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Their Actions Affect Me Three Centuries Later

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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...
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Kathryn Hepburn

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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...
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Bust the Bronco and Gerns

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This past few weeks on the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and now Tennessee Rivers has been an unexpected break from the unrelenting euphoria of the Loop. I learned 30 years ago on our honeymoon that the uncomfortable experiences curiously produce endearing memories. These Rivers were stressful. But I loved it. In addition to the snags, channel-wide barges and shallow anchorages, mentioned in earlier blogs, I can report a new layer of challenge...debilitating heat. As we progressed down the rivers, an extended stretch of 90 + heat added a new layer of discomfort. This converged unfortunately with a dirth of marinas and broad anchorages. Marinas have electricity to fire up the AC. In a broad anchorages, you might catch a breeze. Sadly, all that we available were breathless ditches or narrow backwaters. The anchorages were terrible, hot, buggy and an exercise in fortitute. One "anchorage" was named Little Diversion Creek. This channel was nothing more ...
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