in Placid C which we acquired in March. Everything worked perfectly during the six night, seven day cruise. We slept every night on the boat and it was far more comfortable than we had imagined. The alcohol stove, porta-pottie, and on-board water system were all simple and served us well.

It was our first locking experience. Due to the excellent instruction from Dun of Crescent Girl and Terry of The Last Dance we eventually mastered (at least survived) that procedure.

Fred of Inn the Water showed us how to find the best deal on meals and other necessities.

It was our first time as tourists in western New York. The local folks were extremely helpful and courteous. They certainly know how to take advantage of the Erie Canal as an economic resource. In one tourist shop in Palmyra where we stopped one day for lunch I inquired of the shop owner where I might find some alcohol fuel for our stove. He stated that there was a store a mile away that carried it and he would gladly drive me there to pick it up. It was unbelievable. I thought that my hometown folks in western NC were the only ones still around who would make such an offer. I declined because I only wanted the fuel as a reserve. It turned out not to be needed.

Overall, the last week is one of the most pleasant experiences we have had in a long time. We look forward to our next trip with these wonderful C-Brats. Next time at the canals we will make it at least two weeks.

I'll get some additional photos posted in the album later this week.

Harper

ffheap · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:28 am Post subject:

Hi Folks,

As others have said, it was a great cruise. The people, friends, ports, boats, food, etc. made it a winner.

Because of prior commitments, my cruise was a little different. I turned around at Spencerport and "speedily" returned to Seneca Lake stopping only at Newark for ane night, the final night being at Seneca Lake State Park. I was on the road Friday Morning to get back to Hingham so as to pick up Sheila on Saturday Morning so we could hold Aav's Birthday Party on Sunday. Back to the Inn on Monday.

My boat and trailer are still at Seneca Lake and Geneva New York. It seems that the wheel rims of my 1983 trailer had it and parted. Twice. Once on the New York Turnpike, and once between Geneva and Lyons. The last I saw one of the wheels it was going into a corn field, never to be seen again.

Inn-The-Water was launched off of the trailer while it sat on a Jeri Dan. I will go back and pick them up on the end of October or the beginning of November. This did not deter my love of the cruise.

Happy Sailing.

Fred Heap, Captain of the good ship INN THE WATER.

El and Bill · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:32 am Post subject:

Fred - sure sorry to hear about the brake problem but glad that didn't deter your enjoyment of the Erie Cruise - you sure know how to 'ride with the punches.'

The cruise sounded wonderful and so glad that it was such good weather, and of course, good company.

CTYankee · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:42 pm Post subject:

I've posted some pictures on the Photo Album. It was hard to choose the best ones...there were so many choice moments!

Terry said the rain started Saturday night and didn't stop till Tuesday with 60 mph winds. It was a Lake effect storm without the Snow. We sure picked the right week to go.

Dun

Rick from Maine · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:15 pm Post subject:

Hi Dun,

Great photos. Looks familiar.

We didn't make it to Rochester due to the flooded Genesee. What was so good that makes you want to stop there next time? How come no photos of Jersey Boys? Were they out carousing all the time, again?

Hi Fred,

You're my hero! Wheels flying off the trailer but still launching from a tow rig. Boy, were you motivated to finally get cruising again! Too bad you don't have photos of launching from the tow rig. Does AAA cover that?

Rick from Maine

CTYankee · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:39 pm Post subject:

Rick,

We really had a ball with the Jersey Boys, Ken and George. They are in one of the photos...kind of like "finding Waldo". They were busy moving trailers from one place to another, and finding VFW halls Cocktail

. They had to leave by Thursday.

Rochester has a new town dock, Cornhill Landing, which is close to the city center with power and water. It looked great and was very large...hopefully safe. I think you could walk to town from there.

The only downer was that cretin at Allen's Marina. How someone can have such a sour outlook on life is beyond me. But, we even had a couple of good laughs about that. Of course it didn't help that I asked him if he had any diesel as I was putting the nozzle in the tank. Laughing

And remember, this is the same trailer that Fred had 4 years ago, that he wouldn't tow over 50 mph. I finally bought a new trailer just before this trip and offered to sell him my old one for the price of the new tires. It's a 100% improvement over what he has now. But he wouldn't bite.

Your recommended B&B's rate an A+. Carol has good taste....which is why she picked you!

I gained 5lbs on this trip. I swear, upstate NY is a real undiscovered gem.

We'll have to talk about next year soon. I favor Penobscot Bay!

Dun

ffheap · Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:29 am Post subject:

The 50 miles per hour had to do with the balance of the wheels and the tow vehicle. This time I went the speed limit and beyond. The rims got tired. If Dun's trailer is so good, why is he getting rid of it?

Fred

ps: Pictures of trailer coming shortly.