– 1,700 Miles Out of 1,700 Miles Completed.
– 118 Locks of 118 completed.
19 of 19 Locks completed on the Erie Canal.
5 Locks of 5 completed on the St. Lawerence Seaway.
2 Locks of 2 completed on the Ottawa River.
48 Locks of 48 completed on the Rideau Canal
44 Locks of 44 on the Trent-Severn Canal.
View Trent-Severn Trip in a larger map
Today we clean the boat. Scott will undoubtedly be in that engine compartment.
Newton is a constant companion and is enjoying Aiden’s full attention while the two of them curl up on the carpet. Scott is catching up on bills and accounting for home and I am finishing up this blog.
This journey that we have been on could not have taken place without some great family and friends.
Chad did an amazing job at watching Newton, keeping the house and property in order. I’m sure he will appreciate cutting the grass at his place after being here for so long and enjoy all the joys that come with being at home. You rock!
Heather and Joe, thanks for keeping an eye on things at the business. There was certainly a lot less stress knowing that the house, the dog, the business and everything else would be cared for it the need be.
Mom, thanks for the interruption of your day and bringing us the diesel when we were in a bind. A last minute call and you were able to help us out. We owe you more than a very late steak dinner and leftovers.
It was a pleasure having C with us on our journey. I know Aiden will treasure the time you shared with him on the Trent. I hope your memories are as special. I’ll have to put together a disk with all the pics for you and your parents. A special thanks to Kevin and Dana for taking up 2 of their Saturdays to bring and pick up C. I’m sure you had many other things that you could have done, especially on a long weekend Saturday morning in a traffic delay.
Thanks to Amy and Steve for your attentiveness to the details. We appreciate the timely reminders and the head’s up of things back home.
…………..and to all of you who have followed us on this amazing journey of discovery, history, and beauty that is Ontario. One day we’ll have you over to view all the 10,000 pictures we took.
Till next year……………………………….
Thanks, Scott, Brenda and Aiden.
After an early morning with anticipation of a very full day we headed out. We are hoping to get as far as we can. Port engine started up and runs okay in low rpm’s. So we putter out to the open waters on Lake Erie. Scott took off the sensor and started to get going. The engine responded with little to no problems. We passed Dunkirk 2 hours later and kept going looking for Buffalo. We couldn’t do our regular speed so it did take longer to get to our destination but at least we were not going 10 mph. A quiet day out on the lake with less than 2 ftrs and passed a lot of fisherman.
Seeing Buffalo on the horizon was a welcome sight. Then it was the Peace Bridge and heading on into Tonawanda for diesel and a place to stop to take off the radar. We can’t fit under the bridges to get home with the radar on. We made the stop at Smith Boys for a couple hours to work on the radar removal. Then as we are heading out of the marina and onto the Niagara River again we find that there is a race going on and the river is closed off. We just can’t get home. We putter for a bit, constantly adjusting for the current, and talk to the Sheriff who says that if we want we can head off close to shore in 7 ft waters, way off channel. Not our style to go off channel when we don’t know what lurks below the water line. We see several boats heading on down that area but none big. Checking the charts Scott sees an opening and starts heading that way with no wake. 20 – 30 minutes later we are passed the race area and on our last leg home.
Heading into the Chippawa River (Welland River actually) we are finally on familiar territory and enjoy that last 45 min – 1 hour trek home. Everything seems so much fuller than before we left over 5 weeks ago. The grass is burned from the lack of water and having so many days of sun, the water is a lovely green colour, the seaweed is thicker than normal summers. We take in that last little bit of our journey. Pulling up to the dock our attention turns to how different our own property looks and of course, NEWTON!
Big seas heading out today with at least 4 ftrs and will be climbing by afternoon. Want to get to Dunkirk, NY today. After about an hour at a good clip the port engine starts acting up again. Scott had to shut her down. We tried to get into Conneaut, OH but no phone numbers were working and no one was on the VHF radio. Without confirmation of a port to stop in we had to push on to Erie. We called ahead to let them know we were coming in on one engine. They found us an easy spot when we would get there. That would be more than 2 hours away in big waves and building. Aiden slept almost the whole way. Going slow and on one engine through those types of waves is unpleasant. Up and down through each swell. Scott could not use the auto pilot because the waves would shift the boat so he had to keep compensating for each swell. We were happy to see Erie even though it was about 50 miles short of our destination of Dunkirk.
The engine itself looked to be good. Scott changed out the fuel filters and topped up the diesel. We suspect a bad batch of diesel from Sarnia. Just after Sarnia we started having some issues and Scott took a look at the diesel in the fuel. It was so contaminated with debris that he was concerned at that time. Conductance was running well but an alarm for water in the fuel had come up which is why he started to bleed the filter in the first place. He is hoping that by changing out the filters yet again and adding clean diesel it will be better. Nope! She still runs like a bucking bronco. Now he is wondering if the sensor that was sold to us back in Cedar Point was the right one. The fellow had said that the part numbers had been changed and that this sensor was the one. He didn’t really take the time to listen to Scott while on the telephone and was really sure he knew which one it was. Now Scott is wondering if we were given the right one. So he popped out the sensor and started her up. She started up perfect.
Tomorrow we will try to get going in the morning without the sensor and head as far as we can. The waters on Lake Erie are supposed to lie down so hopefully we can pull some good time.
We were so focused on the engine for the night that we forgot about pics.
Open waters from here on in on Lake Erie. Boring!!!!
A storm is expected, a big one!!!!!!! The engine is fixed and purring again. Have I mentioned that I think Scott is amazing!!!!! Diagnosis and repair all done and heading out on down the Lake Erie coast.
A bit of a chop but nothing big. It is a hot one though and we didn’t realize it until we stopped at the Geneva State Park Marina. Great place with camping, hotel, pool,restaurant, trails, forests, or anything your heart desires . Even Internet, that Cedar Point had but was so scaled back it was useless. Great place for the RV too.
Aiden is back working on his RC car, we went for some quick groceries, and now I sit with a glass of wine in hand contemplating our 2 remaining days.
Storm went south! Our luck just keeps getting better!
Ready to go and the port engine fails. Carbon all around the boat. We are drawing attention with all the black stuff. Turns out it is the fuel rail pressure sensor that Scott diagnosed. Found a guy and he can get the part tomorrow morning. We are stuck. Frustrated but also happy that it happened while in port and not on open waters. Considering how far we have come and so little left to go, I suppose it is a good time. No repair is a good time but a necessity. So after ordering the part we decide to head off to Cedar Point’s beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Great day in the sand.
We decide now that groceries are needed we’ll go off to Perkins for dinner on the property. Yummy!!!! After that we watched the fireworks and light show for the third time and called it a night hoping that the diagnosis for the engine is accurate.
We opened the park even in the rain and closed the park after 10:00. We are so the party animals. Who knew!!!!
This morning was the morning of chores. No excitement folks. Scott drained the fuel filters and he managed to get the guy that makes canvas here at the marina as well. New window today for the replacement of the one I lost on Rice Lake. He decided to have the starboard side panel done as well as it is ripping and not sized for this boat. He thinks it was one that was taken off another boat when we bought it to make it look good. Nothing lines up properly and the zipper is going. I did a couple loads of laundry and then it was off to the heated salt water pool available here at Kean’s Marina in Detroit. Aiden and I spent a couple hours here just kicking back and playing catch.
Just waiting on that canvas to make the 2 hour trek to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. We are on our way at 4:00. Passing by Detroit and Windsor, which looks so different by water, has it’s own beauty. Detroit River offered many surprises. Who knew there was so many steel along its route. We passed more commercial ships than anywhere on our journey while traveling down the river. The casino in Windsor certainly made a statement as did GM Headquarters in Detroit.
Now we are in the marina at Cedar Point at dusk watching the lights and waiting for the fireworks. Great ending to an amazing journey. Only 3 – 4 days left.
Sorry folks no pics today. Upload speed is too slow for loading on the website. We’ll post pics another day when the Internet is stronger.
What a great day !!!! We had significant weather today with highs of 30’s, clear skies and great winds. We left this morning at around 10:30 to miss the shut down of the power sport boat races on the St Clair River and headed off to Gull Island. It is an island just after the St Clair River meets St Clair Lke that has turquoise waters and tons of shallow sand around it. We swam in the crystal clear water and the boys circumvented the island. Aiden is proud of his rock finds and Scott watched really well played volleyball. I was happy to stay on a lawn chair on the back of the boat for awhile until the beach called. Then it was my turn to watch the volleyball. We stayed all afternoon and then headed off to Detroit across Lake St Clair. We are now staying at a marina on the Detroit River that was recommended from the crew we met last night in Sarnia. What a different way of boating than on the Trent. I miss the solitude and peacefulness of simplicity. I guess reality is just around the corner!
