We woke early to get the boat home by 9 AM. Sunrise was beautiful, and the water was glass. After returning the boat we went to Montezuma Refuge and did some bird watching (and plant ID of course).

I finally got time to process photos so they will be posted very soon. My future posts will be history and sightseeing type posts to explain the photos. Our boat owner we rented from has only a single boat. He does rent it quite allot so I’ll post one of the competitors. This boat did not have AC but the competition did. Both expect that you will return the boat where you picked it up from. So your longest trip will be about 50 miles one way.

I talked about the locks being intimidating previously. They can be, but if you take your time and have a good first mate, things go well. You contact (by radio) the lock master to let them know you want passage. Once you see the green light (not when the doors start to open), you pull in the lock and choose a side. You then stop the boat alongside the wall and hold onto the lines that are there. These lines keep the boat from moving around in the lock (if there is more than 1 boat in the lock that is very important). As you raise or lower you pull in or let out the line as you move up and down, while keeping yourself in the same position (forward and backward) in the lock. You then slowly leave the lock, if you advise the lock master of your plans they will radio ahead to give them a heads up you are coming. Not too difficult but fun too do. I understand in the UK most of the locks are manned by the first mate. Closing lock doors, opening the valves and then opening the other lock doors to move on. I am looking forward to that adventure in ’26.

It was a 10 or so hour drive home, the weather held so it wasn’t too bad just long (which meant a long sleep that night). I thank you all for following and I’ll post in the blog when I finish the photo upload. Be sure to take a look at them. God Bless.