August 24, 2021
Well, we made it to Amsterdam before TD Fred caught up to us. Lock 8 was a snap. Not sure what went wrong in Lock 9 but we hope to never do a lock that way again. At lock 10, just before Riverlink Park, a $1/ft. Town marina, the lock keeper convinced us to continue on to Lock 11 and the free wall, free power and Russo’s Italian Bar and Grill.
We locked through and as we approached the wall, Dan appeared out of no where taking pictures of our boat. We suggested he could be of help and catch our lines which he did most willingly. He also send us a copy of his picture(see below).
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| August 14th arrival in Amsterdam, NY |
Dan was very helpful and gave us a brief history of the town, told us where to find groceries and hardware stores, looked up hours and wether they would be open on Sunday. A real standup guy. We hooked up our power and YEAH! It all worked. We were ready for a quiet evening of relaxation and drinks to sooth our shattered nerves after Lock 9. We were just doing our final line inventory when a small RV pulled up right beside our boat, parked and plugged into the pedestal. There were two other working pedestals but they and no other people at the wall but they chose to move in as close as possible to us. We went to bed hoping they’d leave in the morning.
The next day we got our bikes off the boat and did a riding tour of Amsterdam’s waterfront ending at the Ace Hardware. The hardware was a good one and had all the bits and pieces Bob needed to replace the deck electrical outlets. This was all leading up to figuring out the TV on the sun deck and replacing a poorly installed outlet that the ice machine used.
Amsterdam was once known as The Carpet Capital of the US. Mohawk and Sanford-Bigelow carpets were manufactured here. Those industries are no longer operating but Beechnut foods, Target and Dollar General all have manufacturing or distributing centers here now. The town once had a population of almost 30,000 but has dwindled in recent times to just 18,000. The town, like many old mill towns, has hit upon hard times. Many stores are closed and have no prospects of reopening. We were going to do our best to boost their economy. We decided to try the much hailed Italian restaurant across the street from the lock for dinner.
Russo’s Italian Bar and Grill was founded in 1920 by John Russo when he arrived from Sicily. The restaurant has been run by the family ever since. The present Russo running the business is a graduate of the CulinaryArts School in Hyde Park. Unfortunately, like everyone else, Michael was short staffed Sunday night and had to close up early. We’ll try again another day.
Monday started cool and a bit cloudy. We decided to try a ride over the hills to the grocery store and Lowe’s- more electrical supplies! We put our panniers on the bikes, strapped on green bins, donned backpacks and started off. I had worked out a least steep route using google maps but we missed our first turn and ended upon a 17% grade mountain. We pushed our iron bikes up over the hill then continued on to the stores.
We arrived back to the boat and collapsed after a very busy morning. Bob went right to work with his saw and wire putting in the new outlets.
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| Cutting a new hole in the fly ridge for outlets |
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New double outlet at the sun deck bar sink
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We had also purchased a new faucet for the bar sink but after the outlets we done, so was Bob. It’s a project for tomorrow. The following day we made another quick trip to the Ace Hardware for some plumbing bits and Bobs and then did some laundry and cleaning. It was starting to rain and we decided to give Russo’s a try for lunch. We were not disappointed. The service was good even though there were only two people running the whole restaurant…..a cook and the owner who was waiting/bussing/cleaning tables. The portions were immense and we brought home leftovers for lunch the next day. We were not back long from our lunch out when we heard the lock gates opening. By now it was pouring rain and two boats came through the lock and up to the wall. Being nice neighbors, we put on rain gear and went out to catch their lines. What they were doing out in that weather was beyond us both but we were willing to help.
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| Bob at Russo’s |
The weather did not improve and Wednesday was pretty much a wash. We went down to talk with the lockmaster, Chris, and Bob got to lock a tug and barge through the lock. The barge was picking up equipment that had been used for maintenance work on the lock. Chris was a wealth of information and he gave us tomatoes from the plants he has growing there at the lock. He explained how the dam and lock work and told us about pulling gates during the winter months. Sometime during the day they informed us that west bound traffic on the canal was halted at lock 8 due to high water. This did not bode well for our continuing travels.
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| Tug Lockport locking through |
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| Bob operating the lock |
By Thursday morning they had closed all the Locks from 8 through Lock 28B. We were officially stuck on our wall for at least another day or two. At least that’s what we thought. Chris and his men starting pulling up the upper gates to help alleviate flooding to the north and west of us. It was very interesting watching the mule run back and forth pulling various gates. Bob continued working on his projects. The new faucet was installed and works perfectly. We made plans to ride our bikes up the Erie Canalway the following day.
Friday was to be a beautiful day, partly cloudy, mid-80’s and only a slight chance of rain. We filled our water bottles and headed into town to find the pedestrian bridge across the river. We rode round and round in circles- looking for an entrance. We could see the bridge but couldn’t get to it. Finally we found a man to ask and he told us it was right behind- you guessed it- the Ace Hardware! Once on the bridge we just followed the signs to the canalway. The canalway goes from Albany to Buffalo. Parts are on an old rail grade and other parts were the tow-path for the old boat canal. The path is paved and flat. We rode out to Schoharie to see the aqueduct and visit the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site. The displays were very interesting, especially the ones about flooding in the past. The docent at the site directed us to a local restaurant and farm store for lunch. We had a hardy lunch and bought some fresh produce and excellent prices then saddled up and rode back to the boat. The round trip was about 20miles. Our exercise for the day.
Roy told us we would be moved into the lock and stay there for the duration. We decided we’d begin moving the boats around 2pm. We each chose the ladder we wanted to tie up near and lock house we’d plug into. Osprey went first, then Fran ta Sea. Bob decided to back Carolina down into the lock so we would be facing westward when we could leave. The water in the river was running at between 2-3knots. Greg had had an issue turning his boat to face eastward- current had him heading sideways but just for a moment. We all successfully navigated back into the lock and tied up to the bollards. Next was the issue of power. There is only 110v in the lock houses so extension cords were the name of the game. We had one 50ft. Extension cord that could reach the boat and power our stand alone air conditioner. It was hot so it was needed. This would work till the water started going down then we’d need to add and extension to that cord…..another trip to the store in the making.
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| Upper gates are all up |
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Some of the logs/trees floating by
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By Saturday evening all the upper gates on the Amsterdam movable dam were up and in place. Tomorrow they would pull up the lower gates and uprights. They do this each winter to allow for ice flow and to hopefully keep the river from flooding. We sat tied to the walls of the lock, slowly descending into Clinton’s ditch. Sunday we found ourselves slowly descending. We are about 12 feet down in the picture below.
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The rungs on the ladder are about 12” apart.
We are about down 12 feet
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All the gates are up, now they pull up the uprights!
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We borrowed an extension cord from the lockmaster and replugged our air conditioner. Hate to say this but it probably was a good thing that Richie couldn’t get our new unit in time to install. Because we took the stand alone AC we were comfortable in the worst of the heat. We spent the day adjusting lines and trying to stay cool. By Sunday night we thought we had gone down as far as we could but we were wrong. We all, Greg and Gina, Donald and Fran, and Bob and I, all went over to Russo’s Bar and Grill to enjoy some fine Italian food.
The boats have been dropping deeper and deeper into the lock as the water outside in the river drops. We started out climbing right onto the boat, now we are climbing down 12 rungs on a very steep ladder to the deck. We’re not sure how much further we will drop but the ladder is becoming a pain - especially when you need to bring groceries on board. We borrowed a car and went grocery/extension cord shopping on Monday. Our collapsible green bins from Food Lion were the trick. We tied a line onto the handles and lowered groceries to the foredeck. With more extension cords we could now run our frig on electricity instead of the batteries and run the ice maker. Life is good!
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| Ladder down to the boat |
Fran and Gina had decided not to stay on the boats and climb the ladders- they had bailed and gone home. On Tuesday they brought a magnificent feast back to share with all. They boys set up a grill on the lock wall and grilled burgers and chicken. Gina and Fran brought steamed clams as an appetizer then salads and peach rhubarb pie for dessert! An amazing feast that was enjoyed by all.
Wednesday broke bright and sunny but we couldn’t tell. We were now down 18 rungs on the ladder. We could see the sill for the lock gates which let us know we were almost in the mud. We decided to find a laundromat and do some wash..there was a laundry about a mile away so we loaded up the bikes and headed out. You may ask why we didn’t use our washer and dryer. And we had many reasons - the washer uses water which was at a premium, we would have to rig an extension cord for the washer/dryer and we had towels, sheets, and lots of clothes so it would have taken all day. Instead we spent less than two hours at a very nice laundromat that had decent WiFi!
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| Pulling laundry up the lock to our bikes |
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| Down about as low as we can go without sitting in the mud |
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| The sill at the bottom of the lock gates |
When we returned to the boat, lo and behold, we could see most of the fly bridge Bimini above the lock wall! We were rising out of the lock!! The lock workers had spent most of the day putting the upper gates back in and our “pond” above the lock was filling up. The climb down to the boat was shortening by the hour. Excitement reigned. We then realized that if we wanted to fill up with water, now was the time. Chris, the lock master had offered use of their hoses. Bob began stretching hose while I put up Landry. We added some of our own hose and in the end we had about 450’ of hose stretched from the lock house to Carolina. We filled both tanks and then wound up hose. Now we were ready to move up out of the lock, if we could.
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| Filling the lock ourselves🤣 |
Thursday morning we all rose hoping that this would be our day to leave the lock. The water was high and we were able to step on and off the boats without the ladders. Bob and Donald decided to start clearing debris that had accumulated in front of the lock gates. We really didn’t want to drive through all the flotsam taking the chance of fouling our props. We all waited expectantly for Chris to let us know what was happening. Around 8am he came back to let us know we could now move to the upper wall. YEAH!!! Chris and Roy have been awesome to us. They opened the lock house so we could take showers and use their restroom, the kept us updated every step of the way and explained all the intricacies of managing the lock and dam. We would have been lost without their guidance. They are both an asset to the New York Canal System.
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| Debris outside the lock gate |
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| Bob poling debris from in front of the lock gate |
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| Finally back on the upper wall with 50 amp power! |
We had a little work to do now, getting systems up and running and ourselves settled in our new home. We were free from the lock but still could not move. The lock to the west of us was full of debris that needed a barge and crane to remove it.
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| Tree debris at lock 12 |
We decided to ride east on the canal way trail today, Friday, August 27th. It’s a nice rolling ride but it eventually follows Highway 55 and becomes loud with traffic noise. After about 5 miles we turned back and went to Shorties Southside for lunch. This is an excellent stop if you’re ever in Amsterdam. The service was beyond reproach and the food was excellent. Now we’re headed back to the boat to enjoy a quiet afternoon on the water and plan our trip for tomorrow- if things open up.
The water needs to come to a normal level so we can navigate under some of the very low bridges. Our lock is still not operating nor are the locks east or west of us. We’re hoping tomorrow they’ll open them back up. We are heading to lock 25 but know that lock 20 is closed till Sept. 3rd so we’re in no hurry to leave this free powered wall. I’ll write again when we get underway and have some new places to tell you about. Till then be safe and keep in touch.
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