The saying “you learn something new every day” is taking on new meaning these first days of our journey.

Here’s a few of the things we learned today:

How to navigate our boat through the locks!  We arrived at the first of 12 locks in the Champlain Canal this morning, and even though we generally had an idea of what to do, we sure felt unprepared as we steered the boat into the lock, which has giant steel doors that open like giant jaws into a narrow waterway.  We managed somewhat frantically to grab onto the ropes that were hanging from the concrete walls, as the boat started swerving into the side of the concrete wall.  Then we had to push the boat away from the wall while the water started rushing in with surprising force.  The people in the boat in front of us had aluminum poles to aid in pushing the boat away from the sides of the wall, and they graciously gave us an extra one of theirs to use.  Finally the lock filled and the gates openend on the other end and we could exit.  Whew!  By this time we and our boat were covered in green and black sludge that was covering the ropes and the walls.  Who knew it would be such  a messy job going through the locks?

The next 5 locks we went through were much easier, and by the end of the day, we felt like we were pros at handling it.  We have yet another valuable skill to add to our boating resumes!!

Another thing we learned today is that we are officially becoming “hard core” outdoor people!  It’s been fairly chilly since we moved aboard our boat 10 days ago (mostly in the 40’s and 50’s, and the wind on the water makes it feel colder), and we have been more or less living in at least 3 layers of clothing.  At first I was freaking out about being cold, but today, after deciding to wear TWO pairs of long johns, 2 long sleeve shirts, a wool sweater, a thermal vest, and a jacket, I felt pretty warm all day.  Tonight we went out to eat in a restaurant that was (gasp!) HEATED, and we nearly passed out from heat as soon as we walked in the door!  Instead of welcoming the warmth, we suddenly felt flushed, hot and bothered!  We had to open a window near our table! 

Yesterday we learned how to take down our mast!  One thing we learned about it is that it takes all day, not just a few hours like we thought it would.  We spent the day at the most lovely and charming marina on the southern end of Lake Champlain — Chipmans Point.  A quiet and lazy, old fashioned sort of place, the marina features a wonderful stone building made in 1820 that offers quaint showers, restrooms and a book exchange.  The fall foliage around the bay was stunning, and all in all, it was a perfect place to spend the day, even if I did have a complete meltdown trying to get the rusted cotter pins out of the lines that hold the mast up.  K. built a stand out of wood to support the mast on the cabin of the boat.  We had to take the sails off as well as all the rigging.  Lots and lots of details….as always.