A Bright Sun Shiny Day

We left the marina about 815a and tied up on the blue line of the 1^st lock through Merrickville which would open at 9a.  When the lock master came he told us there was now plenty of room on the city wall if we wanted to stay.  When he found out we were going on to Smiths Falls he told us that the town was not pretty like Merrickville.  We had not seen Smiths Falls yet but we were sure it was lovely since they had the boat part we needed!  So on to Smith's Falls!

A Bright and sunny day to enter the locks. 

As we came out of the third and final Merrickville lock there was no speed limit so the little boats really took off.  We did run our engines up to clean the soot out of the turbo chargers but only for 10 minutes.  

Here is Walter at a lock checking the closeness of the boat behind us as he holds the stern lines. 

  

By 1130a we were threading our way through a zig zaggy channel that was very shallow. At one point we had only 1.2 ft. below our keel!

Then there was the narrow cut to the lock.

We are about to tie up to the blue line for our last lock today when the canal personnel actually came out and caught our lines which was very nice because most of these blue line docks are very low for the crew of Miss gg.

Park where we are tonight.   Tonight they will be showing a full length movie outside here where we are docked!

Pretty flowers in this park. 

Today I got to meet our unmet friends!  Yes, that is what I said.. this cruising life is a lot about the people you meet and sometimes about the folks you have yet to meet.  I was told about a best cruising friend of another first mate that I actually did meet and briefly talk to in Cape May, NJ.  She has sent email about this friend and their BIG boat and she knew exactly where we would be crossing paths. This unmet friend & her husband are cruising down the Rideau while we were cruising up. We ended up docking right across from their dock on other side of the park.  Her husband was relaxing on the back deck so we didn't disturb him.  Here she is with Walter and the next photo is their huge boat which they live on year round now... wintering in Charleston, SC. 

This is their beautiful 57 ft Jefferson. 

We are aboard Miss gg looking forward to a quiet night... no we won't make the movie as it is past our bedtime. We will rest a day in this lovely spot.