Thunder and lightning

Wow. I don't remember a storm like that since I was a kid living in Cleveland Ohio. It kept thundering and lightning and raining and thundering and lightning and raining. After about an hour or so of this, Bob admitted to me that he really liked listening to the thunder. That was good because there was a lot of it. It was still going on several hours later when we finally went to bed at about 10:30. During the night I realized that it had stopped raining (through the wonderful window that I insisted on), but the wind was really strong. I mean REALLY strong. That kept up all night. When we got up in the morning it was still very windy. I went online to read the weather reports so we could decide whether to stay put or move on. Based on what we read, we decided that it didn't make much difference. It was going to be rainy and windy no matter where we went - and we were ready to move on.

So we got an early start. I thought it was only going to be about a hundred miles. That is because New York seems to be the only state (so far at least) that doesn't number its exits by the mileage from the beginning. So what I thought was going to be 46 miles, was 46 exits - almost 200 miles. Good thing that we got an early start.

New York is in competition with South Carolina for the worst roads we have come across. The first hundred miles were so rough that I could not even read the map - the book was jumping up and down so much. The last hundred miles were better but - omg.

All that being said, the ride was beautiful, Despite the predictions, the sky cleared a little and the wind let up quite a bit. (I actually think we just got ahead of it because it is starting to cloud up here and get windy - but I am getting ahead of myself.) The countryside was lovely. There were very gentle hills and lots of trees and grass. Spring is truly here and the trees are all budding and very very green. There were creeks here that were wider than rivers in Arizona. In fact, there was a creek that was wider than the Rio Grande. The rivers were very wide - not very deep, but very wide and slow moving. There were enough hills that you got tremendous views as you topped each hill. There were a couple of anomolous (?sp) things. First, we were going along the interstate with manicured shoulders and fences and bill boards - only to come across a sign that said "Natural Area." I could not for the life of me figure out what was natural about this area other than the trees and the grass, but there had been trees and grass all along. Hmmm.

Then there was a sign telling us that there was a scenic overlook turn off. That was another puzzle. It was very scenic, but not really any different than the last 100 miles or the next hundred miles for that matter. I had to wonder why someone decided that this was a scenic overlook rather than the other 200 miles. Another Hmmm.

We are now camped in Watkins Glen NY. It is part of the county park and is right next to the little league park. I can hear the game through my window. They did not stop playing in the rain or the wind which is starting to pick up pretty good. It looks like this is a beautiful area. There is a lovely little park right on Seneca Lake that is right across the street. This will be good for morning walks. It is also a cute little town. If the weather clears it will be perfect for bikes or scooters. Yeah!

I had to stop and remember that in 1988 I came to this area to take my daughter to college in Ithaca. Everyone had told me this was a beautiful area, but when I got here I was not overwhelmed. It seemed like something was missing. There were no high mountains or big trees. It was nice but -. Now, here I am finding this area very beautiful. I can only think that it must be that I am now comparing this area to the rest of the east coast and not to Oregon. In comparison to the states we have recently seen, this area is quite lovely and I do look forward to touristing. (But I miss Oregon. My little sister said that what I might get out of this trip is a certainty that I love where I live. That may be true.)

When we got here one of the first things that I did was go into town to do my laundry. The manager of the campground came in after we did and I started talking to her and asking, as I always do, what should I do while I am here. She gave me some suggestions and then said that one of the things that I must do while I am in the finger lake area is to visit Ithaca. I guess it will all depend on how long we stay and where we want to go next. Ithaca might look very different if I am not being the very nervous parent of a student.

Pictures coming when the rain and wind stop.