July 19th was a day of great weather. We left Ilion and headed back east for a mile to take in the Gems on the Mohawk Store. The weather had forced us to run for the terminal wall the previous day before a storm came in. Today, we were determined to stop and smell the roses - read shop. They had a nice selection of local crafts and we found something for one of the grandchildren.

Our plan was to move west 28 miles to Rome, New York to take in an historical fort. When we arrived a couple of fishermen on the terminal wall took our lines. Carol asked them about the attractions in town. The story was depressing. We were told that since the military base closing the town had almost completely dried up. Additionally, vandals had the previous night untied the barges tied up to wall up stream and they had drifted down and collided with the cruisers. On other nights the vandals had released the lines of cruisers in the middle of the night. The police were having trouble catching them.

Ok. Rome looked less inviting for an overnight stay so we headed west for another 15 miles and stopped for the night at Sylvan Beach. Sylvan Beach, a fresh water beach town on Oneida Lake, is very much alive. There are numerous marinas, beach boardwalk like restaurants and an amusement park. There are terminal walls to tie up to right in the middle of all this action. This is a town that rocks all summer long with vacationers and then closes up completely for the winter in October - a very nice stop.

There is a picture in the Photo gallery of the scenery along the Erie Canal. The majority of the canal is tree lined and remote with only occasional towns or homes.

July 20th we departed Sylvan Beach at 8:30AM to make the 18 mile crossing of Oneida Lake in route to Phoenix, a town just before Lock 1 on the Oswego Canal. The cruising books tell of a teenage volunteer group called the Bridge House Brats. This group of 54 kids is going strong and has maintained the park, a pump out, and museum for seven years. They took our lines, offered us coffee or lemonade, took orders for lunch and delivered it to the boat - a great service from a wonderful group of kids. See the picture of four of the Brats above.

A hundred yards down the street Carol found a vegetable stand and stocked up with more fruit and vegetables than we could store. There is a picture in the photo gallery.

Tomorrow we will finish this canal experience with a 24 mile transit to Oswego. After a lay day or two we plan crossing Lake Ontario towards the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River.