Campbellford to Hastings

Traveling with a dog is a bit of work. Traveling with a sick dog is challenging. Traveling by boat with a sick dog is maddening.

When we were at the lock two days ago watching boats come through we returned to two separate locations of dog up-chuck. It became pretty clear, due to her lack of enthusiasm, that Savannah was the culprit. "She just got into something," we thought and cleaned the mess and gave her some water. Immediately, she threw up again. After this repeated itself for the sixth time, we called a vet. They couldn't see her, though, since they were booked for the day. Later that evening she pooped, but only pink liquid came out. When that happened again in the morning, I didn't get the vet an option. Russ and I toted the dog in a cart to the vet to be there just as they were unlocking the doors. Upon seeing her, they put her on an IV, ran some blood work, did abdominal x-rays, took a urinary sample -- the works. Nothing obvious emerged, just a really sick dog that needed lots of antibiotics and water. They kept her overnight on an IV.

Needless to say, we didn't leave as early as we would have liked, and it was a longish day. We locked through 6 locks, the last of which was right at Hastings. The town wall is so stuffed they had us dock in the lock's channel for the night. We were the last boat through at 6 pm.

Crazy channel markers, built on cement columns.
That way they don't have to take them down in the winter.

In Campbellford twenty looper boats had tied off last night, all heading this way. Some stayed, but a good number traveled today. The lock chamber only handles so many, so a back up and queue started at the first one, Lock 13. We were the last boat to leave, traveling right behind with United 771.

We went through the first lock together. Chatter about a boat named Impulse Power having an engine fail while in the Lock 14 came over the radio. They had to pull over and jump themselves. As we approached that lock, Impulse Power was there waiting to go through. They hailed United 771 and said we should go in the lock first, and he'd come in behind us, so all three of us could go through. Apparently, once he got his engine running he didn't want to turn it off, which we're supposed to do, so being in the back he wouldn't gas anyone behind him. Russ responded and pointed out that he was a wider boat, and all three of us wouldn't fit in the chamber together. So, um, tough luck Cat-n-Dogs. We had to sit and wait for the lock to cycle.

On the plus side, we had all the locks to ourselves for the rest of the day. But the weekend had begun, and the locks could only do so much. A number of times we had to tie up on the wall and wait for the other boats to get through.

The sick dog. She knew I was taking a mug shot
of all the trouble-makers on board.

BUT. That gave us many opportunities to practice our on-and-off-the-wall technique. Once all the lines are off, Russ pushes the stern away from the wall. Then I spin the boat bow out, which move the stern back to the wall, where it bounces off a ball fender, sending it out again. By then the nose is well away, and I can just move forward. It's worked fabulously!