July 10 - 11 Halfway through the Rideau

We headed out of Burritts to Smith Falls. As we passed the small town of Merickville, there was an antique car show with about 1200 entries. The first two pics show us going through the locks in the middle of town and surrounded by antique cars and people. But most of trip on the Rideau river are pastoral scenes as shown in the third pic.


The fourth pic shows some interns working the lock. The lockmasters put in a long day, from 0730 till 1930 hours. To compensate for this time, they work only from May till November, which is the end of the locking season, but they get paid for the entire year.

We arrived at Smith Falls in 20 to 25 knot winds. The lock here was perhaps our hardest as the winds and current in the lock made it difficult to secure the boat. The lockmaster said that one boat lost control today and turned completely in the lock. The pic below show Greg straddling a wall at Victoria campground where we were pumping out. It was a tough docking day but we made it.

The last pic shows part of the crew of BlueSkies departing boat to head home to Asheville, NC. We will miss this crew. They were a great help in the locks and underway – not to mention good company, food, and drink, and helping us become experts in the Mexican train game !