Category: boat

Enter: To Make a Beginning {Intuition Diaries}


Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; praise His name! 
(Psalm 100:4 ESV)

Guard gate along the Erie Canal

During the time the trailer was in for repairs, we drove over to visit my aunt. We had a nice dinner and shared photos, but as always our time together was too short. We spent the evening in a town near the repair shop. When we got up that morning we had no idea what to expect. But to our surprise the trailer was ready to be picked up by noon that very day. And our keys had arrived. 


We picked up the boat and keys, and trucked our way over to Buffalo. We got to the marina just as the sun was setting. 

Thursday morning, we entered the boating phase of our trip. We cruised from the Buffalo harbor over to the Black Rock Canal, which bypasses the Niagara River in order to get over to the Tonawanda area, where the Erie Canal begins.

Buffalo Marina





We will be crossing the entire canal, which is 338 miles long. Part of our adventure includes going through 35 locks. We started with the Black Rock Lock. After stopping in North Tonawanda, where we visited the Carousel Museum, we went through the first lock system in Lockport, which is a double lock. 

Entering the Lockport double lock system
Leaving the second lock at Lockport


Looking back into the double lock



Going through a lock is like driving your boat into a huge bathtub, then securing your boat to the side while the water drains. Or if you are locking up the canal, the water fills while your boat bobs on the side. To get into the locks, you enter huge gates. As we enter and exit the locks, I marvel at the ingenuity of the engineering and the majesty of nature combined.

On the Erie Canal system also has Lift Bridges and Guard Gates. The bridges lift to let boats pass under. In the winter the gates are lowered to allow the canal to drain, and they also manage water levels during times of flooding.

Lift Bridges



Taking a journey offers many moments of wonder and surprise. And so the journey of faith. We never know what might be around the next bend. But God always provides, always care and always delights in us.


Plants growing in wall of Black Rock Lock

Lockport used to be a Five Flight lock, meaning five locks in succession. 

Good-bye Lockport!



A couple of surprises so far on this trip have been the trailer incident and last night we experienced the bounty of community. 

We stopped in a little town east of Lockport, where the city provides docking along the canal wall with free electricity. Next to each spot, someone planted a barrel of tomatoes, cabbages and herbs. This morning I clipped a bit of fresh rosemary and cilantro for future meals. 

Sunset at Gasport



For dinner we walked over to the Canalside Inn, a local establishment where we ordered Beef on Weck, a western New York delicacy. The table next to us ordered theirs, but were told they were out. That sparked a friendly banter about us taking their meal. We mentioned we were from out of town, and they forgave us. We asked about a place to get ice, and the offered to go get us a bag. They delivered it to us and admired the boat, swapping stories since they were fellow boaters. One of the couples own a marina on the other side of the lift bridge, and the other had traveled the canal several times, so they gave us some tips for the stops ahead. Companionship along the way is always welcomed.


Lift bridge closed for the night at Gasport





Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
(Psalm 24:7 ESV)



Posted on by kelrohlf 4

Routine: The Travelled Way

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
the Lord’s name is to be praised.
Psalm 113:3 KJV

The Intuition Diaries

Routines were to be left behind, while we vacationed on Lake Michigan. Or so we thought.  We found out at the beginning of our trip that routines are important whether we were on vacation or not. Just like the rising and setting of the sun, routines have their purposes. Every time we take the boat out, we follow a checklist. Read more if you want to hear how we neglected a crucial routine, but were graced with GRACE!

 

At the beginning of July, we drove away from St. Louis, towing our boat, the Intuition. We arrived late afternoon to our destination just north of Chicago on the western shore of the lake. We checked in with the marina and proceeded to get the boat ready for our adventure of following a clockwise circuit around the shores of Lake Michigan.

We were out of our normal routine. Les was thinking about getting the extra kicker motor on the back of the boat. (This motor is our backup if the main engine fails.) I was thinking about how to arrange the extra food and other items inside the boat, so we wouldn’t be tripping over stuff for the next few weeks. It took about an hour to get everything transferred to the boat, so we were pleased with our efficiency.

Next stop—back the boat down the ramp and find our boat slip. We have a checklist for this procedure, but for some reason neither one of us pulled it out. Familiarity and past successes at this mundane part of boating became an embarrassing oversight.

Before heading out to sea, it is prudent to make sure the engine fires up and everything is working properly. So we took our usual steps (sort of) and tried the engine. NOTHING! Was the battery dead? Why is the bilge pump running? Did the fridge drain the battery on the road trip here? We were baffled.

We went back to the bilge pump question. Why was it running? Its purpose is to bail water from the cockpit of the boat or any water that is in the bottom of the boat. Under my breath, I was praying for wisdom. We opened the floor hatch and noted  water in the bottom of the boat, which the pump was dutifully offloading. All of a sudden, we remembered…the plug…did anyone put the plug in before we entered the water!? Nope, we totally skipped that part of the checklist. We scrambled and pulled the boat back on the trailer, let the water drain. Then promptly put the plug in.

The grace part: In our rush to get to our destination (the slip at the marina); I had knocked the throttle out of neutral. The engine only starts in neutral. The checklist states: “Check to make sure the throttle is in neutral position before starting the engine.” If the engine had started, we would have had a more serious problem on our hands, like how to get a sinking boat out of the harbor.

After figuring out the plug problem, we consulted the checklist, which solved the engine failure. I put the boat back into neutral, and the engine fired up immediately. What did we learn? We learned to trust the routine and always look at the checklist. After our humiliation subsided, we laughed at ourselves and thanked God for watching out for us in our foolishness.

Sunday Morning Sunrise

North Point Marina, Winthrop Harbor, IL 8.10.2012

 

 
Posted on by kelrohlf 1