The old mill at Chaffeys Lock is still
standing but now as an art gallery. The water rushing past the mill –
which I assume provided the power to run the equipment that used to
be in there – is still moving past the mill at a good speed. I'm
thinking the mill used to have a water driven paddle wheel which
harnessed the water power.
The art gallery didn't open until the
next weekend but we were fortunate to meet the owners – Rick and
Celine. Craig and Karen had met them two years ago and reconnected.
Nice folks.
Rain was predicted so we stayed at
Chaffeys again Thursday night - moving to the top of the lock so we
could leave early. The locks are still operating on the 'early
season' times of 10 am to 4 pm and we had a long day planned of 32
miles to Smith Falls.
A celebration at Chaffeys: it was Craig
and Karen's treat to dinner at the Opinicon Hotel for Craig's
birthday. Seemed we should have been the ones to do the 'treating'
but we always aim to please :-) Nice to have dinner out for a change.
Steve and Craig had an opportunity the
first day for a kayak around the area below the lock. They were not
disappointed as the turtles were out in force on a sunny day!
Spotted on the way to Smith Falls: a
do-it-yourself ferry!! Limit – one car. Drive on, crank the winch
and you'll be pulled across to the other side.
We couldn't figure out what would
happen if the ferry was already on the other side – maybe another
crank on shore that would pull it back your way??
Unusual to see: the turn right sign!
Going straight was beckoning so maybe if you weren't watching the
charts it would be easy to miss this turn??
Ended up staying Friday and Saturday
nights at Smith Falls with breakfast the first morning at a place
called the Roosteraunt. The decor certainly reflected the name :-)
Breakfast was good – on to see the town.
There was a rumor of a farmer's market but that didn't pan out. Lots of shops downtown though and there was a health fair going on.
We thought Bucky Beaver was a part of the health fair but when we left town on Sunday, Bucky had moved on down the river to be a part of the dragon boat races!
It was finally time to see if the air
conditioner we picked up Lowe's before we left New York was going to
do the job. No place to mount it permanently so we went with Peter's
(of Peter and Cheryl) method of using the doorway!
With a vinyl covering for the top part
of the door, the air conditioner sits nicely on the door sill. Plug
it in and – yes! It worked well enough for any heat wave we may
encounter along the way.
Steve scored with his find of a tiny
spatula – very soft so no scratching of his favorite small frying
pan.
Plus a steel coffee pot that will work
on the induction burners. He's been using an aluminum one on a
propane burner – which is fine except that it can't be used inside
the boat. The lid of the blue one didn't have a little glass top to
see the color of the coffee so he cannibalized the two to produce one
good one!
When we left it was a sunny but very
windy Sunday morning. There were three of us locking through together
– another boat that was about 50 feet, us and Rahn de Vous.
Between the three of us the locks were pretty full with a tight
squeeze on one side with us and the 50 footer.
It made for interesting locking through
the next 4 locks. And then it was no longer a problem.
Steve smelled something 'electrical' in
nature burning. Check the circuit board – no problem. Lift the
engine compartment – yikes!! Smoke and steam – one very hot
engine!!
Toss out the anchor and give a call to
Rahn de Vous. They would stand by until we determined if we
needed them to pull us.
We pretty quickly figured out that we
weren't going to do anything for quite some time as the heat of the
engine prevented Steve from even attempting to do anything. Doing a
masterful job in a strong wind, Craig maneuvered Rahn de Vous
close enough that Karen could get a line to Steve.
It was a long 5 miles to Merricksville
…... to be con't.
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