"We Miss You Guys"

July 22, 2011
Four Mile Creek State Park, Youngstown, NY

With all of the tasks on the list completed and everything packed up, we were right on schedule for departure this morning. We were up early and on the road by 8:15, with an easy driving day ahead of us. Geri and Alicia did a great job of directing me as I backed out of the driveway, making sure we didn't scrape the hitch on the way out. We got "we miss you already" messages from everyone during the day as we traveled.

Our route was pretty simple: I-91 North to Springfield/Holyoke in Massachusetts, I-90 West to Buffalo, then North to Lake Ontario. We did have an interesting diversion near Albany where I-87 and I-90 converge when I thought the GPS told me to take the ramp to the right and Geri asked me "Isn't that I-90 to the left?". She was correct, of course, and we did a quick loop around a few side streets to get back on track.

We started getting "Call EZ-Pass" messages at the toll booths, so I checked our account online ("good") then called. It sounds like our transponders are getting weak. The batteries aren't user-changeable, so they're sending new ones and we'll deal with any missed payments later. The new ones will go to South Dakota, of course, so we won't see them until our next mail sometime in August. Not that I want to see how much the tolls are, either; it's expensive but better than burning a lot of fuel to take an alternate route.

Speaking of that, we stopped for fuel late in the day (first fill-up since May), and did our annual propane purchase at the same time, since Flying J Truck Stops have a convenient process for that. Since the coach has a 37-gallon propane tank (equivalent to almost 8 of the 20 pound cylinders) and we only use propane for the stoves and, when "off the grid", the refrigerator, we end up filling the tank about once a year. This time, it took 16.4 gallons; not bad since our last top-off was 8/11/2010.

We arrived at our destination, Four Mile Creek State Park, just after 5:00 and were soon set up in a nice 50 Amp site. The park has 275 campsites but only half have electricity and, of those, only a small number have 50 Amp circuits. Like many public facilities, this one was designed years ago when RVs were very different. That said, by reserving early we were able to get the site we needed. This week's heat wave has made having good electrical service a necessity to keep the pups comfortable. OK; to keep us comfortable as well. Actually, it was warm enough today that we ran the air conditioners (via the generator) all day as we were driving. Ah, the comforts of travel...

This park is located right along the shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of (duh) Four Mile Creek, which is a couple of miles east of the mouth of the Niagara River which forms the US-Canada border here. While nearby Fort Niagara is the main historical focal point, the area where the park is was used as a launching point for various forces all the way back to the French and Indian War (1756-1763).

We're here for three nights, so I'll continue this over the weekend...