Eclipse's Odyssey: Day 22: 6.17.18 - Scotia to Rotterdam Junction

Scotia was a pleasant town to spend the night. It's a suburb of Schenectady and, as such, hosts few services in comparison to it's parent city across the river. We awaken to a warm morning and blue skies. Temps in the mid 60's are destined for the upper 80's by afternoon. We breakfast on oatmeal with dried fruit and pecans and then head into town.

Downtown Schenectady has been completely redone since I last visited it in the 1980's. Businesses that were defunct and empty storefronts have since been revitalized with new businesses, repaved streets and upgraded sidewalks. We pass a large ten movie theater and muse on the offerings. One movie which we had postulated seeing was the "Incredibles II". It happened to be playing there so we ambled inside to investigate show times. The woman at the ticket counter remarked that the current 9:45 am showing was just starting in previews. We looked at each other with a "sure, why not!" look and procured two tickets. I just have to quickly note that the movie, while seemingly for kids, tackles themes that are very adult and provides ample entertainment for us "older kids" as well.

After the movie, we headed on down the main street a bit further to find our initially intended goal of a farmer's market. Live music accompanied offerings of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, prepared ethnic meals and sundries as well as many vendors displaying their artistic wares. We stocked up on the fresh vegetables, homemade bread and some meats we needed and then ambled back through the historic district where we learned that Schenectady was a terminus point for river traffic on the Mohawk river from western New York. The city was walled in to protect it's 2,400 residents (in 1790) from the Mohawk Indians and from the British invaders. The city was also a "gateway city"...terminus of the westward trading from the farms east in New England and a stepping off point to the newly forming farms to the west of the city.

City hall in Schenectady New York hosted a farmer's market and live music

Schenectady's historic district is home to buildings dating back to the late 1700's when the town was established.

A map of the original town of Schenectady

We returned to Eclipse and motored lazily along until we found suitable anchorage several miles upriver. Bringing our craft up near the bank and into the shade of a large tree, we anchored in about 3 feet of water where we lunched and napped for an hour or so before continuing our travels westward through lock eight and to the base of lock nine. Calling the lockmaster at lock nine, we learned, by his reply, that the lock system shuts down at five pm and it was now 5:07pm. Never ye mind however. Our intrepid voyagers were not to be deterred! We had the permission of the lockmaster to tie up our craft on the wall just before the lock and within sight and sound of the base of the falls that marked our end of navigable progress for the evening.

Our place along the wall was well below the top by about six feet and so a sort of rope ladder line with butterfly loop footholds was quickly constructed to allow for our egress as required. With such innovation in place and fastened to the sturdy steel bollard above, we clambered up our new rope "ladder" and ambled upwards towards the bridge over the Mohawk where what constituted the town of Rotterdam Junction lay just across the bridge. It's not much of a town other than a collection of older homes, a fire department, a post office and a store that proudly proclaimed in its window, "If it uses a battery, we can get it for you".... Seemingly anomalous in a town of such diminutive stature.

Returning to our home for the night at the base of the lock and falls, we reboarded our craft, rocking as it gently did from the outflow at the base of the falls. Fishermen plied the waters with their lines, searching each their own for their own prizes. Gary ambled off to a local convenience store, part of a chain that seems to pepper this area, "Stewarts" to procure some additional gasoline for our motoring enterprises upriver tomorrow and, additionally, for a jar of pickles to add some spice and flavor to a delicious homemade potato salad.

Gary creates a potato salad from Jicama, sweet potato and Chelopodium Album collected from along a street in town and currently residing temporarily in his hat.