Sunday Sept. 15, 2024 Fairport to Newark 20 miles and 3.25 hours
Slow Sunday morning but not in a big hurry as we'll only need a few hours for today's cruise. Figured we would leave around 10AM. About that time we heard radio chatter from some eastbound boats asking the bridge to lift. Figured it made sense to fall in behind them so we could all go through the couple locks ahead of us together. They had been having issues with the lift bridge since after our arrival on Friday and it refused to work again. We waited a bit but finally decided we just had to go. About 20 minutes after we left we finally heard the bridge tender saying he was ready to lift. By then we were hoping we were far enough away the lock tender at Lock 30 wouldn't hold us up waiting for them. It all worked out fine for us. Lock was already filled when we arrived and tender simply needed to open the gates for us. Got the same quick lockage at lock 29. Made for an easy cruise to Newark. We're back into more back river type cruising rather than cut in canal.
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| Nice day, easy cruising, good scenery |
Decided to make today's stop Newark. We had stopped here for a quick pumpout going west and it looked like it might be a good stop returning. Very accommodating town dock with power, water, bathrooms showers and laundry. Best of all its all free. Even had 50AMP power which is extremely unusual on the canal but was very welcome as we were able to run AC on this hot mid 80 degree day. Checked out Runaway Blue Brewery hoping they might have the Jaguars game on a TV. No luck with the game which may have been just as well since they lost. Fairly limited beer offerings but it was nicely varied and pretty good. Took a stroll through town - some nice older homes - to reach the Wegmans grocery store about a mile away. Then a nice return walk using the canal side trail. I always think our Publix is a pretty nice grocery store, but Wegmans takes it to another level. Not many restaurants in town open Sunday night so dinner on board.
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| This pair of homes caught my attention. . Made me wonder if a father built identical houses for his 2 daughters. |
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| Not sure what the significance of this was but it was an interesting detail |
Decided to spend an extra day in Newark. Having A/C on these mid 80's days is nice. Spent the morning visiting the Hoffman's Clock Museum housed in the town's library. Was surprisingly fascinating. Augustus Hoffman was a successful jeweler in town and an avid clock and watch collector. He donated his collection to the town upon his death back in 1945. Fascinated to see some early American examples were made using all wooden parts including delicate hand-made gears. Only one arm was used on the face with marks for each 1/4 hour. Slower times when people needed a rough estimate of time - not living minute to minute like today.
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| Collection of antique Grandfather Clocks. Most of these from mid 1800's or earlier |
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| Martha being overwhelmed by all the clocks |
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| Had to stay until father time rang the bell on this one. They keep most of the clocks wound and running |
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| Very ornate antique French clock |
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| Detail of the inlay on the clock. Clockmakers made mechanisms but cabinetmakers made the cases |
Spent the afternoon doing oil and filter changes on the engines. Checked my maintenance log and last one was on May 17th back in Elizabeth City, N.C. We were just working our way up the east coast. That feels like an eternity as we've been to so many places since then. We've been lucky with a lot of trouble-free miles under the keel in those 4 months. No mechanical issues in the log book. Replaced that vacuflush pump back in June, cleaned weeds out of strainers a few times, and added a few scratches on the hull. Hope our good mechanical luck keeps holding out.
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| Journey for Sept. 15, 2024 |
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