Missing friends and family is the major downside to long-distance cruising. Thus, when friends from home come to visit, life is truly sublime.

Ann and Carl on the Traveler’s bow.

Carl and Ann met us in Troy, NY with the intent of spending a week aboard the Arkansas Traveler to transit the Erie Canal with us. I’m not sure that they anticipated working on deck through 22 locks, but then neither have ever shied away from work and if that work involves the out-of-doors, then all the better.

After a morning car trip to the New York State Museum in Albany, we untied our lines from the Troy City Marina wall and motored up the Hudson River through the Federal Lock and the four miles to Waterford, NY.

Traveling north on the Hudson River. Note the construction and protective draping on the bridge.

This sign, one of the few on the waterways, marks the point where the Erie Canal joins the Hudson River. We turned to port.

Bollards and cleats line the walls at designated spots along the Canal. These are free tie-up opportunities for cruisers.

In Waterford we found a space along the wall and tied the Traveler securely in preparation for the impending storm.

There is no charge to tie up in Waterford, only a refundable $10.00 deposit for the key to the showers and heads. After signing in and viewing the exhibits at the Welcome Center, we took a short walk to preview Lock #2 and to get a peek at the Canal.

Interpretive exhibits can be found all along the Erie Canal. They detail the canal’s history and its economic impact on the growing nation.

Our first look at the Erie Canal. This is the westernmost point of the Canal, just after Lock #2.

The early evening storm struck with a vengeance, dropping buckets of rain and darkening the skies. We didn’t know it at the time, but a tornado from this storm hit two locks 120 miles west of us.  We were to witness that damage three days down the Canal.

As it so often happens after a storm, the winds calmed and the river water was still, but for its ever-present current pressing downstream.

The clouds begin to break up as the sun sets.

Colors change as the sun perches on the bridge to Peebles Island.

The sun has set, promising a calmer day tomorrow.