Topless in Lake Champlain

Hi There everyone…Ben here,

We’re without company for a little while now as we go from Albany, New York, up the Hudson River to Lake Champlain, where we are going to see Janice and Jim Campbell and David and Debby Pearson in Burlington, Vermont. Wendy and Jim will meet us there too, and continue with us on the boat for a trip to Montreal.
The rain is still with us as we make our way north. The Tall Ships are returning to New York City

with lots of wet people on board in their yellow raincoats. I’m glad I’m inside where it’s dry having lunch with Izzy and Jeff. Izzy says I don’t smell so good when I’m wet.
In Troy, NY, we came to the Federal Locks and had to try out our skills at holding on to ropes to keep the boat still while the water got higher. Jeff and Izzy took care of that while I barked at the lock keeper to be sure he knew that we were not going to tolerate any shenanigans from him. After that he didn’t bother us.

In Waterford, NY we stopped for a couple of days to prepare for our next leg of our trip. The wall along river is full of other boats doing the same thing. This is where the boaters decide if they want to go west on the Erie Canal, or north on the Champlain Canal like we plan to do. We walked along an old trail next to the original canaltrying to make our feet match the mule hoof prints and the barefoot prints next to them.I had a hard time with the mule tracks, but Izzy seemed to do ok with the barefeet.It was during this section of the trip that Jeff decided to take the top of the boat down…something about “getting shorter” for the bridges coming up soon.These sailboats had to take their masts down for the next part of their trip. While Jeff spent the afternoon making our boat shorter, Izzy tricked me into going for a shampoo and cut along with a pedicure and ear cleaning. I’d have rather stayed on the boat to help Jeff!
He worked all afternoon taking the canvas and plastic windows off the fly bridge and then got a guy to help lower the arch down, with the radar, satellite dish and antennas, so we could be 16 ft. tall instead of 28 feet tall. The trick is to do that without breaking any of the electrical lines that run to the equipment in the process. After all, I want to watch Oprah in the afternoons…It was successful...so here we are topless. There's a fee for using the canals and locks in NY. We didn't want to spend the whole season here, so we opted for the Two Day Pass and made a run for it.

Here’s the low bridge that we had to get under to continue our trip. Jeff said Izzy had the “hair on fire” look in her eyes before we went under it. He asked her to be the lookout as we approached. Not sure what she would have done if we were too tall…? It sure looked low, but we made it with several inches to spare over our dinghy motor, which is sitting on the top of the sundeck roof. In Whitehall, NY we stopped at a free dock and rested for the night. There was a hundred year old tug boat that was all fixed up at the dock behind us.It was retired, like we are, and didn't have to work anymore, so it got to go on trips on the rivers just for fun ...same as us. It had a funny moustach that looked like a bunch of mops on the front. I hope Jeff doesn't start growing one of those. While I was coming back from taking a look at the tug boat, a strange little “lion”showed up out of nowhere.Here he is chasing me! I barked at it to keep it away from the boat and protect Izzy and Jeff. They have wild things here.

The Champlain Canal was quiet and pretty, and had some old buildings that looked as though they had been built a little too close to the water like this one. The sign on it said it was for sale...We wanted to go to a little town that we had heard about named Vergennes, Vermont, on our way through Lake Champlain. To get there we had to take Otter Creek – a narrow winding stream that was real shallow at the entrance (depth showed 0.0 feet of water under our keel!). So after Jeff convinced Izzy that we could make it through the shallow part, and he put out the fire in her hair, he maneuvered the “Izzy R” into Otter Creek where we had deeper water and a beautiful ride for 6 miles with trees and cottages lining the banks of the creek. At the end of the creek is a waterfall and the town of Vergennes with a free dock. Jeff loves those free docks. The big pond that is formed by the waterfall must be full of fish, because lots of guys came in boats with fast engines and poles. In fact, there was a fishing tournament that weekend, and all of a sudden we had a lot of company in the pond. Jeff made friends with the guys camped next to us by taking over a couple of Coronas, then he impressed them with his new big orange balls. There’s a park with big trees right off the boat where we walked and watched the fishermen and the squirrels. At night the town lit up the waterfall for us. I don't know what these are, but I don't think I'll go out at night around here. Debbie and David rode their Harleys over from Burlington to have dinner and spend the night with us. A couple of days later we arrived at the Marble Island Marina in Burlington, VT and were helped by a whole bunch of people having a party on the dock. The marina dog took a liking to our boat and jumped on while we were pulling in the slip to tie up. When his master called for him to get off our boat, he fell in the water and had to be dragged out by his collar. Embarrassing… kind of like when Izzy fell in the water in Chesapeake City. You remember... I told you about that in a provious blog...I don’t think they dragged her out by the neck though because she doesn’t wear a collar. She doesn’t need one because she keeps her license in her wallet.

We’re off to see the relatives soon, so I have to get brushed and gather up my bowl, bed and leash. I’m hoping someone will want to butter me up for some good press by taking me for a walk, knowing that I write the blog.

Besides, it's 5 0'clock somewhere. I’ll fill you in on our visit in Burlington next time.
Love,
Ben