| Overnight it rained, seriously, which left quite a bit
of standing water, enough to cover your sandals almost everywhere. In fact
it carried on raining most of the day. |  |
 |
The site is the closest to the falls and was almost full of serious RVs
worth a lot of money, including this tag axle, diesel pusher, class A. To
add to the image was the pickup with matching decals and the golfcart on the
back of that. Serious travelling and most likely a full timer. |
 |
In amongst the class As were some serious fifth wheel
units with some heavy duty tow vehicles like this Peterbilt, which you can
drive on an ordinary car licence. The girls just liked the number plate! |
 |
| We travelled east along the shores of Lake Ontario and
then down to Lockport just in time for a trip on the Erie canal. The barges
used to be towed up and down the canal by tugs such as this one, now retired
and restored. The Clintons got everywhere although the historical connection
is maybe not there. |  |
 |
A feature of the canal is this upside down railway bridge just below locks
34-5. Why it was built this way is unknown. |
| The original 10 lock set here at Lockport is on the
right, but is now replaced by two huge locks which each raise or lower you
25ft. |  |
 |
The old locks now act as a series of waterfalls and allow water to bypass
the locks. The canal is drained in winter to prevent ice damage. Today it is
only used for pleasure traffic. |
| It takes less than five minutes to empty of fill the
locks with 34 million gallons of water through holes in the floor. Despite
this even flow of water the turbulence generated is considerable. Whatever
you do, don't tie your boat up. You just pass a loop of cable around a steel
wire in the side of the lock which then slides up or down with you. |  |
 |
The lock gates open hydraulically and very smoothly allowing you into the
upper lock. |
| The bridge above is over 100ft wide and carries a
crossroads and a part of a car park. |  |
 |
These are old canal houses and warehouses on the canal side. The far one
used to be 35 ft further away but was moved when they built the ridge for
the road. They just jacked it up and pushed it on wheels! |
| A typical canal view. There is another 35 miles to
Lake Erie looking this way and 64 miles to the next set of locks in the
other direction. The whole canal which links the Hudson River and New York
to the Great Lakes is almost 270 miles long, a major Victorian engineering
wonder. |  |
 |
The trip goes up the canal for about a mile beyond the locks and then turns
round and comes back through the locks again. |
| And then onward past the lock tour centre and their
other boat for use in the busy part of the season and for private trips. The
centre also does dinners and weddings and other parties. |  |
 |
East of the locks are two road bridges which are raised and lowered to allow
the boats to pass. The bridge keeper manages both bridges and after he has
lowered one he jumps in his car to drive the quarter mile to the next one
and then raises that one for you. |
| Sometimes he is a bit slow and you have to wait for
him..... |  |
 |
Tourism is the main use of the canal in such vessels as this houseboat barge
flying a Jolly Roger. There used to be tolls but they discovered that the
cost of collection far exceeded the tolls collected, so now it is funded
from taxes. |
| Occasionally we eat out and sometimes it is well
presented as with this fish at an Olive Garden restaurant. |  |
|