We weren't rusty and picked up where we left off, like a well-oiled machine! For the first few locks of the Rideau trip, Moose was at the bow with me and Bear was at the stern with Ben, but some point along the way, the kids switched posts.
Lately, it has been Bear with a boat hook far up on the starboard side at the bow, and me just a step behind her with a line ready to loop a cable and tie the loop end of the line to our cleat, while snaking the rest of the line into an S so it can slide through, as needed.
Thinking back to our first ever locks, we were set up differently even then! Moose was port bow, Bear and Ben were mid-ship port side, and I was on port side at the stern cleat. It is funny to think about all of us in various situations and positions when the current one feels like it's been working so well for us, for so long!
I continue to be amazed, still, at the power of rope. Our lines are so incredible and dangerous at the same time. They are able to effortlessly hold our 33,000+ pound boat in place at a dock, hold our fenders in place, and help us lock through all of these locks. Knowing how to hold, tie, and maneuver them is of utmost importance. If you wrap a line around a body part (arm, finger, hand, foot), while it is attached to something else, the line can rip that part right off. Yet, when the line isn't connected to anything, it is simply just a rope. The variability in strength just blows my mind.
The first 6 locks of the day were with Dream Weaver, and these were their first ever locks! They did great and if they didn't tell us, we never would've known. We definitely had more shouting on our boat than they had on theirs, but that shouting was mostly at the children, which they didn't have on board, so that checks out. For the last 2 locks of our day, we were the solo boat.
It was soooooo hot today. Weather app said 88°F, feels like 97°F, when I checked at 4 pm.
We approached lock 8 at 3:15 (locks close at 3:30 today and you're supposed to be there by 3 to lock through) and decided we'd just tie up on the bottom of lock 8 for the night. The lockmaster came down and told us that it's prettier, shader, and closer to the washrooms and shower up top and that we could lock through if we wanted. Ben went to scout it out and decided to lock up and tie on the upper side of lock 8.
When the kids and I went to check out the shower situation, there was a black and white, medium-sized dog laying in the grass on the other side of the lock. There was no one out there with him, but he had a collar. He got up to greet us and was excited to see us. He and Moose became best buddies and played with each other for a while. Bear kept saying she thought he was a stray and I told her his owner had to be around somewhere because of the collar. He followed us back to the boat and Bear tried to get Dixie to meet him, but she was not happy with him because he was playing with them off the boat while she was stuck on the boat. The kids eventually found the owner who told them they let him free roam the area.
Our generator kicked on today for the first time this trip! Ben upgraded our solar panels (added 3 panels, giving us 200W more), lithium house battery bank (doubled the size), air conditioners (new), and generator (new) this off-season. The solar panels and engine alternators bring the batteries to 100% while we are underway and the air conditioners can run on that overnight. The generator automatically kicks on when the batteries get to 25% and prior to today, they were able to recharge. (We didn't go very far today and is was cloudy.) The 5 of us sat watching the control panel when the battery hit 25% and celebrated when the generator started, automatically.
Got the kids to bed and we watched the sunset. Our first of the trip, due to direction/proximity of buildings or weather.
We got 8 more locks under our belt. Trip total: 79 locks.
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