They did it AGAIN

This is getting so old. We are ready to be finished with the Erie Canal and we are about half way through the section before turning north to the Ottawa canal. It seems like everyday, something goes wrong with a lock. According to the Great Loop forum there is no electricity to two locks further up the line and the two closest locks are closed due to excessive rainfall two nights ago. The water is too high to let boaters go through safely. That would affect us as our boat height is within 4 inches of walkways and some bridges when they are at full water. One little wavelet and there goes our all around light.

When we heard that the locks were closed, we called the town of St Johnsville Marina and snagged a spot. We were the first to call and last to arrive. The joys of a slow boat with great fuel economy. On the trip, we were passed by 4 sport fisherman boats traveling about 30 mph. They made it here first, but we had our reservation, so they left one spot for us. The sport fisherman boats appear to be manned by delivery captains which means they will violate the speed limit in the canals to make their deliveries. Time is money. We have been told the locks will reopen in two days, so our status is: stuck with a healthy dose of not moving. Just heard from the chief engineer that they will try to open Wednesday evening.

Yesterday, we went through sections of the canal that reminded us of the Columbia River. The interstate goes along it on one side and railroad on the other. There is a section along I5 on the Columbia south of Longview where if you look towards the river you will see Martin Slough. It is a popular anchorage for boaters anchor out of the rivers traffic. We are still going up in the locks. In 5 locks we hit the highest part of the canal and will start going down towards the midwest.