Aaaaannnnnnddd We’re off!

I can honestly say that I felt a lot more prepared this year for our big trip than I did last year. Of course last year this was all new to us and, in my opinion I did not plan the trip out very well. Changes and flexibility were the name of the game but so was being unsure of a lot of things. This year was going to be different.

Because of my physical limitations from the accident last year, I had to load the bus a little bit at a time. That worked very well as I could pack clothes first - seeing as we would need long pants and sweaters and they definitely were not going to be worn before we left. I made lists. Lots of lists. But it truly felt like I was accomplishing things when I could cross more stuff off the lists. Bottom line: I was organised and methodical this year. That worked like a charm. It felt odd just 2 days before the trip to literally have nothing to do except recheck my food lists. I even had the food loaded up the day before we left so there was almost nothing left to day the next morning. We could just get up, shower and leave. We would be on the road by 7:00 am and off to our first stop. Ahhhhh those best laid plans……

Saturday afternoon Rick did his final checks of the rig. Oil, brake fluid and transmission fluid were all good. Windshield wiper fluid tank was filled to the brim. All that was left was to check the tire pressure. That’s where the best laid plans went a little sideways. One of the inside tires on the back was flat. Wait! What? How did that happen? In the end the how and the why’s do not matter. That is, in fact, why we check these things before we head out. So, Rick used his compressor and filled the tire up. We now had to see if it would hold the air overnight. If it didn’t, then we would find a place the next day to get it fixed. That would likely be Canadian Tire since nothing else would be open on a Sunday. It would delay our trip by a day. Not really a big deal I would just have to contact everyone and bump our dates by a day. Best case scenario is we wait until daylight to check the tire and then decide at that time if we could leave. It turns out, the tire did hold the air overnight so we were starting as planned. Two hours later than planned but same day.

The actual route and destination for each day was planned way back in July. We were planning to visit the DesiLu Studio and Lucille Ball Museum in Franklin New york on our way to Connaught Ohio. Because of our late start, we did not get to Franklin until around 4:00 pm and that would not give us enough time to go through he museums before they closed for the day, so we made the decision to just push through to Connaught. When I plan our trip back we will likely stay in Connaught again and visit the museums on our way home.

When we started, I was reminded that the only way to know that our Jeep was still behind us was to look for it's shadow (when it is sunny). When we started out we could see it.

The actual drive through New York and Pennsylvania was pleasant and scenic. We traveled this route coming home last years so it was somewhat familiar.

My first day of travel seems to be an adjustment period where my brain and my finger on my camera do not have great communications. For example, we noticed that there were a lot of broken road signs on the highway between Watertown and Syracuse. Lots. not just one or two but probably a half dozen or more. Did i think to take a picture or 2? Nope. it occurred to me later. Much later.

The most direct route to where we were going was to stay on I90 right across the country.  While not the most scenic route, it did get us to South Dakota in just 4 days. It mean that we saw a lot of this: 

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And this.....

                                                                     And more of this.......

That pretty much described what we saw of New York State. We did see several signs that said to watch for prancing animals....

We did not see a single prancing animal! Not one! probably for the best though. Although they would be entertaining, they would probably be very distracting to all of the drivers on the road. 😁😏

It started to rain just before we left New York and entered Pennsylvania. it is hard to get good pictures when it is raining! 

Mostly what was remarkable in Pennsylvania were the grape orchards. Miles and miles of them. We started to see some orchards at the western edge of New York but they seemed to the dominant crop throughout that part of Pennsylvania. not surprisingly, there were signs for many different wineries in that area. 

While there are many times my brain just didn't tell my hand to take a picture during this first day, there were also times when I was so awe-struck by what I was looking at that it simply did not occur to me to take a picture. Such was the case when we passed Erie County Memorial Gardens Cemetery. What I saw was an airplane surrounded by small American flags. Hundreds of them!  It was truly a sight to behold. I found a couple of pictures online but they do not do justice to the site from I90. If you are passing through that way, keep an eye out for it. 

It did not take long to cross through Pennsylvania and enter Ohio. 

 

Our destination for the night was Connaught and it was just a short drive across the state line. As you can see, it is raining quite a bit by the time we reached there.  We pass through the Seneca Tribal lands before reaching our destination. The overpasses in this section were marked with the symbol of the Iroquois Nation, made up of 5 tribes, including the Seneca. 

We spent the night at Evergreen Lake Park. The campground was beautiful and appeared to have lots of things to do, including a mini-putt. However, the fact that it was pouring rain and we were both exhausted at the time meant we really did not take advantage of all the park had to offer. I hope to be able to get back there on our return trip.