Captain's Choice blog: 5,330 miles and we are back in Buffalo

The rain came just as expected on Tuesday so we sat at the lock in Mays Point until the rain stopped, which was just about lunchtime. We checked the weather map and it looked as though the rain had gone east. We called the lockmaster and told him we were ready to lock through...of course after we got through the lock the rain started up again. Thank goodness it was short lived and we made it 24 miles, 4 locks and landed in Newark, NY.
I do have to say some of these locks are in pretty bad shape with the walls crumbling and doors that need replacing. I asked one of the lockmasters if his lock was scheduled for an overhaul and he just laughed. When I mentioned he had one of the worst locks on the canal he said wait until you get to the next 2. We did go through them on Wednesday and really they weren't as bad as his. Wednesday ended up being cold, cloudy, on and off misty rain and it felt more like fall than spring. We traveled 52 miles and 4 locks before stopping in Brockport for the evening.
We haven't traveled with many boats along the canal which has been a little surprising but today we had a sailing catarman with us in the locks. Wanda Rose was purchased in South Africa and they brought her back and are headed to Michigan. What a journey they are having.
Todays journey had us working around a fallen tree in the canal and a barge near Rochester blocking half the canal. We called back to Wanda Rose to let them know we didn't think they would make it around the barge - their beam is 26.5'...oh you never know what you will encounter on the canal. They ended up docking in Brockport behind us about an hour after us, we found out they had to notify the construction team that was working on land and have them move the barge...they would have never made it through as there was only 20' of clearance. They were off exploring Brockport otherwise I would have inquired more about their travels.

We left Brockport early Thursday with another chance for rain late afternoon. One of the TV stations said there had only been 2 days of no rain in the last 30+ days! Everything is certainly green but it's time for a break. We traveled 60 miles, 2 locks in Lockport and tied to the wall in Tonawanda. Sure enough we had some drizzle so we decided to put the radar back up Friday morning. We headed out to Swiston's, a restaurant a couple blocks away for a roast beef on kimmelwick. There are several things we missed while being gone, of course family & friends, but the food in WNY is amazing and we have the best wings, pizza and roast beef on weck!

We woke to sunshine, cool temps and the knowledge that today (Friday) was the end of another wonderful adventure. We made quick work of getting the radar put back together and traveled 18 miles to our home port in Buffalo. After 8 months and 4 days, 5,330 miles we are home! A few of our friends were on the dock to help us land and we were excited to see them. The first thing that struck me was the renovations of the restaurant on site. We had gotten updates while we were gone but it looks beautiful from our slip. Our marina office and ship store has also been remodeled, almost finished and looks great.
We stayed Friday night and caught up with friends, we will start moving off Captain's Choice Saturday.

As we were on our way back to the marina I asked Mark if he had a favorite part of the trip, after a moment he mentioned a few items, I asked if he could narrow it down and he couldn't. I was asked what my favorite part was and I too could not come up with one specific place or event. What I can do is summarize our thoughts...the shear beauty of what we saw is amazing, to be able to take our own boat on this journey has been another experience we will never forget, but the people we have met...our friends, both old and new, that we connected with while traveling enhanced the experience and for that we are grateful.
It's been a wonderful trip, thank you to all that traveled with us through our blog.
Mark & Karen