Oh you always know your neighbor... And you always know your pal...
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

I've been singing that all day.

We went through 10 locks on the Erie Canal today and we're now tied up to the canal wall above lock 11 at Amsterdam, NY.

These are similar locks to many that we went through on the rivers last Fall at the start of the trip. You go in to a huge empty chamber while doors at the high water side at the end are closed. Then they close the doors behind you and fill the chamber with water.

When it's full, the doors at the other end open and you sail out in a canal that's about 20 to 30 ft. higher than the one you were on before. The water where we're tied up tonight is about 250 ft. higher in elevation than the canal we started on today.

The scenery is quite nice.... mostly all trees and verdant hills surrounding the rivers and lakes that form the major part of the canal today.

I went up to the lock operators area to see the workings of the lock. This is the inside view of two of the many large electrical control cabinets that operate the locks. Even though they were built in 1915, they still look perfect. That's because while the canal is closed in the winters, the engineers lovingly restore every piece of equipment. The DC motors and huge lock gate gears all look as good as this switch cabinet, and are also original from 1915. Very impressive.

We also went for a walk along the old original Champlain canal segment near Waterford, NY. When it was built, the canal was only 40 ft. wide and 4 1/2 ft. deep. Long canal barges were pulled by mules along this footpath. Obviously, the trees between the footpath and the water weren't here then.