Just keep paddling...

Whew, we've had some long days of paddling since getting on the canal, but it feels good to get as far as we have in such a short amount of time. Our arms don't exactly agree with us on that. It feels to me like every time I lift my arms even the smallest amount that someone is giving me a charlie horse on my deltoids.

A couple of nights ago at lock 30 in Macedon (aka Mastadon) we met a pair of cyclists, Jim and Joybell, who were doing a four day trip on their tandem recumbant bike. After offering us some Oreos, they proceeded to invite us to stay at their house near Baldwinsville when we were in the area. The mileage worked out perfectly, and tonight we're living it up with Jim, Joybell, their sons Justin and Josh, their dogs Sunny and Houdini, and their cat Santana. After an amazing dinner of salad and pasta, as well as hot showers, Jay and I are pretty beat and ready for some sleep. We figure we've gone about 170 miles or so in the past five days and sleeping indoors in a bed is going to be glorious indeed. Meeting awesome people is amazing and one of the best parts of this trip.

Today we had some issues with a strong headwind that slowed us down, but the biggest issue was inconsiderate boaters who buzzed past on their speedboats. In order to avoid being swamped by their wakes, we would have to turn Boldy so the bow was facing into the waves. Otherwise our boats would have been full of water after the third boat or so went past. There were a few people who slowed down enough so that their wakes weren't an issue, but I can count them on one hand. Hopefully once we get back into the weekdays we'll have fewer encounters with crazy boaters.

We've been seeing a lot of ospreys in this section of the canal. We see about five every hour and even saw a nest with adolescent chicks. Yesterday we saw a bald eagle as well. As Jay said to me today, we have seen a lot of birds on this trip.

Tomorrow Joybell is making us pancakes for breakfast, something I have been craving for quite a while now. We're sleeping until we wake up and then seeing where the day takes us. Depending on the weather we may try to get to Lake Oneida (Oh-nie-dah), but we may also stay here and rest a bit. We'll see what the day brings.

~ Shannon

Late Starts Equal Late Nights

We are three weeks into our trip and finally getting some consistency. We have had a few late nights but we are going to try to get up early tomorrow to get more daylight for our long day. We went from Spencerport to Macedon yesterday and then from Macedon to Clyde today. Hoping to get to Baldwinsville tomorrow to meet up with some folks who offered to take us in for the night :-) More info tomorrow when we can keep our eyes open.

-Jay

Medina to Spencerport

Another mostly uneventful day on th Erie canal. We made one stop in Albion to pick up a new camera. As a plus, we saw a bunch of old churches and cool architecture in the town. We paddled a little more than 30 miles today and ended up just east of Spencerport. A storm cut us short from getting to the park we were planning on camping in a couple miles from where we are now, but we lucked out in that we found some more awesome people who are letting us camp in their yard. Not only that, but Bev and Cindy, a mother and daughter, invited us into their beautiful home that was built in 1813, fed us, are letting us use their bathroom, and are going to give us breakfast in the morning! They have some nice cats, a garden and ducks. The ducks are adorable. We met Cindy's nephew, Josh, who is a music major and plays, of all things, the euphonium! It's not every day one meets another euphonium player. He also plays ultimate frisbee, a sport Jay played in college. This has been a pretty good day.

~ Shannon

Lake Erie Tribute

In honor of my... strong feelings towards Lake Erie I decided to write a poem to help channel my not so positive energy. This is the last I will speak of the lake of broken dreams.

Lost the ******* camera when I got up to pee,
Agitated waters bring out the... best in me.
Keep an eye on the wind and prepare for the worst,
Each day stuck on land weighs heavy on the purse.

Everyone we met was helpful and kind,
Receiving a ride was the best treat we could find.
Is it wrong to despise such a beautiful watery mass?
Each to his own, I say **** you Erie, you can kiss my ass.

-Jay

Erie Canal!

We are finally on the beautiful calm Erie Canal. Not much to report today which is ok with me. We paddled from North Tonawanda to a little past Madina on this beautiful sunny day. We racked up around 35 miles and loved it. It has been a while since we were able to just paddle all day. Tomorrow we will hopefully keep the pace going until later when some weather is supposed to move in. We met some fellow paddlers at our camp site who are paddlling the canal and then down to Albany. Its always nice to have company :-)

-Jay

Fun Times in Port Bruce

Shannon has seen my bad side on Lake Erie. My real bad side. I spouted just a few four letter words in reference to the great Lake Erie on our trip and a few choice words to God as well. I know my little sister did not appreciate it and she let me know. during out stop in Port Bruce I witnessed a side of Shannon many of you may not have seen yet, the HUNGRY side. This is a true story.

We had had two nights in a row where we had not gotten much sleep. We had stayed up late in Erieau trying figure out our wireless internet, to no avail and then hitching a ride with Jim to Port Stanley was also a very late night. We had two days of paddling under our belt and maybe 9 hours of sleep when we made it to Port Bruce. We set up camp quickly and took a nap as soon as we could. The trouble started soon after we awoke. The land we had chosen was the property of the only grumpy old man in Canada and we had to get off which sucked because we had to repack out boats for a 100 foot trip across catfish creek to the trailer camp site which costs 30 dollars a night! Once we had our site we decided to forget the cooking and grab something to eat at The Sandcastle. It seemed like a nice place but it turned out to be a portal to Hell and I am pretty sure a demon came out and possessed my sister for a short time.

Here is the dilemma that started us down a dark and hungry road. The Sandcastle did not take credit cards but it did take debit. Our debit cards did not work. We had enough cash on us for either the camp site or dinner and we wanted both. There was also no ATM in Port Bruce. This situation led us to hitch hike into the nearest town to search for an ATM which was very successful thanks to a couple of gentlemen who had just left the police academy. They drove us from Port Bruce to Aylmer and back but by the time we got back to The Sandcastle it was 8:45 and they closed at 9:00 which meant they had turned everything off and they were not going to serve us! At this point we had been trying to give this place our money for a good 3 hours and they knew we were trying to find an ATM but we were not going to get any food that night. Shannon had been steadily working herself downill ever since the nap earlier in the day and she told me that she was ready to kill puppies. I was laughing at this point because the situation could not have gotten any better and Shannon flicked me off for being so... giddy. Shannon wanted to kill the girl who worked at The Sandcastle and burn the place to the ground. I would have been ok with that as long as I was able to cook something to eat over the flames. We walked back to our site and Shannon just laid on the ground in despair. I seriously thought she might just die. It had been... maybe 6 hours since she had eaten and I was laughing, which didn't help. Anything I said was wrong and I thought I was going to be stuck cooking becuase my sister was completely incapacitated

Luckily for us Canadians are awesome. Some random guy asked how things were going and instead of giving the standard one word answer I was completely honest. I could tell by his face that he wasn't expecting an answer like that. He left but then about five minutes later he showed up with a giant plate of spaghetti! The demon in Shannon was completely exercised in a single instant and we had a very pleasant dinner filled with smiles and laughs. Next time I am just going to spend the camp site money first.

New friends and new waters to paddle

(Sorry if I misspell anyone's names!)

Wow, what a trip across the lake. After Erieau we had one calm day where the calm lasted for the entire day, but otherwise we were fighting waves by one in the afternoon or sitting the day out on shore...or getting a lift from some amazing people. When people say Canadians are friendly, that is an understatement. We met some of the most helpful, generous and hospitable people I have ever known, and we owe all of them more than we can give.

We got a ride in a boat owned by an awesome guy named Jim Paterson (who we were introduced to by two young ladies at the Port Glasgow marina, Tanya and Courtney). He took us on a late night boat ride, saving us a day of paddling on the next day that was sure to be a rough one. We got into the port very late and couldn't find anyplace to stay, so the four of us (counting Jim's dog) bunked in his nice, classic boat for the night. Another helpful couple a ways down the coast, several days after Port Glasgow, also gave us a lift, which saved us from being hit by a big storm. Their names were Rick and Deb and they were most definitely in the right place at the right time in order to help us out. That night we stayed at a marine park in St. Williams, camped out in our tent in the yard of an older couple, Margy and Bill aka " Willy". They fed us banana bread and cookies and milk, and the four of us sat on their patio looking out over Long Point Bay in the beautiful evening light. The next day was the fateful day of losing the camera on our way to Selkirk. I'll let Jay give the gory details if he so pleases in his post. As usual, the lake blew up and we were forced to make for shore before our destination and ended up at Haldimand Conservation Area, a most fortunate place to have ended up it turned out.

We had a nice campsite near to showers and bathrooms. Only a mile or so down the road was Peacock Point, which became our hangout for the time we spent in the area. We met the local crowd at the variety store and ate some amazing food cooked up by Ed. We played softball in the park with kids from the town and played bingo one evening. Our stay was rather extended due to weather, but we had a good time for most of the days we were there. Being far behind schedule and most definitely not going to get to New Jersey in time, we found an great guy in the campsite named Bruce who gave us a ride to Fort Erie, saving us a few days paddle time and just about getting us back on track.

Then came the crossing back into the US. I am rather surprised border patrol didn't nab us as we struggled across the Niagara river just as a wicked wind blew up (Lake Erie's last farewell). We were forced to abandon our hopes of getting into the Black Rock Canal at it's proper entrance, and so ended up carrying our boats and all of our gear over the canal wall, a feat that was not as difficult as it sounds. Nonetheless, we were sure border patrol was going to have something to say about our desperate struggle over the wall and into the canal, but we had no issues of that sort and were able to check in at the designated marina just fine.

We went through our first lock today at the north side of the Black Rock Canal, and then paddled our way up the Niagara River to the Erie Canal. We're now a mile or so in on the canal in the yard of another awesome couple, Nick and Renee. They also have an adorable dog named Eve, who was a welcome site to us two dog deprived Raus.

We're happy to be out of the lake. After Erie, 338 miles of calm canal waters sounds glorious indeed.

Still Alive and Almost to New York

Just wanted to get a quick post in to let you know we are ok. Lake Erie has not been kind but we will be done with it tomorrow. More posts to catch you up will be coming once we are state side. Lake Erie swallowed my camera :-(

-Jay

Goodbye Erieau

It has been a little rough out on Erie the last few days. Some of you have talked with me on the phone or chatted online and heard our struggles. Shannon and I had a very sobering experience on Saturday and learned to respect Lake Erie a lot more. Being one of the shallowest great lakes means that it can whip into a frenzy very fast. We witnessed this first hand coming into Erieau and having to struggle through 6 foot waves for 2 hours. Only a few times did I really think that we might be capsized or sunk and lose everything but that was more than enough to make me realize how careful we have to be.

We spent today toying with the idea of skipping out on part of Lake Erie and getting a ride of some sort further up the coast. Everyone that I called for advice thought we should stick it out seeing as how we have been able to make it a third of the way across the lake on only three half days of traveling. The most frustrating part for me is knowing how far we could be without all the weather issues. We knew there would be some issues going into this trip but from what we had heard from other kayakers we never expected Erie to be so brutal. Today was a good day to regroup and rethink some of our initial ideas. We are going to be starting earlier in the day to take advantage of the calmer morning weather and pulling off the lake sooner in the afternoon. We are also going to be listening to the NOAA weather reports a lot more thoroughly and finding a safe spot as soon a things get remotely uncomfortable. I know it sounds like some obvious stuff but its more like taking our alertness up a notch to code red.

One great thing that came about because our weather mishaps is that we came upon Bayside Camp in Erieau. We spent an hour or so paddling in Rondeau Bay looking for a place to rest after getting our clocks cleaned. We just so happened to wash up at the right place at the right time. All the friendly folks at the camp site had dinner cooking and invited us to join them for hamburgers, ribs, and beer! We rented a cabin and made ourselves at home, which wasn't hard due to the great hospitality. Later that night we were invited to join a big party at the local bar where a band was playing. Shannon stayed back to catch up on some sleep but I decided to take advantage of the great situation. I had a blast with my new Canadian friends. They really showed me a great time and I truly appreciate it. I met the band between sets and told them about our trip and they were so impressed that they announced it during the next set and had the bar chanting my name! It was really funny and something that I never expect will happen again but it was great.

It will be sad to leave Erieau early tomorrow morning but the weekend is over and we need to move. At some point I would love to come back when I have more time to stay. Thanks again to everyone at Bayside Camp for turning around a lousy situation and making it a great
experience that I will not forget!

-Jay

Windy, wavy Lake Erie

The title says it all. Lake Erie has been pretty rough on us so far. With strong south and southwest winds, big waves have been whipping up every afternoon, forcing us in to shore before we can get a full day in. We've talked to some locals, and they've all said the weather has been odd lately, what with thunderstorms passing through every day and big, choppy waves forming rapidly in the afternoons. It doesn't help that the shoreline has been mostly cliffs ever since passing Wheatley.

After leaving Leamington, we came around Point Pelee in some rough water. Thankfully, once getting to the other side, we had a couple hours of calm water but strong wind that pushed Boldy the Beluga Whale very quickly eastward. By two in the afternoon, though, we were in whitecaps and not comfortable with how the waves were building, so we headed for the cliffed shoreline, hoping to find a beach where we could land. We found one and landed, then climbed up a wooden staircase leading upwards on the cliff face. Thankfully we found some more kind souls, Dolores and Steve, who allowed us to camp in their yard. The next day we were up early and headed to Rondeau Bay. We made it to the bay, but had some of the roughest water either of us have ever seen. The wind came from nowhere, and the waves, swells two meters or greater, soon followed. There was no place for us to go but to the bay, for the shoreline was all rocks or metal sea wall. We were praying to God the whole time. It was only by His grace that we made it into the bay unscathed, though it was certainly close. We survived, though, and are thankful for that. Our respect for this lake has increased tenfold.

Once we got into the bay and made land, we emptied our boats of water (there was quite a bit of it in both of them) and set out in search of someplace to stay the night. We were led to an awesome little campground with cabins and loads of friendly people who gave us free food and beer. We're something of celebrities here, as some of the people at the site saw us out on the water in our little makeshift sailboat in the huge waves. After telling them about our trip, they thought us even more amazingly crazy. Thinking about what we were sailing in, maybe they're right about the crazy part. We're in the town of Erieau, taking a break for the day (we were whooped after the hard, nerve wracking few days on the waves) and trying to determine our next move. Big waves and strong wind continue to be in the forecast, and the coastline continues to be unfavorable for making land in a pinch. We'll figure something out, though.

~ Shannon

Stuck in Leamington

The waves were pretty big today but we decided to get ready anyway. After everything was packed up and the boats were ready to be latched together I tried to take our catamaran cross bars apart and they were stuck! Some wet sand had gotten between the small the large poles and I could not get them to slide apart... We decided to stay in Leamington for the day and it has been a beautiful day off. I walked into town to find help to get the cross bars separated and eventually the auto mechanic at Walmart was able to separate them. I am now in a cafe using the internet because our international 3G card is not working the way I expected. I actually need to find someone with the latest version of iTunes to hook my iPad to in order to set up the international account. Another lame thing I found out about the iPad is that I cannot upload pictures onto the picassa site. Everyone is just going to have to wait until we get back to see the pictures unfortunately. Sorry! I am going to head back to the beach for the afternoon so hopefully we can find some more wifi spots along our route to keep you folks updated. Once we are back in the states we should be better at keeping this thing current.

Jay

Into Canada and some great hosts part 2

We slept in until about 7 and when we woke up Isabel had come out to the backyard to invite us to breakfast and she had brought out a 3 year old basset hound name Gibson. She was dog sitting for a friend. Shannon sat in the front seat of the car next to Isabel and I sat in the back with Harold and Gibson and we drove a few miles down the coast to Colchester. We had the most amazing breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast! I think I even saw Shannon eating bacon! Harold and Isabel's friends showed up and we had a full table of 7 elderly Canadians and two strange traveling Americans. After breakfast Shannon and I needed to check into Canada at the Colchester marina. The man I spoke with was not happy that we had spent the night without checking in. Oops... I tried to explain the situation with the storm and not having the means to reach the marina to check in but he was still grumpy. Eventually everything was worked out and we went back to the backyard to get packed up. Harold gave us four beers and we set sail for Leamington! We decided to drink the beer on the way and it was a very fun trip! After leaving at 12:30 we managed to travel about 18 miles to Leamington without having to paddle much at all. We got in late and Shannon bought a tent from Walmart because there were not many trees to tie our hammocks to on the beach. We got some good beach food at a beachside restaurant and called it a night. Wow we still have a long way to go!

Jay

Into Canada and some great hosts part 1

Greetings from Canada, eh...

Day four started in Oakwood metropark on the Huron River. We intended to finish the river and spend the night at Lake Erie Metropark. Everything changed when we reached the park at 1pm and could see Canada just across the lake. The decision was made to go for it so we connected our kayaks and started paddling. There were no large ships when we crossed and everything was going smoothly. We planned on getting to Colchester that night and checking in with the Canadian border patrol. There was a storm developing behind us so we kept paddling as long as we could to try to reach our goal. Unfortuately, the storm reached us before we reached Colchester and we had to pull our boats up onto the beach in someones back yard. We could not have asked for a better house! (more on that in day five) I sent Shannon to do the talking and soon we were set up in Harold and Isabel's (a cute elderly couple) backyard. The storm eventually blew over with only a few drops of rain falling and Shannon and I were left wishing we had just made it to Colchester. We didn't see much of Harold and Isabel the first night so we just cooked our food and passed out after a long day. So glad to be done with portages!

Jay

Uno, dos, tres!

A quick recap of the past three days. Friday was pretty nuts getting all our stuff together, but we managed to get everything packed up and ready to go by the afternoon. We had a great lunch at Zukey Lake Tavern with family and friends before heading out to Hudson Mills. We met up with friends Kaitlin and Eric who paddled with us a few hours to the campsite. That evening we were graced with the presence of a wonderful group of folks from Knox church in Ann Arbor. They were a retreat group of fathers and their kids. They fed us dinner and prayed for us. It was really encouraging to spend time with them and we were both very thankful to have met them.

Day two was an epic day of portages. We paddled twelve hours from Hudson Mills to what we now dub "Drunk Island" in the middle of Ford Lake. Supposedly that's a big party island, but we were ignorant of the fact upon setting up camp. Now Jay and I both have Eminem songs stuck in our head and have been singing them ever since those crazy people were blasting it for who knows how long from their boat. We also weathered our first storm of the trip the second night out. It was quick but powerful, rolling in very quickly just after we got in our hammocks. The funniest thing about the storm was the clueless drunk people who were completely oblivious to the impending tempest. One lady asked "Do you think it'll storm?" as the thunder ripped through the sky right above us. Three minutes later, a wall of wind hit the island. I heard the party-goers screaming and yelling in surprise, and I was freaking out a bit to as I attempted to zip up the outer zipper of my hammock while the wind whipped in the trees above. Ten minutes later, the storm had passed and all was calm, gentle rain pattering upon the rainflies of our hammocks. Eminem even returned to serenade us to sleep.

Day three wasn't as hard as two, but it definitely had the worst portage I have ever encountered. It does not even deserve description other than the fact that it was horrendous and most certainly not "safe" despite the sign at the portage claiming that it was. However, after getting past the dam, it was a beautiful paddle for the rest of the day. We were out of the lakes and once again in a winding section of the river. We met up with our Mom and Ron Sell at Willow Metropark. Ron brought the long-awaited sail rig for our boats, which will hopefully make the Lake Erie section of our trip far quicker. Our lovely mother even took us out to dinner, saving us some time this evening so we didn't need to cook. We paddled a little further down the river in search of someplace to camp, but we eventually chose to poach the Oakwood Metropark. Tomorrow we'll have a short, easy day to the mouth of the river.

~ Shannon

Ford lake

We are both really tired after 12 hours in the river with 6 portages (going around dams). We are currently camping on an island on ford lake. We thought the island would be secluded but drunk people keep boating out here...it's like 1030 and we have eminem blasting. I am thinking that this is going to be one of the most difficult days of the trip (physically) we are fresh and weak, portages suck, and we aren't used to this yet. Tomorrow we head for the mouth of the river and hopefully have a lot more down time. Details of day one and two coming soon!

-jay