20 May 17

We got up about 08:00 and took advantage of the SYC showers, then pushed off just after 10:00. It was much cooler this morning with a bit of high overcast, but not much wind. Locks 8, 9 and 10 were tackled without incident, but at Lock 10, the keeper advised us that Lock 12 was having mechanical/electrical problems and that there was already a group of 9 or 10 boats tied to the lock wall above Lock 11 waiting for a status change. So, we decided to call it a day and tied up to the Riverlink Park floating dock in Amsterdam, NY at 14:15. We had a nice walk around Amsterdam; there was a street festival in progress with some excellent live music by a group of physically challenged folks - they did some excellent covers of Sam Cook, Adele, Sam & Dave and other rock & roll classics. The rest of the many booths seemed to be selling either heart-attacks-on-a-stick (fried dough, fried sausage, fried onion rings and anything else you could think of to fry) or health care plans; bit of a symbiotic relationship going on there. Just about Captain’s Hour, another Beneteau 423, Northern Light” pulled in behind us for the night. They are on their way home to Erie, PA for the summer season; they alternate back and forth between there and Del Mar, FL, where they winter. We had dinner at the River’s Edge Restaurant, within yards of the boat, followed by a long FaceTime chat with our pals John and Laurie, who are spending the Victoria’s Birthday weekend on their boat on Saltspring Island, BC.

On a sad note, we just got the news that Jimmy Lafave has died or cancer. He did better interpretations of Bob Dylan songs than Bob Dylan. And his cover version of “Walk Away Renee” is superb. What a loss to the music industry. Cheers, Jimmy; thanks for the music.

42-56.031’N, 074-11.487’W; 20.5 N-m; Sum (2017) = 105.9 N-m