After the warm, sunny day before, it was a bummer to wake up to a cold morning with the threat of rain. The locks on the Erie Canal open at 7 am, and we wanted to be in the first batch to get through the locks. After a boat passes through a lock, the lockmaster has to “turn around” the lock in order to let a boat pass through in the same direction. So if the lock is going up from east to west, the lockmaster has to close the doors, drain all the water out from the last boaters, and reopen the gates. That can take 20 minutes in these small locks (or 45 or more in the large locks in the inland rivers). So it helps, timing-wise, to be in the first group of the day.

Our catamaran friends were of the same mind, and we headed out together. They led the way yesterday, and we were in front of them today. Their boat only goes about 8 mph, so we puttered along at that speed so we could go through the locks together. If we didn’t, the lockmaster would have us wait for them anyway, or we would go through alone and make them wait for the lock to turn around. That’s just not the friendly thing to do.

It was in the upper 40s when we got up, and the temperature struggled and failed to hit 60 throughout the day. The wind blew like crazy. We had periods of rain that just made everything not just cold but wet, and it was one of those days where we were just chilled to the bone. I was wearing two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a jacket, and a raincoat. And I was still cold.

We probably should have stayed put, but we did want to keep going because Owen had the week off of work and we wanted to take advantage of the time.

Our plan was to go about 70 miles from Amsterdam, NY, to Rome, NY (Amsterdam to Rome sounds like a really nice European vacation, doesn’t it?). The colder we got, the less ambitious we became. It really was cold and miserable. There were a couple locks where the wind really pushed the boat, and, while we were able to hold on, it could have been so much easier if we just waited for a less windy day. So we decided we would pull over at the free wall in Little Falls.

We were so relieved when as we approached the little town, and I put out our fenders to get ready. We rounded the bend and…there was no room on the wall. Completely full. Disappointed, I hauled in the fenders, and we turned back onto the river.

Ilion was the next stop, and the wall was nearly empty. This ended up being a better stop for us, as the marina had diesel, a pumpout station, power, water, and plenty of room. We paid a whopping $6.83 a gallon, the most of our trip so far. Our catamaran friends ended up stopping there, too. The prices of these Erie Canal marinas can’t be beat, and this one was just a dollar a foot. There are so many free walls to tie up to in the canal, it might seem silly to pay. But the amenities, like electricity, water, and pumpouts make the price worth it.

This is the first time we had access to water in some time, so Owen washed the boat in the cold weather. The locks had left gross goop on our fenders, and the fenders left gross goop on the boat. There’s really no way around this, it just is.

We went through eight locks today, all going up, up, up 127′. One of the locks, #17, looked like a guillotine. It’s one of two lift locks in North America, where the door to the lock slides up over the entryway to the lock instead of two doors that swing open like saloon doors. When we entered the lock, we went under the door. It was a new and unique experience. That lock was also the largest lift of the day and took us up 40 feet.

After we warmed up little, we walked into Ilion for dinner. As we walked, the sun came out for the first time of the day, and the wind died down. We were so glad! We had dinner at Sorrento’s Pizza, where we learned about riggies, the local specialty. It’s just rigatoni with different add-ins, but it was good. Owen had the sausage version, and I had the vodka version with prosciutto. We took dessert to go. It was a yummy dinner.

Then it was back to the boat to try to get the chill out of our bones and to get good sleep for the next day.