My plan today was to get as close to Niagara Falls as possible before I camped
up…But then me and plans have never made easy bedfellow. The total distance was
about 363.mls from last nights camp. So how come I still have another 226 mls
to do tomorrow I hear you ask1 Well it’s like this. My morning started well
enough, in fact I was up bright and early, about 6 am, as the weather whilst
looking overcast was the warmest yet. After a rather tasty breakfast of
pancakes with Maple syrup and a couple of cups of tea, ot was time for a nice
hot shower and get everything packed away. So far so good. I thought I’d wander
over to the area just outside reception so I could upload my ramblings from
yesterday onto the dreaded blog. There was a young lady already sat at the
table working on her computer, so I asked if she minded me joining her and that
was the beginning of the end of my early start. I think Nettie who was from New
York and comping on her own was a bit bored with her own company… as was I if I
am forced to admit it. The conversation started easily enough about various
trivia such as how slow the WiFi was but somehow slowly turned to travel…
doesn't it always? It was a fascinating conversation ranging from South Africa to South
America and various points in between. Nettie is a Ballerina and
at the tender age of 17 she jumped on a plane and ended up dancing for her supper to pay for a holiday in South Africa ,
well why not?
Meanwhile an older man joined us, I’d guess he was around my
age, and proceeded to make a few Skype calls. We only heard one side of the
conversation as he was wearing earphones, but he kept urging the other party to
be very careful of the words he used in case “THEY” were listening. “THEY” it
was fairly obvious, being the CIA! Other than that I have no idea nor do I want
to have any idea of what they were talking about. So the upshot of all this was
that by the time I rolled out of the gate it was about 10.15 am. My latest
start so far.
It wasn’t far from the camp site to the ferry, and there I
got into another interesting conversation…this time with a guy driving one of
the standard, huge pickup trucks. Joe asked where I was from and where I was
going, all pretty standard stuff, But then went on to say that he was from Florida , although he had just driven up from California . It seems he
spends his time delivering the huge 5th wheel RVs all over the
country. He said it meant he got to travel the length and breadth of the USA and Canada ,
even up as far as Alaska
and gets paid well for the privilege. A little later in the day I was to have
an almost identical conversation with a lady named Sue in a supermarket. All
because she remarked on the slogan on the Horizons Unlimited T-shirt I was
wearing. Sue was doing much the same job but without a pickup. She was actually
driving the RVs themselves all over the place and got to live in them enroute.
Strangely the company she works for is called Horizons… I think I may be
putting in my CV to them!
If the rest of the trip carries on like this I’m going to
run out of superlatives, as the roads just keep getting better and better. I
never knew that the USA
had so many lakes. Of course I’d learnt about the Great
Lakes at school but everywhere I turn there is another lake in
front of me. Leaving the town of Saranac Lake which unsurprisingly sits on the shore of the lake
of the same name. I spotted a banner by the side of the road; Tiny House
Nation. I just had to stop as I simply love the programme of the same name. In
a little hut at the top of the drive was a buzzer with an invitation to press
for an instant tour of the works and to view the Tiny Homes that they build. I
explained to Bill who I was and said I would fully understand if he didn’t have
time to waste on mere sightseers, but he couldn’t have more accommodating. He
gave me a guided tour of one of the units which was just about to be delivered
and explained in depth just how much insulation goes into each one, making it
suitable for comfortable living right down to -39 F. It was a very interesting
and informative hour, but alas yet another hour lost on my schedule… So tonight
I am on my oddest campsite yet, a little south of Boonville, having just left
the Adirondack National Park
I tried my usual knocking on a door, only to be informed
that there was a camp site just up the road. Well, there is, sort of! I was
given instructions on how to find an old log cabin and then told to ask for
Clarence… I kid you not! Clarence is a guy of indeterminate age but I would
guess early 60s. Weighing in at about 400lbs if he’s an ounce, he can hardly
walk but seems to have a variety of young boys hanging about the place, one of
whom showed me to my camp spot and even brought me a load of firewood down on
his quad and was generally very pleasant. Not that Clarence isn’t pleasant…
just a bit odd!
Now to the “camp site” itself. Well, it has a lake. It has a
hand pump for water. It has two pairs of the most awful earth closet toilets I
have ever seen and I include Africa in that
appraisal! It also has one very nice trailer quite close to me and I even met
it’s very pleasant owner. But it has the mostodd collection of trailers,
cabins, sheds, wrecked vehicles and general junk that I have ever seen. To be
fair it is a vast area, running I would guess, to at least a couple of hundred
acres. So from where I sit, all I can see, other than the nice new trailer is
just one tatty one, although it still appears to be in occasional use. Oh, and
an abandoned tent!
I’m not sure how well I will sleep tonight as the lake
appears to have at least one breeding pair of Loons with a whole tribe of
little Loons! And I can also hear bullfrogs already, even though the sun hasn’t
set, or at least that is what I think the noise is. But at least I can’t see
any bears! All that remains now is for
me to light my fire and sit and listen to the wonderful cacophony of sounds of
the wild life in the trees, the bushes and on the lake. The sun has just set
and the moon is already high in the heavens… just the sort of evening to share
with someone special, if only!!!
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