Fenelon Falls to Penetanguishene on the Georgian Bay

We are currently at Bay Moorings Marina in Penetanguishene on the Georgian Bay attending a “Looper Gathering” of 20 or so loopers that have made it this far. Many of them, we met in Charleston, some along the way, and the rest, here. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will depart up The Georgian Bay into the North Channel and should be in Lake Michigan in 2 – 3 weeks. Our goal is to be south of Chicago by Labor Day.
At the last posting, we had arrived in Kawartha Lakes on the Trent Severn at Fenelon Falls. The first picture is "Still Busy" tied to the lock wall in Fenelon Falls as a tour boat departed the lock. Crystal, Trevor and the kids – Maija and Ethan – met us at Trevor’s parent’s – Jack and Donna Shea - house for the weekend. Jack and Donna joined us on the boat for drinks on Tuesday night and picked us up on Wednesday night and Thursday night for dinner at their beautiful house on Cameron Lake. On Friday, Crystal and family joined us on the boat and we took the kids through the lock at Fenelon Falls and anchored in the bay close to Jack and Donna’s house for the weekend. The grandkids even slept on the boat Friday evening. What a great time with family and new friends. We can’t say enough about the hospitality of both Jack and Donna – they made our visit to Fenelon Falls even more enjoyable.
We departed Cameron Lake late Sunday afternoon and traveled to the other lift lock on the canal at Kirkfield. This lock is really remote but we did find a small restaurant across the road from the lock for dinner. We were very surprised, when we walked in, to see NASCAR pictures everywhere and life size posters of Dale, Jr. on the walls. The owner obviously likes NASCAR and his wife was very interested to find out that we lived close to Mooresville and made us promise we will send her a NASCAR postcard from the Mooresville post office when we return home. This picture was taken at the bottom of the lock after tie up and the next picture was taken of Jack on the bow as we locked down at Kirkfield.
We left the lock early Monday intending to travel 30 or so miles. The weather was perfect – sunny but not too hot with low humidity and a slight breeze. Because of the ideal canal traveling conditions, we were able to travel 62 miles to the second lock we have looked forward to (the first was the lift lock in Peterborough). The Big Chute is a railway lift that lifts the boat out of the water on slings and carries you over a roadway and “refloats” the boat at the other end. All of this as you are required to stay on the boat. Quite an experience. The next two pictures were taken from the bow as we traveled over the road to the waterway on the railway.
The canal locks are behind us – 114 since leaving NC – and we are now into the Georgian Bay and the 30,000 Islands. We have traveled almost 2000 miles and have put close to 300 hours on the engines - that's a lot of gas - since departing Charleston on April 16th. We are amazed at the sights we have seen so far, Once again, we are looking forward to the adventures and challenges of the next leg of the journey. The scenery we will see in the next few weeks is supposed to be some of the most beautiful of the entire voyage as we anchor in protected bays with rock bottoms and incredibly clear (but cold) water. This final picture was taken as we departed the last lock on the Trent Severn - our last lock until we are in the western waters of the trip.