Rest: To Remain Confident {Intuition Diaries}

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living. 

(Psalm 27:13 NIV)

Over and over again, we have witnessed the goodness of the LORD on this trip. Over the past two days, His goodness and mercy have been following us like faithful companions.

Palmyra, New York

On Sunday we left the quietude of Palmyra, listening to praise music and witnessing nature. We saw this cormorant basking in the sun, which made us think of lifting our praises to our Creator. 

We took a shorter jaunt (10 miles) to the town of Newark, where we found fresh, local produce at the Sav-a-Lot. The town, like many of the towns along the western section of the canal provided free shore power, a shower and this time free laundry facilities. After picking up groceries and ice, we sat at the dock reading and catching up on our laundry.

Newark, New York

Free Laundry Facilities!

Leaving Newark

Our destination this morning was Seneca Falls. Each day Les tells me the itinerary and I half listen. So when I went to bed Sunday night, I thought I heard him say that we had three locks to go through on Monday. The next morning, he told me we had eight! What? I thought you said three! Oh, that's on the Seneca-Cayuga canal, we have five to go through on the Erie Canal first. 

We left at 8:00am, when the locks open to head to Seneca Falls, the birth place of the Women's Rights movement. On the  way we passed through the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, where we witnessed the majesty of God's birds: blue heron, bald eagle, osprey, kingfisher and a crow.

Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

We made it through the locks with no incidence. That is always good. Mostly if you make a mistake in the lock, you look foolish, but it also can smash up the bow or the motor, if you don't have a good handle on the process. 

Lock 25 on the Erie Canal, one of five for the day

Les holding his end of the boat in the lock.

Double lock on Cayuga-Seneca Canal 

The lock filling up and water seeps through gate.

[We experienced the goodness of rest and the beauty of nature, and some more invigorating work through the locks, but if you really want to hear about God's goodness read to the end.]

It was raining off and on all day. When we arrived in Seneca Falls it had subsided. We walked uptown to find a grocery to get some lettuce. (Forgot to buy that in Newark.) Instead we found more delicious bread, an apple fritter loaf. 

We were near the Women's Rights National Historic Park, so we stopped in to see how late they were open and tour times. We decided to watch their informational movie, as the tours were over for the day. When we came out of the movie, it was pouring outside. So we browsed the gift shop. Once the rain let up, we headed back to the boat to think about starting dinner.

As we walked towards the dock, we noticed that our boat had been moved down about four spots. We thought that odd. And then we noticed a man tying off another boat near ours. We figured he had just arrived, so we offered to help him tie up. Once we started talking to him, we realized that the goodness and mercy of God does exist in the land of the living.

While we were away, someone came by and randomly untied both boats. George was rescuing the boats. Apparently, his wife was waking up from a nap and noticed our boat was next to the dock wall with just its stern against the wall, then the boat turned some more and started bow first floating towards their boat. That's when she got George out to stop the boat and tie it up. We were just appalled that someone would do such a thing. For no reason other than possibly a prank. 

We helped George secure the other boat. They invited us over to visit after we checked on our boat. We enjoyed getting their take on the canal and hearing about their adventures in life; they have been boating for 52 years.

Later that evening, we all consoled another very distraught couple, when they arrived back to their boat. We could see on their faces that they believed they had almost lost their boat. George retold the rescue story and the guy gave him a big bear hug. 

At the end of this day, Les said, "Well, I think I've had just about enough excitement for one vacation." Tonight, we go to bed thanking God for watching over us and for meeting good people along the way.