The Explorers left Holley right after 7:00 AM when the lift bridge opened for the morning. They quickly negotiated several other lift bridges on the way to Albion. As they were waiting for a bridge opening, another boater (aka Grumpy Guy) pulled up alongside the Wayward Explorer to scold Captain Mark for driving too fast and “waking” him and the two other boats that he was traveling with as they were leaving their dock. The idea that the Wayward Explorer could actually “wake” anybody with its speed limitations is somewhat humorous, but the canal IS narrow in parts and the water can get a little crazy as the waves bounce off of the sides back and forth, so Captain Mark graciously apologized and slowed down a little whenever he was passing any docks (which happened more and more as they got closer to Buffalo). That didn’t stop Grumpy Guy from referring to Captain Mark as Speedy Gonzales when communicating with a bridge tender over the radio.
Still not happy, Grumpy Guy later radioed Captain Mark to let him know “you can speed up now”, to which Captain Mark replied “this is as fast as my boat can go”. Sidekick Sue wondered if Grumpy Guy had second thoughts about the “Speedy” nickname he had assigned to Captain Mark. She also hoped that Grumpy Guy wouldn’t try other parts of the Great Loop where the Wayward Explorers have experienced what it REALLY MEANS to get waked by another boat, which usually involves being passed by a speed boat travelling on plane (not a trawler running at 5-6 knots).
So, Grumpy Guy’s impatient group of three boats passed the Wayward Explorer. Captain Mark gave a friendly wave to each of them, and each one of them ignored him and refused to wave back. A short time later, the Explorers caught up with the Grumpy Gang as they were waiting for a lock to open. The entire group was stuck there for quite awhile because it was a double-lock, and they were currently locking through a tour boat. That meant that they all had to wait while the tour boat was raised twice (and they were tall locks), and then both locks were emptied to make room for the next load of boats.
Grumpy Guy was shouting out orders to his two travelling companions (ie. who should park where, who should leave the lock first, etc.). The lock was easily big enough to hold all four boats, and luckily one of Grumpy Guy’s friends moved up far enough to leave room for the Wayward Explorer, so they took their spot on the starboard side in the back of the lock. They thought it was somewhat amusing that the group pretended like the Wayward Explorer wasn’t even there; Sidekick Sue figures they were either furious over the alleged “wake” or they were embarrassed at the way Grumpy Guy had behaved. Either way, the Explorers were happy when the Grumpy Gang pulled into their home port near Lockport.
When the Explorers started this journey, they admittedly did very little planning and weren’t even sure how far west they were going. They assumed the endpoint was in Buffalo proper. However, a few nights ago, when they were visiting with Captain Mark’s family, their sister-in-law told them that she had done a tour on which she was told the Erie Canal officially ended in Tonawanda. The Explorers did some research and learned that she was correct; they learned that the Erie Canal used to parallel the Niagara River to the Buffalo River to Lake Erie. However, with the advent of modern powered-vessels, that were capable of navigating the Niagara River, the portion between Tonawanda and Buffalo was abandoned; the canal was connected to the Niagara River and water traffic now uses the Niagara River to navigate in to Buffalo. The formal end of the Erie Canal is now Tonawanda where the Erie Canal meets the Niagara River. The Explorers decided that since their goal was to traverse the Erie Canal, their canal trip should end in Tonawanda where the formal canal ends. They may have also been influenced by the fact that the Niagara River is fast-moving, the Wayward Explorer is slow-moving, and they know that the Niagara River ends in a huge waterfall. While they undoubtedly could have made it into Buffalo without incident, they were happy reaching the end of the canal.
There are not too many locks in the span from Holley to Tonawanda, but there are numerous lift bridges. Some of the sights they passed were a vineyard and the only road that runs UNDER the canal. Captain Mark noticed lots of people touring on bicycles. By the looks of the bags and loads they were hauling he assumed they were bike-camping. He talked to a few of them, very interested in what they were doing, as the Explorers also do some of their exploring on a tandem bike with their camping equipment in tow. In order to get through all the lift bridges on the way to Tonawanda, the Explorers did not stop to bike today. (The time spent during yesterday’s bike ride prevented them from getting to Albion last night). The Explorers decided to power through to Tonawanda and then take a rest day, when they could do some walking and biking to make up for the missed exercise today.
As the Explorers approached the dock in Tonawanda, it was very busy, and there weren’t a lot of open parking spaces. It appeared that there were a lot of folks watching the Buffalo Bills game at the shoreside bars. The Explorers passed a few potential spots that would have taken significant maneuvering to squeeze in between two boats. Captain Mark thought it looked like there were more spots right under the bridge ahead. This is when the Explorers hit their worst disaster of the trip (so far). The Explorers were so busy hugging the dock area, looking for a parking spot, and they had gotten so comfortable knowing they could fit under all the 15’ low bridges, that they didn’t notice the particular span of the bridge they were passing under was lower than the main span to the left (where they were supposed to go). At the very last moment, they noticed how low the bridge was, and they were just (barely) clearing it by a fraction of an inch. Unfortunately, their luck did not hold out and about halfway through, their canopy started scraping against the bottom of the bridge. Chunks of rusty bridge were raining down on Sidekick Sue. Captain Mark did his best to back up (which caused additional problems as the back of the canopy caught the underside of the bridge), but they were able to back the boat out from under the bridge and maneuver under the correct bridge opening. To the Explorer’s embarrassment, since Tonawanda was bustling with canal-side activity, they had an audience to watch their faux pas, and emerged from the bridge to jeers and slow clapping. Ugh. With their tails between their legs (if boats have tails), the Explorers pulled into a parking spot to evaluate the damage.
When they parked, they realized the canopy frame was a little crumpled and there were some tears in the canvas top. It was a disappointment, but not enough to deter them from their original mission. It was getting late and Captain Mark was tired from driving such a far distance, so they decided to ignore the damage until morning since they had conveniently planned a break day, so they would have time to deal with it. The Explorers found a highly-rated local restaurant and indulged in some “Beef on Weck” as was recommended several days ago by their friend, Sue (in Cayuga), who grew up in the Buffalo area. The Explorers were hungry and enjoyed the roast beef, although Sidekick Sue had to peel some of the kosher salt off the Kimmelweck roll because it was just too salty for her taste.
After dinner, the Explorers checked in at the Visitor Center; the parking and electric in Tonawanda were not free, but the fee was well worth it to have a safe haven for a couple of days, along with clean restrooms and showers. There was no TV watching that night; the Explorers hit the hay early, exhausted from driving all day as well as the incident at the bridge. Sidekick Sue’s “magical thinking” hoped that somehow, the canopy would be healed overnight.
In the morning, Captain Mark got to work taking the canopy down piece by piece and doing his best to straighten out a few of the supports that had bent. The Explorers had some flexible solar panels on the top of the canopy, which were a bit scratched from the bridge, but by some miracle, they were still putting out some power (reduced, but still working). Sidekick Sue helped him put the canopy back together, and beside a few rips in the canvas, it looked almost back to normal. Sidekick Sue was worried that she would have to add “sew a new canopy” to her task list, but Captain Mark indicated that if it was to be replaced, he really wanted to install a hard top, so he could mount more efficient rigid solar panels, so Sidekick Sue breathed a sigh of relief. Still, it goes to show that a few minutes of inattention and carelessness on the water can result in very costly repairs. Luckily, no one was injured, and it just meant living with a few more cosmetic blemishes on the canopy for now (which actually matches the condition of the rest of the boat with its peeling paint and leaky teak decks).
After the canopy was fixed to their satisfaction, the Explorers took a bike ride further in the direction of Buffalo. They initially hoped they could bike all the way north to Niagara Falls, but the bike path didn’t go that far, and they would have had to navigate city roads, which is not very relaxing. They preferred to stay on the bike path, so instead they went south toward Buffalo. They went 7 miles out to Black Rock Canal Park, which almost brought them to the Peace Bridge to Canada. They could see rain in the distance over on the Canadian side and they didn’t particularly want to get caught in it, so they turned around and headed the 7 miles back. Along the route were signs for the historic canal that used to run parallel to the Niagara River. They stopped a few times to read the plaques and look at the sites, but there wasn’t much to see as the historic canal had been filled in many years ago.
Once back to the boat, they took advantage of the nearby Tops to stock up on groceries and came home to make salad with chicken chunks for dinner. Captain Mark made a second trip to the grocery store to stock up on beverages while Sidekick Sue did a bit of work on the monthly bills and took a long shower in the shower room provided by the city of Tonawanda. She was a little disappointed because she was hoping for a better shower than the boat, however, it ended up taking forever to get any hot water, and the pressure was no better than the water pressure on the boat shower. At least she had room to move around instead of the tiny half shower on the boat.
They settled on a movie, watching Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, another pick by Captain Mark. It was a fairly stupid movie but Sidekick Sue enjoyed picking out all the actors and actresses doing cameos and spent most of the movie looking at IMDB figuring out which parts each actor played in all the other Adam Sandler movies. For example, there was Otto, the homeless guy, who was the same Otto, the homeless guy from Happy Gilmore. Al Pacino played himself, and the Explorers wondered how Adam Sandler ever got him to agree to play the part (ironic as the whole movie was about Adam Sandler trying to get Pacino to do a commercial for Dunkin Donuts). Another day in the books, another bad movie watched. Sidekick Sue is not sure how many more times Captain Mark will be trusted to make movie choices before she picks a new streaming series to watch. Feel free to leave recommendations.
Passing Albion where the main street bridge is being rebuilt.
A bunch of geese trying to get out of our way.
Passing a vineyard.
The only road running UNDER the Erie Canal.
A couple of riders doing a bicycle-camping tour.
Following the Grumpy Gang under a long bridge.
And there’s the whole Grumpy Gang!!!
Our canopy looking a little crumpled.
Chunks of rusty bridge that hit our deck.
Sidekick Sue at Black Rock Canal Park. The storm is gathering; rain is falling in Canada.
Plaque about the old Erie Canal (which is just a field now).
Awesome bike path and park along the Niagara River.
The Wayward Explorer with its canopy straightened out. Notice the rip on the front right corner. 🙁