Franklin Delano Roosevelt (6/12/25)

 

As we made our way towards Massachusetts, we realized that our trajectory would take us past the official Presidential Library of FDR, in Hyde Park, NY,  and of course we weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to see it. 

We have already been to his “little White House” –his cottage in Warm Springs Georgia that he visited as often as he could. He was at the cottage when he died in 1945.

My post about it:

( https://soos-ontheroad.blogspot.com/2013/04/f-d-r-state-park-03-27-13.html )

The library/museum in New York is totally different, and is unique in the sense that he always knew he was going to donate the property for his presidential library, so most of the contents are original.

When his parents bought the house in the mid 1800s it was a small two story farm house. In 1915 FDR  added 18 rooms.

His mother always lived with him.

FDR suffered from Polio but he never wanted to be seen as weak, so he found innovative ways to appear to be walking and standing on his own. Before a speech for example, he would have his crew bolt the podium to the floor so he could lean his weight on it. He had special braces made to help him move his legs more naturally. There are very few pictures of him in his wheelchair.

In his house, he modified the elevator that had been installed to move their trunks (suitcases) up and down  to fit his wheelchair.

Roosevelt was the longest serving president in U.S. history. He was actually elected four times, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. Until  him, there was a tradition, starting with George Washington, that no president should serve more than two terms. But it was a tradition, not a law.

During Roosevelt’s tenure, the  country was going through some very difficult times, including the Great Depression, which he is credited with helping to end. In 1936, his election to his second term was the biggest electoral landslide in U.S. history.

By the time his second term had ended, World War II was heating up, and the majority of the voters seemed to feel we needed someone in office who was experienced and already knowledgeable about the world situation. He was easily elected to his third term.

He ran for an unprecedented 4th term at the height of world war II, and won by a comfortable margin.  He died in office just months before the end of the war.

In 1955 the 22nd amendment was added to the constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office.

Without a doubt he accomplished a lot as president, putting into place programs such as the FDIC, Federal Trade Commission, Social Security, and the Federal Alcohol Administration to name just a few. As impressive as that is, in this library there was also information detailing that many of his programs did not survive the opposition and were either not implemented or were discontinued.

Green Valley House update:

Cement has been poured!

MI to MA (07-19-19)

Having secured reservations for the weekend of July 4, we could relax and enjoy the journey, so to speak.  We arrived at the Muskegon county park, in Michigan, right down the street from gorgeous Lake Michigan, and promptly walked to the beach.




I didn't get any pictures that do this lake justice, partially because I didn't bother, and partly because the lake water levels are at near record high, which means there is more debris and mud than usual. Still gorgeous, unsalted, and warm though!







Our July 4th was spent in the small town of Montague.  We know we are spoiled as far as fireworks go, and after this display we were thinking we could have skipped it.  Little did we know that two nights later, we could have been at the best fireworks display that Michigan has to offer- in Bay City MI. Unfortunately we found out about it when we saw it live on T.V.  Oh well.






This campground had no availability for the night of July 5, so we packed up and moved to a different, nearby county park.  With temperatures in the mid 90s, we were anxious to get there and get the AC working.   Well, best laid plans and all.....

 We plugged in at the post, and our power management system promptly shut our system down.  Tried it again- no joy.  Paul got out his meter and long story short, there was Too Much power coming from the post -132 volts. We reported to the office, and went looking for another open spot, to see if it was better.  Nope.




Along the way, we met a neighbor, who happened to be a lineman for the county.  He checked the power at HIS post and immediately unplugged his rig.  He called his buddies, and within an hour there were 4 bucket trucks in the park to figure out the problem. By then we had decided we couldn't wait it out, so we left.




"Luckily", our next destination had lots of room, so we just went there early. Its pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't much to do while we waited for our tour of the Avalon and Tahoe Manufacturing facility.

We did make a day trip to the town of Bay City, walked along the riverfront and tried to get to a beach so we could get a glimpse of Lake Huron. Seems like most of the water frontage is privately owned, so we didn't get to see much of the lake.

Paul did get some ideas at the park where we walked...

Avalon is the brand of pontoon boat that we have.

















The facility in Michigan where it was built gives private tours, upon request.  We made an appointment and got a pretty interesting tour .

Paul had several questions, and of course, several suggestions for them.









While we had some free time, we made some plans for the rest of our route to Boston.
Our first major stop was Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. With only one day to explore, we did some research and came up with two hikes that we could do in one day.

Our first hike was through and around the Ritchie Ledges.

Interesting rock formations made for an interesting hike.












The park, in part, showcases the history of the canal system- we checked out the visitor center in between hikes but were more focused on being outside

Our second hike was to Brandywine Falls. This is a popular, well used trail, so we were definitely not alone.

From Ohio to New York, we made our next destination Letchworth State Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the East.  We have hiked here before, and really didn't have much time this time around, but we did manage a two mile walk along the Genessee River.

Once we head through New York towards Massachusetts, campgrounds become pretty scarce. We had to drive pretty far one day to find somewhere to stay.


And then, one day later, we arrived in Massachusetts, just in time for the wedding of our friends Linda and Alan.













As Alexander McCall Smith said " You can go through life and make friends every year- every month practically- but there was never any substitute for  those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years."


 That felt so true as my friends and I posed for a group photo.  We have all know each other since the age of 5- more than 50 years!

The following week was spent visiting family and friends....lots of dinners-

And although we had plans to play miniature golf with my family, the high temperatures turned it into a bowling outing.  My hips wonder what the heck I was thinking!














On Saturday we moved from the campground to my brother's back yard, where our vehicles will be stored for the next 6 weeks.














Tally Ho- my next post will hopefully be made from London, England!

Grand Canyon of the East (Letchworth State Park, NY-6/17/11)

    We made reservations at this park based on a recommendation from a couple we met in PA, and it is a great park (although the “real” Grand Canyon has nothing to be worried about), but I thought it was much closer to Joe and Judi in Rochester than it actually was.  It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the boat on Saturday.   Also, I had to cheat the system.  They had no more “pet” sites available so I said I had no pet.  Poor Dozer had to stay inside, with the shades down, the whole time we were there. Not an ideal situation, and I don’t think I’d do it again. 
   

  The Park was partially built on land donated by William Letchworth after his death in 1910.  He was a conservationist during his lifetime and spent a lot of time and money collecting artifacts to preserve them for future generations.  The land is along the banks of the Genesee River and includes 3 major waterfalls.  No one is allowed along the riverbed unless they are part of a group rafting trip, however, which is very odd, except in most places the gorge is a few hundred deep anyway.    Things really got built up here in the 1930s, when the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) came in and built most of the structures, trails and picnic areas.

  

       One of the longest and most popular trails here is the Gorge trail but at 7 miles long (with a 7 mile return), its a bit much to do in one day.  The ranger suggested starting at one end one day, hiking halfway, returning, and then doing the other half another day.  We took the advice and ended up hiking about 7.5 miles the first day.

We also saw all 3 major waterfalls the first day.  Hiking here is pretty easy- the trails and waterfall views  are pretty accessible by road, all along the way, so we didn’t really have to hike as far as we did, but we wanted the exercise anyway. 

    We spent one day exploring by truck, driving down tiny little dirt roads that we probably shouldn’t have been on, and we found a trail that follows an old canal that was built in the 1800s to carry lumber and materials to distant towns. The canal was used, by a series of locks, to raise and lower barges over 900 feet in elevation. Not much of the locks are left, but it was still an interesting day.  Our travels also brought us past a small town that didn’t have many stores, but did have a great place to get ice cream!

2nd Love revisited (06-18-11)

   When we sold our house 2 years ago, we also sold our 39’ Sea Ray, 2nd Love. We sold it to Joe and Judi, a couple who live outside of Rochester NY.  We have stayed in contact with them and have actually met up with them to go hiking.  We all have similar interests and conversation never seems to lag.  On this trip through New York, we were close enough to visit them and they invited us to go out on the boat for the day on Saturday.  Well, they didn’t have to ask us twice!  We got up early Saturday and drove to their Marina, which is essentially on Lake Ontario.  As a bonus for me, Ontario is the only Great Lake I haven’t seen yet, so I have officially seen them all now.


Officers saluting as we go by

     Saturday was an action packed day, since it was the “annual inspection” day.  A parade of boats from the yacht club snaked past the Officers of the club, who were standing at attention on a sail boat, all decked out in officer garb.  After the parade, each vessel was boarded and “inspected” by the Officers, to see which ones were decorated the best.  Really it was more a question of who bribed them with the best food and liquor.




  Lunch was served by the Yacht Club after the contest.  After grabbing a quick bite, we left the dock again and took 2nd Love out onto Lake Ontario for a ride.

Joe seemed to enjoy having a chauffer for a change of pace and left most of the driving to Paul. Meantime, Judi and I just relaxed in the cockpit, enjoying the picture perfect day.

After our ride we anchored outside the harbor and several other boats came along and tied up with us, and the afternoon was spent partying.  A typical boating day!  We headed back in once it started getting dark, and just made it to the Yacht Club restaurant in time for dinner before they closed up for the evening. A very full, and very fun day!

Biking along the Erie Canal (6-15-11)

    (Post delayed due to lack of internet)
      While looking for a place to stay in NY along the way to Rochester, I came across the name of a small, municipal campground/marina right on the banks of the Mohawk River, in the very small village of St. Johnsville.  I couldn’t find any reviews of the place, but google map showed that we should be able to have room to maneuver, so we headed that way.  It was a very well kept place, with easy access sites for us, and a small but very nice marina, although we decided not to put the boat in. It also came complete with what seemed like a never ending supply of trains chugging through the rear of the campground. The track was so active that many times there were trains traveling in both directions at the same time.  Surprisingly, they didn’t bother us that much though.

        After spending the last few weeks doing nothing but eating, we got the bikes out and headed to the Canalway Trail, which travels along the Erie Canal for hundreds of miles. This section of the Erie Canal follows along the Mohawk River. We traveled a total of about 23 miles, but it was broken up  by interesting things to check out along the way.  Our first stop was at Lock #16, where we took the time to eat lunch and watch 2 boats go through the locks. 

 

     It was my first close up encounter with the Erie Canal, which was built in the early 1900s to connect Lake Erie to the Hudson River.  While we were there, Paul got a lesson on how this particular lock works by the “lockmaster”.
      Our next stop along the way was the Herkimer House- the house of General Nicholas Herkimer. Herkimer owned riverfront property back in the 1700’s and made his living offering portage for vessels to go around the falls (before the canal was built).  In 1775 he joined the Revolutionary War and soon became a general.  In 1777 he led 800 local men into a battle to protect nearby Fort Schuyler. They successfully beat back the British, but Herkimer died 10 days later from wounds received in battle.  We wandered the grounds of his house, but we couldn’t tour the house because there was a private Tea taking place.
     Back on the bikes, we pedaled  for another few miles before arriving at Lift Lock #17. 

This lock is much deeper than the previous lock, it’s one of the deepest Lift Locks in the world.  

  Getting to the lock was a bit of a challenge for our bicycling coordination.  We actually rode our bikes down this maze, and then back up again.  Up was actually easier, it was easier to control the bikes.

      Once we made it back up the maze, it was time to turn around and head back home.  Since we just backtracked the way we came, there wasn’t too much new to see, except, apparently it was egg laying time for the local turtles.  We came upon several turtles in varying stages of laying and burying eggs along the side of the bike path.  We were very nosy and stopped to watch several times.  I actually got some video of one “procedure”, but since the internet here is ridiculously slow on the rare occasion I can actually get signal, I am not sure I can post it





I have no idea if I will be able to get this posted today, if not, I’ll hold it until we get to civilization tomorrow.  It’s already quite late, since we’ve been in Letchworth State Park for 4 days now.

Oneonta, NY (05-28-11)

         The last few days have flown by. Paul and I met up with Elaine and Robert, our internet/blogging friends we had never met in person until now. They are from England, and travel in their RV throughout this country for a few months at a time, flying home to England for a few months between visits. Like us, they are having such a good time living this life, they have no concrete plans for ending their journey.
We were so  busy exploring, hiking and visiting, and it's hard to believe we have already left them!  As usual, whenever I am with people, I forget to take pictures. I'll try to do better while I am in Boston, but I hope nobody holds their breath.
             Our first day of exploring started with Cooperstown, home of Baseball's Hall of Fame. We meandered through the downtown and waterfront area, but all 4 of us were in agreement that the Baseball aspect of the town didn't capture our interest. I, of course, am a Red Sox fan, but I just like to watch them play, I am not interested in collecting signed baseballs and trying out different styles of bats.






        We soon headed to the "Beverage trail" which consisted of two wineries and two breweries, so there was something for everyone- except Paul, who doesn't drink much wine and won't touch beer at all. But, since he was our driver, that worked out perfectly for the rest of us!  The first place we stopped had a cider mill, with a small room that had exhibits explaining the process of making cider etc. It was the biggest of the venues, with a large store and a small restaurant.



Ommengang Brewery beer lesson


From there we moved on to the nicer of the two breweries, Ommegang.  Their beer is brewed in traditional Belgian ways and I admit I really liked a few of  them. There are two ways to infuse bubbles into beer, and Ommegang uses the natural method as opposed to injecting CO2 into it. We toured this brewery and found it to be well-run, clean and interesting.  After the tour,  the guide taught us a little about each beer before giving us a taste.  It was all well done. 



They were having a few issues that day because the storms we had the previous evening had knocked out the electricity, and it hadn't been restored yet, but they were up to the challenge.

 The second brewery that we went to wasn't up to the same standards as the first one, but we still enjoyed it, as well as the 2nd winery.  Our plans were to go over to Elaine and Robert's for dinner that night, but we didn't get around to eating lunch until the 4th stop on our route, so no one was really hungry for dinner.
     Saturday was a different story however.  The four of us spent the day at Gilbert Lake State Park, hiking around the lake, finding geocaches ( I think we found 3) and dodging raindrops.  We hiked about 5.5 miles and along the way came across some downed power lines.  We managed to walk around them but we could see where they had scorched the grass when the lines fell, which made it a bit spooky to walk over them. 


hiking with the power lines ( they were not "live")

      Dinner was at Elaine and Robert's that night and we were all pretty hungry.  Homemade pizza.  I gotta say, it doesn't get better than that!  The special beer from the brewery did add to the ambiance as well though.  After a great night of food and conversation, we called it a day.
        Yesterday Paul and Robert worked on a problem Robert was having with his motorhome for a while, after which Paul and I did some errands, and in general just goofed around for the afternoon.  Dinner was at our "house" this time.  Paul made his Chile Rellenos and once again the food and conversation were great.
    This morning we took off and arrived in Massachusetts early this afternoon.

Lake Durant, Adirondacks, NY

Saturday it was time to move on, and we headed out, not too far, to Lake Durant, a state park campground in the Adirondacks, near Blue Mountain Lake. This is our first venture at having a campsite with no hookup-including electric. We will be using the generator to recharge the batteries and do things like make coffee. You can’t use it before 9 am- so we had to make coffee the day before and just heat it up in the morning. By 9 am we have usually showered, eaten and are gone for the day, so it’s a little late to start making the coffee. We arrived early enough to head to the Adirondack Museum, which is, without a doubt, one of the best museums we have ever seen. Its huge, and has many separate buildings, with information arranged in a way that its fun to learn, and not at all boring. Lots of things for adults and kids of all ages. Definitely worth the price of admittance! We had arranged to meet up with Joe and Judi, but had no specific time or place, so we just headed over to their lodge, and they showed up 10 minutes later. Perfect timing! We had gotten a slow start that morning, since we were up half the night. Dozer was busy earning his keep all night. Somehow, a mouse got in the trailer during the night. We heard loud noises (the cat running around) and when we came to check it out, the cat was playing “cat and mouse” with a live mouse. He was purring so loud you could hear it across the room. This was one happy cat! He was playing catch and release. He would let the mouse go, then catch it again. We were not very thrilled with this, and tried to egg him on to dispose of the mouse, to no avail. We couldn’t get close to the cat, since he growled like I have never heard before, every time we approached. There was no way he was going to let us take his toy away. After a while, we had no idea what to do, so we went to bed ( I told Paul it was his job to get up first in the morning). For the next two hours we heard him running around, chasing the mouse. Ewwww.. When we got up, after searching high and low, there was no mouse to be found. Anyway, after meeting up with Joe and Judi, we took off for one of the trails in the area. After about a 2 mile hike, we found the most spectacular view! We were overlooking Blue Mountain Lake, and the fall colors were in full swing. After hanging around at the peak for a bit, we decided that if we hurried, we may make the 2 pm boat trip that cruises around the lake. We actually didn’t quite make it, but we had a great time sitting on the porch of the lodge, sipping on wine and eating cheese and crackers etc. We stayed at the Lodge for dinner that night, then headed home. The next morning we woke up to rain. Again. Our plan had been to go for another hike with Joe and Judi, but the weather was definitely not cooperating. We ended up going to a fairly new museum, The Wild Side, for the afternoon. It was good, but no where near the caliber of The Adirondack Museum. We spent most of the day there, stopped at a local waterfall on the way back, dropped Joe and Judi off, then headed for home. Paul has been a little antsy about the generator the whole time we have been here. Its working fine, but we only have one battery, which is definitely not enough to spend a couple of nights without power. Just the refrigerator and hot water heater’s electronic ignition are enough to drain the battery in a few hours. When we got back the battery had died again, hopefully not causing permanent damage to it,since its our only one. Although we will probably not spend lots of nights without hookup, we do plan to “dry camp” sometimes, so I am guessing new batteries are in our future. Lake Durant is pretty remote, as is this whole area, which makes it a very peaceful place to be. The view out the back window is what I envisioned that I would want to see every morning. Nothing but trees and a view of the lake.Very different from Lake George, which is beautiful, but touristy. The fall colors are spectacular right now. I think someone said we are right at peak. I keep taking a million pictures, but they don’t do it justice. If only the sun would come out for more than 12 seconds, the pictures would be so much better! Spending time with Joe and Judi was an absolute blast, and we are both really looking forward to meeting up with them again. The similarities between us were amazing. They are very easy going and it was very comfortable hanging out with them for a couple of days! Today (Tuesday) we got on the road and drove several hundred miles, stopping just outside Scranton PA- the weather is 10 degrees warmer, and the sun is out! We decided to stay here for a couple of nights, then maybe head to Lancaster PA instead of Ohio

Lake George, NY 10-3-09

Wednesday we headed out to drive around Lake George, weaving in and out of small towns, and ending at Fort Ticonderoga. I am not a huge history buff, but I must admit I am enjoying learning about the different eras of American history. Fort Ticonderoga has been inhabited by the French, the British, and the Americans, at various times in its past. The worst battle here was between the French and British (us) during the French and Indian War- 1758. Unfortunately, even though the French, who had possession of the fort at that time, were severely outnumbered by us, we did not capture the fort, and suffered heavy losses. Eventually, at some point, the French blew the fort up and left it in ruins, as they abandoned it. The fort was reconstructed as a tourist attraction in the early 1900s. The way they chose to do it is different from other forts that we’ve seen. There are no rooms set up here that show what life was like back then, its more set up to just teach the history of the battles that took place. I have learned interesting things such as, in the 1700s the rifle the Brown Bess was introduced. It was the first rifle that had uniform parts and was uniformly sized. Before that, if you bought a rifle in North Carolina, and it broke, you had to go back to North Carolina to get the parts for it. The Brown Bess was made of three distinct parts, the lock, the stock and the barrel. If your barrel broke, you could then just replace the barrel, etc. which made it much more cost effective. Army personnel were responsible for paying for any weapons that they lost during the war, so if they went to the supply room and said they needed a completely new rifle, they needed “lock, stock and barrel”- hence the term we use when we mean “everything”- lock, stock and barrel. I thought that was really neat information. The following day the weather was not very cooperative again- no downpours, but very iffy. We set out in a southerly direction to do some exploring. When we got to the town of Glens Falls, we started seeing signs for “Coopers Cave”. Sounded interesting, so we followed the signs. The cave is really barely a cave. In the 1800s and 1900s they had steps leading to it. Its actually on an island in the middle of the river, which happens to be the Hudson River. (The Hudson River winds all around this area- everywhere you go, you see the Hudson River). Apparently years ago they decided it was too dangerous to go out that far, near the falls, so they put up a fence and now you can see the “cave” from the fenced in area. The claim to fame in this area is that James Cooper, who was the first author who was considered a “best selling novelist” lived here. One of his friends suggested that he use the cave as a setting in one of his novels, so he did. This is the cave that is featured in “The Last Of The Mohicans”. They didn’t use the actual cave, just the idea of the cave. So, that was cool. Now I need to watch the movie again, after learning all about James Cooper. We are really paying the price for having great weather for so long. For the last week, its been cold and damp with rain on and off. Friday we drove in a different direction, and landed in the town of Warrensburg, again. We recognized it from the day we arrived in this area. We needed fuel that day, so we got off the highway in Warrensburg because we could see the gas stations from the highway. We were towing the Everest though, so not only did we have to check to see if they have diesel, we had to see if we could even fit in the parking lot. We picked the station closest to us, on the right, and chose wrong. Couldn’t get the Everest into the lot. Now we were committed to this direction, and the road got more and more narrow and crowded. We ended up turning into a parking lot, going in the exit and out the entrance, since it’s the only way we could get the trailer in to make the turn. So this Friday we recognized the town, coming from the opposite direction, and were just glad we only had the truck. As we approached the town, the traffic was incredible. It turns out that it was the weekend of Warrensburg’s annual Townwide Garage Sale. It is billed as the Worlds Biggest Garage Sale and apparently even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. We didn’t bother to stop since it was too crowded to park our huge truck.

Lake George, NY

Rain, Rain go away…… Its been raining on and off for the last three days, part of the problem being that its not very warm out so it’s the kind of rain that makes everything feel really cold and damp. We spent one night on the road, and got to Lake George Village a couple of days ago. The day we got here was really a wash out so we sat down and did a lot of planning for where we want to go in the next three months and what’s really important to us. Even after narrowing it down to where we really want to go, we had to knock off some places due to lack of time. Sounds silly, yes, but its getting pretty cold up here and we really can’t chance snow or temps below freezing for an extended period. We already had a couple of nights that got into the low 30s. The first night it happened our little electric heater died, so we bought a new one. We really don’t need one, since we have regular heat that runs on propane, but since the electric is included in the site fee, and the propane comes out of our pocket, unless its cold for prolonged periods, the electric is enough. Our basic, revised itinerary includes Muncie IN (to see Jess); Mammoth Caves KY; Nashville TN, New Orleans; Houston, San Antonio, El Paso for Thanksgiving, Phoenix AZ; Yuma AZ, and San Diego CA for Christmas. I just finished booking Jess’s flights for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which was exciting, since I miss her a lot and I’m looking forward to spending time with her! Yesterday the weather was unpredictable so we kept our plans simple and walked around downtown Lake George Village. We ate lunch outside, overlooking the lake, but it started raining again half way through lunch. We spent the afternoon shopping- we finally found some outdoor chairs we like, so we have something comfortable to sit in now. Today it rained again but since we are only here for 2 more days, we decided to ignore it and go see Fort William Henry. What made this fort interesting is that they (“redcoats”) give tours and explain some of the things we saw and the history of them. Among other things, I found out that grenadiers were the biggest and tallest soldiers (and the only ones allowed to handle grenades) and wore tall hats to make them appear even bigger, so that the enemy would be very afraid when they saw them. Paul and I both had to think through and put this information in perpective, timewise. It took me a bit to remember that the timeframe for this fort is pre-revolutionary war, and WE are the redcoats in this scenario. Being from Massachusetts, I have had the revolutionary war drilled into me for a looooong time. It drizzled most of the day so by the time we were done with the fort, we headed back home to get warm and dry out. Tomorrow our plan is to drive all the way around the lake and check out Fort Ticonderoga.

"travel days"

I have determined that "Travel days" are interesting and an adventure all by themselves. It takes us about an hour to "break camp" and get on the road. We are getting into a routine of who does what....By then its about 10-11 am. Usually it rains. Today it didn't for some reason. Paul is calm and confident behind the wheel, as usual, and I pretend to be calm, as usual. I have maps, the laptop, and guidebooks on my lap and I am trying to look at the road occasionally too. I have discovered that if I don't watch the road, we could inadvertently travel down one that says "no trucks". We have already discovered that that's not a good idea. You never know WHY they don't want trucks. It may be the road is narrow, or it could be that there are LOW BRIDGES....we didn't learn that the hard way, luckily, (we squeaked under the bridge) but you can bet that unless we are on at least a 2 lane highway, I am mostly watching the road. Today Dozer decided he didn't want to be in the truck. Usually he is good, and meows about once every 30 minutes or so, just so we know he is back there. If the road is bumpy he meows until its smooth again. New York has waaaaay too many bumpy roads... Today, though, he just plain didn't want to be in the truck and meowed for almost 2 hours straight. Eventually we stopped for lunch, he ate his piece of turkey, and then fell asleep when we got back on the road. We drove through the Catskill mountains in NY this morning. We really wanted to find a campground to stay in that had some hiking nearby, or access to a lake. We didn't find either. So we kept driving (we could have stayed at a Walmart, but um, there aren't any in the Catskills). We made one interesting turn. We thought it was one of the "Parking area"s that NY has along the highways so that people can stop and take a breather. they are like circular driveways- you can pull off the road, then just continue forward to get back on. We wanted to take a look at the map together, so we pulled into one to take a break. Well, it turned out we turned a bit early and landed in a small parking lot that had no second exit, and Paul had to make a tight 3-point turn (ok, 14 point turn) with the Everest behind us. That was an adventure all by itself. Soon after that he had to take us through a "roundabout" or rotary. He says that was nervewracking, but he looked calm the whole time, so I don't know. As the day wears on, we really need to find a place to stay, and nothing is popping up on the horizon. I am thumbing through the 2 books we have and watching the road signs. In the end, we found a regular campground outside the state park and just called it a day. The good news is we have Wi-Fi!! I really do miss a fast internet connection, but I really don't want to pay the ridiculous price to get it by satellite.... My biggest disappointment today is that we saw a lot of people having a great time tubing down a river. It would have been a blast if we could have found a nearby campground so we could drop the Everest off and go tubing.......... oh well.... The decision for tomorrow is....do we leave early and try to get to the Berkshires and hike there? or do we try to find a trail to walk here tomorrow and leave later in the day.....?

Watkins Glen, NY

Our last night at Allegheny National Forest was interesting... we had been watching a thunderstorm go by, lightning and all, and when it was over, decided to call it a night. Just as I was falling asleep, I saw headlights come our way. I watched it (it was a golf cart) go past us, then turn around and come back a few minutes later. it drove in behind us, and up to our door. By now I was a little tense and I woke Paul up. He scrambled out to see what was up (naturally it was torrentially down pouring). It turns out it was the ranger guy in charge of this area of the park. He told us there was a severe storm headed our way with strong winds and hail, and that there would be a severe thunderstorm warning all night. This is getting to be an every day occurrence!! We took in the awning which was about all we could do, since we had already packed up to leave in the morning. The storm came but it wasn't that bad. The trip to Watkins Glen was uneventful. Rainy, of course, but uneventful. This is a small, cute town, on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of NY. Our first day we walked around town, just to get a feel for the town. The following day we hiked in Watkins Glen State Park, through a gorge, with 19 waterfalls. THAT was a great time. The gorge is huge and awesome. When I can post pictures (slow Internet does not allow it!) I will, but they won't do it justice! The sign tells you in advance there are 800 steps to eventually reach the top, which is 1.5 miles away. The last bit is very steep indeed. There is a shuttle you can take, either up, or if you want, from the top down. We walked one trail up, and a different one down. The falls are great, and well worth the trip up there. On the way down we passed by a cemetery that had old gravestones as well as new ones. One of the pictures I took looking inside a crypt or whatever its called, came out really cool. I look forward to posting it. We spent yesterday afternoon relaxing and researching places to stay in ME near Acadia National Park. This morning we drove to several nearby waterfalls, but nothing was as fun and awesome as the gorge. This afternoon we put the dinghy in the water and started to explore Seneca Lake, which is 40 miles long and, at 600 ft deep, the deepest of the Finger Lakes. We anchored for a bit, close to shore and had to put out almost 100 ft of line on the anchor! Unfortunately we could see the storm approaching across the lake, and decided to be prudent and head back. The dinghy doesn't handle big waves too well... Tomorrow will be a boring day, since our plan is to drive as far as we can, headed to Boston. We have no reservations. Maybe it will be our first "Walmart" night? we'll see. I would love to come back to this area and explore it more when we have more time.