Erie Canal

Sunday morning we headed out to church on foot since the First Baptist Church of Amersterdam was only a mile away.  We figured we needed to walk. The previous day had been the longest day on the water so far (10 hours). We were tied up on the free dock at Lock #11 on the Erie Canal, which runs along with the Mohawk River.  As we walked up to the road, a man named Rick Conti was getting out of his car there at the park and asked us if we needed a ride somewhere.  We said we were just walking down to the church and he insisted on driving us.  After church, we were going to walk around this little town and take in a little sightseeing and Rick pulled up and offered to take us all around the town in his car.  He took us to all the local points of interest, iuncluding the original Erie Canal, which was little more than a ditch constructed in the early 1800's.   We saw a catherdral which is in the Guiness Book of World Records as having the most exit doors of any building in the world, 72 in all.  It was a round catherdral and it seats 10,000 people.  It sits atop a high hill in Amerstdam and along the hillside, visible from the river, there are trees planted in the shape of a cross, which you can see for miles.  Rick was such a nice tour guide, we bought his lunch at a place called Karens which is a family run outdoor restuarant along with locally grown produce.Many of the communities along the rivers provide free dockage.  Today, we are on the Mohawk River in the town of Canajoharie.  A very old community which works to keep the buildings looking as they did when this was a commercial canal.  We only traveled about 22 miles today but took the a/n off to do laundry.  These things have to be done. Our next boat will have a washer and dryer in addition to a cook and mechanic. All is well except today, it is hot.  Temps today will be in the 90's and we are not accostomed to the hot temps.