Erie Canal, Palmyra, NY

On Tuesday morning, we were surprised by a FaceTime call from Tafanie and her girls.  Bell asked us to sing the Lollipop Kids song from the Wizard of Oz which of course, we did.  :)  I don't know that it was our best version because we had just finished breakfast and still had our morning croaky voices but Bell, Emmaline and Ruby seemed to like it.  :)

We left the camper around 9:45 and headed to Palmyra, NY, where we were going to ride bikes along the Erie Canal.  As we drove through all the farmlands, we came upon another patch of sunflowers.

Aren't they beautiful?  One of the sunflowers looked like he was sticking his head out over the top of all the other sunflowers.  :)

We arrived at Pal-Mac Aqueduct County Park around 10:30 and unloaded the bikes.  Before starting out on the trail, we road across the bridge over Ganargua Creek...

up to Lock 29 on the Erie Canal.  The lock still functions but is used mainly for recreational travel.

Neither of us could remember anything we might have learned in history about the Erie Canal and all I could remember is that there was some song about the Erie Canal.  So, I looked it up on Wikipedia.

The Erie Canal is a 363 mile long canal that runs across the state of New York from Albany, on the Hudson River on the eastern side of the state to Buffalo, on Lake Erie, on the western side of the state.  Construction for the canal began on July 4, 1817 and was completed and opened just 8 years later on October 26, 1825, at a cost of $7.1 million.  The canal contains 36 locks and has a total elevation differential of 565 feet.

Keep in mind that way back in 1817 there were no railways or steamships and water was the most cost-effective way to ship bulk goods.  The only way to ship goods from the eastern seaboard (New York City) to the western interior (Great Lakes) and vice-versa was by carts and wagons pulled by horses or mules.

Also, keep in mind that there were no bulldozers or heavy construction equipment back in 1817.   The engineering marvel of the Erie Canal was constructed by man and animal.  To move earth, animals pulled a "slip scraper" similar to the blade on the front of a bulldozer.  Also, the sides of the canal was lined with stone set in clay requiring hundreds of German masons, who later built many of New York's buildings.  One of the biggest problems of construction was finding enough labor but increased immigration helped fill the need.  Many of the laborers working on the canal were Scots Irish immigrants.

Once completed, canal boats pulled by mules or horses began to transport goods from the east to the west and vice-versa.  A cargo-load that had previously cost $100 to ship by wagon over land now only cost $10.  The result was both an economical and population explosion for New York all along the canal but especially in New York City.

Now, back to the song I remembered from my childhood which makes a lot more sense now.  Below is a YouTube clip of The Erie Canal Song.  Do you remember it?

O.K.  Enough history for one post but it is pretty amazing when you think about what it took to design, engineer and construct the Erie Canal and the tremendous effect it had on the growth of this country.

What's really cool is that now there is a bike trail that follows the Erie Canal and will run 365 miles from Buffalo to Albany when completed.  And we were going to bike a small part of it today.

We rode east on the trail through the Pal-Mac Aqueduct County Park, and began going through some marshland...

 and some forest...

and then crossing the Erie Canal.

Most of the trail is a hard-packed surface with fine gravel in places and a good portion of the trail was in the shade.  Thank goodness!  It was in the low 90's today!  And to think we thought we could escape the heat by coming up north.

The Erie Canal was fairly narrow until after we passed both branches (and crossed over both bridges) of the Ganargua Creek.  Below is what looked like kind of a spillway where part the Erie Canal flows back into Ganargua Creek.

We passed by a couple of people fishing on "The Wide Waters" portion of the canal and then stopped after we had ridden about 8 miles to take a break.

After resting a bit, we rode all the way back without stopping and then rode in circles in the parking lot until we had reached an even 16 miles.  It was not the most scenic trail we had ever ridden but how many people can say they biked the Erie Canal?  Or at least 8 miles of it (one way)?  It was kind of neat thinking that along part of those trails some ol' mule named Sal may have been pulling a barge down the Erie Canal.  :)

We had not packed a lunch because we were planning on eating at the Chill 'n Grill in Palmyra which had been recommended to us by Ken and Bonnie for their huge ice cream.  Well, not only do they have huge ice cream, they have huge hamburgers too!  We ate all our hamburgers but saved room for the most important part ice cream.  We ordered 1/2 a kiddie cone each.

We sure do like the ice cream sizes they serve up north!  A full kiddie cone was 3 scoops!  Someone ordered a large soft serve while we were there and they had to put it in an extra large cup!  We had plenty of ice cream with our 1/2 a kiddie cone.  :)

Palmyra is another nice quaint old New York town.  The tall skinny tower to the right of the street is a 125' flagpole that was built in 1890.

By the time we got back to the motorhome, we were hot, dusty and tired.  We were very glad to get back in the a/c of the motorhome, get showers, and cool off.  So we just chilled the rest of the evening.  :)