July 21, 2008: Dows Lake to Long Island, Ontario

This morning we got up early to take a ride on the bike trails beyond Dows Lake continuing along the canal. At Hogs Back Locks, we crossed over to see the Rideau River which runs in parallel to the canal but is full of rapids. I curved off to see the water falls on the Rideau River for an 8 mile ride, while Tom road on for 24 miles to the upstream locks we will go through in the afternoon.

After lunch we moved The Next Thirty Years on past Hogs Back, Black Rapids and Long Island locks. We passed some beautiful houses with well manicured summer green lawns. It was interesting to see tall blue green Spruce trees in the same yard as cattails because in NC, you would see them at opposite ends of the state.

Long Island lock was very unique in that it is crossed by a wooden bridge at the top of the third lock. It was obvious that the wooden bridge has to be rotated 90 degrees for the boats to be able to exit the lock. What a surprise to see a lock attendant put a handle in a slot in the flooring of the bridge and then walk in a circle cranking it open like a huge child’s toy.

We tied up at a floating dock just beyond the locks and by a pretty little park with a wide expanse of mowed green grass for the night. We shared the dock with several Canadian families boating for vacation. The guy behind us ran his generator for a while to make coffee, and we grilled out hamburgers and watched the sunset. The boat with the three kids, pitched a pup tent in the park for their two teenaged daughters to camp out. I commented to the mom that she should be enjoying these days immensely because the children grow up and fly away. Their small boat was new and they were having a great time; they went swimming in the very cold water around 9 PM – reminded me of the good ole days.