8/15/15 Baldwinsville to Rome, NY

This was a long day (10 hours).  On the canal, there are many locks, no wake zones, and 10 mph speed limits so travel was slow. 

We heard someone call the lock at Baldwinsville, and we quickly took off so that we could go through the lock with them.  The Firestones had not planned to leave right away, but they decided to make a quick getaway, too.  We saw Flint run down the dock, jump in the boat, start it up and prepare for lockage within a matter of minutes.

They took the Oswego Canal toward Lake Ontario and we continued east on the Erie Canal. 

We stopped in Brewerton for a pump-out and to say "hi" to Helen and Wayne, from Brewerton Boat Yard, where we stored our boat in the winter of 2013.  The couple who own the 37ft Nordic Tug, Penni-Wise and were parked next to us that year came out to greet us.  It was nice to catch up with them.

We had a great day for crossing Lake Oneida.  It is 20 miles long and a few miles wide and can be challenging in high winds.  Today, however, the water was flat.  Temps were in the 90s, so it was hot once we came off the lake.

We had thought about stopping at Sylvan Beach free dock, but they were packed with Saturday vacationers.  There is an amusement park there which was a big attraction for boaters (and probably too noisy for us). 

Just past Sylvan Beach, we noticed a sherriff's boat at a house on the left.  As we went under a bridge, we noticed the sheriff's car on it.  The radio came alive with, "Adagio, you have a wake".  In other words, we were going 6 miles an hour in a 5 mile limit.  We heard at the lock that the sherriff often gives tickets to boaters to justify his job.  Glad we didn't get one.

We decided to head for Rome.  There are 4 days left of our 10 day pass on the Erie, so we wanted to position ourselves so that we could do four easy days after today.  Our goal is to get to New Jersey before Labor Day.  For Leah's birthday, we've arranged to fly out of Newark to spend a few days with her in Nashville. 

The easternmost docks in Rome are in horrible condition.  The westernmost docks are better but have no power.  We opted for the better docks and turned on the generator to cook dinner and cool us off. 
There are some locals (teens mostly) here swimming and fishing just in front of our boat which is the only one tied up.  It seemed wise to stay on the boat and not leave it unattended to go into town.