Arctic Songbird Adventures

We are in Ft Nelson and closing in on Alaska which we might see on Monday.  The scenery through the mountains has been amazing! The temperature was up to 85F yesterday but those warm temperatures are probably behind us as it has been cooling rapidly as we progress north. We observed 41F for a low and it looks like 60's and 70's for the rest of the trip. We encountered our first mandatory invasive specie inspections on the boat entering Canada two days ago. After wasting 45 minutes of our time, they found nothing and gave us a signed document allowing us to proceed. Yesterday we were stopped again, thoroughly inspected, given another signature, and sent on our way. Two hours later, stopped again, but this time the inspector didn't like something, so they completely powerwashed the boat and trailer with 140 degree water. Then they quarantined us from launching in BC. I asked them why we were quarantined after they just wasted an hour and a half of our time. They replied they ...

It was a rough night in Tonawanda with all the partiers on the dock until 1am. Boats were tying up three feet from us, dropping off and picking up inebriated people that were laughing and yelling with no respect for all the boaters that had paid to get a good nights sleep. We left early to get the truck, and load up for the long drive. The truck was still in the same place I left it and it took me a while to figure out all the controls again. Carrie drove the truck and trailer to the launch ramp on the Niagara River and I met them with the boat. The timing was perfect, because it started pouring rain! We finally departed at 1:46p and made it to Gary, Indiana just in time to watch a huge thunderstorm pass by. We had traveled 503 miles and with the bad weather, and being exhausted, we called it a day. Thursday morning we departed at 5:30a hoping to beat rush hour Chicago traffic but we were too late. That was an extremely stressful morning towing the boat through stop and go gridlock m...

Medina was in our rearview mirror at 8am and we made it through the last four lift bridges and the set of two flight locks at Lockport with minimal delay. The sky was clear and the sun was hot hovering around 85F as we pulled into Tonawanda about 2pm. It was too late to mess with the truck and trailer and since there was a perfect place to tie up, we made Tonawanda our last night on the Erie. I decided two months without a haircut was long enough so a nice barber buzzed my hair back to the 1/8th inch normal style that looks so good on me! After my haircut and finding the local ice cream store, we had a nice walk to the park on the Niagara River where we watched boats cruise by all afternoon. I decided to find that steak and potato I have been dreaming about as a celebration dinner. We ate at the dockside bar and grill and continued to watch the parade of boats go back and forth. It reminded me of cruising the strip 35 years ago! Hot rod boats would rev up their engines, honk their horn...

It was a leisurely cruise today with no locks but several lift bridges we had to wait for. The bridge operators are responsible for up to four bridges so they drive back and forth between towns when a boat needs to pass under. Today was the second day of the Erie Canal bike event that begins in Buffalo and ends in Albany. There were 750 riders eastbound and most of them were waving at us as we slowly made our way west. Carrie decided this morning to ride between towns as we motored along, but she didn't know about the 100's of bikes opposite direction until a few miles into it. The weather started off hot this morning, but cooled down, and eventually turned to rain. We explored Medina and decided to get some specialty chocolate, and take a day off from ice cream! The town has a lot of history and unique sandstone buildings. Another interesting feature is the Erie Canal is raised up here, with a tunnel underneath, allowing a river to flow perpendicular to it. Tonight is likely o...