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Time for a monthly recap of June! Happy Canada Day!  The first of July, for our northern neighbors.  And with that, the successful completion of the Canadian Canal system.  The canals were a wonderful experience.  Their characters vary but the whole area is a fascinating trip with lovely scenery, terrain, sights and friendly lock workers along the way. After all those locks we are now over 300' higher in elevation than in Lake Ontario. So, we are just about two and a half months into the journey and pretty close to one third of the nominal 6000 mile Loop.  All is well aboard. (1853.2 nautical miles translates into 2132.2 miles) We are now starting our way up the Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, so the big round fenders are stowed away until we get to Chicago in the late summer.  One thing for sure, this is a graduate school in boat handling.  Between the currents in the ICW, a marina every night (so far), over 150 locks and other miscellaneous stops on lock...

  Today we have officially completed the Trent-Severn Waterway. Okay, we do have one little regular lock left, but we consider it finished. Hopefully you have enjoyed seeing the unusual locks and sights along the way. We certainly have. While we try to show what we have seen and inject some knowledge and humor along the way there is no way that we can show you what we have really experienced. The colors are bright when the sun shines but you don't get to experience the smells, the sounds, the people, the water, the boats. The list goes on and we are very grateful for all of it! Today it was our time and soon our turn to go through The Big Chute. First things first, the disclaimer- Vessel damage may occur... This boat was in line before us and the first to go through today.  The crowd of people watching are from the big Kawartha boat.  They came out in the rain to observe before departing. This was the second boat. As you can see, the road is opened again once the carriage...

We left Orillia in time to get to the first lock when they opened at nine.  About a quarter mile before the lock is a railroad swing bridge.  Most RR bridges are normally open and close for a train.  Not so here .  Not only was the bridge closed, there was nobody here.  Eventually, we saw a pick-up truck arrive, the gent got out, went to the little house, did things, came back out and walked onto the bridge.  He stopped at the near end and kicked a few things with his foot.  He walked to the other end and kick some more things, then he scaled the staircase to the little shack up top.  He unlocked the doors, probably started the coffee pot and eventually came out, put the flag up and carefully unfurled it and yelled that he would have us on our way in a couple of minutes. Then came the incredible racket of a diesel motor starting up!  That's how this thing operates. Amazing. Nonetheless, we were off and running by 0920 and missed the first loc...