Sojourn Sixth Boro Bound 2

. . . aka the leap between the seasons.  Call this photo, taken on Saturday dusk, the last moments of autumnal daylight.

I was here waiting as a slight November blush lingered in the central NY trees, hoping this

vessel, Sojourn, would pass before daylight faded and before those storm clouds caught up.

She eased into the lock.  Some of you, I know, can guess this lock by the structure far left.

 

And here at sunrise was a new season.  Winter isn’t just coming anymore.  It came in the night. By the way, thanks to Xtian’s comment here, I understand the significance of the registration numbers.

Here the converted freighter eases into Lock 17, the highest lift lock in the Erie Canal system.

Watch the descent.

The gentleman below built this barge 53 years ago in Belgium, then used it to transport cargoes, including animal feed, through all the canals in the low countries, and in this case that included France and Germany too.  He’s riding along on the trip, his first visit to the United States.  Imagine the joy, being reunited with your handicraft in this way after a half century and halfway around the world!  His daughter, Maja, who was literally born on this barge and who as a kid jumped from hatch cover to hatch cover while the vessel–loaded to the coamings–was underway, is accompanying him.

 

When the water level is lowered by almost 41′, the counterweight (almost) effortlessly raises the guillotine-style door.

Click here to see photos I took of Urger from the same vantage point two years ago.

And in the snow falling at a faster rate by the hour, Sojourn journeys eastward toward the Hudson.

And from the road I took back to the sixth boro, here’s what has already accumulated east of the Hudson . . .

All photos taken in the past 24 hours by Will Van Dorp.

For many other posts I’ve done about Dutch canal barges, click here.