I’ve Got a Mule, Her Name is Sal

Rhonda here! Navigating on the Erie Canal has been an unexpected pleasure for this first mate!

All I knew of this historic waterway was from a song I learned in elementary school about a guy and his mule named Sal who hauled barges along the Erie Canal back in the day. Maybe you know it too. (Beware: it can become an ear worm!) It goes like this:

I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

We haul’d some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
We know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, yeah we’re coming to a town
And you’ll always know your neighbor
And you’ll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

We’d better look around for a job, old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
You can bet your life I’ll never part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

Get up mule, here comes a lock
We’ll make Rome ’bout six o’clock
One more trip and back we’ll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we’re coming to a town
You’ll always know your neighbor
And you’ll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Where would I be if I lost my pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
I’d like to see a mule good as my Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

A friend of mine once got her sore
Now he’s got a broken jaw
‘Cause she let fly with an iron toe
And kicked him back to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge ’cause we’re coming to a town
You’ll always know your neighbor
And you’ll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we’re coming to a town
You’ll always know your neighbor
And you’ll always know your pal
If ya ever made a livin’ on the Erie Canal

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we’re coming to a town
You’ll always know your neighbor
And you’ll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we’re coming to a town
Hooo…

Check this link for Pete Seeger’s version of Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal.

I’ve learned a lot in the past week! We’ve cruised slowly from Albany to Little Falls, being lifted up little by little through Locks 1-17. The Canal (and upstate NY) is beautiful! I’ve never traveled in upstate NY, but have added it to the list of places I’d like to see again.

The entire area is scenic…old canal walls and structures, small towns along the way, going through locks, tying up overnight at free or inexpensive town walls, watching trains pass by, and enjoying it all with friends. Priceless!

Tonight we had a potluck dinner in the Little Falls dockside community room. Potluck in the truest sense of the word…everyone had to find something to bring that was already on their boat. It was a time for fellowship and swapping stories with other Loopers. The best part of this great adventure!