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Published: August 31st 2008
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My Pumpkin
Our last days together before the big move to AK Now let’s see where were we? Oh yes N.J. ,well we were expecting a bad storm the night before we left N.J. so Chris and I loaded the rig back onto big red before the storm could hit and decided to drive down to Susan’s house to camp for the night. It served two purposes. 1. To see the kids off, and 2. to hide from the storm that was heading our way. It’s a good thing we did because we heard there was a lot of damage from the storm, downed trees, power lines etc., right where we had been.
Well with all the hugs, kisses and tears finished we were off………
Which way, you say? Well, straight across and into western PA, It was a nice drive through the edge of the Pocono Mts. Winding our way though a small Amish and Mennonite community where we stopped and picked up some supplies. We ended our day after a bit of twisting and turning in a beautiful small park, called “Hill Creek” State Campground. We picked a great site on the lake and cozied in for the night, well, kinda. Unfortunately when we went to cook dinner we
the roads of PA
beautiful countyside discovered we had no water. So we spent the rest of the evening on the phone with the manufacture of our water pump trying to figure out the problem (fortunately, they were 3 hours behind us in Calif.). Anyway they had Chris sticking this hose here and that hose there, they even had him sucking on the end so hard he turned a bright red, I thought for sure he was going to pass out. Well after all that we got to the root of the problem….. It was broken! By now It was too late to late in the day to get a new pump shipped, so we made arrangements for a new one to be over nighted and waiting for us at our next destination, Niagara Falls. With that figured out we went to bed with visions of water pumps dancing in our heads.
The next day was again beautiful and we started our day with a hike through the park and Packed up and we were off again. Winding our way through the scenic hwy’s of Upper PA and NY state.
Imagine now it’s June 17th and we have arrived, (dun ta da duuu…..) at
Four Mile Creek State Park to be exact. We were just minutes from the Canadian border and Niagara Falls. We had pulled in late that day and to our surprise we found a primo spot right on lake Ontario. Did I say lake? Oh my Gosh!! It was beautiful, Chris and I spent the next two weeks calling it an Ocean! We have never seen any of the great lakes before and I’ve decided they should be called the GREAT, GREAT, GREAT Big Lakes. Our primo spot only lasted for one night and we were sent packing to our reserved site a bit further from the lake bu, it was still very nice. So, as we were settling in a gentleman and his buddy, (let’s just call them John and Hank) pulled into our site wearing their red baseball caps. I had flash backs to our visit to Oz and thought oh great now what, but all was well. You see, they are part of the parks volunteer program “the red caps”. They just came to say hi, and John also being an owner of a truck camper wanted to check out big red. As it turns out they are
family time
Me, Marleena,Keri, Pat, and Brother Bill a hoot, we were fortunate to get to spend some time and even a dinner with John, Nancy, Hank, and Pat super nice, we got lots of” tip” and “don’t miss spots” from them. Hey ya’all, thanks.
Ok, so I forgot to mention my Mom and Howie (my step dad) have flown from FL. up to Canada and took a train tour ending in Niagara, and will now be staying with us. We spent the next week together in big red seeing sights, eating, and playing games like rummicube that Robin our bookkeeper gave us before we left town, LOVE IT!
Let me tell you, Niagara Falls is spectacular. I may not seem like a big deal to see the Falls ,but it’s spectacular! The raw power and size can really put you in your place. We spent a couple of days in the park being amazed. On Sunday we took a ride back into town for some provisions and discovered Niagara actually has a “little Italy”, who knew? Well we decided to eat lunch at Cosmos (I think I remembered the name right) anyway it’s a restaurant there in little Italy. The food was fine nothing
like sisters
Keri and cousin Julia to write home about, but it was very interesting. The restaurant was fairly slow except for this big area of tables all together it seemed strange everyone was wearing black suits and ties. One of the older gentlemen was congratulating some of the younger ones for school I think. It all had a bit of strange feeling like a big family that meets each week for a family meal. We were all surmising what was going on. Later we were talking with some locals about it and it turns out that apparently little Italy has one of the largest active “families” to come out of NY City. Yeah , you know the kind, can you say Mafia? Well it turns out we strolled into their “family restaurant”. Cool, interesting, or scary, you decide.
So after a week together, Mom and Howie left to race off to N.J. for my nieces High School Graduation, (GO Alyssia). Chris and I stayed a few more days just relaxing and enjoying the scenery. And then we were off again.
We headed south through Buffalo and oh what a hair raising event that was. If you may have noticed we have this really
great storage pod that sits on top of big red holding all of our off season clothes and extra supplies. Well that pod puts us at about 12’10” high so no big deal right? We just watch for low bridge signs and go around. WRONG, it seems Buffalo has a ton of low bridges. Everywhere we turned we kept getting caught by bridges and stopping traffic to get turned around to find yet another way out. Lordy! We won’t be going that way again anytime soon. Oh yes, I should also mention we were running on empty, gas that is. You see big red only does diesel and apparently Buffalo doesn’t like diesel. So the whole time were dodging bridges were watching the gas gauge praying well find fuel and the highway soon. There would be no pushing big red. So a quick 15 minute drive through town became an hour or more of white knuckle gallivanting all about the city, in a desperate attempt to get out. Finally fuel found along with access to the highway, with calamity averted we high tailed it out of town.
We safely meandered our way along the shore line, oops I mean
Pats Philly
Chris, Keri and Pat enjoy a world famous Philly Cheese sandwich in where else Philly. Lake line of Lake Erie, south into PA yet again. We camped overnight on Lake Erie and were off early the next morning for Ohio. Were we have an appointment just outside Akron to get a few of the glitches fixed on big red. Chris is now determined to rip the pod off the roof of the rig but it cost good money and I say no way! So stay tuned to see who will win that debate, and to here the tall tales of Ohio.
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jlbneb@aol.com
non-member comment
Four Mile Creek
Hey, fun to read what you had written about Hank and John. They sure are a hoot!. Your trip is so exciting to read about, thanks for sending us all the pics and info. Keep in touch and stay safe and happy. love, John and Nancy