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August 4 Our 35th anniversary on the Erie Canal
After breakfast we left the Hambleton House and headed back to the landing where we had taken out next to the SUNY at Buffalo boathouse in Amherst. I had smuggled aboard the diamond ring that I had given Heather on our fifteenth anniversary which had needed to be fixed after her back operation last year. It had four new small diamonds in it and had been slightly enlarged. I wanted to present it to her at the time of day, 2:15 p.m. , I think we had said our vows thirty five years ago. So I was watching my wrist watch most of the way to Lockport and when the time came I pulled over for a rest beside the rock wall of the canal. To all my sons out there reading this, an example has been set for you!
After this ceremony we made good time along the long straight cut of the canal leading to the old city of Lockport, home of the first two locks on the canal. Locks 34 and 35 are right next to each other and drop a total of 50 feet. We stopped a little above the first lock and called the number in the Cruising Guide for the lockmaster.
A nice girl answered saying “Are you the ones in the canoe I can see? I have already opened the gate for you so you can come right in.” I had to correct her description of our boat but confirmed that she was correct and we took probably 20 strokes bringing us right into the lock.
The lock is probably 300 feet long and 50 wide. We were all alone. Soon the gate we had passed through had closed and we started down. The water line on the wall rose up at a rate of two or three feet per minute and the sun went away as we watched a little boy waving down at us from the fence along the walkway above.
Dank is the best description of the lock at its low point. The outlet door opened and we rowed directly into the second lock. By the time it had emptied out we were fifty feet below the little boy and we rowed away from the huge wall behind us. This was a very exciting introduction to the locks. We commented that we had 32 more to look forward to before reaching the Hudson River.
From Tonawanda to Lockport there are also 16 lift bridges. These bridges are very low and when large boats need to pass they can be raised with hydrolic lifts. We are so small that we can scoot under without needing the bridge to be lifted - we just duck as we go under. We sang the song "Low Bridge" all the way along as we passed under.
Low Bridge
- Everybody down!
We took a short rest in the shade of a tree on the side of the canal before rowing to a ramp in a park at the eastern end of Lockport. I called TOTO’s rep in this area, Corey Jarzyniecki, who said he was just leaving Buffalo and would find me and give me the needed ride to the car back in Amherst. So it looked like we had about an hour to wait. This was a good place. Across the street from the ramp was an ice cream stand! I do not pass up an ice cream, especially when I am hot, thirsty and hungry from rowing!
Corey finally pulled in and I left Heather to watch the boat while Corey drove me back. We had a good chat about TOTO business on the way.
After picking up the boat and Heather we went to the Hambleton House and took showers. Suzanne had recommended a restaurant for our anniversary dinner and called to reserve a table for us. The Shamus restaurant turned out to be a wonderful place. We sat outside where live music could be heard coming from and antique car shindig across the street. We opened all of the anniversary cards Heather had saved for the occasion while sitting in the shade of big trees drinking our Passion Seabreeze and strawberry lemonade with vodka! OK, we broke training for one night!
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