The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed.  If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Journey would be lost…..the Journey would be lost  (adapted from Gilligans Island)

We were on our way from Smith Falls to Westport.  Coming up on the last lock before getting to our port, it was raining and blowing like crazy.  There were about a dozen boats trying to get thru the lock and they closed it due to high winds.   There were not a lot of happy people.  We turned around and found a place to anchor.  It was blowing so hard that Tom turned on the boat and just powered in to the wind.  We were hit by a gust of wind that had to be blowing over 60 mph.  It hit us and was gone within a couple of seconds.  Our anchor did not hold as well as Tom thought it should (what?!?!? the rocna?!?!) so he wanted to reset it.  Of course, that meant for ME to reset it.  He was up in the fly bridge controlling the windless as I was out in the pouring down rain trying to get all the CRAP off the anchor.  There was a mass of duck grass and mud and big sticks that was probably 6 feet around.  I was on my stomach on the deck trying to free the anchor of all that stuff.  It took over and hour to clear it all.  We moved to another spot and had to repeat all of that the next morning.  When we were waiting in line the next morning to get thru the lock, three people came up to us and told us we were hit by a twister.  We had no idea.  We just thought it was one heck of a gust of wind.  One guy took a picture of it and if I can ever post pics again, I will show you.  What and adventure!!

I have written this blog probably three of four times, and each time the internet has gone out on me and I have lost it.  I was completely thru tonight and the darn thing disappeared.  I almost cried.  I had written about everything for the past week or so.  The internet is so spotty in the marinas and our hot spot is costing us a fortune so we just try to post when we can get free wi-fi.  It is a pain.

When we first started on this trip, I was so excited about the locking system we would be going thru.  Well, we have been thru 64 as of today, and I am really sick of it.  I groan everytime we come upon one.  There was a couple of really neat one though.  The 8 step locks in Ottawa were very cool.  I took some great pics, if I ever can download them again. 

We have met some great people on this trip.  We come upon them every now and then along the way.  It is fun to catch up with what we have done and seen.  The boats that were stuck in the Erie Canal for all those weeks are finally able to come thru it.  It opened on the 18th.  They are now catching up with us.  We have finished the Rideau River and are now in Lake Ontario.  We are very close to the Trent-Severn Canal, and will probably be at the mouth of it tomorrow.  We are all looking forward to that.  Dad says he is having a great time.  He is walking a lot in all the towns we have been in.  I know his arthitis is bothering him, but he is such a trooper.  I have great pics of him…….oh well, you know, if I could post them.  We took a trolley car ride yesterday in Kingston Ontario.  It was the first Capital of Canada and it has great history.  Dad and I loved it.    We will try to post more tomorrow.  We miss everyone and hope you are doing well.