Rome, NY

Quiet, but chilly night last night. I believe the low was 44. However, today was in the mid 70’s. The next couple days show mid to upper 70’s during the day and upper 40’s to low 50’s at night. Winds light and variable, but in the canal the winds really don't much matter. We were off the dock this morning at 8:30a. Two locks to go through, E22 and E21. First one was 4 miles beyond Sylvan Beach, and then only 2 miles to the next one. Total distance to Rome, NY, was 15 miles. Both locks provided a lift of around 20 feet each. I lead the way through the first two locks. Then a few miles farther we passed an old junction lock from the old Erie Canal that has been made into a dry lock. The Erie Canal we are cruising, is actually the third redesign. While C-Otter and Mystery Girl continued to Rome, we turned into the old lock wall to explore. I explored, while Rosanne kept track of me from the boat. :-) That’s the neat thing about trips like this. Rosanne and I love to see the history. Most folks that do the Erie Canal, just cruise on the main canal. Some folks will walk the towns along they way, but few will really explore all the local history or search out and hike to the old locks and canal. When we did the western half of the Erie Canal a few years ago, we had twice the time available and met a number of canal workers and volunteers that shared so much history and personal tours of hidden locks and parts of the canal with us. We don’t have as much time this trip, but still will stop and explore stuff that we know about. We are using “Cruising the New York Canal System”, a Skipper Bob publication. This provides a mile by mile description along the Canal. After exploring the old junction lock, we continued to Rome, docking behind C-Otter and Mystery Girl. After lunch, Rosanne, Bill and I, walked into town to visit Fort Stanwix. The Fort played an important role in the French and Indian War and The American Revolutionary War. We also found a beautiful Catholic Church, St. Peter’s. It was open, so we went inside to sit and pray for a short time. We returned to the boats. Then Rosanne and I took our bicycles back into town to buy a few groceries, stopping on the way back for ice cream. :-) (We earned it walking just over 3 miles earlier, and then 3.5 miles on the bikes.) Later I went over to the Rome Transportation Center to take a shower. (About 200 yards away from where we are docked.) The Erie Canal has many places for boaters to not only dock, many times with electric and/or water available, but also many times provides access to bathrooms, showers, laundry or a community room. The shower and bathroom building is unique here. The bathrooms are open during the day, but after hours, and for the shower all hours, one has to contact the city to get an email to download an app, and then receive authorization to unlock and open the doors via Bluetooth.Read more