On Monday, July 12th, we left Haverstraw Marina early in the morning to stay ahead of rain that was chasing us up the Hudson River. The Weather Channel Marine Service we have installed on MYSTIC ROSE gives us real time weather radar feed to our PC. It has been very helpful in allowing us to move between bad weather cells even if there is only a few hour window available.

By 11:30AM we were in Rondout Creek at the City of Kingston on the Western Shore of the Hudson River. The picture above is the lighthouse that marks the jetty into Rondout Creek. The weather has been overcast and poor for pictures so it will be the only picture posted today.

After refueling we pulled into the Kingston Town Dock for a two night stay to let poor weather past in take our first lay day since starting the cruise. The finger piers are only twenty feet long so we stuck out considerably but the creek is very protected so there was no problem. It was great to kick back and recharge. There are five restaurants right beside the dock and a maritime museum a block away. We enjoyed sampling the restaurants and can highly recommend the Ship to Shore Restaurant as one of the best anywhere. In two days we had three meals there.

Today, Wednesday, July 14th, we headed north to Troy, New York which is the town just before we enter the first lock on the Erie Canal. Again we had weather chasing us so by 12 noon we were tied up at the Troy Town Dock two hours before the rain came in. The facility has floating docks parallel to the town wall. Again there are restaurants within yards of our berth. I am beginning to believe that MYSTIC ROSE is just a water taxi between good restaurants. Carol is having fond memories of her youth with delicious New York handmade hamburgers. Maryland may have the best crab cakes but no place beats New York for hamburgers.

Tomorrow if there is a break in the weather we will start our trip west on the Erie Canal to Oswego. This leg will take about six days. Our first stop will be at Waterford where there is a canal center and museum. Depending on weather we could stay the night or move on towards Schenectady.

We have an AT&T wireless GSM card in our laptop that is giving us 56 kbytes/sec which is typical of a dialup land line. Unfortunately, it only works when there is AT&T GSM coverage and there was none in Kingston. On our cruise there won't be postings from all of our stops because of coverage.

We are rested and really enjoying the new cruising grounds.