The Moistening
I think we left off last post in Brewerton, after enjoying a delightful few days of friends and family. When we pulled into a space on the wall at Brewerton, the waters were very choppy and I nearly let the boat pull me into the canal for a swim. With winds approaching 30 knots, we decided it would be best to spend the day on land and finish up some last minute shopping. I was starting to get a cold and proceeded to buy out everything in the cough drop aisle at the local pharmacy.
If you haven't lived in Upstate New York for a while, you might not know that Brewerton is located on the western edge of Oneida Lake. Now, when you look at it on a map, Oneida Lake looks a little bit like a cheerful whale, giving you a wave with it's tail. In reality, however, crossing Oneida Lake is the most dangerous part of the trip along the canal. Because it's so wide and shallow, Oneida Lake can have unusually large waves. While we would normally feel comfortable in decent sized waves, our mast was much more horizontal than it normally is, and therefore not nearly as secure on our boat. Some people call Oneida Lake the "mast graveyard" because so many people have lost their mast while attempting to cross it.
With such an ominous nickname, you would think we would have only crossed this lake on the calmest, clearest, most beautiful day. Yeah, not so much.
That afternoon, once some of my drugs had kicked in, the winds dropped to about 10 knots, which in a normal situation, is not a big deal. On our unusually shallow home waters of Lake Erie, we're used to rough waters, so we knew we could make it through this.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to communicate that to Apollo, but I'll get to that.
So we set off across the lake. The water was very choppy, with white-capped waves and lots of uncomfortable movement. The mast stayed in place, but everything else was everywhere. I stationed myself firmly in the cockpit, gripping the sides for dear life. As we crossed, the winds were supposed to die down. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen. The winds stayed consistently blowy the whole way. (Yes, blowy is a technical term I just made up.)
Meanwhile, the cats were dealing with the sudden motion each in their own way. Tiny was sitting on the couch so everyone could see her and she could complain loudly if anyone passed by. Sputnik was in a cabinet we had cleared out before we left underneath the V-berth. (We even put a blanket in there so the cats could be nice and cozy.) And Apollo was in his chosen hiding spot at the very front of the boat in the blankets on our bed. Now, Apollo, while very cute, is not the brightest of crew members. He chose to hide in the one part of the boat where you can feel the motion of the waves the most.
Speaking of not being very bright... When we got ready to go across the lake, we brought as many things below as we could so they wouldn't fall off the top of the boat, then closed all of the hatches and windows so the inside of the boat wouldn't get wet. Unfortunately, we forgot that there is a difference between closing a hatch and latching it shut. The very front hatch is directly above our bed. (AKA Apollo's hiding place.) The wind blew a line from the bow of the boat, and it got wedged underneath that unlatched front hatch while we were crossing. Then, a giant wave surged up and over the boat, and FWOOOSH, dumped a huge bunch of water onto our bed.
And onto a terrified Apollo.
I saw the wave come over, and a few minutes later, unclenched my hands from the side of the boat and headed below to survey the damage. Now, this had been an excellent opportunity to test my rain gear, and I can confidently say that the rain gear I was wearing did a great job keeping me dry. The rain gear I was not wearing did nothing as it hung uselessly in a closet. So while my jacket kept my upper body warm and toasty, my legs got soaking wet, particularly when I went up onto our bed to check on Apollo.
It was like climbing onto a wet sponge. Water instantly soaked through my jeans the second my knee touched mattress. The blankets were completely drenched, and...I sniffed.... smelled like poop? I looked closely at the blankets, and I saw how Apollo had chosen to express his displeasure about the whole situation. He had panic pooped all over our sheets. I pulled apart the stinky, sopping blankets to find the guilty crew member, cowering at the very bow of the boat. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do at the moment, so I left him in the dryest, least poopy spot I could find to wait out the three hour crossing of misery.
Eventually, we made it across the lake. The waves finally subsided and we were able to pull up on the wall on the far side of the lake and start taking the bed apart. My parents were nice enough to meet us at the wall and take the poopy blankets to their house to wash. (I'm sure that car ride smelled wonderful.)
That night, we slept on the couch, which expands to fit two fairly small people. It was actually pretty comfortable, and I was really glad past Casey had been smart enough to pack an extra set of sheets and blankets on the boat. Apollo hid with his brother under the V-berth and didn't talk to anybody.
The next day, my parents dropped off the newly cleaned blankets, but the mattress wasn't yet dry enough to sleep on. Instead, Justin rigged up a couple of fans to keep air moving around the mattress in an attempt to dry it out.
Meanwhile, the whole world decided that dryness was not an option for us. Justin was brave and drove through the downpour, getting completely soaked in the process.
We spent another night on the couch, our wet clothes hanging anywhere we could fit. At least on the couch, we were warm and dry.
The next day, it was bright and clear, like the drenching from the night before hadn't happened.
Since it was finally nice out, we decided to open the front hatch and let the sun finish up drying the mattress. We didn't want any adventurous cats going out the open front hatch, so we closed off the door to the bedroom. This meant Sputnik and Apollo were unable to hide in their favorite spots, and they had to look for alternative places. Sputnik went into a quiet corner behind the litterbox. Apollo...Well, we didn't know where Apollo was for a while.
About an hour after being underway, Justin started the Apollo search. He tore apart all of our storage bins, making a giant mess of the cabin, digging through boxes and opening cabinets, trying to find Apollo. Eventually, we decided to pull into the shallow part of the canal and anchor so I could help search for Apollo too.
"Found him!" Justin finally announced. Apollo had crammed himself in the ceiling of the quarter berth, where cats were definitely not supposed to be able to fit. Justin reached up, trying to coax Apollo out. Apollo naturally freaked out and ran for it, straight into the engine.
We spent the next hour crawling in and out of the engine room, trying to get Apollo to understand that this warm, cozy new hiding place was a bad idea. After plenty of treats, coaxing, and desperate pleading, I was able to pull Apollo's fluffy little butt from the engine and hand him off to Justin for cuddles. We opened the bedroom back up so Apollo could hide under the V-berth and hate his life in peace.
Once Apollo had been rescued, we set off for our final few days on the canal. And, we met up with a few familiar faces along the way! In Canajoharie, we found our friends from Rhythm, as well as our fellow sailors on board Elixir V. The crew of Elixir V, Jeff and Trish, were newlyweds from somewhere in Canada. (I think Sarnia? Maybe Sophia? Maybe Narnia? I'm not completely sure....) Anyway, we had run into them a few times before. ( They had been smart and waited to cross Oneida Lake until the waves died down 12 hours after we crossed.) Jeff and Trish are about our age, and like us, desperate to get somewhere warm for the winter. When I first met Jeff, I had asked him the cliche question: "Where are you guys headed?" and he answered "South!" I got super excited because that had been the exact answer Justin and I had been giving when it was asked of us. (You can check out their adventures by liking them on Facebook.)
I informed Aimee of Rhythm that my parents would be swinging by one last time to say a final goodbye to us. Then I told her that they have a car and would be happy to take us all on a trip to the grocery store. Aimee nearly peed herself with excitement. Justin felt like he was back in high school, where the cool kids were the ones with access to their parent's car. (I never knew who the cool kids in high school were.) After a successful grocery trip, we gathered together for a pizza party and had a great evening relaxing and getting ready for our last few days on the canal.
Stay tuned next time as we finish up the canal, and get started down the Hudson River!
If you haven't lived in Upstate New York for a while, you might not know that Brewerton is located on the western edge of Oneida Lake. Now, when you look at it on a map, Oneida Lake looks a little bit like a cheerful whale, giving you a wave with it's tail. In reality, however, crossing Oneida Lake is the most dangerous part of the trip along the canal. Because it's so wide and shallow, Oneida Lake can have unusually large waves. While we would normally feel comfortable in decent sized waves, our mast was much more horizontal than it normally is, and therefore not nearly as secure on our boat. Some people call Oneida Lake the "mast graveyard" because so many people have lost their mast while attempting to cross it.
 |
| It's Oneida Lake, not Lake Oneida. (Image from Google Maps) |
With such an ominous nickname, you would think we would have only crossed this lake on the calmest, clearest, most beautiful day. Yeah, not so much.
That afternoon, once some of my drugs had kicked in, the winds dropped to about 10 knots, which in a normal situation, is not a big deal. On our unusually shallow home waters of Lake Erie, we're used to rough waters, so we knew we could make it through this.
Unfortunately, nobody was able to communicate that to Apollo, but I'll get to that.
So we set off across the lake. The water was very choppy, with white-capped waves and lots of uncomfortable movement. The mast stayed in place, but everything else was everywhere. I stationed myself firmly in the cockpit, gripping the sides for dear life. As we crossed, the winds were supposed to die down. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen. The winds stayed consistently blowy the whole way. (Yes, blowy is a technical term I just made up.)
 |
| Those little white bits mean "wait for another day." |
Meanwhile, the cats were dealing with the sudden motion each in their own way. Tiny was sitting on the couch so everyone could see her and she could complain loudly if anyone passed by. Sputnik was in a cabinet we had cleared out before we left underneath the V-berth. (We even put a blanket in there so the cats could be nice and cozy.) And Apollo was in his chosen hiding spot at the very front of the boat in the blankets on our bed. Now, Apollo, while very cute, is not the brightest of crew members. He chose to hide in the one part of the boat where you can feel the motion of the waves the most.
Speaking of not being very bright... When we got ready to go across the lake, we brought as many things below as we could so they wouldn't fall off the top of the boat, then closed all of the hatches and windows so the inside of the boat wouldn't get wet. Unfortunately, we forgot that there is a difference between closing a hatch and latching it shut. The very front hatch is directly above our bed. (AKA Apollo's hiding place.) The wind blew a line from the bow of the boat, and it got wedged underneath that unlatched front hatch while we were crossing. Then, a giant wave surged up and over the boat, and FWOOOSH, dumped a huge bunch of water onto our bed.
And onto a terrified Apollo.
 |
| This is not the wave that drenched Apollo, but it's still a wave. |
I saw the wave come over, and a few minutes later, unclenched my hands from the side of the boat and headed below to survey the damage. Now, this had been an excellent opportunity to test my rain gear, and I can confidently say that the rain gear I was wearing did a great job keeping me dry. The rain gear I was not wearing did nothing as it hung uselessly in a closet. So while my jacket kept my upper body warm and toasty, my legs got soaking wet, particularly when I went up onto our bed to check on Apollo.
It was like climbing onto a wet sponge. Water instantly soaked through my jeans the second my knee touched mattress. The blankets were completely drenched, and...I sniffed.... smelled like poop? I looked closely at the blankets, and I saw how Apollo had chosen to express his displeasure about the whole situation. He had panic pooped all over our sheets. I pulled apart the stinky, sopping blankets to find the guilty crew member, cowering at the very bow of the boat. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do at the moment, so I left him in the dryest, least poopy spot I could find to wait out the three hour crossing of misery.
Eventually, we made it across the lake. The waves finally subsided and we were able to pull up on the wall on the far side of the lake and start taking the bed apart. My parents were nice enough to meet us at the wall and take the poopy blankets to their house to wash. (I'm sure that car ride smelled wonderful.)
 |
| Don't let the pretty lake fool you. It's evil. |
That night, we slept on the couch, which expands to fit two fairly small people. It was actually pretty comfortable, and I was really glad past Casey had been smart enough to pack an extra set of sheets and blankets on the boat. Apollo hid with his brother under the V-berth and didn't talk to anybody.
The next day, my parents dropped off the newly cleaned blankets, but the mattress wasn't yet dry enough to sleep on. Instead, Justin rigged up a couple of fans to keep air moving around the mattress in an attempt to dry it out.
 |
| Don't worry, the books made it through the moistening. |
Meanwhile, the whole world decided that dryness was not an option for us. Justin was brave and drove through the downpour, getting completely soaked in the process.
 |
| He later decided to purchase rain pants. |
We spent another night on the couch, our wet clothes hanging anywhere we could fit. At least on the couch, we were warm and dry.
The next day, it was bright and clear, like the drenching from the night before hadn't happened.
 |
| We could be jousting with our mast so far forward. |
Since it was finally nice out, we decided to open the front hatch and let the sun finish up drying the mattress. We didn't want any adventurous cats going out the open front hatch, so we closed off the door to the bedroom. This meant Sputnik and Apollo were unable to hide in their favorite spots, and they had to look for alternative places. Sputnik went into a quiet corner behind the litterbox. Apollo...Well, we didn't know where Apollo was for a while.
About an hour after being underway, Justin started the Apollo search. He tore apart all of our storage bins, making a giant mess of the cabin, digging through boxes and opening cabinets, trying to find Apollo. Eventually, we decided to pull into the shallow part of the canal and anchor so I could help search for Apollo too.
"Found him!" Justin finally announced. Apollo had crammed himself in the ceiling of the quarter berth, where cats were definitely not supposed to be able to fit. Justin reached up, trying to coax Apollo out. Apollo naturally freaked out and ran for it, straight into the engine.
 |
| Apollo! Come out, come out, wherever you are! |
We spent the next hour crawling in and out of the engine room, trying to get Apollo to understand that this warm, cozy new hiding place was a bad idea. After plenty of treats, coaxing, and desperate pleading, I was able to pull Apollo's fluffy little butt from the engine and hand him off to Justin for cuddles. We opened the bedroom back up so Apollo could hide under the V-berth and hate his life in peace.
 |
| The black fuzzy thing is Apollo. |
Once Apollo had been rescued, we set off for our final few days on the canal. And, we met up with a few familiar faces along the way! In Canajoharie, we found our friends from Rhythm, as well as our fellow sailors on board Elixir V. The crew of Elixir V, Jeff and Trish, were newlyweds from somewhere in Canada. (I think Sarnia? Maybe Sophia? Maybe Narnia? I'm not completely sure....) Anyway, we had run into them a few times before. ( They had been smart and waited to cross Oneida Lake until the waves died down 12 hours after we crossed.) Jeff and Trish are about our age, and like us, desperate to get somewhere warm for the winter. When I first met Jeff, I had asked him the cliche question: "Where are you guys headed?" and he answered "South!" I got super excited because that had been the exact answer Justin and I had been giving when it was asked of us. (You can check out their adventures by liking them on Facebook.)
 |
| Rhtyhm in the back, Mischief Managed in the middle, and Elixir V in front |
I informed Aimee of Rhythm that my parents would be swinging by one last time to say a final goodbye to us. Then I told her that they have a car and would be happy to take us all on a trip to the grocery store. Aimee nearly peed herself with excitement. Justin felt like he was back in high school, where the cool kids were the ones with access to their parent's car. (I never knew who the cool kids in high school were.) After a successful grocery trip, we gathered together for a pizza party and had a great evening relaxing and getting ready for our last few days on the canal.
 |
| Mmmmm... Pizza.... |
Stay tuned next time as we finish up the canal, and get started down the Hudson River!
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