10/14/17 Pennellville to Kingston

I posted the pictures in the previous post to go along with this post.  Scroll down to check out the pictures.  Remember you can find our position by clicking the SPOT link in the upper right hand corner of this screen.
It felt like summer as we chugged our way across Oneida Lake and down the Erie Canal last week.  We promise we won't say, "It's tooo hot."  One stop at Sylvan Beach and a visit from Mike and Liz; we had dinner together and then back to the boat for warm apple pie.
We also had a Ryze vodka tasting for Mike and Liz.  Our summer hosts, Brian and Deb, are helping their son and 2 cousins grow their new distillery - Lock 1 Distillery in Phoenix, NY.  It opened in June.  Here is their website: http://lock1distillingco.com.  They are also on Facebook.  Ryze vodka is a local product - winter wheat and rye grown at a farm just outside Phoenix, the bottles are from a plant in Waterloo, and the labels are printed in Syracuse and then carefully placed on the bottles by hand.  If you try it you'll see why they have already won a silver medal at 2017's New York World Wine & Spirits Competition.
We were expecting more traffic on the Erie Canal as it is closing a month earlier than in the past.  But there seemed to be even fewer boats than ever.  Hmmm.  We made it to Waterford, NY the end of the Erie Canal on Friday and joined the boats already there taking advantage of the hospitality offered by the town and visitor's center.  A variety of boats from all over the US and Canada; a variety of people onboard with plans for places to go.  We enjoyed the company of Pam for dinner one night.  She is on a 58' motorboat.  She and her husband (who had to travel back to Michigan by car) have spent 10 years building their boat.  It was originally a 1970 Roamer, they bought it, gutted it, designed and rebuilt the entire boat.  It is now their home and a work of Art (which happens to be her husband's name).
After a couple of days working on the boat and relaxing on we motored to the Hudson River.  50 miles to Kingston, NY where we pulled in to Hideaway Marina and were greeted by our buddy Vince.  Hard to believe it was just over 3 months ago when we were here to have the mast taken down.
Mast is up!  We've been here at Hideaway a couple of days baking apple pies, helping Vince, doing laundry, walking around Kingston.  It's time to move south anchoring along the Hudson for a few nights and then onto Atlantic Highlands/Sandy Hook area to meet up with the original owner of the boat, Marianne and her son Andreas who is visiting.
We look forward to hearing from you when you have the opportunity to write.
Karen and Jerry