Hypoxia

The Erie Canal
N 42 56.843 W 074 37.600

On Sunday we invited our friends Jerry and Phyllis to join us for a day sail. The plan was for them to drive down from Syracuse where they live to Canajoharie to meet us. Along the way they dropped a second car at Herkimer, our goal destination for the day.

It was a splendid day and the valley is beautiful. Thus, even though Jerry and Phyllis' passion is to sail, they joined us for a day motoring on the canal. It was a nice day indeed, albeit cool. We all had to don warm clothes.

We had fun catching up on family news with these old friends. Jerry was my classmate at Clarkson, and he was very interested in hearing about Professor Hammam. Jerry's sister recently returned from several years of teaching in Egypt and he had interesting stories about her readjustment to American culture.

Going through the locks was fun, as Jerry and Phyllis had never done that before. That is, it was fun up to lock 16. At lock 16 a big 45 foot power boat named Golden Eagle pulled in beside us. Golden Eagle had four people on board that we could see, but only one of them went out to hold a lock control line. The captain used the engines and bow thrusters to hold the boat in place, and in a very short time Libby and Phyllis and Jerry and I were all suffering from carbon monoxide inhalation. I asked the captain of Golden Eagle to turn his engines off. I asked him again on the radio, he refused again. What an ass. It is remarkable how friendly and helpful boaters are in general, but there are always a few bad apples in the barrel.

After lock 16, at 13:45 and on the way to Little Falls, we were about 70% of the way to our destination. Suddenly, Jerry said, "Oh No! We left the keys to the second car locked up in the first car. When we get there, we won't have any keys." That was a shame, we had to make a U turn and start back toward Canajoharie. It was a slight embarrassment, but no big deal. The point of the day's sail was to have fun, not to reach a particular destination. We achieved the fun objective in abundance. The four of us always enjoy each other's company. Anyhow, around 17:00 we returned to Canajoharie, so Jerry and Phyllis drove away en route home.

On the way back, we joked about having to turn back because we were suffering from hypoxia at the altitude of 320 feet which is far higher than we've been in a year.

Today, Monday, Libby and I are again en route to Herkimer. This time we are alone. It is the first time in nearly 2 weeks that we don't have the company of friends or family. It seems lonely.

We read in the guide book today that if we take the so-called Great East Circle Route out the Gulf of Saint Lawrence that we still have 2,000 miles to travel to be back to New York. Wow! I thought it was shorter. It is very possible that we may have a tough decision coming to reconcile our desire for travel and adventure and our aversion to sailing in cold weather and fall storms. We still have hopes of having fun dawdling in the canal, and in the Thousand Islands, yet the seasons march on.