Well, a bit more than 15 miles. In bygone years, that was a typical day’s travel on the Erie Canal immortalized in the song. Our day’s travel can be up to 40-some miles, but we’re really not counting, we have no schedule, and if we see something interesting, we stop. Our 5th trip on the Erie Canal, we find canal cruising some of the most relaxing there is. Our biggest weather concern: “is it gonna rain?” Locking in the rain isn’t a lot of fun, but it seems we’ve had more than our share this trip! The spillways all appear to be at full capacity, and we’ve seen more debris in the water than in prior years. Still, it’s a very laid back way to travel, and if we choose, we can travel in the rain, except we have to be on deck in the locks to handle lines.
Our first stop was at Scotia. It’s a small village with relatively new floating docks that are part of the village park. We’ve stopped here in prior years, our first stop in 2008 was on a single 60 ft. floating pier with just enough room for our boat. Now, the piers are significantly improved with power and water, much more dock space. There’s a nominal charge of $30/night with power, it’s a great spot in the park, with a classic drive-in just down the street. We were entertained by the waterski team as they held their practice session.
Another stop we’ve made in the past is Ilion, home of Remington Arms Co. On each previous visit we walked up to the factory to check out the museum, but our timing was off every time, and we found the museum closed. This time we hustled up to the museum in the afternoon and made it in time to do the tour. Interesting, and would be even more so to a real gun enthusiast, quite a collection of unusual and collectible guns. The marina there is run by the town, it’s a delightful stop, and there’s an old style ice cream/burger shop right on the grounds.
