500 Miles Away from Home

Day 26  |  Mechanicville to Fort Edward |  25 Miles  |  6.3 Hours

A commonly repeated sentiment among boaters is "NOAA Got It Wrong." Weather forecasts have a tendency to be less than accurate and today was a prime example as our predicted morning of fair weather was late in arriving. We pumped out our holding tank in the midst of a nice rain shower. We cast off into gusty winds and under a heavily overcast sky. Early in the trip, we passed through two locks without incident and settled into a long stretch of sight-seeing. We passed Saratoga National Park and enjoyed the wildlife along the way.

This area is quite picturesque, and this is hard to convey -- even with several photos. I spotted a single bald eagle high in the branches as the sky turned blue and the sun warmed up the day. I was finally able to remove my sweatshirt. The stone walls of the third lock of the day guided us out past the danger markers and the dam/falls we had just bypassed.

We passed under several more low bridges today, the lowest had a 17-foot clearance and we squeaked through as anticipated. Several others, like the guard gate (below, left) appeared to threaten, but actually had plenty of room to pass underneath. [This gate can be lowered to control flooding and also as a way to drain the canal in the winter.]  Things got a bit squirrelly in our fourth and final lock of the day as the swirling eddies made for a turbulent chamber. We were glad to exit it and make the short trek to Fort Edward and tie-up at the free town dock. We have now passed 500 miles on our trip, bringing to mind the classic song. We only have about 6,500 miles to go.

The side channel we're in is home to dozens of mallards of all sizes and I had a great time watching them this afternoon. We went for a walk around town and decided we would stay here tomorrow as well. One of the Looper mantras is "Travel on weekdays and stay put on the weekends when locals are out in force." This seems like a nice spot so we're looking forward to a few more hours here. A long phone chat with Aunt B ended the day on a good note.

It's hard to tell the state I'm in
Where I'm going, where I've been
But there's a dream I've been following so long ...
But I'm still five hundred miles away from home.