Spent two nights at Lock 22...just downstream from Rome, NY. Lots of great historical events occurred along the Mohawk...Ft Stanwix and Oriskany Battlefields. These were not numerically large battles but the outcome drove a stake in the Brits plans to split the colonies along the Hudson...leading to his defeat at Saratogo. Brits tried to capture the fort by starving it into surrender. Continental forces accompanied by Oenieda Indian came to the rescue and were met by Brit and other native Indian allies. The Continentals were ambushed and decimated in a narrow ravine near a village of Oriskany. Though a tragic loss for the continentals, the native tribes supporting the British were demoralized and abandoned the Brits when they discovered their camp ravished by militia from the fort. The brit allied natives withdrew forcing the British to abandon their efforts to capture the fort and retreat. Couldn't help but ponder the significance of thi...
You might expect that "Loopers", as those of us circumnavigating the eastern US call ourselves, would be relatively evenly spread out around The Loop. In fact many are bunched up somewhere along Lake Ontario, the Tread Avon Canal in Canada and Lake Huron and Lake Michigan region during the summer. We're all following 70 degree weather. We're also in prime bug season, but that's another story. No one wants to be in the swampy low country of Georgia or South Carolina in July. While many newer boats come equipped with AC, being inside is not why you come on this trip. So far, we've had this extraordinary region of Canada to ourselves. In fact most of the trip, except for marinas has been solitary or near so. We think this is because we chose the less traveled route through the Erie Canal and got an early start. Two days ago we finally caught up with some other boaters in a spot called Covered Portage...pronounced por-TAJ here in French Ontario. It was a dimin...
Chugging along on the Ones and Twos Cowboy Carl, Pere Marquette, Pintail, Joyce Hale, Pin Oak, Anne Elise, Deborah Ann, Drulourette, Praire du Rocher, Wayne LaGrange, Dredge Potter, Susan Stall...some of the endless names of the tows we've passed along the Illinois River. Life is slow on the Illinois. Fits the image of the silty lazy river. During those stretches of river where we have her to ourselves, and the birds swirl overhead, and heron stalk the shoreline, it's easy to imagine a barefoot boy, on a makeshift raft, poling his way down the river. The shoreline is fairly routine. Not much variety excepting the occasional town, silos, and opening in the tree lined embankment to higher berms. We've traversed almost 310 miles of rivers and canals starting in Chicago and what a stunner start that was. A canyon of massive structures, bright and glimmering in the morning sun. It was soon followed by one of the dicier segments we are likely to encounter on the great adventu...
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