Hmmm… no guesses about the mystery object in yesterday’s post.  I’m holding off on the answer then.

To reiterate from about two weeks ago, in June 2014 I chose a half year of unpaid leave and was ecstatic to be out of the harness regaining  excitement and seeing new places,  meeting new people, and hearing their stories while working as deckhand on Urger.  While tied up just above lock O-8, the new North Hudson Fireboat passed us on its delivery run from Kingston ON to West New York, NJ.

Elsewhere in Oswego, the new USGS RV Kaho was being prepped for its christening not quite two months away yet when I took this image.

Ward’s Island, a NYC ferry converted to crane ship, was still above the waves and tied up in Lysander NY, waiting for its

next job.

Cheyenne was still DonJon blue.  Her wheelhouse is still lowered to fit under the NY 104 bridge at the low end of lock O-8.

Cheyenne headed to Lake Erie, picked up a new scow in Erie PA, and here–thanks to a shared photo not mine–was ducking under the NY 12 bridge near Sylvan Beach.

At the same time, Margot was in Oswego with a barge load of electric power components to deliver down the Saint Lawrence.  

Later we let her pass light just below E-19, where the canal ducks under a very busy rail bridge.

Smaller tugs on the canal include Dana and 

this even smaller tender #10, assisting at a never-ending dredge project, removing silt that floods into the canal after rains that swell the creeks racing down the banks of the waterway in hilly central New York State..

The two big icebreaker-turned-canal maintenance tugs were still working then, Governor Cleveland above and 

Governor Roosevelt with Tender #4 below.

Other small tugboats like Collamore worked on bridge construction/maintenance related projects. 

Amsterdam NY, just above lock E-11, always had the best sunsets.

All photos, any errors, WVD, who’s reliving some of the sights from a decade ago, a time that seems almost a lifetime in the past.

Above I mentioned “stories” and a related one is that of Schuyler Meyer. Do check the link in the previous sentence;  you’ll thank yourself.   Click here to learn more about Meyer and his relationship to Urger.  He’s also mentioned in William Least Heat Moon’s River Horse as Captain Zigzag.