Monday - June 17

Jackets on, jackets off - that's how today went as it was warm in the sun and cool in the shade.    At least that's how it was on the water.    After settling in at St. Johnsville, it was time to bring out the shorts and sandals.

We left Ilion at 10:04 after exercising and Mark taking his bike downtown for some gallon jugs of water and bread.   We cruised 20 miles thru 3 locks, one that was 40', the deepest lock on the Erie Canal.    It took an hour to get thru that - 7 boats were going west and had to raft up.   We've passed so many boats going west (Loopers) and we are just moseying along heading east and hitting some of the towns we did not stop at in 2011 when we were doing the Loop or 2017 when we returned from FL.

One thing I meant to mention about Ilion was that it is home to Remington Arms, once the largest gun maker in the country.     It has fallen on hard times with lack of gun sales and 200 of their employees were recently furloughed.    This place is ginormous!!!   There are over 3500 employees at 6 locations.

After tying up here at the St. Johnsville Marina adjacent to the RV campground. we checked in and I walked and Mark rode his bike downtown (too hilly for me) with Stewart's as our destination and some good ice cream.     Mark had butter pecan and death by chocolate; my choice was peanut butter pandemonium - all excellent!    Walked around downtown but not much here - very sad.    Back to Catrina and read.    Such a spectacular day but may not see the sun now till Saturday.    Crazy weather....   We remember 1 year ago doing the western Erie Canal and it was sooo hot!    Sure not the case this year - cool and WET!!!

Some pics from today:

Beautiful Mohawk Valley 

 The Captain of my ship

A canal cruise ship with many school-age children coming thru the lock 

Lock 17 - deepest on the Erie at 40' and here are the 7 boats that were in before us (including a PDQ down 40' from where we were standing above).   Waited an hour and then our turn!

 Unique rock formations near Lock 17 where we waited...

Lots of pretty hanging baskets for sale in the RV park and only $10.   Since we'll be leaving Catrina in a few weeks, no one to give them some TLC while we're gone, so no sale from us.

Chinese leftovers for supper and just enjoyed this pretty evening here in St. Johnsville.

Mark and I were wondering if there was "anywhere" in the US that "needed" rain?    We knew SC was very dry but Charleston had some bad flooding last week, so.....good ole Google told us that there are some some dry areas in Seattle, Georgia and parts of South Carolina.     Wish we could share with these folks!    New York is hurting with flooding, marinas closed, etc.