The boat didn’t sink

We approach the State Street bridge in Pittsford. (The captain is at left in the red tee-shirt.) (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)

On Wednesday, October 4th, the “Alumni” held a cruise on the Erie Canal.
The “Alumni” are retired union employees of Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester, NY, a public employer, the transit-bus operator in Rochester and environs.
Most of us are retired bus-drivers. My career ended in late 1993 with my stroke. 16 & 1/2 years. The job was okay at first — it paid for my house. But I was tiring of it, especially our clientele.
We bus-drivers had an unwritten rule = DON’T GET SHOT! We were supposed to enforce many rules, and often got called in.
Paramount was not getting killed — like over a 15¢ fare discrepancy.
I used to say there were three givens to avoid getting fired: -a) show up, -b) don’t hit anything, and -c) keep yer hands outta the farebox.
Who knows what all I got blown in for, but I never was taken “outta service,” probably because I followed those three rules.
I was an hour late starting out — would I miss the boat? We bus-drivers had terminology for failing to show on time for assignment. We “slipped.” You were likely sent home to lose the entire day, or be held for piecework. You might only work a couple hours instead of eight.
Our boat would start loading before noon. I also had to drop off my dog for doggy daycare = about 5-10 minutes.
I made it. Our boat was the Colonial Belle, a fairly large double-decker.
We had at least 50, maybe more. But as always I’m sorta out-of-it. I’m a bleeding-heart liberal, not the kind of person that makes a bus-driver.
But bus-driving made me more sociable and assertive.
“Siddown and shaddup!” I once told some unruly teenagers. “As long as I’m drivin’ the bus, I’m captain of the ship!”
Before bus-driving I couldna done that. Bus-driving brought that out.
My beloved wife, who died five years ago, commented bus-driving was an excellent fit for me. To successfully parry our clientele you had to be ornery. I already was.
Most stayed downstairs inside the boat. A few of us went topside out in the open.
The boat’s captain was also topside in an open cubical with wheel and controls. He provided running commentary of our cruise.
I kept my mouth shut. He didn’t make any grievous errors, but failed to say Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City, in the early 1800s, were competing to become this nation’s premier ocean port.
Philadelphia and Baltimore both had the Appalachians problem, particularly Allegheny Mountain.
New York didn’t. No Appalachians up toward Lake Ontario. A canal in NY didn’t have the mountain challenges of PA and MD.
And so the Erie Canal, funded more-or-less by the state, which made NY the Empire-State. —It made New York City our nation’s premier ocean port.
He also failed to note canals were quickly outmoded by railroads. Railroads had numerous advantages, but mainly they didn’t freeze in Winter.
Digging the Erie with early 1800s technology, mainly pick-and-shovel, was an immense engineering success. From Buffalo to the Hudson at Albany the canal descended 566 feet. This required a slew of locks, but there was no Allegheny Mountain.
For a while the Erie Canal was an astounding commercial success. It opened this nation’s interior to trade. The boom lasted maybe 30-50 years. Canals were a good idea, but quickly superseded by railroading.
The canal was improved over-the-years. At first it was only four feet deep, but in 1836 it was deepened to seven feet and widened. The number of locks was reduced.
It was improved again in 1918, and renamed the “State Barge Canal,” deep enough to accommodate tugboats with barges. It has since been renamed back to the “Erie Canal.”
There were numerous challenges. Perhaps most difficult were -A) getting up out of the Hudson River valley, and -B) up the Niagara Escarpment toward Buffalo.
There were numerous rivers to cross, which was often done with aqueducts, canal-carrying bridges.
We were traveling an aqueduct of sorts. One challenge was getting across Irondequoit defile. The earthen canal-sides were built up enough to raise the canal above the defile. Our boat was at roof and treetop level of things down in the defile.
Most sat downstairs, but a few of us went topside. I started with an old friend and his wife. They had never done the canal-cruise; I did last time, which I think was two years ago, the first time the Alumni did it.
Our cruise was supposedly “Fall foliage,” but fall-foliage had hardly begun. My perception was it was a get-together for Transit retirees, that just happened to be an Erie Canal cruise.
Speed-limit on the canal is 10 mph; we weren’t doing that. Bicyclists passed on the old towpath, converted to a canal-side trail.
Canal-side condos drifted lazily by, along with canal-side residences. They probably cost a fortune.
The canal is no longer the commercial success it once was. It sees little commercial traffic; mostly recreational boating. Part of it gets drained in Winter.
Driving bus we said there were two seasons: canal-full and canal-empty.
I felt like those downstairs were missing out. Socializing instead of taking it all in, which is fine.
I ended up off by myself, a feeble attempt to take better topside photographs with my iPhone, plus silently critique the captain.
Eventually we turned around to return to Fairport where we started. I requested coworkers move so I could get a better picture.
“So how’s yer wife doing?” one asked.
“My wife died over five years ago,” I said.
Our cruise ended with coworkers bellowing the merits of the Trump administration.
“He’s doing a wonderful job,” one yelled; “yet them hoity-toity over-educated liberals (gasp) badmouth everything he says or does.”
I normally duck out of political or religious discussions, wanting to not lose friends. BUT  “And so it was under Obama. Limbaugh and his lackeys supplied the vitriol for CONSERVATIVES. They blamed him for everything.”
“Execute Hillary!” they screamed.
They even claimed Obama was an Islamic terrorist Hell-bent on destroying America. They even questioned his citizenship. “Named after Saddam Hussein, I tell ya!”
Grist for haters.
Some of my coworkers badmouthed unions. “HEX-KYOOZE me, but why yer wages were half-decent is because of unions.”
We ambled slowly off the boat. I noticed a proliferation of canes among attendees. My friend also had difficulty going down stairs. So do I. “Watch yer step, Bob,” someone said.
We’re getting old, but “No cane fer this kid yet. I shouldn’t need no cane. My balance is dreadful, but I do okay without a cane.” —And will continue to do so.
My final stop was to reclaim my dog from doggy daycare. The owner appeared with my dog.
“As you can see,” I said; “the boat didn’t sink.
The lady laughed. “No charge,” she said.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Yer running a business here. Are you sure?”
“She was only here a couple hours. Anyway, we like you as well as your dog.”
There it is again, dear readers. Make ‘em laugh = collect freebie.