Homeward Bound

The last night before we turned south was the coldest so far. The temperature got down to 30˚. We tried running the electric heater (which wouldn’t keep us warm if the temperature is that low) and the propane furnace (which would be able to keep us warm but provides large temperature swings) at the same time. We hoped the furnace would be able to cope with the cold, and the electric heater would help maintain an even temperature. As it turned out, it seems the heater kept the furnace from turning on, so we turned the heater off. It worked out okay and we stayed warm.

Now that we have left the Finger Lakes, the sun has come out and it is a beautiful day. Route 20 is labeled as a scenic highway, and it certainly is. It winds through tree-covered hills with large farms. There are big corn fields cut out of the forest. The towns are small and picturesque. At one point we stopped to take some pictures at a roadside attraction called the Tepee. It was like something out of the Route 66 of yore. Jean went inside and ended up in a long conversation with a couple of local ladies.

           

         

After a while, we turned onto NY-145. That is a country road, narrower and more curvy. But the views were just as nice. We missed our campground and went in to Middleburgh. There we found that the library was closed, and was not open on Sundays. We eventually were reassured that there would actually be a performance on Sunday. Everything seemed to close at 2:00 on Saturday — not the country town on a Saturday that we grew up with. There was one restaurant open, so we had lunch and headed back to find the campground.

The campground was marked if you were arriving from Middleburgh. I wondered if there would be any level sites in this hilly country, but the site was fine, and had a great view.

           

Sunday broke with heavy overcast and lots of wind. Sometimes it would rock the Roadtrek. It wasn’t as cold as yesterday, but nasty just the same. Our only goal for the day was to get some lunch in town and attend a 4:00pm performance of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason at the library. We left the campground a little after 1:00 and drove to the library. We parked the van in the almost empty parking lot and walked to a convenience store for a quart of milk. On the way we noticed that the three restaurants that we spotted were all open.

About 2:30 we sallied forth in search of lunch. At that time, two of the restaurants were closed; the only one open was a dingy-looking Chinese restaurant. It was either that or hot dogs at the convenience store, so we went in. We looked at the menu and ordered at the counter, then found a clean table. The food, when it arrived, was very hot and reasonably good. While we were eating two or three people came in to pick up order-out. Other than that, we were the only customers in there.

We left about 3:15. When we walked back to the library the parking lot was almost full. We had been told that the doors would open fifteen minutes before the show, but people were going in already. There was a $10 donation for the library which we gladly paid. There were several rows of chairs in the big main room. We managed to get a couple of the remaining seats in the second row. People kept coming in steadily, and they kept bringing out more chairs. They eventually ran out, but I assume everyone got a seat. The library was completely full.

The program got started right on time. There was still some fiddling around before they got the sound settled, but we were close in and heard everything perfectly. They play a mix of folk, country, mountain music, and stuff that Jay writes. They are great musicians and have a close relationship with the audience. It is more like a few people in someone’s living room than performing for a large room full of people.  When they played Lover’s Waltz, Jean felt comfortable telling them it was “our song.” I mentioned we also liked Home-grown Tomatoes and they played that as well. The program was about an hour-and-a-half long but it seemed like twenty minutes. It was well worth coming up from Virginia.

It had sprinkled a little bit during the show, but it was dry when we got back to the campground. I was able to get us hooked up without dealing with rain. I may not be so lucky tomorrow.

Next morning, it was rainy (but not when I unplugged, thankfully) with low-hanging clouds covering the hilltops. We drove back down to Middleburgh to top off the fuel, then headed back north to Cobleskill to pick up I-88. We had a choice of two routes to Binghamton, a secondary road through the mountains or Interstate the whole way. The weather being iffy, we chose the interstate. We would normally pick the more scenic route.

Ran all day in occasional rain. Traffic was light but the road was often rough. At Binghamton we picked up I-81 for the long drive south. Our goal for the day was Winchester (VA) — ambitious but possible. We were running short on water and propane, and the refrigerator was almost empty. The only thing that was full was our holding tanks. It was time to be back home.

Lunch was sandwiches in a rest area. We stopped for fuel on the road in Shippensburg, PA. Back on the road in the dark and rain — with lots of trucks. I was beginning to wonder if we hadn’t bitten off too much. It was too late to look for a campground, we just pulled in to a Cracker Barrel in Winchester. It was a little after 8:00pm. Our day’s run was 408 miles, much more than we usually do.

Supper in Cracker Barrel, also breakfast. We had to decide what route to take on this our last day on the road. We could stay on the interstate and make it home in about three hours. Or we could take Route 11, which is much more pleasant (and far fewer trucks) and take a little longer. Or we could take the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, much slower but prettier. This would usually be our preferred route. We looked at the weather app on our phones, which indicated that we would probably start out in rain, but drive out of it before too long.

We decided to go home through the mountains, so we headed for Front Royal and the start of the Skyline Drive. We ran through occasional rain and fog for about the first ten miles of the Skyline. After that we had overcast weather and alternating between a clear road and sections of fog. Sometimes we were above the cloud and sometime below it. And sometimes we were right in it. The fog varied from a light haze to sections so thick that you could only see three dashes of the dashed center line. It was slow going, but still better than I-81. And we had great views most of the time.

           

We stopped for lunch at Big Meadows. We got to the Peaks of Otter in time for dinner. Good views and good eating, a great way to end the adventure.

The inevitable statistics: We were gone for 24 days and covered a total of 2,664 miles. We visited with friends or family in Yorktown, VA, Mystic, CT, and Burlington, VT. We also attended a concert by one of our favorite duos in Middleburgh, NY; and we saw lots of new territory. All told a successful trip.

Vermont and New York

We spent the next three days visiting with Alan and Valerie. Monday night it rained, and Tuesday was overcast changing to scattered clouds, but it didn’t rain. We took a trip up the islands north of Burlington. That is always a pleasant trip. Our family doctor grew up on a farm in that area.

Alan and Valerie flip houses for a living. Their specialty is acquiring houses in bad shape and putting in a lot of work to make them beautiful and desirable. They are both very good at remodeling and landscaping (he remodels and she landscapes).

We drove to a place on the islands called Grand Isle. They showed us a cottage there that they have a lien on. It comes complete with a membership in a club (not really a yacht club) on the lake.

         

Jean is always charmed by Vermont, and would love to have a place there. But for us it would have to be a summer place only. We are no longer interested in the nine months of winter in Vermont. Seems like a good idea but a bit beyond our limited means.

We went to a country store, where we actually bought something. These little country stores often have things you don’t see in the big box stores. Then a little further down the road to the only restaurant in Grand Isle for some lunch. Finally, back to Burlington. I took a nap while everyone else had errands they wanted to run.

Wednesday cleared to become a beautiful day. It seemed like a good day to drive up into the mountains. First, Alan drove us by some of the places they had worked on. Then we went up to Stowe. Along the way we stopped in a small town on a running stream.

           

 The leaves are getting along in turning to their beautiful fall colors.

          

 We went to the Trapp Family Bierhall for lunch. We had delicious food in the German style in a dining area with big windows on a green hillside. All it needed were a few cows in the field.

The day was yet young, so we decided to go up to Smuggler’s Notch. This is a rugged high gap in the mountains. We passed several signs warning trucks not to attempt it (sometimes they do anyway). The road is so twisty and the curves so close together it is questionable whether even the Roadtrek could make it.

         

           

Then back home for another gourmet meal prepared by Valerie and Alan. We feel like we are in the most expensive resort in Vermont.

Thursday was stay in Burlington day. Jean and Valerie went shopping and Alan had some work to do, so I finally sat down and put together the blog (below) for the trip so far and posted it. Alan and I worked on putting up some floating shelves in the kitchen. Things went well until it was time to drill the deep holes for the shelves themselves. The large, deep holes kept stopping the drills he had available. Perhaps it could be done with a large drill press, but he doesn’t have one. A problem to be solved another day.

Alan had a class. When he got back, we had another great meal, followed by a birthday cake that Valerie had made. My birthday is actually the next day, but they had commitments, and we were scheduled to leave. So my birthday lasted for two days.

When we left, we had some errands of our own to run. We went to a grocery to pick up some supplies, then down to the Burlington waterfront in search of the Lois McClure, a reproduction canal schooner. She wasn’t there, nor was the little museum I thought I remembered. So it was off to find the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. This is all so I could try to sell a couple copies of my new book. When we got there, the man I talked to last year, who is the boatswain of the McClure was not in. He may not show up any more this year, since it turns out the McClure is hauled out for the season in Shelburne. The clerk in the gift shop was interested in the book, and took a hand-out for it to show to his buyer. We’ll see if that produces anything.

We spent some time looking around the museum. Down at the waterfront, we found a reproduction of a Revolutionary War gunboat.

          

There was a costumed interpreter on board, and we had an interesting chat.

           

          

Our last night in Vermont, we stayed in a campground outside Leicester. It was also the last night the campground was open for the season. We may start running into that situation. Jean studied the map and found a route that took us about 100 miles through the southern part of Adirondack Park, so next day we headed west. We crossed into New York on a little cable ferry.

           

          

We were the first ones on, so we were parked at the very front. It looked like the Roadtrek had morphed into a boat.

          

Leaving the ferry, we drove through the town of Ticonderoga (we didn’t stop to see the fort) and plunged into Adirondack Park. At first we followed the shore of Lake George, but soon turned west and began to climb. Mostly we drove through deep forest, though there were a couple of lakes. As in New Hampshire, the higher we got, the more colorful leaves we saw. It was a glorious afternoon.

We crossed the summit, though I didn’t get a chance to see the elevation. By the time we got out of the park we were on low, level ground. We stopped for a couple of nights at a New York State Park campground to relax and catch up.

Our next big point of interest is a concert by one of our favorite music groups, Jay Unger and Molly Mason (Jay Unger wrote Ashoken Farewell). That will be in a week at Middleburgh, NY. In the meantime, we plan on exploring the Finger Lakes area. The first night we scored a site at a NY State Park, but they only had a site with no utilities (mainly tent campers).  This is where we tested our ability to be completely self-contained. To save some on battery power, we went to bed a bit earlier than usual. At about 6:00am it got cold enough to require the furnace. Morning dawned and we were warm and still had plenty of battery left. The Roadtrek passed the test.

The next morning, we went back to the office and they assigned us a full-hookup site on another loop. This section is much nicer, with paved parking places. We took a lay day to catch up with a few things. Jean spent a long, frustrating time trying to pay a bill online and finally gave up and did it by telephone. I spent a while catching up with the blog (but not posting it yet). Otherwise we took a walk around the campground and just relaxed. That night we looked at a movie we had bought at our favorite old-music place in Montpelier.

Next day, Monday, was overcast with sprinkles. We topped up fuel and bought supplies, and headed for the Finger Lakes. We stopped at another state park campground at Lake Owasco, but weren’t impressed, so we headed north to Cayuga Lakes State Park. We arrived after the office closed (at 3:00pm) so we just picked an empty site and dropped our registration off on the way to dinner.

We had dinner in Seneca Falls. The city looked interesting, but the dinner was mediocre. We prefer to eat at local places rather than chain restaurants as much as practical. Sometimes you find a gem, sometimes not so much. Got back to the site and set up before sunset.

We signed up for two nights at the campground, so we left our "flag" at the site and headed in to Seneca Falls. It was a warm, sunny day; a perfect day to tour around. First thing, Jean went in to the Women Made Products store (while I sat in the rig and read a book). Seneca Falls (which does not have a waterfall) was the heart and source of the women’s suffrage movement. There is a women’s rights museum and homes of some of the important people from the movement.

After she shopped a little, we went next door to the Visitor Center. We got some literature, and spent some time going through the well-done museum. We were surprised by this sculpture.

           

It seems Seneca Falls was a transportation hub from the eighteenth century. First a road hub (they even had a plank highway), then an important canal town (there is a canal between Lakes Cayuga and Seneca that connects with the Erie Canal), then an important railroad line came through. The falls of the Seneca River (basically rapids) provided water power for industry, and for a while Seneca Falls was the richest city in New York. You can see this in the many interesting old mansions in the historic district. Gene was fascinated and took lots of pictures, the houses are beautiful, but seem to be wrapped in wires.

          

           

           

           

           

           

Also a large Presbyterian church

           

           

As we finished taking pictures, it began to cloud over a little. We headed out of town for the Montezuma NWR. The visitor center was closed (does everyone around here close at 3:00pm?) but they have a driving tour through the refuge. It seems to consist mostly of freshwater marsh. Before we began, we saw a huge flock of Canada geese suddenly take off and fly away. Later, on the drive, we saw many geese, two egrets, a heron, and a few ducks.

          

          

There is a dramatic eagle sculpture. We didn’t see any eagles at the refuge, but there are several big eagle nests on the high-tension poles outside of it.

          

Back at the campground, someone had set up a trailer on our site. The wife said she noticed the flag, but didn’t think it meant anything. It was a good, level site (and I thought we might be able to refill our water tank there, wrongly it turns out) so I pressed my rights and they had to move.

It turns out that was the last day of good weather we had in the Finger Lakes area. Wednesday we continued west in heavy overcast and mist. We stopped at an attractive Visitor Center in Geneva, at the head of Seneca Lake. Consulting the large map on the floor, we decided to drive down the west side of the lake to Watkin’s Glen at the bottom, then half way back up the east side to another state park campground. We only got occasional sights of the lake between heavy stands of trees. This area has many large vineyards and wineries. Watkins Glen, is famous for its road racing track. We saw this mural on the edge of downtown,

           

We got some groceries, then headed back up the east side. This road has more and better views of the lake, and just as many wineries.

          

We got a site in the state park there. It was an unconventional set up, and I had to run an extension. But I managed to get set up between the rainstorms, and we settled in for the night.

Cold and rainy, we decided just to head east toward our next destination a little earlier than planned. We stopped for an hour or so in Skaneateles and walked the street along the lake for a while. We went into a couple of shops, as much to get out of the weather as to look at the goods. When we left town, we felt finished with the Finger Lakes. Even though there is still another scheduled event, from now on we are in a homeward bound mood, eager to turn south toward warmer weather.