Stop and Pay Toll (bring lots of money)

Day 41 Grand Island NY to Lake George NY 375 Miles

(would have been shorter, but we took a 'scenic drive')

Sunday June 7, 2009

Family of geese at the KOA Niagara Falls

Woke up to cloudy skies, as predicted. No big deal, it's a traveling day and most will be on the New York Thruway, I90. Should be called the New York Screw-way. We checked the card at the toll booth and saw that we couldn't get off this highway without giving them our firstborn and a pint of blood. Our firstborn eats too much and we're both on medications that eliminate us from blood donations, so they settled for a mere $42.00. Aren't they wonderful?

We stopped along the highway at a service center for lunch. As we were leaving I stopped to pick up a Sunday Newspaper. I gave the guy $5 and he informed me that the paper was $6. WHAT?!! I decided real quick that I didn't want to read it THAT much...I mean, I'm only going to throw it away in a couple of hours!

While heading east along the highway, we were traveling along the same route as the Erie Canal. I can remember being 5 or 6 years old an playing some kiddie songs, 78rpm, on the wind-up Victrola (Man, I'm really dating myself here!) . One of the songs that I would play over and over was 'Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal'. I just 'Googled' it and was surprised to see most versions say 'fifteen miles'. I was sure it was fifteen years...apparently the kiddie version did say that. Lyrics. What a huge endeavor at the time. They dug this 363 mile canal, from the Hudson River to Lake Erie with shovels!

After we left the highway we decided we'd take a 'scenic' route around Sacandaga Lake on country roads to Lake George. And thus began our very own one hour episode of *LOST*

We actually knew where we were, just couldn't get oriented. The country roads have unmarked intersections, the locals know where they are, so why put any signs up? Poor Tom Tom was trying to get us back to the shortest route to Lake George...'Turn left, then turn left, Turn around when possible!, over and over. But Jim wouldn't listen. I wasn't much better with the map. The map had state routes, but not these county roads. Plus, we were right in the middle of the crease on the atlas where the pages meet (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it) and it was even harder to read. Jim was getting really pissed off....he'd been driving for over 300 miles already, and you have to remember that when we're towing the Jeep we can't back up and you need a LOT of room to make a u-turn. I was pretty sure we were going in the wrong direction, but with the solid cloud cover, I couldn't get my bearings from the sun. I pointed this out to Jim, who told me I was wrong. Then I noticed Tom Tom (who had been silenced) had the destination mileage going UP and not down. Then I did something that really freaked Jim out...

In May of 1976 we took our first cross country trip with the kids. My dad, who had been a boy scout and a very careful person, took me aside before we left and pressed a pocket compass into my hand. I laughed at him, "Dad, what the heck is this for?" He told me it was in case we got lost. I informed him that there were plenty of road signs that would tell me which direction I was headed. But he insisted...just to be safe. And I listened and put the compass in my purse. It must have made an impression on me because I have been carrying a compass with me ever since...just to be safe. I'm sure I'm probably the only woman on planet earth who has been carrying a compass with her for 33 years.

So with Jim cursing and Tom Tom pleading and reconfiguring at every intersection, I reached down to the bottom of my purse and pulled out...*The Compass*. Jim looked at across at me with horror, "What? What have you got there? THE compass? You're looking at THE compass???...Put that THING away!" Must have really scared the crap out of him, in all our years of traveling I'd never gone for THE compass.

Just as I put it away, we re-entered a little village that we'd 'visited' 15 minutes or so earlier. Me and Tom Tom had pretty well figured out how to get back on 'normal' roads but Jim insisted on asking the first human he saw where he had room to pull far enough off the tiny roads not to get killed.

We rounded a corner and spotted an elderly couple having a yard sale (I think every third house up here has a weekend yard sale) and he got out of the RV to ask how to get back to highway 29. He returned to the RV with easy directions and laughing. He said that he thought that the couple was going to get into a brawl, each insisting that their version was the correct way back to the highway.

So we spent an hour going in circles, but gained some fun memories....yeah, it's funny now.

A half hour later we were pulling into the Lake George RV Resort, three miles from the village. Very nice place. We're finding that so many places are near empty that we can bargain a little for price. Still, it's $50 per night.

We settled, then went for some groceries in town. Jim wanted some ice cream. We were walking down the aisle trying to decide, when we both spotted something at the same second. Friendly Ice Cream! Then we both said, "Maple Walnut!!!" together. See, Friendly's is a regional creamery that we both fondly remember from RI, but to find it in a WalMart freezer was quite a surprise...AND maple walnut is NOT available in the south. I even emailed Edy's once and they said it was a region specific flavor. Who knew?

Our evening was complete, we knew where we were and we had maple walnut ice cream!

Tomorrow we'll do some touristy stuff here in Lake George, the weather is supposed to be great!