Here are some pictures of our walk along the Erie Canal. Some are already in the flow of the journal text. They are here to put all together in one place.
Fall was showing some of its brightest colors as we walked to the Erie Canal starting here in Lockport, New York. (29 Oct 09).
These are among the many signs marking the canal towpath. Though not along the entire canal the paths gave us a peaceful and delightful route through central New York from Lockport near Niagara Falls to Albany on the Hudson River. (29 Oct 09).
A peaceful view along the western Erie. (10 Oct 09).
Petra disturbs the peace of the wandering Canada Geese as she walks the canal towpath. When the early canal was in use, mules and horses walked this path pulling the barges up and down the canal. (30 Oct 09).
Along the canal many diagrams and photos illustrate canal life and action. This one shows three horses pulling a barge.(11 Nov 09).
This is the first boat we saw on the canal. Though they are trying to renew commercial traffic, most of the boats on the canal are recreational. This one putted slowly past as we walked in gentle drizzle shielded by our umbrellas. (30 Oct 09).
This is one of many gates along the canal. It seems it is some kind of dam to stop the flow when they want to do so. Several parts of the canal are drained in winter to minimize ice damage. They said it should have already started draining as we passed. But we saw no part drained. (10 Oct 09).
The layout in Model Train Museum in Medina, New York was larger than any I have seen before. It stretches far back into this room. We took an day off here to rest. It was raining too hard to move anyway. We spent a few fascinating hours in the afternoon here. (31 Oct 09).
This detail seems to be a model of the DeWitt Clinton first made in 1831. Visit my page on trains on paper money to see a drawing of this early train. I enjoyed watching this model wander around the layout in and out of tunnels and past models of the Erie Canal. (31 Oct 09).
A trestle on the Railway Museum layout in Palmyra. (31 Oct 09).
A couple days later the weather is outstanding though the leaves are fewer. Petra walks comfortable with only a light jacket in the bright sun. (2 Nov 09).
Later in the day along the canal. (2 Nov 09).
We stayed with my nephew, Eric, and his wife, Susan, in Penfield east of Rochester for a couple nights and then posed for this picture as we left. Thanks Eric and Susan. (5 Nov 09).
A couple days later we stayed in the Erie Mansion in Clyde. It, as well as its host were indeed eerie. Everything was big and all rooms different. We stayed in a "discounted" suite filled with skulls of reptiles, big cats, and a few other animals. A 25-foot (7.6-meter) snake skin hang over the parlor window. Motorcycles sat around the halls. And the honeymoon suite had a double-king-sized bed bedecked in white sheets sewed together by the host. And on top of all that the house is said to have a ghost lurking on the stairway where someone once hung himself. (7 Nov 09).
Our host at the Erie Mansion said his license would not allow him to sell or give us drinks. But he said something that amounted to, "If you happen to try something from one of the bottles here in the game room and I don't see you, there is nothing I can do about it." The liquor shelves were well stocked. Then he took us to a local bar where we had "a" beer out of his special glasses. Here he poses with Petra before she demonstrates how to drink from the glass. We enjoyed our eerie night in Clyde.(7 Nov 09).
In Jordan this sign along with two canal scenes was painted on the side of a building. It is "Canal Law #169" detailing the mandated speeds and how "floats" were to meet and pass each other.(9 Nov 09).
This dried up piece of the original canal in Jordan is now only a pleasant park. Over its history there were three versions of the Erie Canal, the first basically a wide ditch with towpath and many locks. Each succeeding rendition was larger. (9 Nov 09).
We met Bill and his brother as they biked along the canal. After talking a while, Bill offered us a place to stay in his home in Cicero for the night. We accepted and had a wonderful evening with him and his wife Jeanette. The next morning Bill brought us back to the canal where we met his brother again and posed for this picture before we walked east and they cycled east. (10 Nov 09).
In many parts of the continent we walked on roads with little or no shoulders. We just took our piece of the road and let the cars and trucks find a way around us, as they always did. All drivers were very courteous, everywhere. And then we arrived in New York, the land of wide shoulders. Most were like the shoulder on the left. But there were more than a few with space like the right picture. Thank you, New York.
As I implied earlier, this is a working canal over much of its length though there is not a lot of working traffic. Here a tug enters a lock between Rome and Utica. (13 Nov 09).
The countryside full of history. This church, near Fort Plain was built in 1769. We continue to walk backwards into earlier history as we approach the east coast. Now we are well into Revolutionary War and earlier times. (17 Nov 09).
As we walked late in the day on the 17th, Petra's cart finally broke in two. Both frame members were broken now (arrows point the breaks out) and I threatened to give it up completely. Petra held out hope. And indeed we fixed it that night at the Hazelnut Inn, a working farm as well as a B&B. Our host had a couple big bolts and a bolt cutter. He cut the bolts and I fastened them into the frame. Presto! An almost new frame, at least it worked. Check it out on the next picture. (17 Nov 09).
The next day we walked south from the Hazelnut Inn (in the background) part of the way with our host and hostess. (18 Nov 09).
It seems this tractor has been sitting here for a while. The tree has grown up around and through it.(19 Nov 09).
We rested in a park as we arrived near Njskayuna, a day before Albany. (12 Nov 09).\