Mahi Mahi- Sat Jun 21; St Johnsville to The Village of Ilion, NY.

Hello blog followers,

SUCCESS, the Mahi Mahi is back underway !!!

After waiting 2.5 days for the Slave Assembly Lock Out Valve, in spite of paying for Next Day Air, the part finally arrived at 5pm yesterday (Fri-20th).

Installation took about 30 minutes, bleeding took about 1 hour, and celebration with Tequila & Deena Burgers took about 2 hours.

Today we finally left St Johnsonville after 5 days & moved a short 20 miles to The Village of Ilion. We purposely selected a short mileage day for a couple reasons; 1) We were going thru the infamous Locks #16 & 17, and you can only go idle speed for 8 miles, between these 2 locks (due to the embankment repair a couple weeks ago).

Reason 2) The next Village of Ilion is supposed to be a small little town with lots to see in walking distance.

But first back to St Johnsonville. We cannot leave without thanking a couple special people. Harbormaster Frannie, who treated us like royalty, gave us 3 free days of dockage, and the first use of the newly repaired pump out machine ♥️.

Sorry, we never did get a photo of Frannie.

Second, was our on-call driver Carrie. She would drop what she was doing anytime we called, to transport us to: the hydraulics shop, the grocery store, & the ATM. She also made several pickups for us, even using her own money to advance pay for what we needed. She is one of the many special people we have met on this journey.

Ok, back to today’s Voyage. It seemed like a long 20 miles going thru only 3 locks. But like I said, there are still special “idle speed only” rules between #16 & 17.

We made our way to Lock 16. They had special arrival times – you could only pass thru westbound at 8am/10am/12pm/2pm/etc.

There was nothing special about lock #16, but I felt compelled to take a photo of one of the two locks that gave us so much anxiety a couple weeks ago, regarding – when would the lock open and allow us thru. Little did we know about the hydraulic throttle problem that would ultimately be our biggest issue.

The entrance gate to lock#16

After lock #16, when we finally reached the area of the embankment rupture, it was anticlimactic. There did not seem to be a very big repair area. The embankment looked solid, there was still a lot of trees & greenerie to absorb boat wakes. But the Erie Canal is parallel & very close to another small tributary of water. There was a section of road between the canal & the tributary that looked like it had been washed out.

The slow ride from #16 to #17 again felt like we were on the Amazon or Congo Rivers, nothing but water & greenerie.

During the long/slow ride, Deena told me that I should be wearing a hat while locking in the hot sun. I told her that the headset would not fit over my Tilley hat. So she offered me one of her hats, the ballcap from Belhaven. What do you think – should I wear it traditional front, or backwards like the sports athletes.

Ok, we finally made it to Lock #17.

Lock #17 is a little special, in that it is the highest lift/drop on the NY Canal System (40ft) & it has a guillotine gate vs a swing gate. Note for reference – there are other very high locks with swing gates. The Wilson Lock in Alabama with over a 100ft rise/drop (Ken/Carla- do you remember it, Dave Sylver, do you remember our ride thru the Wilson Lock). The 3 photos below are from the Erie Canal Lock #17.

For reference, here is a photo of the Wilson Lock in Florence Alabama – 100ft lift/drop. Look how small the 43ft Gettin’ Looped looked in this massive lock.

As we exited #17, we were treated to some rock climbers on Moss Island, also know as Pot-Hole Island (Ashley/Dave/Nellie – do you remember).

Finally after only 20 miles and only 3 locks, we arrived in The Village of Ilion after 4.5 hours of travel.

The “Village of Ilion Marina” looks a lot like our last marina at St. Johnsville. They are both really trailer parks, with a small marina attached, right on the Erie Canal. And we love them both vs the mega-marinas.

We did learn of a relatively significant distinction for the Village of Ilion. It was the original home to Remington firearms for over 200 years. Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington as E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York, it was one of the oldest gun makers in the United States and claimed to be the oldest factory in the country that still made its original product. Remington relocated to LaGrange Georgia in 2024, to a much more “gun-friendly” state.

After a short cat nap, we headed into town for dinner at Sorrento’s Italian & some grocery items from Aldi. A short 3 minute walk from the marina. Here are a couple shots from Ilion.

Deena & I ended the night with a Milk Shake (Mikie) & a Malt (Deena). Captain Luck is watching his manly figure. This Burger/Hot Dog joint is right next to our boat. They make an excellent Shake, and check out these prices, I thought that I was back in the 1950’s.

Tomorrow (Sun-22), we will go thru our last 4 Erie Canal Locks (#19/20/21/22). Then it’s a short 55 miles and 8 locks on the Oswego Canal – to Lake Ontario !

Finally, I would like to end this post with some prayers & blessings for our dear friend and Detroit Power Squadron comrade- Joanie Stoll.

Joanie passed away back on May 3rd. Her family, and many of our Power Squadron friends attended her memorial on Saturday in Michigan.

RIP Joanie, she was a wonderful person, always smiling and always in a good mood. ❤️