July 27 - Orillia, Ontario

67 locks so far and 4 to go.
We left Fenelon Falls three days ago after a little excitement.  While we were tied up to the wall in Fenelon our boat was hit by a houseboat (not a small houseboat & not slowly).


Everyone jokes about inexperienced house boaters, but it's not until they hit your boat that the joke wears thin.  Patti was on the boat when she heard everyone yelling.  It seems there was some confusion about which way to push the throttle to go forward or backward.  They caught at least one bumper and then took out two small pieces of fiberglass.  Not that big a deal considering.  We made a deal with the houseboat company, and left the next morning to get further in the Trent Severn system than houseboats are allowed to go.

We crossed Balsam Lake into one of the narrowest parts of the Trent Severn.  It is several miles of very narrow canal with rocks on both sides.  The rocks seem to be a couple of feet off of the boat on either side.  They recommend calling out on the radio before entering the canal. The theory is that the opposing boats are listening or even have radios.  We made it fine.  Just like going down the Dismal Swamp canal (with rocks).

Then we rode the second lift lock at Kirkfield and "camped" at a country lock with plenty of peace and quiet, and no houseboats.

Yesterday we crossed the largest lake on the Trent, Simco Lake.  Reports are that it can get rough, but it wasn't.  We went to the Orillia Marina, right in the middle of their Beatles festival. There were Beatles bands everywhere until midnight.
We get a free night if we pay for two, so we're staying put.  On Tuesday we'll start out push to the Georgian Bay.