Tonawanda

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 horns, and have their stereo blaring! The strange thing is these were mostly gray haired old men showing off their boats. I can understand though, most eighteen year old men can't afford $200,000 boats burning 50 gallons of fuel per hour! Anyway, we watched the show, and then completed our dinner celebration with a piece of key lime cheesecake for dessert. Back at our boat, it was more boat and people watching as the sun went down. Tomorrow will be busy getting everything ready for the long haul home. The GPS shows we cruised over 1600 miles in 53 days and I have no idea how many gallons of fuel but probably at least 800. We ate good food most of the time and it had to be the ice cream that kept us healthy. We met countless great people and made many new friends. This was a truly blessed adventure and God was with us every moment. There were so many dangers and things that could have gone wrong, and God kept us safe. With all of the close calls and tense moments, there is no doubt He was guiding us in the right direction. Each time the weather turned bad, we were tied up at a safe dock.  I witnessed God's love in the many faces, actions, and words of the people we met. That love, is the strongest force on earth, and all we ever need, to make life's journey a success.













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