R Island: July 2-16 Lake Champlain up to Canada and back to the beginning.

Plattsburgh NY: We actually tried to stay in Burlington an additional day due to the windy weather forecast, but there was no room, so off across the lake to Plattsburgh NY. A 20 mile trip and past Valcour Island (Home of the battle for Lake Champlain during the War of 1812 where Benedict Arnold fought the British in a great "sea battle". It is now a park with very limited access.). Plattsburgh is the second largest city on the Lake and is putting up a good fight to make the transition from "rust belt" to current times. Georgia-Pacific still has a large manufacturing facility just north of the city and it certainly helps. Non-the-less, it feels like a pretty successful city with lots of civic pride. We used our Forth of July weekend to take bicycle rides around town and along a bike path past the old Air Force Station, attend the Forth of July parade, watch great fireworks from prime seats on the fly bridge of R Island and get caught up on laundry and perform some maintenance of the shower sump pump. The marina is fairly large - about 250 boats and 95% are sailboats and 95% are owned by Canadians. Seems they get a big tax break by keeping their boat in the US - and it is also the best sailing area close by Montreal being less than an hour away. Not too friendly, but nice boats! The marina also has a good restaurant and bar - "The Naked Turtle Café" that serves great mussels!

Note: Current traveled 839 miles this year and 2,400 for the entire trip!

Monument to Samuel Champlain in background - guy got a lot of monuments!

And of course they played "Amazing Grace".

They make these articulated busses locally.

Rouses Point NY: Twenty-six miles north is the little town of Rouses Point. The lake provides a beautiful ride up to this area and we stopped about a mile south of the US/Canada border (no need to mess with customs this year). Gaines Marina is neat as a pin and one of the best we have been in. Nice ships store, restrooms, showers, and a very friendly/helpful staff. One minor aggravation was the One Million Little Green Bugs that had just hatched and were everywhere and forced us to keep the doors closed and screens in place. The town is small and not much there, but walked to the post office, Dollar Store, convenience store, and had a good Pizza at a lonely restaurant; as we were the only one's there. We changed the oil on main engine and generator, and installed fresh oil/fuel filters to get us ready for the second half of this years trip.

The trip South: Time to return to our starting point of the Champlain experience - the junction of the Champlain and Erie Canals in Waterford NY. We made this 160 mile trip by basically retracing our steps from the trip north. First night we returned to Plattsburgh and enjoyed a concert in a nearby park with a 60-70,s rock band that played all the oldies they had been playing for 50 years!

Same musicians, same songs, 50 years.

Then we planned to stop in Essex NY where the entire town is on the historic register, but the docks were still under water from the spring run-off and recent rain (Lake is still 2 feet above normal). passed on that and cruised past Westport where they too were still under water and decided to continue on to Chipman Point in Orwell VT - you may remember the photo of the 1810 building that houses the marina office and restrooms. Traveled 67 miles in 8.5 hours and were glad to be at the dock! At times we were in water over 300 feet deep and only 200 feet from the shore - can you say cliff! The lake really changed for us today as we went from deep crystal clear water and miles from shore to shore to a river-looking lake with brown water and about 1/4 mile wide. Don't get me wrong, still nice but very different!

Next stop was another 21 miles to Whitehall NY; either the bottom of the lake or the top of the canal - depends on your perspective. The staff remembered us from our trip north and the restaurant was ready to cook our burgers and fries this time! We stayed a couple days here and enjoyed "Canal Days"; a local festival to draw attention to history and bring the town together - and an excuse for really good fireworks viewed once more from R Island's fly bridge! We borrowed the Marina Jeep and toured Schene Manor - home of retired Judge Potter, a former Justice of the US Supreme Court. Had a light lunch in the Tea Room afterwards.

View looking down at the city from Schene Manor side porch.

Lighting the main staircase

Up to the Manor from the city park along the canal.

Closer view!

We then returned to Ft. Edward NY for one night at the city free dock. The restrooms were locked up tight and when Ger called the City at 6:30 that evening, the Public Safety Office in the police dept. called the Parks dept. and then called me back to report on utility problems. We were impressed that they responded, even if we did not like the answer. There were 8 other boats with us at the dock wall, 4 more than on the way up and it made for a full house. The guys working the lock just before we hit town had recommended "the Old Fort Diner" and.....it was okay. The goulash tasted like Ger's mom's spaghetti recipe from when she used elbow macaroni; family members will remember!

Next stop was Schuyler Yacht basin in Schuylerville NY - a marina and camp-ground with a "Homey" feel to it. Phil and Judy have been owner/managers for 30 years claiming they "went out to buy a boat and bought a marina instead". We walked to the Schuyler House; home of American revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler. The house was closed on a Tuesday - can you imagine, but we had a nice walk and toured some of the town on our trip. We returned to town for dinner at Clarks Steakhouse for a first-class meal in a very crowded old linen factory where they used to make silk gloves. Stayed an extra day due to weather and the following day we completed the canal leg of our journey and arrived at the start of the Erie Canal.