Continue on Westward

After our short but pleasant visit to western NY we moved on.  We found there was a campground in eastern Ohio that was part of a membership organization we have been in for several years.  It was near Jefferson, OH about 60 miles east of Cleveland and 15 miles or so from the shore of Lake Erie.  It was a short days drive from Lechtworth State Park and we enjoyed it.  The campground had spacious sites with full hook-ups and we decided to stay for the full two weeks our membership allowed at one time.

At last the weather turned warm and sunny and we were in an open field; we loved it.  We also soon found out there was a 43 mile long rails to trails about a mile from the campground.  We were pretty close to the middle of it so we could have a nice ride no matter which way we went.  We enjoyed riding the Trikkes many times while staying at the campground. 

Period performers (& Bob)

Main Street @ depot days

The closest town was Jefferson, OH a small village about 5 miles from the RV park.  It had a few nice places to eat and everyone was so friendly.  The second weekend we were there they had Depot Days.  Around the old train station that was being refurbished into a historic site they had collected some old buildings that represented the town in the late 1800's, early 1900's.  The buildings were not necessiarly from the town but were authentic buildings of the era that had been collected by various means and moved there and refurbished.  There was a school house, a post-office, an apothecary, a general store, and a typical large home.  Some local residents that were part of the committee working on this long term project dressed in period clothing and played their parts beautifully.

Covered Bridge

Covered bridge exterior

The area also had a bunch of covered bridges that caught our attention.


 

Johnny's Tour Bus

We also spent a day in Cleveland at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.  It was interesting and we enjoyed the visit.  It was well put together and in a great spot on the lake shore between the ball stadium and the lakefront airport.  Outside they had Johnny Cash's RV we took a tour of.  It was a big Prevost from early 70's.  Actually it was a tour bus vs an RV.  It was set up to be comfortable for a number of people, e.g. Johnny and June and their son typically plus the driver.  It was not set up to live in, but to travel very comfortably.    

Scrubbing Lucy's roof!

 We spent a day washing and cleaning the RV also.  RV park allowed that if you paid a small fee - it was well worth it.  Plus, I enjoyed a day in the warm bright sun doing something constructive.  BJ was mainly working inside the RV.  By the end of the day Lucy was sparkling like new. 

So after two weeks of staying busy doing nothing we moved on.  Next stop was Goshen, IN in the heart of the RV manufacturing country.  Stand-by for the blog on our short visit there!

Western New York Phase II - Lechtworth State Park

After we left Bristol Campground and separated from the girls and their handlers we had a short, lonely drive to Lechtworth State Park in Mt Morris, NY.   We were looking forward to our stay in this park that the girls had visited and described as beautiful and fun!

It is a long north to south park relative to its width.  About 17 mi long and its dominating feature is the deep gorge that runs thru it with a river at the bottom of the gorge which is nearly 600 feet deep in much of the park.   The river had caved the gorge over the millennium and in the last several hundred years had been the source of repeated flooding of Rochester and other cities downstream.   To control the Genesee River and the devastating floods the US Corps of Engineers built Mt Morris dam which is in the park.   Also, in the park are three pretty waterfalls - the Lower Falls, the Middle Falls, and the Upper Falls on the Genesee River.

Genesee River at bottom of gorge

Mt Morris Dam on Genesee River

We started off with a tour of the dam.   It was an impressive structure but did not seem to have much water behind it.  At that point the river seemed like a lazy, small river meandering down the middle of this huge gorge!  We learned this was a dry dam and it rose about 230 ft above the river bed! At its base passing thru the dam were 9 large rectangular conduits that could be opened or closed to allow the water to pass through.  The dam was constructed to control the water flow by opening and closing these conduits.  During normal weather conditions only a few of the conduits were open and the water passed through pretty much unimpeded.  However, during high water events the conduits could be closed and water pooled behind the dam rather then ravaging the valley below the dam as it had done about every 7 years since the early 1800's causing large economic loss and extreme problems for the folks downstream.  

During the 1972 event this section of the gorge

 

was under several hundred feet of water!

This waterfall was barely a ripple in the pool behind the dam in 1972!

The dam was finished in 1952 at cost of $25 million dollars and it has proved its worth about every 7 years since.  In 1972 the remnants of Hurricane Agnes dumped abnormally huge amounts of water on the area.  There was more rain then ever recorded in the area prior to (or since) and the pool behind the dam was about 15 miles long and the water came within 4 feet of topping the dam!  Estimated damage to Rochester would have been in excess of $300 BILLION, but no damage was incurred because the Mt Morris dam was there and performed as designed!

The 1972 pool nearly filled part of the gorge!

BJ the rock hound at one of the streams

Remains of the CCC camp that had existed here.

Also, in the park were some beautiful hiking trails (but the roads were generally too hilly for any carving on the Trikkes).  We did enjoy some nice hikes with beautiful overlooks however. 

Another view of the gorge

A stream that feeds into Genesee River

While we enjoyed our stay here it was time to move on by the end of the week.  We were headed for a Thousand Trails Campground in OH.  Thousand Trails is a membership organization we belong to and use there campgrounds barely enough to justify membership.  We were ready for full hook-ups and some downtime from traveling and moving every week or less which we had mainly been doing since leaving FL in April!

Western New York Finger Lakes Region - Phase 1

After our last fabulous weekend in New England we headed west with the girls and their handlers.  We left from MA and spent Sunday night in western MA and met up with them Monday late AM and had lunch together.  Then Jenna and the girls joined us in our RV and Rob went on to make better time by himself so he could get a head start at the campground setting up their trailer before we all got there.

BJ and I had dug out the safety belts from the couch that morning before we hit the road and we belted the girls in and hit the road.  Jenna joined me up front and BJ was having a ball with the girls behind us.  It was all Interstate highway (I-90 WB aka the New York Thruway) and traffic was not bad all day.  Jenna and I enjoyed some adult visiting and BJ was totally absorbed with the kids and they with her.

On the road with the girls safely buckled in

We arrived at Bristol Woodlands Campground about 1830.  Had a nice trip except for the last mile which was unpaved road with steep hills for about a mile.  But, we got there and Rob was well into setting up camp.  We followed suit and in short order were set up in the spot next to them.  The spots were widely separated and the campground had a lush grass cover between the spots, so all in all we had a nice set up.

A little rain and the girls are in it - note green space between RV's in background!

During the following week we enjoyed the scenic area very much.  Lake Cannidaega one of the larger Finger Lakes was about 20 miles away, Lake Honeoye was about 9 miles away and there was a small village on its northern end that was only about 9 miles from the campground.  We toured both lake areas with and without the girls.  Rob & Jenna toured the area while we kept the girls several different times - win-win for us both.  We got some extra time with the girls and they got some adult time together in an interesting place.

BJ and I took Thursday and went down to Corning NY about 60 miles south of us to visit the Corning Glass Museum.

The invisible Black Box - can you see it!

A glass tire - now that I can understand!

It was a return visit for us as we had visited it about 7 years ago while staying at Watkins Glen, NY during one summer of traveling.  It is a spectacular museum with a full array of displays ranging from ancient biblical times to how glass on the Space Shuttle is made and fitted.  Lots of interactive displays. Some were a little too esoteric for my simple mind such as the black glass box that the glass was suppose to make invisible to represent the importance of unseen things that are part of our living space - huh!!  I like the glass tire - I knew what it was and what it did and how it fit into my world!!  All very well done.  Afterwards we had lunch in a local deli in downtown Corning.  There is an obvious effort downtown to revive the downtown section and develop it into a tourist destination.  We enjoyed our lunch and the visit before we headed back to Bristol via a different return route through Penn-Yan.   We got back about 1800.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rob & Jenna had visited Lechtworth State Park about 40 miles west of us on the western edge of the Finger Lakes region.  They described a beautiful park with a deep gorge running through it and a dam at the northern end of it.   Scenery was beautiful and they had lots of camping spaces even though only limited hook-ups (only electric).  On Thursday while we went to Corning, Rob & Jenna took the girls to Lechtworth and so when we got back we heard not only from Rob & Jenna how nice the park was but also from the girls.  They talked about waterfalls and trails and obviously had a fun time there.  So read about Lechtworth State Park - the Grand Canyon of the East in Phase II of our blog on Western New York.

We will miss them!  I have a pool going on when BJ will fly back to see them - maybe me too! 

All Good things must come to an end and our time with the girls was the Best of Great!  The next AM (Friday) Rob & Jenna and the girls packed up the travel trailer first thing and move out.  They were headed back to RI in an indirect way since Rob was out of school for the summer.  They were going to do Niagara Falls for a few days and then the Adirondack Mountains before returning home to RI.  BJ & I were going into withdrawal pains while they were traveling without us!! It had been a wonderful, glorious month we had been with them!!

We had been planning on getting a good days journey west on Friday but based on their description of Lechtworth State Park we decided to head there instead.  So after they left, BJ & I packed up the RV and hit the road and in about an hour were at Lechtworth and checked in.  Weather was still wet and cool but the park was beautiful. 

Coming soon to a computer near you - Phase II of our Blog on Western NY - Lechtworth State Park!

What a Fabulous Weekend!!

We are in the middle of the 4th of July weekend and enjoying some good weather at last in OH, just east of Cleveland.  But, I must catch up and tell you of a really FABULOUS weekend we had several weekends ago!  It was the weekend after the week we spent at 4th Cliff with the Girls and their handlers.  Friday they headed back to Newport and we met up with Jim and Ann.  They came down to 4th Cliff Friday afternoon and we moved up to Wompawtuck State Park about 18 miles north of 4th Cliff and a few miles from their weekend condo at Hull, MA.  

What a great weekend we enjoyed with these old friends touring SE Boston area on MA Bay.  We started off with a late lunch at the Beer Works, a micro brewery on the water in Hingham.  Food was fantastic and the variety of beer brewed on-premises seemed to be unlimited.  It included one that came with a slice of watermelon. 

Ann & her watermelon beer! 

Hull is a peninsula out into Massachusetts Bay southeast of Boston.  The south side of the peninsula is beach that at low tide is very wide and firm sand.  Tide was going out and the 4 of us walked down the beach for aways and Jim explained the 4th of July tradition that has developed in the community.  There are a number of streets that cross the peninsula and dead end at the beach (the other end of the street ends at the waterfront that is a too rocky to enjoy).   Over the years the community has developed this unofficial 4th of July contest where each street builds a large bonfire on the beach that evening and then after dark puts on a fireworks display.   So imagine this wide beach with 2 dozen or so bonfires burning on the beach in the 4th of July night, that alone sounds beautiful.  But top it off with a fireworks display from the vicinity of each fire!  And, the friendly rivalry between the streets has grown each year and insured increasingly great displays.   

low tide on Nantasket Beach, imagine the fires and firworks.

Later we went to a bar & grill at the end of the beach, named Beach Fire.  It was close to dark and Jim & Ann described the view from there when the beach was "afire" in the dark.  Nantasket Beach is formed as an arch and the Beach Fire is at the end so you have a full view of the entire beach, pretty anytime; but has to be spectacular with the fires and fireworks!!

The next day we headed to an Art Fair in nearby Cohassett.  On the way we stopped and I showed them about geocaching.  We found a geocache at a nearby covered bridge walkway leaving the park.  Just about didn't find it until I got homed in on the correct end of the bridge!!   Ann and BJ really enjoyed the Art Fair and Jim and I traded war stories from our days together as 2/Lt's in Boston.  He was from the area and after his stint in the USAF returned there after some adventures in other parts of the world.  We had last seen him and Ann in Germany in 1975 then lost track of each other for a number of years.  We had reestablished contact about 6 years ago but this was the first time we had visited. 

After leaving the Fair, we enjoyed another great lunch at a restaurant on the water.  TKO Malley's is on scenic Scituate Harbor.  We enjoyed some beautiful weather and great conversation at TKO Malley's dockside area.  Reminded us of Capt Hiram's in Sebastian at home!  We finished our last full day in New England back at Nantasket Beach enjoying the view from upstairs of the Red Parrot.  Later they dropped us off at the RV with detailed instructions on how to get to their place in the AM for our grand finale at Hull - breakfast at  Jo's Nautical Bar near the end of the Hull peninsula.  It is a waterfront bar overlooking the harbor and they serve an exceptionally great Bloody Mary.  Except they don't call the ones they serve on Sunday AM a Bloody Mary, just call it breakfast.  Since we were hitting road after breakfast we had to limit ourselves to one serving, but it is the best I ever had.  So good, I had to call my sister, CC and tell her I found one better then her's at last!  To top it off the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed breakfast on the deck outside overlooking the harbor.  We lingered much longer then we intended to, but did not regret it a moment.

Bob & Jim contemplating breakfast at Jo's Nautical Bar

However, all good things must come to an end and the next day we were scheduled to meet up with the Girls and their handlers on the road to NY Finger Lakes Region.  They were leaving Newport Monday AM and we were going to make the Finger Lakes together Monday evening.  But, that is another story for later.  This one is about the fabulous weekend we spent with our great friends in Hull!

Westward HO!

We enjoyed nearly a month in New England, we did, we really did.  While the weather was not as warm as we would have liked Reagan and Addison, our granddaughters, made up for any other possible shortcomings of the weather!

Addison

Reagan

Newport RI, of course dates from the earliest American history and we enjoyed visiting the area.  We were just there too early because it was too cold for our thin FL blood!  We arrived there shortly before Memorial Day and left the area about 3 weeks later and went to USAF FamCamp near Cape Cod in MA, but more about that later.

Rhode Island reminded me of my very early days in the USAF when I was stationed in Boston; narrow streets that twisted and turned thru town, few street signs, street names changed in the middle of the block, emergency snow routes, and proud historic reminders of our Country's earliest days.

Newport was one of the favorite places of the early American industrial families with big bucks to spend.  Mansions built in late 19th Century abound, many are now historic landmarks open to public tours on a regular basis or on special occasions.  Some are still owned by descendants of the original builder's families, but some are owned by historic preservation societies or other groups.  In FL these would be large County Courthouses or other public buildings in the time they were built.  The grounds around these estates easily exceed the size of football field and are frequently complex garden arrangements immaculately maintained!  BJ wanted to tour a few of them, but we ran out of time.  Along the front of some of these that face a bay is the Cliff Walk.  It is a National Historic Place and is open to the public.  This was originally a path used by the servants to get to and from the mansions unobtrusively and now offers a spectacular view of the sea below and the mansions above it.

Cliff Walk

Cliff Walk

I enjoyed a walk along the Cliff Walk and did some geocaching while doing it.

RI Mansion, now office for historical society

Ft Wetherill

Reagan loves to throw rocks in the water!

 Of course the best part of RI was time with Reagan and Addie.  They spent time with us at the RV and we also took them on trips and picnics to nearby places.   One day we went over to Ft Wetherill, on an island in the Narragansett  Bay at Newport.  Not much left of the fort but there are some beautiful views from the high ground and the girls enjoyed throwing rocks in the water from the little bit of beach there was.

The last week we headed up to a USAF Famcamp on Massachusetts Bay between Boston and Cape Cod.  The picture shows the peninsula with the FamCamp on the tip.  In the pic included we were just to the left of the center, at the base of the green mound (which was originally an ammo storage igloo when this was a coastal artillery installation in WW II).  We arrived there on Monday to cool and cloudy weather and Tuesday was a very stormy day.  We were parked side by side with Rob & Jenna and the girls and we were facing east about 70 ft above the beach so we had a neat view of the roiled ocean below.   With the two vehicle facing each other (we pulled in and they backed in) it made a nice community area between them for the girls to play and entertain us.  And, we had a beautiful view out our front window.

The day after arriving was Stormy Tuesday and Rob & Jenna took the Girls to the Boston Aquarium.  It was an all day adventure and it turned out to be a day many local schools used as a field trip day for end of the school year activities.  Plenty of kids at the aquarium, but trip was enjoyed by all.  BJ & I chose to stay and watch the storm tossed waves 70 ft below us!!  It was an awesome display of Mother Nature's, but not one we would have chosen to watch if given the choice.

4th Cliff playground

So the next day dawned warm(er) and sunny.  Now, that is a display by Mother Nature that I enjoy much more.  BJ and Jenna went on a short shopping expedition, I carved down to Hugarock and back on my Trikke and then in the afternoon Rob and I went on a short geocaching trip to nearby Marshfield.  The Girls enjoyed playing outside, including a trip to the nice playground at 4th Cliff.

Next AM Reagan and I walked down to the beach which was quite wide (and rocky) due to low tide.  She, as usual, threw a lot of rocks into the water, one of her favorite water related past times! 

Reagan on the beach with the rocks

RVs from the beach

The RV's were clearly in view above us at the top of the cliff.  Interestingly, while perusing Google maps I found 1st Cliff north of 4th Cliff across the inlet.  While BJ and I were out touring area we stopped at a fresh fish market south of 4th Cliff and it had an arrow pointing to 3rd Cliff!!   They apparently name their cliffs like they do their streets in MA - randomly and confusing!

Later that day Rob and I put the kayaks in on the backside of the peninsula where we thought it would be a little calmer.    Well the rollers were breaking between where we put in and the North River we were going to paddle up.  After a rough start in the surf we started across the inlet toward the mouth of the North River.  Rollers were coming in from the open ocean beyond the inlet and it was slack tide after high tide.  They were breaking just short of the channel we were in which made it rough for awhile.

Afloat right side up!

 But, we persevered and were soon in the river enjoying the paddle. 

North River anchorage

 As we progressed up the river the outgoing tide was beginning and gaining strength.  When we turned back, we were riding a good current out of the river.  It took us about half the time to get back and lots less paddling.


So at the end of the week, Rob & Jenna and the Girls head back to Newport for the weekend.  We are going to meet up with them on the road Monday and go to the Finger Lakes region in Western NY.  However, for the weekend we were going to meet Jim & Ann, old friends of ours from long ago.  Jim and I were 2/Lt together in Boston and he stayed there after doing his tour in the USAF as that was his hometown.  We next saw Jim & Ann in Germany in 1975 and have not seen them since but have stayed in touch from time to time!  We glad to see them when they showed up at 4th Cliff about noon Friday.  We had decided to move the RV to Wompawtuck State Park which was much closer to their condo in Hull.  So Jim and I took the RV and BJ and Ann took their car and we moved up to Wompawtuck, about 18 miles north of 4th Cliff in Hingham, MA.

More about that fabulous weekend with Jim and Ann in the next post!!

A Day on the Water Ends on the Tow Truck

Well, last week on one of the few sunny days we have had BJ and I decided to put the kayaks in the water and take a short trip.  We were at Carr Point FamCamp for NS Newport and there was a boat launch less then a mile away.   We were on the shores of Narragansett Bay and there was a large island with some homes on it about a mile off shore.  Between that island and shore was a small uninhabited island (Dyer Island) that BJ thought was a bird sanctuary.

Dyer Island Beaches

We launched the kayaks and got underway.  Water was calm and pretty clear, vis was about 15 feet into the water.  As we approached Dyer Island we could see the sea birds congregating on the rocky beach, it was low tide so a lot of beach! 
We never did land on the island but did circumnavigate it.   There was an unoccupied boat anchored about 60 ft off the north end of the island and the boat had a dive flag up.  Finally saw the bubbles but diver never surfaced while we were in that area.  Would like to know what he was diving for!

New born birds

There were some new born birds on the beach also.  They still had the gray furry looking cover rather then the feathers they will develop.   We decided not to go on to the larger island, Prudence Island, and paddled south of Dyer for a ways before heading back to the boat launch.



(Note: Not long ago I was looking at another Blog and I noted the pics were sideways and thought it odd.  Now I am having the same problem!  I have rotated them and saved them, renamed them and saved them and they are always in the correct alignment until I import them here and they are sideways as you can see.  Sorry about that.  I think it has to do with the native format of the camera I used. Will work on fixing the problem but for now you will need to twist your neck some to see the pics!)



It had been a nice hour and a half on the water, our first in several weeks.  It remained calm and sunny the whole time. 

So, when I go to get the Jeep to load the kayaks back on, it drives as if the brakes were stuck.  Took a lot of pedal to get it to move.  But, I got it down on the ramp and we loaded the kayaks.  It was obvious as I cleared the ramp there was a problem that was not going away.  It seemed the parking brake was hung-up but, the handle was down as it should be.  I recycled it several times to no avail!!  Finally we called Jeep for a tow since it was still under warranty.  The tow truck showed up quickly and took it to the local Jeep dealer.  They determined it was not the parking brake but the braking system we had installed for when it was being towed.  But, they did get it to release the brakes.  Several days later we found the problem, a malfunctioning piston that was improperly applying the brakes.  So alls well that ends well.

Jeep catching a ride!

Bottom line it was a nice day on the water and an interesting island to paddle around. 

Geocaching with the Girls

The day dawned bright and sunny (unlike yesterday) and we had promised the Girls to go geocaching! It is sort of a worldwide treasure hunt; you search for hidden caches using GPS info from the website.  You can place caches and/or search for them.  I am in the search mode, since if you place one you also have to be around to check on it periodically.  One of reasons I thought it would be fun was doing it with the Girls.  And, today was our first time geocaching with them.  We all had a ball, but geocaching was only part of the fun.

Frequently, the caches have little trinkets inside them and you trade yours for one in the cache.  Rule is you leave something at least as nice as you take.  Some caches are too small for that, you just sign a log book and go.  We did not want the kids to think of this as a "treasure hunt" for goodies so we decided to go first for a cache that was log book only and it was only about 1/2 mile from the starting point - their house.   Well, it seemed close enough to walk so off we went.  However, the distance on the GPS was "as the crow flies" and after taking a number of turns to follow the available roads and not getting much closer we headed back to get the car!

So we head out in the car and soon find the playground that is our "target".  But, finding a parking place was another issue - a issue the Girls did not understand or like!!  But, eventually we found a spot surprisingly close to the campground!  (Besides, I figured I could spot a cop writing a ticket, if it came to that!)  So after discussing the geocaching plan with the kids, they immediately headed for the playground and forgot all about geocaching!  Which turns out their plan was better then mine!  I searched and searched for the cache and with BJ's help (while she watched the kids, too) homed in on the benches immediately outside the small playground.   A little later I found the cache - it was the smallest I have ever encountered.  About half the size of a sewing thimble and magnetic so it stuck to the metal bench.  Fortunately, the kids were about ready to move on so I showed the cache to them and Reagan was interested in the log which was  a long narrow ribbon of paper rolled up to fit inside.

We pressed on to the next one which was also adjacent to a playground.  While the kids hit the play equipment with BJ in attendance I thought I would check out the cache first.   Fortunate that I did as when I found it it was a little too far off a walking trial through nearby woods and thorns abounded and I knew it was not a good location for the kids.  I went back and after a while we moved on.   The Girls asked about the cache briefly but that was it.

I had one more cache to check out and it was near a local library - I figured BJ would like that one!  BINGO, we found it pretty quickly and it was a gallon plastic jug full of treasures for little geochachers!! 

The Girls and their treasure cache!

Well, after this exciting afternoon of geocacheing we retired to the Girls house and had a cool apple juice together and started planning the next trip!!  Not!