After our last night in Little Falls we got up early as usual and headed west along with “Beachside” to get through Lock 18. The weather was great and traffic was light. Our travels with “Beachside was short because we had to stop at the Ilion wall and wait for our Amazon package which we missed in Amsterdam. We said “see ya later” to Beachside and tied up for a pumpout and a 3 hour wait for delivery. There was a supermarket within walking distance so we took a walk and picked up needed supplies then returned to the boat and gave it a bath to get rid of all the bugs. The Ilion wall had a small snack shop so we grabbed a light meal. Our package showed up after 12 so we were on our way hoping to get through as many locks as possible to get closer to Sylvan Beach where our friends were waiting.
After passing the Frankfort Lock #19 at 3:45pm we only had 45 minutes to cover the 10 miles to Lock #20 before it closed. If we didn’t make Lock 20 we would have to wait until morning to cover the 18 mile run to Lock 21 so speed was the in order. The only problem was that there were several no wake zones due to canal work along the way and also a slow moving trawler with no intention of making the next lock. As we exited Lock 19 we bumped what seemed like a log in the center of the channel. (later to find out several other boaters struck the same log) The trawler “De Viking” allowed us to make a slow pass then we were off to the races. We made it to Lock 20 in time for the last opening giving us a slow easy 18 mile run to Lock 21 where we laid up on the southern wall which was a steel bulkhead with a couple rings to tie up on. There were campers on the north side. We spent a nice quiet evening after a long day on the canal.
