Great Loop

 June 26 CANADA!!!  We made it to Canada!  Yea!   As a parting gift to the good old USA I took a dive into Lake Champlain.  Whereas it was not as cold as my dive with Billy on Puget Sound, it was still far colder than this southern boy could handle.  My total time in the water was ~30 seconds. This was the beginning of the skinny water.  The Richelieu.  It is extremely narrow compared to the wide open waters of Lake Champlain.  We took this from the border just above Rouses Point to St-Jean sur Richelieu.  As part of the Parks Canada pass for lockage, we also purchased a season pass for using the lock walls for mooring.  This allows us to stay at no additional cost right in the heart of most towns where there is a lock. St-Jean sur Richelieu was just such a place.  It was like stepping into downtown France.  In this part of Canada, French is the primary language and the French culture is strong in the stores, restaurants and pubs. The locks in Parks Canada are actually manually operate

June 22 Vergennes Vt What can I say folks, the fun continues.  We decided to go to Vergennes Vt.  It was ~6 miles out of our way on the Otter river.  The father son fishing tournament continued and the river must have been the go to place for those without a boat to fish.  There must have been 1000 people lining those 6 miles with lines in the water. It was actually quite cool for it was families all enjoying Father's Day weekend together. The river was only ~150 feet wide so we were speed restricted to ~5mph.  It didn't matter, it was so pretty it was worth it. Vergennes itself was stunning.  I could try to describe it, but this pic from our dockage captures everything. Well, it captures everything EXCEPT THE ROCK PILE HIDDEN UNDER THE WATER.  I approached to get that pic and all was well ... and then I heard the crunch.  The skeg (fin on bottom of outboard) is now missing a chunk and the prop was dinged and bent.  Sigh .... (I might have used stronger words at that moment.) 

June 17 This segment of the trip, heading up to Montreal via Lake Champlain, is taking on a very different character from what we have seen to date.  There are only ~150 - 200 boats (no one knows the count for sure) total doing the adventure.  About 85 - 90% take the Erie Canal route (it is shorter).  Therefore, only ~20 - 30ish boats are following the same path as us.  This has both positives and negatives.  For one thing, there are far fewer "docktails" since there are less people.  On the other hand, you see the same people over and over again so the relationships bloom a richer color.   Ft. Edwards We followed Karma (Dave and Steph) and Genna Lou (Scott and Cindy) from Troy to Ft. Edwards.  Our expectations were low for this destination with the the highlight being a free wall with power and water to stay.  In fact, we ended up really enjoying the town and stayed for two nights.  Karma and Genna Lou took off after the first night but we were quickly joined by Jolly Roger