Spending Time in New York

June 28th to July 19th:
It has been a while since we have posted to the blog, so I will try and get caught up with our activities over the last few weeks.

We arrived at Wilkins RV in Bath NY on Tuesday afternoon and got set up in their “campground” which is a section of their parking lot. They have 50 amp electric and water hookups for about 10 RV’s and a dump station located near the campground area. On Wednesday we had them diagnose our leveling system/jack problems. The front two jacks are going to have to be replaced and the parts will have to be ordered from HWH (it will take 2 weeks for them to arrive). We also had them check out our middle air conditioner which has not been working. The A/C is OK, but the control board for the 110 volt connections in our motorhome has gone bad. At some point in time we had an electrical arc and it burned out part of the board. This will also take two weeks to come in. We looked at our Progressive Surge Protector and saw where it was area around the plug connections were cracking. We called Progressive and will have to sent the unit back to them for repairs. Progressive has a lifetime guarantee on their surge protectors so we will only have to pay for the shipping costs. We also decided to have the fiberglass on the coach repaired while we are waiting on the parts to come in. Wilkins RV uses a local shop, Goodrich Auto Repair, to do their body work and we are going to use them to have the repairs made. The downside of living in your RV is the repair work is a “pain in the ass” since you are always on someone else’s schedule and not your own.

We scheduled the fiberglass repairs for July 11-13 and the other repairs for July 15th. Since we already had a reservation in Watkins Glen NY for the week of June 30-July 7, we decided to go ahead and spend our time there rather than wait in Bath for all of the parts to come in. We made the short trip to Watkins Glen and got set up in the Clute Memorial RV Campground which is located across the street from Seneca Lake. The campground is a city run facility with sites that are very close together. There are also tent camping sites located around the campground among the RV sites and we had a family in tents about 5 feet from the back of our motorhome. The campground was packed for the July 4th weekend with lots of kids and families enjoying the holiday. There was a fireworks show on Friday (July 1st) night that lasted about 30 minutes in the park across the street from the campground. We were able to enjoy the fireworks show a few yards away from our RV site.

While we were in the area we visited a number of wineries and distilleries that are located along Seneca Lake. I believe that there are over 65 wineries located around this lake. The wineries are located on the hills around the lake and some of them have great views overlooking the water. The wines in the area range from dry to sweet with a number of places using several types of grapes created at Cornell University in Ithaca NY. We sampled a “Dry Riesling” at several wineries and were surprised by the taste: very dry and not like the sweet Riesling wines we were used to.

On Sunday, July 3rd, we drove over to Honeoye Lake, one of the smaller of the 11 finger lakes, to visit my grandson, Rhys, his mom, Grace McKay, and her parents, George & Pam McKay. George retired from the Houston Police Department last year and they bought a house on the lake to spend their summers at. The house needed a lot of work and they are almost finished with all of the renovations to the inside of the house. Grace and Rhys were spending a few days visiting her parents and so we took advantage of their invitation to spend a day a their “lake house”. We had a great time visiting with everyone and capped off the day with George giving us a tour of the lake in his boat.

While we were in Watkins Glen we took a couple of days to ride our bikes along the Catherine Valley Trail which is a rails to trails path that runs for a number of miles from Watkins Glen south. The path follows an old canal/channel for several miles then goes along an abandoned railway. We stopped in Montour Falls to see the waterfall that is above the town. Again with the lack of rain there was very little flow down the waterfall. One day after our ride we stopped in at the Rooster Fish Brewing place located in Watkins Glen and sampled some of their beers. One evening we watched a Little League All Star playoff game at the field directly behind our camping site. The team from Watkins Glen beat the team from Elvira NY 8 to 1 to advance in the playoffs. We also got our inflatable kayak out one day and paddled up a channel that runs into Seneca Lake for several miles before returning back to the campground.

We also spent one day hiking the gorge in the Watkins Glen State Park. There are a number of waterfalls located within the park, some small and some much larger. There are over 800 stone steps along the path that takes you from the main entrance to the upper entrance to the park. We walked the Gorge Trail up to the Upper Entrance before taking the rim trails back to our Jeep. They have a shuttle bus for anyone who wanted to ride back after walking up all of the steps along the gorge. This area of New York has had very little rainfall this year, so the waterfalls are not as spectacular as they could be. Even though the trail is only about 2 miles in length (one way), the fact we were walking up and down steps the whole pathway wore us out. The morning started out cool, but by the time we finished we were both sweating as the day heated up.

On Thursday, July 7th, we packed up the motorhome and headed back to Bath NY. We got set up in the Wilkins RV campground (we had to wait about 2 hours for a space to open up) to spend the weekend before starting the body fiberglass repairs on Monday. We had trouble starting the motorhome after our wait for an open campground space, so we added that to our list of repairs to be done on the July 15th. When it rains it pours as they say. On Friday we walked a trail a the Mossy Bark Park which overlooks the city of Bath. The week-end was spent cleaning the motorhome and walking around Bath.

Monday morning we drove the Duchess from Wilkins RV to the Goodrich Auto Repair shop which is located a few miles south. We dropped the motorhome off for the repairs and headed off to Rochester NY to do some shopping. We made the 1.5 hour drive north and did some shopping at Costco, Trader Joe’s (no wine available in New York stores) and Sam’s along with a couple of other stops along the way. We came back to Bath to Goodrich and worked on getting the motorhome into the one spot they have for overnight hookups (30 amp electric connection only). On Tuesday we took a drive up to Letchworth State Park and visited the Grand Canyon of New York. There a three large waterfalls located along the gorge in the park and we walked the trails along the Genesee River. We ate lunch in the Glen Iris Inn which was the home of William Pryor Letchworth who donated the land for the park.

Wednesday we visited the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport NY. Curtiss was born in Hammondsport, became a bicycle mechanic, then a bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. He became the first American to take off and land a plane on water at Keuka Lake in 1908. He was an early pioneer in the aviation business who specialized in aircraft that took off & landed on water. He invented the first “fifth wheel” travel trailer that was used as a recreational vehicle.  Curtiss set a land speed record for motorcycles that stood for 20 years. Unfortunately he died in the late 1920’s while still in his fifties. His company merged with another aviation manufacturer to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation which is still in business today.

On Wednesday we attended a “Music in the Park” concert in Bath with Blue Eyed Soul providing the music. On Thursday night we went to Hammondsport to their “Music in the Park” with a group called Mystic Karma. Both groups were very good and they played songs that we had grown up with.

Friday the motorhome went back into the shop to have the repairs done. The jacks were repaired and our diesel engine starter was replaced. However the A/C controller board was the wrong amperage and the tail light was the wrong one. Each of these had to reordered and hopefully will arrive on Monday.

Saturday we rode our bikes around Bath and then on Sunday we took it easy while I watched the final round of the British Open golf tournament. Monday was Connie’s birthday and we celebrated by having “breakfast” at a local restaurant and then our evening meal at a local family style establishment. We spent the day visiting the wineries around Keuka Lake. The Keuka Lake Wine Trail has only about 15 wineries (which is a lot but not when compared to Seneca Lake Wine Trail)surrounding the lake and we were able to make the entire loop during the day.

Tuesday the board was replaced that controls our A/C units (it came in Monday) and we packed up and headed east to a campground near Binghamton NY.

Tomkins Campground–Lawrenceville PA

 

Friday (6/24) to Tuesday (6/28):

We got set up in our site at Tompkins Campground and were able to get the motor home and the Jeep on the site. We had been having some more problems with our jacks and leveling system so we made an appointment at Wilkins RV in Bath NY to have the problems diagnosed.

On Saturday we made a trip up the road to Corning NY to visit the Museum of Glass. We spent about 4.5 hours in the museum and did not see everything. They had demonstrations of glass blowing, fiber optics and the properties of different types of glass. The had some glass items that were several thousand years old from all around the world. Very interesting place although we did not take any pictures inside.

We took it easy the rest of the time we were there. Connie went “swimming” in the lake and I walked a trail around the lake one day. We cleaned the outside of the motorhome along with oiling down the cabinets inside on another day.

On Tuesday we packed up and were about the leave to spend the night in the Wilkins RV campground when we could not get our jacks to retract. We tried several times before I added some hydraulic fluid to the system and we finally got the jacks to retract. We made the drive north to Bath and parked our motorhome for the night in the Wilkins RV “campground”.

Ives Run COE Campground–Tioga PA

 

Saturday (6/18) to Friday (6/24):

This was an unusual Saturday for us since we are moving between campgrounds. We try not to move on Fridays or week-ends, but sometimes you don’t have a choice because of the site availability or lack thereof. Even though Ives Run COE Campground is only 7 miles from Hills Creek State Park, we had to take the long way around (about 25 miles) using US Hwy 6 east and then US Hwy 15 North before turning south on PA Hwy 287 to the campground entrance. This is a very nice COE campground that fills up on the weekends and stays almost full through out the week. We pulled up to the office and were told that our site was still occupied: we had arrived at 1:00 PM and check-out time in this park is 3:00 PM. We went up to the Visitor Center and got some information about the park before returning back to the Duchess for lunch. We turned on the generator and heated up some left-overs as we waited for our spot to open. About the time we finished lunch, our site was available. We backed into our Site 58 and got set up. Unfortunately trees are blocking our satellite dish and we only get 2 over the air TV stations. On the good side we have great AT&T cell service in the park. We walked around the park that evening to get a feel of where things are in the campground.

Sunday I was feeling “under the weather” and we took it easy at our site. I called my dad and wished him a happy Father’s Day, but other than that we did very little. Connie did ride her bike around the roads in our camping area.

Monday we travelled over Colton Point State Park and Leonard Harrison State Park which are located across from each other on the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. The depth of the canyon at this point is around 800 feet. Further south the canyon depth in closer to 1,500 feet. The Pine Creek runs along the bottom of the canyon and there is a “rails to trails” path along the creek. The creek was used during the logging days of the 19th century as a way to float the logs down to the saw mills located in and around Williamsport PA. Leonard Harrison State Park is named after the man who donated the land to the state for the park. He was a banker who owned and developed the land as a public picnic area called “The Lookout”. In 1922 he gave the land to the state and the CCC did a lot of work within the park during the 1930’s. Colton Point is named after a lumberman who supervised harvesting of trees in the area. The state purchased the land for the park around 1900 and the CCC built the park during the 1930’s. We viewed a short film in the Visitor’s Center at Leonard Harrison State Park that gave the history of the canyon (formed by glaciers during the ice age), how the Native Americans used the canyon for travel, how most of the original trees (white pines up to 250 feet tall) were cut down for lumber and then how the parks were built to restore the area to it’s former beauty.

On Tuesday we travelled over to our next campground which is located about 15 miles from Ives Run. It is another COE campground that our current neighbors told us was very tight to get into some of the sites and most were very shady (not good for satellite dishes). We got a temporary pass into the park, checked to see if there were any sites available (there were not) and drove into the campground. We found our site and it is among the trees. Our motorhome will fit in the site but we may have to park our Jeep in the overflow area. We did some checking on other campground in southern New York, but they are either completely booked and very expensive.

On Wednesday we took our bikes over to the Pine Creek Trail which runs along the Pine Creek inside the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It is a “rails to trails” path that follows an old abandoned railroad bed. We rode for several miles before stopping at one of the water falls that empty into Pine Creek. We counted and there were two hundred steps from the bottom to the top of the falls (and two hundred back down to the bottom). The Pine Creek Trail is nice because it is very flat and level while the sides of the canyon are very steep.

On Thursday we took the kayak out and put it in Hammond Lake. The water was rough and we had to keep rowing to keep the kayak heading into the waves. Friday was spent packing up and making the move to Tomkins Campground which is located a few miles north of Ives Run.

Hills Creek State Park–Wellsboro PA

 

Wed (6/15) to Sat (6/18):

We made the short drive from Bald Eagle State Park to Wellsboro PA and then tried to find Hills Creek State Park. Our Garmin GPS sent us down several county roads some of which were not paved. We finally stopped at the top of a hill, unhitched the Jeep, and Connie attempted to find the park. She finally found the park office and was told we had been assigned to Site 8.  I then drove the motorhome into the park and we managed to navigate to our site. This park is definitely not “big rig friendly” as far as the roads go. They have a strange numbering system in the park: Site 1, Site 2, Site 8 and then Site 11 (nothing in between). If you are not careful, you will drive right passed your site.The site itself was large enough once we were able to maneuver by backing up into the site. We later found out that the road that goes over the dam that is the main entrance to the park is only rated for 10 tons (we are much larger than that), so we had to take a back way into the park. Our satellite dish found one satellite so we were able to watch DirecTV even though we were situated among a number of large trees.

Once we finished setting up, we decided to take the trail that goes around the small lake in the middle of the park. One side of the lake is planted with spruce trees while the other side has a number of pines tree planted. The original hardwoods in this area were all harvested before the park was created. The trail was about 2.5 miles and then it was another mile back to our campsite. The temperature was pleasant and the trail was not too wet. Within the park we saw lots of chipmunks, squirrels, deer, one bobcat and one fox.

On Thursday we went into Wellsboro and walked around the downtown area. Wellsboro is the county seat and the downtown area is full of shops and restaurants. For being a small town of about 3,500 residents, it has an active downtown area (no Walmart yet). Early in the 20th century the town was the shipping point and trade center for a large area of northern Pennsylvania. It had fruit evaporators, flour & woolen mills, marble works, saw mills, foundry & machine shops and manufactories of cut glass, chemicals rugs, bolts, cigars, carriages and furniture. Very few of these are active today. We had seen an old “Diner” that looked interesting and so we ended up having pie and coffee at the Wellsboro Diner which began operating in 1939.

We also went out to the Tioga Visitor Center and got information about the area, especially the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania which is located a few miles west of Wellsboro.

On Friday we again went into Wellsboro for the 75th Annual Laurel Festival. They have a lot of vendors (you have to be invited to the festival) selling all types of crafts, pictures/paintings & assorted knick-knacks along with groups/individuals selling all types of food. We walked around the festival, saw the “Queens” from the local towns getting their pictures taken and both ate Gyros & Bloomin’ Onions for lunch. A number of the vendors have been coming to this show for over 30 years. On Saturday they are having a “Festival Run”, “Festival Bike Race” and a parade through the downtown streets. We will end up missing this since we are moving north tomorrow.

On Friday afternoon I started to feel a “bit under the weather” so we returned back to the campground where we both took naps. I continued to feel bad throughout the night (getting cold and then hot) before my fever broke early Saturday morning. We slept late on Saturday morning since we have a very short drive to our next campground. I had cleaned up the loop road out of the campsite earlier in the week by trimming a number of low hanging limbs. We still had a very tight turn and if we had been any longer I’m not sure we could have made it. Again we had to exit through the back entrance to the park along a number of unpaved roads (getting everything dusty).

Bald Eagle State Park–Pennsylvania

 

Thursday (6/9) to Wednesday (6/15):

We drove north from Harrisburg PA after getting the Duchess out of the shop to Bald Eagle State Park. The valley, creek, mountain and state park are named for the American Indian chief Woapalanne, (wopo lonnie) which means “bald eagle”. There are occasional sighting of bald eagles in the park, but you are more likely to see one of the number of osprey that nest every year around the park. The COE built a 100 foot high dam called Foster Joseph Sayers Dam in 1969 on the creek and the park opened in 1971. Foster Joseph Sayers was from the area and won the Congressional Medal of Honor for displaying gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in combat on November 12, 1944 near Thionville, France.

We were assigned to Site 2 in the non-pet loop of the campground. This campground has one loop for campers with pets and another loop for those without. This is the first campground we have every been in with this type of division among the sites. The site was a little tight to get into (a back-in) but we were able to manage. We were definitely the biggest rig in the park.

We had full hookups but only 30 amp electric. This meant that we could only run one air conditioner at a time and had to watch which electric devices (especially anything that produces heat) were on at the same time. Luckily the temperature were mild at night (a couple of nights in the 40’s) and most of the days the temps stayed in the 70’s. We had a great AT&T wireless signal in the park since there was a tower near the entrance to the park.

Sunday we travelled about 25 miles to State College PA. This is the home of Penn State University and is also known as Happy Valley. We visited the campus of the university, went through the Palmer Museum and toured the Penn State Arboretum. The weather was great and we enjoyed the day.

Most of the time we were in the park we went hiking, biking and kayaking. The lake is 1.730 acres and sits in the valley flanked by the Bald Eagle Mountains. There are a number of trails inside the park of various length along with a marina & beach. The have built a Nature Inn Lodge in this park: a facility with a few rooms that overlook the lake. This is the first one in the Pennsylvania state park system and its success will determine whether or not they built them in other parks. One day we biked around the community of Howard which is on the other side of the lake from the campground. It is a small town with a number of Victorian style houses.

On Tuesday we rode our bikes to the top of the road that ends at the Nature Inn Lodge.. Very nice facility with a great view of the lake.

One day on the lake it was windy and we had to work consistently paddling to keep the kayak going straight. The next day was calm and the lake looked like glass on top. Much easier in the kayak when the conditions are this way.

 

It was a very relaxing few days at Bald Eagle. We met a couple from Pennsylvania who started full timing about 6 months ago (John & Jean). They are in a 20 foot Lance travel trailer pulled by a diesel RAM pickup with a lockable top on the bed of the pickup for storage. Very tight quarters but it does allow them to get in almost any campground in the country. We also met both of the campground hosts who are from Pennsylvania and both couples are just working the month of June at the park.