Many thanks to everybody who responded to my queries about canal boats.  By chance in the mail yesterday, I got a HUGE book from the New York State Canals -- beautifully done, with maps, history and such.  Emphasis is on tourists coming up there and taking the canal.  I had heard that canal boats were for hire, and it might be fun to spend a week between Troy and wherever.  The canal is really big, as are the locks which are all manned by lockkeepers.

Now that I mention it, about every 2-3 years, my wife and I and friends go to England (Ireland in 2001) and rent a canal boat.  Those canals have much smaller locks (7ft x 70ft), and you get to operate the locks as well as drive the boat.  Very civilized way to see the countryside.  The boats are built along the same lines as the old ones, and the ones on the James, but have diesel engines to replace the mules.

Randy

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