Erie and Oswego Canals -- Brewerton to Phoenix

 Friday, July 21 -- Brewerton to Phoenix -- 12 miles (and two locks)

We didn't make much mileage today because the engine service work wasn't finished till around 1:30, and it took us another hour to get the bill and settle up and then get a pump-out. But we had a nice morning doing chores and working on the blog AND meeting one of Janet's high school classmates! The way that happened is that John went to visit with the owner of the other 31-foot Ranger Tug at the Yard (but one without a flybridge, poor sod), noticed that he was flying a Cleveland Yacht Club burgee, and upon inquiring learned that the guy lived in Rocky River. That was as far as it went, because most of the talk was about Ranger Tugs and who has traveled where and such. When John reported back to Janet she wanted to go meet the guy, and quickly discovered that he was in her graduating class at RRHS. She hasn't seen him since graduation, and after she met him and studied his face for a while, she announced "You really are Tom Rocks!". The woman who runs the Ess-Kay Yards (her dad bought the place in 1971) has known Tom for years and thought this was just a wonderful coincidence. 

Our decision on how far to go down the Oswego Canal was decided by the unanimous advice from the staff at the Ess-Kay Yard to stay in Phoenix instead of Fulton. Anything much farther would be tough given the seven locks and 10 mph speed limit on the Oswego canal. It took us two and a half hours to cover the twelve miles to Phoenix (including going back down Lock 23), which is a village that straddles the first lock on the Oswego Canal. We decided to go through that lock in order to have a head start in the morning AND to avoid the live music that would be playing in the park along the nice town dock upstream of the lock. (These little canal towns love their live music.) The only problem with this plan was that the dock wall was very tall and we had to tie up against the ladder so that Janet could get on and off the boat. She made it up and, more importantly, made it back down.

Here is how the boat looked at the lock wall, versus the village dock and park.

The Lock 1 Distillery was just a block from our dock and turned out to be a great place to eat.

This lock was interesting because there is a bascule bridge over the canal immediately downstream from the lock. The lockmaster runs them both. There is a very interesting ratchet mechanism at the counterweight end of the bridge that appears to be how it is raised and lowered.