24 May 17

The day dawned bright and clear, although still a bit chilly early on. Ashley and Steve did not make it in last night, but came around the boat for brunch and a nice visit late mid-morning. We had a good long chat, then they hit the road for Maine, still 9 hours away, and, just after noon, we headed off for Baldwinsville, where we tied up at the free town dock (they even throw in the power at no charge), where we arrived just after 16:00. Otto worked perfectly all day. We went for a nice walk around town, had a beer at Sam’s Pub on the banks of the Seneca River and then got back to the boat. “Northern Lights” is parked right behind us, and behind them are “Monarch” and “The Pearl”, from Port Lavaca, TX; we had a nice chat with Stanley and Susie, her owner. They are planning to spend the summer in Ithaca, NY, so, no doubt, we will see them again later. “Northern Lights” are headed toward their summer home in Erie, PA and “Monarch” are headed for Georgian Bay, where they also have a cabin.  Baldwinsville is a lovely little town and seems much more alive than many of the upstate NY towns we have passed through so far. And the weather is absolutely gorgeous today, although the forecast for tomorrow looks a bit wet. Dinner aboard; fresh Atlantic salmon.

I should mention that during the cruise today, we passed Three Rivers, which is where the Oswego Canal branches off and heads toward Oswego and Lake Ontario; this is where we turned north 2 years ago. This time, we headed west on the Seneca River/Erie Canal and thus into new territory, for us. “c’est le bon” has not been this far west since Washington, DC in June 2014.

43-09.364’N, 076-20.172’W; 20.4 N-m; Sum (2017) = 220.4 N-m