Tuesday, July 4th,

We are still locked in Lock 2 chamber. No, they will not let us out, even to the access wall, as they are afraid (just kidding) we will venture the 2 miles north to get to Mechanicville proper, where we would be close to town, have water and be able to pump our holding tank. Officials say there will be no traffic until they are able to check all buoys and reset any that have moved.  Possibly tomorrow but we are not very hopeful. 

Actually we are quite comfortable here with electric power supplied from a 75 foot extension cord. They have brought us 3 five gallon jugs of water, which has helped to refill our water tank. We can use the lock bathroom, but there is no shower. The water source here is filtered river water which may be contaminated from the flooding etc.  It is quiet and peaceful with the occasional sight seer coming by to check out the flooding and chat up the trapped boaters. “How long have you been here?”, is the usual opener. It is about 2.5 miles to town, which I have both walked and biked. Sunday one of the lock tenders drove me to the grocery store. Dennis bikes to McDonald's every morning so as not to pass up "Free Coffee from 5 AM to 7 AM”. 

A separate article titled "Erie Flooding, 06 in found elsewhere on this site with more detail on the extent of damages. 

Yesterday, Monday July 3, we rode the Police Department donated bikes 7 miles to Waterford to check out the Docks there and the Visitor’s Center and to get a people fix. The Visitor’s Center had 4 feet of water in it on Friday night and we thought they would need help with clean up.  Lucky us, it had been done on Sunday by volunteers, so we rode up to the area where there are 12 boats (“Locked in Lock 3 Yacht Club”) together to see 2 couples we met last Friday. Upon our arrival, we found the Canal Officials offering to take anyone that wanted a ride up to Lock 10 where the major damage occurred and where the Governor was to hold a press conference.  We hopped in a van and took the hour ride out to Cranesville. The damage was incredible.

A construction company was working on repairs to the dam and a temporary coffer dam was washed away. Plus, the river created a whole new channel around the land side of the lock. This new channel is perhaps 800 feet long, 120 feet wide and 25 feet deep! It looks like an earthquake hit, and will take a minimum of 8 weeks to repair. The 12 boats east of there in Waterford will not be able to cruise this way. Some will be take an alternate route up Lake Champlain, Richelieu River, and St Lawrence River to Lake Ontario.  The boats that are taller than 17' will not be able to get under a railroad bridge over the Hudson at Mechanicville so are forced with aborting the Great Loop trip until next year.

There are 6 boats at Canajoharie at a public dock.  Their owners were evacuated off the boats and put in a shelter for four days. They will not be able to retreat east due to the problems at Lock 10. West of them are 2 locks which were completely submersed in flood water and will take and estimated 2 weeks to clean and repair. All buoys are missing and they will have to do some dredging as the Mohawk River moved a lot of gravel. Hopefully they will be able to continue west in 2 or 3 weeks. Officials have referred to this as a 500 year flood in this area. 

We returned to Waterford, visited with our new friends and joined them for soup and salad before riding our bikes back to Sadie B.

Wednesday, July 5, WE'RE OUT !!!!!!

 A buoy tender arrived at Lock 2, having come from Lock 8. The river is still high enough to bury many of the buoys under both high water and current, but if one is observant a "ripple" is evident.  We were given permission to advance carefully upstream, "at our own risk" to the Mechanicville Terminal wall. The system is still officially closed. We loosed the dock lines at headed out, current running 2-3 knots more than usual, but we encountered no problems. Dennis had completed all the engine coolant work and it ran perfectly.

Later on we heard that the Champlain Canal was officially open.  However, there is lots of debris still floating down river:  trees, tires, barrels, etc. We have decided to stay put for a few days and let things settle down. 

Sunday, July 9th.  WE'RE STILL HERE !!!!!

On Thursday, the water level dropped 15 inches, the current slowed a bit, but there are still lots of stuff floating by. Many boaters who are on a tighter timetable than we are moving north. We like this little city that is 1 square mile. Groceries, laundry, Dollar Store, McDonalds, a really good hardware store, and Stewarts (ice cream) are all nearby. We have docked the boat at the end of the "wall" where there is some lawn and a picnic table, all this plus free electric, water, and pump out. We are thinking about planting tomatoes, flowers and having the paper delivered. 

On Saturday morning we were looking for a place which offered television so we could watch the French Open Ladies Saturday and Men’s on Sunday. Broadcast live, a sports bar would not be an option early in the morning. Dennis found a Community Center, surprisingly with an open door, and we helped ourselves. On Sunday, we returned through the same open door, but got tossed out late in the Federer-Nadal match.   

The city is busy getting ready for their annual Family Day held in the park, Sunday, and we have decided we should stay and support their efforts.  The program started with a flag rising, then an ecumenical Church Service, recognition of the Honoree (Upstanding senior citizen of the year), the student of the year, etc. etc. etc. There were kiddy rides, vendor booths, and plenty of food booths but no crafts. We were told by everyone that the fireworks would be excellent and we were not disappointed. Probably the best fire works we have ever seen dazzled us for a full half hour. A local firm, with a truly national reputation did them.

Monday July 10th. 

If we stayed any longer the city was going to volunteer us for the Family Day Committee, so we moved on.  Nine miles and 2 locks brought us to the Waterford Terminal Wall by 11:00 AM. A perfect day with perfect weather.

Plans are to stay here for 2 or 3 days. Bus service will allow us to go to JoAnns, West Marine and Walmart and restock important supplies. While in Mechanicville, we removed cleaned and re-bedded 5 of the ten portholes on the boat. We will take advantage of this dock to do the other 5. See we weren't just lazing around, we actually did some maintenance.

Then we will provision and do laundry before clearing the last lock and heading down the free flowing, tidal, Hudson River.