Vermont Ho

Onwell Vermont, N43 48 W 73 22

(08/12/05) What a nice day. In the morning we motored to Whitehall and lock 12 (the final lock on the canal.) Just past the lock there are two marinas and a boat hardware store. It's a very picturesque place.

We met a young man in a canoe who was waiting for the lock with us. He was paddling from Cayuga Lake to the north end of Lake Champlain, then back to Cayuga before his deadline of November 15. Boy, what upper body strength he must have. A notable thing about him was that he was dressed covering everything from head to toe. No short sleeves, no short pants. I guess bug bites and the sun are bigger enemies than heat. I neglected to take his picture. If we run in to him again, I'll get his picture and post it on the blog.

We hoped to step the mast in Whitehall, but the marina there declined. They only do smaller boats. Therefore we motored on into Lake Champlain and we weren't disappointed. Even though the lake is as narrow as the river down here, it is flanked by mountains and 1,000 foot cliffs. It's simply beautiful.

There are few houses, and no roads along the southern part of the lake. Just the railroad track that takes trains from Albany to Montreal. We saw two trains during the day.

We also saw some very strange vessels, namely paddle-wheeled weed-eaters. Those strange machines were cutting the reeds that grow out from the shore. My guess is that those reeds threaten to block the lake unless cut back. The men running those machines have a long season's work ahead. There must be a couple of square miles of reeds to cut.

We pulled in at Chipman Point Marina in Orwell Vermont. Ah, how nice to be back in Vermont again. Let's see, on this trip we sailed in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. We skipped Georgia and North Carolina.

Tomorrow morning we'll step the mast here, so we'll spend the night at their dock. Their store/shower/laundry transient facility is an 1824 warehouse, with stone walls and plank floors, probably original. It's very charming. Unfortunately, there is no cell phone signal and no Internet. Sorry blog readers, you'll have to wait till I post this.