Waterford Visitors Center, Aug 21 & 22, 2012

We arrived at the Waterford Visitors Center on Tuesday about 1:00 pm. This is a great place to tie up before you begin the lock system on the Erie Canal. No charge to tie up for 48 hours. You only pay for hydro; $10. and $10. for a washroom key and $5. is refunded when you return the key.

Waterford Visitors Center

Lock 2, the first of the Erie Canal System. There are 5 that we will have to go thru in rapid succession without stopping. It is right here at Waterford near the overnight docks.

Other boats tied along the free dock at Waterford, readying for the lock system.

A good place to get the boat ready for the locks.

Peter thought this would be a great time to rent a car and go back to Baltimore to move our car forward. Baltimore is only 6 hours away. We were on our way in a Ford pick up truck around 3:30 pm. The tolls are excessive. It was over $25. one way with the truck. We decided to program the GPS for a return trip for fastest route with no toll roads. We went to a Walmart and got some walkie talkies to be able to talk to each other. The walkies sure made the trip less stressful for me.

The no toll decision, probably added another hour or more to the return trip. It took about 2 hours to get out of Baltimore. We saw a side of Baltimore that most people don't see. Hwy 1. Then we were on Hwy 81, 83, 17, 146, 87,(not in the order travelled) and I am sure I have missed some. It was a picturesque drive thru the mountains of Pennsylvania. Peter decided to take an unplanned side trip thru Scranton. I stayed on Hwy 81, I think it was, and drove slow till he caught up to me. We both had GPS so we both knew that we could get back to the Enterprise rental center and meet up there if necessary.

We finally got back to the boat about 8:30 pm. It was a very long day. We had a glass of wine on the back deck of the boat and relaxed.