Wednesday, July 19, 2017

90 Day Update

We have been on the boat for 90 days now; we have traveled 1351 Miles, 69 Locks, 7 States/Provences and 2 Countries !! 
Living on the boat seems quite normal. I am used to doing laundry in public places and getting groceries by bike & trailer.

Day 90 ... July 19, 2017 ... 34.4 miles; 2 locks in 6 hours
Port of Orillia to Lock 44 Big Chute
Another fabulously bright and sunny morning ... NOT. The cloud cover did keep the temps cooler and quite comfortable.
Entering another narrow cut

Rock island house

House built off the rock island over water
rock edges in the narrow channels
 We went thru lock 42 and 43. Lock 43 was a 47' drop ... HUGE drop. Felt like being in a cave when we were at the bottom. Then, we pushed on to the top side of Lock 44 - the Big Chute.
We will take our turn tomorrow on the Big Chute!!
Skies did brighten as we arrived at the Big Chute.

the travel lift is submerged in water, then the boats enter, they are positioned by the lock staff
large boats like ours (and the back in photo) are held in slings

the travel lift rises out of the water and carries the boats up over a granite hill and roadway
the front wheels and rear wheels run in different tracks
so the lift stays level while going up and over

3 to 4 lock attendants ride the lift back and forth
monitoring the lift and the boats


heading down now

lift being submerged on the down side

once submerged, the boats leave in order 
So, we will spend the rest of the day watching the boats going up, over and down.