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Thursday morning. Shortly after leaving Dewitt we started
riding along the path in the Old Erie Canal State Park. Here's
an abandoned aquaduct taking the canal over a stream just a few
miles from the western end of the park.
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Another view of the aquaduct. The canal is on the right and the
stream to the left.
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Yet another view. I confess, I don't really understand how boats
made it through.
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The morning rest stop was at Chittenango Landing where old dry
docks are being excavated and restored. Students from Patty's
school help in this project.
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The canal from Chittenango. The view is to the west. The building
houses a museum.
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The actual rest stop was set up behind the remains of this
building.
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Here are the dry docks. Deep, medium, and shallow from left to
right. Boats would be drawn in here and the water drained. The
gates and canal are on the far side.
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A reconstructed three seat privy. It empties into the drain from
the dry docks, which then goes on into a stream. Can you imagine
sharing this with two others? It looks like it would be cheek to
cheek!
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A model of a canal boat inside the museum.
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There was another museum in Canastota. It turns out early railroads
followed the path of the canal. Here's a photo of an old steam
engine hanging in the museum. It's a high res picture so the
caption is legible.
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This is the museum in Canastota. I believe I shot this picture
from about the spot where the canal ran through town.
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It's very peaceful riding along the towpath of the original (but
widened) canal.
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Eventually we left the original canal and joined the barge canal.
Here's a very small boat locking through lock 21.
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The view from the same spot in the other direction (to the west).
The bridge in the foreground is closed. We crossed the canal on
the walkway on top of the gates.
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Emptying the lock produces whitewater.
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Once the water levels equalize, the gates are opened.
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And the little boat sails on through.
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Still later in the day, we got back to the towpath along the
original (but widened) canal. This section of the canal is quite
overgrown and looks to be impassable.
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At the Erie Canal Village near Rome, one could take a boat ride
on a restored packet boat. According to our guide, an actual boat
wouldn't have railings or chairs on top. Instead passengers could
stand or sit on the roof. The phrase "low bridge, everybody
down," meant you had to get off the roof since there might be as
little as 6 inches of clearance. Passengers that had paid for a
seat below could go there. Passengers that hadn't had to hang
over the sides from a rail! Hard to believe.
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Here's a photo of a sign that commemorates the beginning of the
canal. It's in high resolution mode in order to be legible.
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Some of our group on a bridge watching us in the boat. That's
Nancy, Marian, Patty, and Carol.
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View of the canal to the east from the boat. We've just turned
and are heading back towards the village.
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We see other riders as we pass through the village.
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Including Eileen holding Skye. Skye is 2-1/2 years old and is
waiting for the next boat ride. I think Ellen is second from
right.
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Here's our mule team. Do they look like they're going the wrong
direction? We're in the process of a turn. The rudder on the boat
is used to turn it so it's pretty much sideways in the canal.
While this is happening, the mule team allows slack in the tow
rope which is manually lifted to the other side of the boat. Then
the mule team races backwards to tension the rope before the boat
runs into the sides of the canal. In this photo the boat has
turned almost 90 degrees and the mules are headed back to get the
slack out of the rope.
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Front view of the boat loading for the next trip.
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Eileen and Skye got good seats. The fixture on the deck just in
front of them is where the tow rope attaches.
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The top deck of the boat from the foot bridge over the canal.
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While we were at the Erie Canal Village, an antique car club
arrived.
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Another of the antique cars.
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This fellow was having some kind of trouble with his in-line six.
I would have offered my bike tools, but I didn't think they would
help. All the valves, rocker arms, and push rods are fully
exposed. No valve cover and valve cover gasket here!
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When you have the hood open, you get lots of advice.
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Part of tent city at the Rome Art and Community Center. That's
our tent on the right. Rome had a DJ to play country rock for us
during the afternoon and we did some dancing!
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The other side (front) of the Rome Art and Community Center with
more of tent city in the background. Jane and I had dinner in a
small Italian restaurant in Rome on Thursday night.
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