20040722

July 22, 2004
Thursday

Start: FAMCAMP, Dover AFB, Delaware
End: Highland Campground, Dalton PA (near Scranton)
Miles: 202

Temps: High 95, Low 68.9 (the High reading must have been recorded when we parked at a stop on the NE extension of the PA turnpike - it was in the low 80's)

We got up and onto the road fairly quickly.

We went up Delaware 1, I-95, and I-476 (NE Extension of PA turnpike) to get to the Scranton area. Then, we were all over the hills in the anthracite coal region trying to find the damn campground. We did find it, after a couple of phone calls to them. We checked in and exchanged pleasantries, especially about the directions to get here. Then we went down a fairly steep but short hill on gravel to the site and set up.

The proprietor said that, if we told him when we were leaving, he'd open the lower gate so we could get out of the campground more easily than scrambling back up to the office and out. That says a little about the terrrain.

We set up the trailer and connected the water & power. I cranked up the antenna and plugged in the TV, then Dolores looked around the local channels (quite a few, surprisingly) and found the forecast for rain tomorrow. Rats. Tomorrow's a day we were planning to spend primarily outside. We'll go for it anyway and adapt where necessary.

We took it easy for a bit, then did an early dinner of hamburger and salad. After that, we took a hike up and down the campground (as opposed to the usual around the campground). When we finished playing mountain goat (you can tell now that I'm exaggerating a little), we returned to the trailer. We both looked in brochures and did some planning for tomorrow and for the drive the following day into New York.

Dolores got into the TV and her book, while I did chores on the computer and printed maps for the next few days.

Tomorrow we plan to do downtown Scranton, with emphasis on Steamtown, the only US Park devoted to steam engines and railroading.


20040723

July 23, 2004 PhotoLink
Friday

Start: Highland Campground, Dalton PA (near Scranton)
End: Highland Campground, Dalton PA (near Scranton)
Miles: 0

Temps: High 77, Low 67.6 and still going down

We woke up to cloudy skies and a few raindrops, but not nearly as bad as the weather-weasels forecast for today.

We hopped into the truck and drove to downtown Scranton and into the Steamtown National Railroad Park there. This is one impressive facility. Dolores & I and the kids had seen Nelson Blount's collection of railroad equipment outside Bellows Falls, VT, around 1976. In 1980, the collection was moved here. Later, the foundation supporting the collection went broke; after a period of time the National Park Service gained possession of the whole works plus a good part of the old DL&W railroad yards in Scranton in which to locate it.

The NPS began designing a site visitors would enjoy, using what they could of the old DL&W roundhouse and ancilliary buildings around it. It's now a very nice place with many exhibits that show the many sides of steam railroading. One of the three steaming locomotives pulls a small passenger train around the yard and up to the former passenger depot (now a Radisson hotel) downtown several times a day. On certain occasions, longer excursions take place. In between trips, turntable operation demonstrations take place where the locomotive is turned around on a 90-foot turntable for that purpose. The roundhouse has a part that still does minor maintenance on the steam engines, and a part that houses exhibits up to the size of railroad cars, and a part for a movie or presentation hall.

Behind the roundhouse is the old shops building, where restoration and major maintenance is done by a small staff of professionals and a bunch of volunteers. They recently turned out two restored Pennsylvania RR boxcars and they're working on a total stripdown-and-rebuild of a steam engine. A group from central Pennsylvania is restoring a Pennsylvania RR class K4 Pacific type locomotive here; the park gets to show the work being done and the group gets a place to do the work. The shops have a lot of major machinery items - boring mills, a wheel lathe for 80" wheels, steel-bending jigs to make boilers, and many others some of which still require overhauls to work. Some major work is contracted out, such as the forging of new wheels and the making of new tires for the wheels (yes, steam engines have tires on the driving wheels - they're steel and designed to be replaced so you don't have to replace the whole wheel).

As we arrived, one of the train rides was departing, so we hopped on and rode to the passenger station via a bunch of track-switching evolutions; then the train reversed the process to return to the roundhouse. Then we took the tour of the shops building. We walked through all the exhibits and watched the movie, "Steel & Steam". We visited the bookshop and made the necessary purchases, including tee-shirts. Then we wandered up the ramp to the Steamtown Mall, a downtown shopping mall like most other malls except that this one is right downtown. The sun had come out and the day became warm (very humid), so we bought water and walked back.

Then we drove 10 or 12 blocks to the old DL&W passenger depot and took a look at the exterior and the lobby. The building shows the excellence the railroads put into their works in those days. It uses beautiful granite walls and columns inside. The Radisson doesn't mind visitors coming through to look at the place.

We'd skipped lunch in doing all this, so we drove to Cooper's Seafood Restaurant on Washington Avenue. This is a large building with several dining rooms and at least two bars. They serve only fresh seafood. It's one of the local "best" restaurants. They stock 240 beers from all over the world. Dolores had a crab cocktail and then a dungeness crab with the house chardonnay; I had chicken-stuffed jalapeno peppers with the house's lager and then Boston Haddock with the house Pinot Grigio. It was very good.

Then we noticed that our feet were giving out, so we drove back to the little house down the hill in the campground. I downloaded all the pictures from the camera and put them onto the laptop with descriptions, and did some other computer chores. Now we're taking it easy.



20040724

July 24, 2004
Saturday

Start: Highland Campground, Dalton PA (near Scranton)
End: Brennan Beach RV Resort, Pulaski NY
Miles: 177

Temps: High 77.5, Low 64.4

We got out of the valley and rejoined I-81 northbound. It was cool this morning after the front passed through. The sun came out, but we still kept the pickup windows rolled up.

This road leaves a bit to be desired. In most spots, it's decent. In other spots, it's terrible with potholes and rough spots for miles, both in PA and in NY.

We found the campground without difficulty and checked in. I had a hard time backing the trailer into the spot, mostly because I thought the trailer went on this concrete pad when the pad was really for the trailer's patio. I finally got it together and put the trailer in the correct spot.

This place is part nice, part stark raving bonkers. First, it's huge. There are 300+ sites, and a lot of them are rented by the season to people who just put a trailer there and leave it. There are three pools, one for little folks, one for bigger folks and one for all sizes, clustered together in a town square in the middle of the campground. Also in this square are the camp store, a snack bar/entertainment room, and a meeting hall which today hosted a graduation celebration. It's on Lake Ontario, so there's a swimming beach. People were in the water and jetskis were running around while we watched. The beach is rock-lined but sandy underwater, not nearly as nice as PCB or Lake Michigan.

The checkin house was a zoo. Lots of people come out to join folks who are already registered here; each of them has to pay his/her $1 and be registered as a guest. This takes time and there were all sorts of folks registering as guests, including the cable guy to fix a cable someone ripped out of the ground.

We walked around the square, observing, and then walked to the lake. We watched people getting into that 70-degree water for a while, then rode the jitney back to the square. We'll have to get pictures of this place tomorrow.

Secondly, there are all sorts of people here. It seems every campsite has 10 or so people using it. There are kids all over the place, some on bicycles doing 30mph, some in the pools, some just walking around. A group up the row has set two pop-ups facing each other in adjacent sites, creating an area between them that several families (or maybe it's just one extended family) use. A mob assembled for dinner there and about 45 minutes later about 15 kids exploded out of the place to resume play or whatever. Dogs are popular, and walking the dog is a fashionable thing to do. The two dogs next door went bonkers several times talking to the dogs passing by.

Actually, it's sort of neat watching a lot of people having fun. It's just that the scale of the thing is a bit off-putting.

We'll have to see what Sunday is like - will there be a mass exodus in the afternoon as people go back to normal or will it continue?

We went into Pulaski to church. The church has a cute character of a priest, very self deprecating, but a good speaker.

Then we gathered a few groceries and returned to make our separate dinners (Dolores had bought a few blue crabs yesterday so she nibbled them, and I'd boiled eggs to have egg-salad sandwiches). We then watched "Chicken Run" on Channel 3 out of Syracuse NY. Then I got serious about doing these chores and soon we'll be off to bed.

Nice day.



20040725

July 25, 2004 PhotoLink
Sunday

Start: Brennan Beach RV Resort, Pulaski NY
End: Brennan Beach RV Resort, Pulaski NY
Miles: 0

Temps: High 73, Low 52.7

It was cloudy this morning, with sun later on. Somewhat cooler than the past few days, a lot cooler than PCB. Dolores got up in the middle of the night and turned on the heater.

We ate breakfast, sat over coffee for a while, then went on a hike of the campground. By the time we returned, I think we put on two miles. This is a big place. We got to the beach, of course, and watched the lake for a bit. We wandered through the rental unit area to see what folks get when they rent camper and all (quite nice). Then back to the house via the town square.

Today is Sunday, so many folks have to go home to start their work week tomorrow. The campground allows checkout to be as late as 3:00pm, or later with special arrangement. So, in the early afternoon, the exodus began. Rig after rig left as others were packing their outside gear and so forth. There are quite a few remaining, so we continued our people-watching and dog-watching.

The regulars here have golf carts in which to get around. Most are the mundane real golf carts, but others are custom units and fancier. The one we liked had four canvas doors, headlights, a NY license plate, and a little bitty trunk on the back. One went by with a radio blaring, so I guess you can have that, too.

We went into town to get diesel fuel. The Sunoco station had the lowest advertised price - $1.839. I pulled in and pumped a good amount before I noticed the pump price was $1.859. I continued and filled the tank, then told the cashier that I didn't appreciate the false advertising. She went outside and checked both prices, and said something like "this is wrong, I'm calling the manager". I left it at that and we went back to the trailer.

Then we built a bonfire (even though the sun was still high in the sky). While sitting at it, we noticed a robin sitting on a nest in the bush behind the fire. She would go out now and then to get bugs and her mate was continuously bringing in food for the young birds in the nest (we didn't go close to count, but saw at least two heads). They kept at it all evening, even with us 15 feet away and a small fire 10 feet away.

We ate and went back out to the fire and the robins. Finally, we called it quits about sunset and put out the fire. Then showers to take the smoke off, and now we're taking it easy inside.

Another nice day. Tomorrow we enter Canada.


20040726

July 26, 2004
Monday

Start: Brennan Beach RV Resort, Pulaski NY
End: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
Miles: 155

Temps: High 84.9, Low 61

It was warmer today under cloudy skies. It turned partly sunny in Ontario.

We got up and got ready. I walked the trash to the sorting station, where an attendant took it from me saying he'd take care of it.

Then we left the campground and got back onto I-81 north. It wasn't a very exciting drive; we just plodded along till we got to the Thousand Islands bridge area. Here, there are two bridges over channels of the St Lawrence River, with Ontario on the other side. Both bridges are narrow and meeting a truck can get exciting.

We'd not drawn down our stock of wine fast enough or far enough, so we got nailed at the border by Canadian Customs for the excess. The big item was a 5-liter box of red wine. They tax alcohol very highly. They asked what I paid for it ($14.99 US), converted that to $CDN and applied the taxes and alcohol surcharges for a total of $12.99CDN. I paid with Canadian money we had from last year and muttered to Dolores it almost would have been worthwhile to pour it out somewhere.

We resumed driving, joining 401 east, then 416 north to Ottawa. There we got onto 417 briefly, turned about onto the frontage road to come back along 417 and entered the campground. We registered for two nights, expecting to stay five, since the cashier said it was very awkward to give refunds. Then we drove to the site and, after much maneuvering due to trees and signposts, got in and settled.

Then we took a longish hike back to the office and back just for the exercise, but we also bought the Ottawa papers and picked up a mess of brochures. We read through all that, then ate an early dinner of turkey breast and salad and Chardonnay. We planned tomorrow and sat back. A chipmunk raced around the site for a while to entertain us.

This campground is a little too close to the major highway 417. Lots of road noise, despite all the trees that should attenuate it. It's now nearly 10:00pm and the noise from the road has decreased measurably, so it shouldn't be a factor until tomorrow's morning rush hour.

As I said above, we'd planned to stay five nights, but now we think it will be four - we'll go part way to our next stop on what would have been the fifth night here and stay near Burlington VT.

Now to bed.


20040727

July 27, 2004 PhotoLink
Tuesday

Start: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
End: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
Miles: 0

Temps: High 72, Low 60.8

Cooler today under cloudy skies.

We got up slowly and finally headed downtown. We followed the big P signs with InfoCentre on them and drove into the parking lot under the WorldExchangePlaza (also known as the TD Building). There are five parking levels, each with a six-foot height limit which is exactly the height of the truck. The radius of the curves underground was about a foot and a half, or so it seemed, since each bend was really tight. But we found a space on the third level down and found our way back to the street with help from an attendant.

We walked toward the InfoCentre but came to the Grey Line tours kiosk first. So we bought our tickets for a departure an hour later. Dolores looked around a native crafts store for a bit, I had a bratwurst sandwich from a street cart, and we went to the InfoCentre. The people there gave us a good map of downtown.

We went to the tour bus departure point and boarded when it arrived. It went on its way promptly for the 1.75-hour tour. The tour concentrated on the government (what else?) buildings like the Parliament buildings, embassy row, the Governor-General's Residence, the Prime Minister's Residence, the War Museum (old and new under contruction), the Art Centre, the RCMP (Mounties) Stables where their horses are trained, the Aviation Museum, and more I can't remember. The ride up the Rideau Canal was especially interesting, giving a look at some very nice homes and cute neighborhoods.

This is certainly a liveable place (at least in the summer).

We left the bus and walked to the By Ward Market (Colonel By was the engineer-in-charge of construction of the Rideau Canal in the early 1800's). He caused land near the canal to be cleared and it became Bytown, now a little neighborhood close to downtown in which is located the market and a zillion restaurants. Dolores went nuts looking at flowers. We bought berries, new potatoes, tomatoes, and corn to take back to the trailer.

Then we found a place (Coasters) serving an early seafood dinner. Dolores had a surf-and-turf special with Pinot Grigio and I had fish-and-chips with Steam Whistle beer from Toronto. The dinners were very nice.

We redeemed the truck from its parking place for $14CDN and headed out directly into rush hour. Rush hour here looks like two-in-the-morning traffic in DC. The drivers even co-operate with each other, for the most part. I didn't get hooted at despite a couple of out-of-towner mistakes, perhaps because they were nice, or perhaps because they saw the Florida plates or maybe because the truck is much bigger than most of the cars.

When we arrived back at the campground, I went and got the email (nothing vital) and then set to downloading the day's pictures into the PC. That's done, this day's notes are done, and it's book time.



20040728

July 28, 2004 PhotoLink
Wednesday

Start: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
End: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
Miles: 0

Temps: High 69.8, Low 61.5

Cool again today under cloudy skies. First time for slacks in quite a while.

Up at a reasonable time and off down 417 with the post-rush-hour traffic, which wasn't very bad. On the east side, we swung north to the river and the Canadian Air Museum. It's a fairly large hall, about the size of one of the USAF Museum's display "hangers". Another hall is being built adjacent to this one. They display a lot of interesting aviation items with Canadian interest, such as the "Silver Dart" put together by a group financed by Alexander Graham Bell which flew in Nova Scotia shortly after the Wright brothers early flights. An emphasis is placed on bush planes that flew in the north.

The AVRO CF-105 military plane is also featured. They actually had constructed the prototype and five more planes when the government abruptly cancelled the program. AVRO laid off 12,000 employees in 20 minutes. Many found their way to the US or Britain to continue in the aircraft industry. According to some of the signage, the aircraft was performing very well but was over cost. One problem it had was that it flew for the first time on the day the Russians launched Sputnik, which may have brought up thoughts that airplanes would become obsolete.

Outside, they have a whole bunch of interesting small planes, but you have to take a tour to get to them and we had already blown the time. Near the building but not accessible is a group of older airliners in Canadian colors including a Vickers Viscount and a DC-9.

We had a small sandwich in their grille and then moved on to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police stables. Yes, stables.

The RCMP runs a equestrian program that moves to various sights in Canada and abroad, putting on a show called the "Musical Ride". It's 32 riders and horses putting on a precision riding drill to music. The riders must have two years service in regular RCMP work before they can request this duty; they need not be riders. They go to "Horse 101" school and later an advanced school on the horse. They come here and work with training horses to learn to ride and ride together. The riders perform all the care for the horse except where a veterinarian is required.

The team that travels and performs publicly from May thru October is composed of 36 horses and riders - 32 to perform plus one for the leader plus three extras, just in case. The horses travel in large trailers - 12 to a trailer. After the season, the team returns here and starts working toward the following year. Each rider is limited to three years, one learning and two with the team on the road. Thus, 33% of the team is new each year. Each mountie works only with one horse - they work very closely together, so they train together and learn each other.

The horses are not purchased. They are the progeny of horses on the team or training horses (those who no longer travel but provide training riding and some local demonstrations - i.e., the second string). All are black, but some white on feet or face is allowed. They are selected for the team based a lot on temperament; they have to be able to be trusted around people. After three years, they begin training for the team. If they're good enough, they go on the team at age five and continue until mid-teens. After that, they're bumped into the training and demonstration group and generally live pretty well. If the horse makes the team, it stays for life. If the horse doesn't make the team, it's provided to the foundation that helps support this whole effort and auctioned off to private individuals.

A mountie on horse was outside answering questions as we walked up. He answered our questions and referred us to a tour just starting. We joined it and were shown through the stables (with all the second-string horses), one of the three tack rooms, the farrier's shop (each horse needs re-shoeing every three months; if on tour, that drops to six weeks, so a farrier travels with the team), the inside drill ring (just barely large enough to do the set of drills that make up the Musical Ride) and the outside pens and rings. It was noted that, when the team was in Ottawa this year, it drew 10,000 viewers each day.

The team was working in Manitoba today. We did see a short demonstration in the inside ring by one horseman who was working out a horse (and maybe himself); he brought the horse over to the gate at which we were standing so the children could pet his nose and see him close-up. We saw a group of trainees who were being lectured on some aspect of horse care.

We passed out through the gift shop but didn't buy anything.

Dolores decided we should return to the campground area via downtown (a straight shot thru downtown vice out to the expressway and around). We did well except on the streets around the market; there, it was really slow. When we got outside the immediate downtown area, traffic again wasn't bad. We stopped at a grocery for bananas and then back to the trailer.

Dinner was chicken breast, corn-on-the-cob, and salad and was very nice.


20040729

July 29, 2004 PhotoLink
Thursday

Start: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
End: Ottawa Municipal CG, Nepean ON
Miles: 0

Temps: High 81.3, Low 61. Sunny.

It was forecast to be hot today, so we got up fairly early and went up to the in-campground laundromat to do our laundry. That worked out well. We returned and ate a light lunch, then went out to visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization (henceforth, CMC, for typing ease).

The CMC is not to be missed. If you're within a couple of hundred miles, go to it. It's a great place with outstanding exhibits and wonderful people in it - everyone from actors to docents to guides to boutique operators.

I could go on and on about this place. It's in two buildings on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa river across from the Parliament buildings. One is the museum and the other the offices for the museum staff and storage. There's parking underneath the buildings.

The first level's permanent exhibit is the First Peoples Hall, showing items from the native peoples of Canada and the way they lived where that can be determined. One mask has been dated to 3,500 years ago, or 2,000 BC. Others can't be dated. There are temporary exhibits here are the Pacific Coast Aboriginal Exhibit and one of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, the famous hockey player.

The second level has permanent exhibits of the Canadian Postal Museum and the Canadian Children's Museum, plus the IMAX theatre and a stage theatre that had nothing going on today. One temporary exhibit was "Once In French America", tracing the French in North America from the 1600's onward to today. It's a well-staged exhibit with plenty of artifacts and interactive displays.

The third level contains Canada Hall, the permanent exhibit of the progress of Canada from the Viking era to today. This is a great, huge, beautifully designed showplace with a tremendous number of artifacts and interactive displays. You wend your way through halls and rooms each showing a place and time in Canada, leading to more modern times as you go. An acting troop puts on a skit on "Justice in New France" in the early part of the tour that was really neat; great acting and very educational. The side of a real wooden boxcar is placed next to a mockup of a grain elevator to show the plains farmers world. A real Ukranian church was donated to the museum and placed in the middle of this exhibit, icons and all. A fishing boat is located in the boat shop with paints and tools and parts to fix it. Finally, you get to a multi-screen picture of a skyline and mountains behind rows of seats that looks for all the world like Vancouver International Airport in the 70's.

If you walk back across the fourth level, you look down into the streets of the third level. More information is displayed, but the real show is on the third level.

The museum has the usual support places - food, shops, parking - and a great outdoor terrace that looks over downtown Ottawa across the river. There's even a Zen garden across the plaza separating the two buildings, on the curatorial building side.

When we finally left the place at 7:00 or so, we drove out to our campground area and filled the truck with diesel at a place suggested by campground personnel. We then drove back to the campground to get a recommendation for an Italian restaurant. We then tooled off to Fratelli's, in a strip mall but with good architecture. Dolores had mussels and a veal chop with Pinot Grigio, I had minestrone (home-made, delicious) and veal picatta with an Italian red whose name I can't remember at the moment. The service was good and the food worth the trip. We enjoyed it.

Then we came back to the trailer. I downloaded pictures and organized them, then composed this missive. Now (11:15pm) it's time to watch the weather and head for bed.

Another really nice day.