We are in a different place than we were. It might be two different places from where I am thinking we “were” was last. Sometimes it is as hard to keep track of the places as it is knowing the actual day of the week. The day's name doesn't really mean much when there are basically two kinds of days. Days we are moving. Days we are not moving. The only real difference is that on days we are not moving the day ends in the same place it started. Otherwise we climb out of the berth in one place and climb into the berth in another place. Sometimes that place is where we thought it was going to be when we got under way in the morning. Sometimes it isn't. But even with that, it can get a little fuzzy as to which of the days in even the recent past where which.
There is something fundamentally cool about that. What ever it was that happened in the last couple of days happened. Nothing can be done about what happened. If remembering it brings up a smile, a good lesson learned, a good dead done, or a new friend made? Then that is the best it can be. And if not? It's over. Move on.
It was actually a day with some small challenge. We have been hearing about “traffic jams” at the locks from the time we started out. But we were usually the only boat involved. Last night both of the “town walls” were full, making for nearly a dozen boats all moving north west. Some would stay, others would head out. Those who headed out would get cued up at the first lock just 15 minutes away. So we talked about getting going early, thinking 15 minutes before the dock opened would be early enough. When we got to the lock we were forth in line. The lock can hold three. It took a total of two hours to get out the other side. By the time we entered the lock other boats had cued up behind us. So each lock was as full of boats as the dock master was comfortable with. The last lock we cleared had one boat ahead of us and another rafted to our port side while we hugged the starboard wall. Throughout the day there was a lot of tight quarters boat jockeying going on, and a lot of waiting. But it was all okay as a boat “traffic jam” is an entirely different experience than a land based traffic jam. People get off of their boats to help tie up the next boat in line. We stand around and chat, trading stories and information. It is very much a “community” working together to get the boats through. Everyone was cool, no one was in a hurry.
A couple of the boats we traveled with today are moored to a wall in Hastings, which is still in Ontario, which is still in Canada. It is very much like a lot of the towns we have visited on this stage of the trip. Not very big, comes across as being pretty friendly, and we can find some of the stuff we are looking for. A good example is, at this stop, the rum store was literally “right here”. From the boat I can see it's back wall. Since there was only one glass of rum left on the boat that made for a smile.
We will have to wait for the morning to decide if it will be a day we move or a day we don't. Just ahead is a lake that is some 20 miles long and 3 wide. Not really “big water” but big enough that getting caught on it in a thunderstorm might not bring a smile. The morning's weather forecast and radar picture will decide.
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