July 17, I walked to Lock 12 a bit after 6 am, which will be our first lock to enter, and spoke to the operator to see when they could get us through. She said it opened at 7 am, and we could get right in. She also informed me that since 2017 there have been no lock fees, so money saved is as good as earned. Yippee! I returned to the boat and we got ready to ship out to get moving south again. We entered the lock and positioned ourselves in the centre, where we were told to be. This is a turbulent lock as the water enters to raise us up to the higher level. Before long, our first lock in the Champlain Canal was done. The first three locks we would do, are still rising us up to reach the top of the continental divide, then we were over and heading down to the Hudson. Due to COVID still having most things closed down, it was very quiet in the water and we rarely ran into other boats. The Lock Operator told us she would radio ahead and the next lock would be ready for us. We quickly became familiar with the process of entering, and locking through. We quickly became old hands by the time we got to Lock 4 where we tied to the North wall for the night. This lock was closed for the night, so we relaxed having a few tasty beverages with supper. No charge for tying up in the locks. It was a very pretty trip through the canals as was our stay for the night. No issues (Thank you) today with the boat and our repair seems to be holding up well.
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