By now things are pretty well worked out on Psychologist’s Bruce Tuckman’s “forming, storming, norming, and performing” team building wise, Mark has the big vision of where to be by when and the define Captain. Mark has the decades of boat handling skills and the natural talent. Stephanie is the organizer of everything near term all the specific places to see, to go, to stay, to shop, what we need, the best places to get it, etc. Stephanie also looks after the stern of the boat handling wise. As we land or launch she manages that end which is both harder than the bow because Capitan can see the bow and deal with it directly. The stern is not the happiest area to work in because it is typically full of diesel from the 740 hp Cummins. Currie does the easy part with the forward lines, shares steering on the runs from A to B and is learning to dock with twin engines, versus the inboard/outboard single he was used plus the web work.  These roles were established while we worked on the boat for weeks. What to do Mark, how to plan, organize, and optimize Stephanie, help execute Currie.  By the tenth lock it all because quiet, low drama, little chatting needed.  Stephanie keeps meticulous notes that allow this Blog to be written thank you. Also, Mark and Stephanie share the meal planning. Currie being the vegetarian is a problem child but with Mark around Stephanie is fortunate as she gets to eat in a more non-vegetarian way.

We did laundry, shopping, and returned the Enterprise car and swallowed at the Enterprise rental price and took Lyft back to the boat, with and an entire car full of items plus a trip to Napa. We filled the boat with water, diesel, and pumped out. We went North passed Albany and while driving or boating we missed the charm of Albany. It seemed a lot very expensive government buildings, which seemed like an outsider as quite self-serving given the demise of other parts of the state.  We did see this WWI Navy ship with what was camouflage then.

Then up to Troy on the way to the first lock. The Tory Federal Lock was our “newbie challenge” but we lived and learned and are still learning.  We met today (later in the month) a couple that had been through 1,400 locks and still said they were learning. We made it through lock E7. Cherish was the only boat in the 6 locks we traversed today. We got used to being “alone on the loop”.

We saw all kinds of artifacts along the canal. Many of the boats that maintain the canal are pre-war. You will see more examples of these craft as we progress. Besides locks, there are water control gates like the guillotine shown below right.

A panorama shot of Cherish in a lock.

Mark got “pretty” and as the day ended Mark and Currie swam in the lake at 80 degrees, and good food.

It was really special.

We learned about the invasive Water Chestnut as we watched a woman work for hours trying to pull out enough Water Chestnuts to be able to kyack out of her property.

Mark and Fitz took Fitz for a romp and walked around the lock/dam property. This day foreshadowed many a new lake anchorage adventures. Stephanie and I also went out in Fitz to survey the lake.