A Pause

Greetings, Gentle Reader,

This is a first: writing a blog entry while underway! This magic is only possible because Peg & Kathy have chosen to meet up with me here in Seneca Falls. After two nights of lakefront camping on Cayuga's waters, I am now in room 234 of a Holiday Inn, sipping on a coffee, anticipating a hot shower and a day of frolicking through the region's wine country with two wonderful ladies...and then one more evening of civilization (defined as "shower, fresh towels") before I strike out again in earnest on Monday.

I'm taking copious and definitive notes along the way, and I will not take the time now to cram the adventure into this single entry. But, previews of future chapters include:

1. The NYS Canal System Lock Keepers are awesome. They maintain their 1915 facilities and machinery with the precision and pride of craftsmen - indeed, they have to be - and they take care of my passings with the same attentiveness and hospitality they would afford a barge of $5/ gallon (or is it now $6? $7?) fuel oil. It's stunning to me that this extrordinary infrastructure is available to me, a lowly rowboat, and is offered with smiles and enthusiasm. These guys have put friendly faces and lively banter into this sojourn, and I'm appreciative of their encouragement. Thanks, Lock Keepers!

2. The Morehouse Family on Cayuga Lake. On Thursday I rowed through the entry canal to the Finger Lakes with the vague intention of finding the Cayuga Lake State Park. Just north of the Park I bumped into shore at what used to be the Morehouse Boat Company...and have since been adopted and treated like royalty by the extended Morehouse Family. Kathy has placed a link on this site to their former family business and history. It's a story that has come to life for me in meeting the children and grandchildren of a colorful and enterprising entrepreneur. I plan to about them later, but the link provides the history. Thanks, Morehouse family. You guys rock!

3. The Row Itself. I'm feeling pretty good. I might have gone a bit overboard with a 50-miler on my second day, but the hands are hardening nicely...and yes, the derrierre is the weak link. I've used my "sliding"seat sparingly, having to "rest"in the relative comfort of the fixed wicker seat and sacrificing some speed in the process. Yet keeping the boat moving at 3.9-4.2 mph is preferable to having to take periodic "butt breaks" after 4.3-4.9 mph legs. The canal itself is placid and great water for rowing: no appreciable current (what little there is has been with me), no strong winds, and very little traffic. Yet in that way it is "unforgiving" if honest. You get what you put into it: no extra benefit of a tidal push or a trailing breeze, no penalty of a contrary current or sea zephyr. Like life, maybe. But, all-in-all, this is nice rowing. And as already hinted, the people and scenery make this a very intimate experience. Nothing is more than 40 feet away.

4. Finally, a possible Change of Plan: As I suspected, this row is as much a transit through the history of a region as it is a simple row along a canal. Yes, I've had a 50 mile day and some 30's...but I can already see that at this rate, my pace will extend this journey well into July should I keep Whitehall as a declared destination...probably the 10th or 11th...and I have to board a plane for a seminar on the 13th. Yes, I'd love to make it all the way to Whitehall...but not at the expense of having to blow right past the history and characters that beckon along the gunwhales. I want to row, and row hard, but it's clear that this journey is truly and literally all about the journey, not the destination. There is simply too much to see and learn...and the people along the way are far too welcoming and interesting...to just row on by.

So...Gentle Reader, I hope you will not think lesser of me if I call it quits in Troy. That will complete the "classic" Erie from Buffalo to the Hudson (342 miles, plus locks, plus maybe another 20-30 miles of meandering on the Finger Lakes and tributaries). But I want to savor this, not rush it as I would have to if I am to catch my plane on the 13th.

Will you stay with me? Am I a wuss? Sure, in ten minutes I'll be cavorting among the vineyards with the ladies, not hard at the oars. But, wouldn't you? And... is 342 ++ enough?

Hope so.

Much, much more later. Are you there?

Hugs,

Al

PS

Thanks, Tom, for the poignant pledge; that "57" number is getting bigger all the time; will you still be there (and flush) at 80? 90?

And Brian, thanks for your colorful commentary and insightful reflections. Your "Comments"deserve point/counterpoint responses that I cannnot attend to at this moment. But I will. Oh yes, I will.

And finally, Chuck, I'm inching closer, ever closer to Red Raider territory. I won't be half suprised to see your name carved into the aged vines of the Cayuga Wine region. You and your buds were never far from succor in Seneca, nes pah?