QC13-01 Western New York 4th

July 1, 2011 (Fri) Home to Prattsburg, NY (336/336 miles) - The week leading up to this trip turned out to be a surprising prelude to the trip itself. Mark had a heart catheterization to place three stents in one of his coronary arteries. What was initially thought by the doctor to be a possible restriction turned out to be a "real mess" (the doctor's words). A ten minute procedure turned into an hour and a half. "Everything is beautiful now" (again the doctors words). Since there was no heart damage his recovery was fast enough to allow us to make the trip as planned.

We were up early so were able to finish packing Q, hitch up Lamont and be on the road by 7:30 (66° clear), just before the heavy crush of commuter traffic. The traffic on the Garden State Parkway was surprisingly light for that time of day so we made good time to our first stop - to get gas in Paramus, NJ before crossing into New York State. Then at 11:30 we made a pit stop to exercise Lamont and eat lunch. That's when we discovered that our sewer hose had taken up a new residence along the highway somewhere. The storage tube cap was off and the hose gone. An unscheduled stop at a Walmart in Johnson City, NY yielded a new one. We were also able to pick up a few of the things we'd forgotten - getting ready to go was far from routine this time.

Drivers who arrogantly thumb their nose at polite and civilized traffic flow through construction areas are a double annoyance to us. A sign indicated that two lanes were merging into one as we approached a work zone. A long line of traffic had already merged well ahead of traffic control cones (unusual!) when a tour bus from New Jersey pulled out of the line several vehicles behind us with the obvious intent to get ahead of everyone. The 18 wheeler just ahead of us saw him coming and moved over to block him. It made going through the construction zone almost fun knowing his plans had been thwarted.

Mike, Dorcas and their son Steven and family were the only ones at "Laverondack Park" when we got here at about 3:45 but their many guests soon began to arrive. Sleeping accommodations in the camp itself are very limited so all manner of abodes, from tents to motor homes, are scattered over the property. Our area at the bottom of the hill looked like a small campground. All indications are that it's going to be a fun weekend.

July 2, 2011 (Sat) Prattsburg, NY (2) 54/85° - Breakfast was on our own as we like it. That way we can go about our morning routine at our own pace. Mid morning we drove up the hill (Mark is not up to that kind of strenuous hike yet) and joined the festivities - which amounted to sitting and visiting. The many kids were just beginning to stir so it was a relatively peaceful time. Later on three more cars came up the hill and the real party began. Lunch was pie - blueberry crumb, multi-berry, apple, apple caramel, peach, toll house, Margarita, key-lime, mince meat, chocolate chip and others. For desert we had hamburger pie. (It would be hard to find a more nutritious meal.) A Ladder ball tournament, in three courts, took up most of the afternoon. And of course there was swimming, boating and fishing - not to mention sun bathing. The evening meal was a BYO meat BBQ with salads to share. Desert was left over pie. In the evening, after the old folks (us) went to bed there were fireworks all around - though not at Laverondack Park. They were banned here.

July 3, 2011 (Sun) Prattsburg, NY (3) 68/90° - This is a communications dead area - no phone, no internet, no TV and very little radio. Apparently AT&T has a tower near enough for some to get a weak signal but Verizon is not using it. So after breakfast we took Lamont and went into town. Joy went into the small supermarket there while Mark tried unsuccessfully to connect to the internet. We were able to get phone service though and found that no one had tried to reach us since we'd been out of touch. A relief! We came back and spent some time puttering as we waited for things to get started up the hill.

Mike and Bill got up at 5:30 to start the fire and put the meat on to cook. Bill was going to make his famous pulled pork, an all day process. As we waited, we grazed. All kinds of munchies found their way onto the sharing tables and from there into the many mouths. Leftover pie was also available along with cookies and other sweets. Time was spent playing games and sharing stories until the pork was finally ready - not that any one was starving. Pulled pork, sweet corn, salt potatoes and salad (and pie) conspired to overload our stomachs. It was well worth the wait.

July 4, 2011 (Sun) Prattsburg, NY (away) 55/80° - We haven't seen Susan and Paul in several years. We had planned to stop in Belfast, NY last year on our way to Seattle but our sudden diversion to Florida kept us from doing it. It was good to see them today. We spent most of the too short time catching up on family doings - theirs and ours. Susan fixed a nice roasted chicken for lunch and we went over to the Fiddler's Pub Irish Restaurant in Angelica, NY for dinner. It was a good day, well spent.

July 5, 2011 (Sun) Prattsburg, NY (away) 53/89° - Blasted Rock Farm is owned by Joy's high school friend Stephanie (nee Barbara). The farm is located on 140 some acres in the hills north of Naples, NY. Her passion, other than isolation - she was tempted to buy the farm next door a couple of years back so she wouldn't have such close neighbors - is Icelandic horses. She has 4 as well as one Arabian and a mauve gray mule. Joy hadn't seen her in 50 years but they had no trouble at all getting reacquainted. In addition to nonstop conversation she showed us around her very nice (and large) post and beam house overlooking the rolling hills of the Finger Lakes wine country. She also gave us a very rough tour of the far less developed (and forested) parts of her property in her 4 wheel drive diesel powered ATV. (It was a two-seater but we stuffed in three.) The ride was almost as exciting as an amusement park ride and probably more dangerous. The road, a stony washed out path really, was so rough, even at 3 miles per hour, that Mark wondered if his healing wounds would survive. We'll have sore muscles tomorrow from keeping ourselves aboard - especially those times when we were on the verge of rolling over. We had a great time with this interesting and delightful lady and we enjoyed our afternoon with her.

On our drive through through Naples in the morning we stopped at a quilt shop so that Joy could see what new and different fabric is now available. And of course she found some that needed to join her stash. Lunch was at one of the less interesting restaurants (we learned later) in Naples. It was a huge place but the food was just above diner grade - good but not exceptional.

Q079067 Mike and Dorcas' Laverondack Park (x5)
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July 6, 2011 (Wed) Prattsburg, NY to Fayetteville, NY (101/437 miles) - The drive through New York State wine country was beautiful - rolling green hills dotted with vineyards overlooking sparkling blue lakes in the valleys. The well kept Amish farms here and there helped make everything seem more prosperous than the last time we were in the area. Then the vineyards had shown signs of neglect, weeds between the rows of trellises and even amongst the vines themselves. We saw very little of that neglect today.

The lush greenery turned to teeming masses and heavy traffic when we hit US 5 & 20 and turned East. We resisted Hildene's attempts to put us up on the New York State Thruway (I-90) in favor of more interesting environs, as urban and congested as they may have been. We did opt for the interstates when we moved into the more hardcore city traffic around Syracuse.

Shane was at camp and Dave at work when we got to Fayetteville at about 11:30 so we had some time alone with Jennifer. We had burritos at a nearby Chipotle Mexican Grill for lunch and she showed us the house they will be buying in a couple of weeks. From the outside it looks like a very nice house with a big yard in a quiet neighborhood. We look forward to seeing the inside after they have moved in.

July 7, 2011 (Thu) Fayetteville, NY (2) 60/83° - Slow lazy day (for a change). Shane went off to "camp", Dave headed out to see his first client of the day and Jennifer retreated to her office giving us some needed relaxation time. And we took advantage. Seafood (at Red Lobster) for lunch, Pizza (at home) for dinner.

Q079170 Jennifer and Dave's yard (x2)

July 8, 2011 (Fri) Fayetteville, NY to Home (298/735 miles) 65/93° - The highway patrol was really out in force today. Like lurking predator insects they sat in hidey holes along the interstates waiting to pounce. Every once in a while there would be one devouring its prey with roof lights excitedly flashing. It was actually good to see them so active. But where were they on the Garden State Parkway when what might have been a fractured (and lost) funeral procession created havoc through the already chaotic traffic? Hazard lights flashing, disabling directional signals, cars of all shapes and sizes going too fast darted from one lane to another without warning and took exits (plural) willy nilly. At one point a small group suddenly stopped in the center lane ahead of us to wait for an opening to cut across to the exit! It's not easy to stop a motor home going 60 mph with a car in tow in so short a distance. The supplementary braking system we installed in the CRV paid for itself in those few short seconds.

Other than this one bit of excitement it was a good trip home. Traffic on US 17 through New York State was relatively light and the crush of weekenders headed for the Jersey shore had not begun to build. And we missed the dangerous storm that uprooted trees and flooded much of metropolitan northern New Jersey after we got home. We even had time to unpack before the heavy rain hit.

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