OHIO AND NEW YORK, August 12-20, 2021

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(Note: This blog entry represents a combination of writings and pictures already posted about our Cool Change II, Land Yacht Adventures 2021 through Cindy via Facebook and Rick via email. So for some of you, the following posts may be duplicative, but for others, this is the first time you are seeing them. We are repeating them here to centralize the record and share our experiences more broadly.)

CINDY’S POST:

Finally, cool evenings! A visit with my cousin Jil, her husband Don and her oldest granddaughter Alena in Tennessee warmed my heart, and the campsite we had close by to her house was quite comfortable, but boy was I glad to head north and get out of the southern heat. How I tolerated the South Pacific is becoming a mystery to me, because now I find all that sweating to be quite unpleasant. After driving through Tennessee, Kentucky and most of Ohio, then getting caught near Dayton in what Rick called the worst traffic jam in his life, we spent three nights regrouping at a northern Ohio local campground filled with mostly obese, tattooed but friendly people (the only public campground with electric hookup I could find with a space open on the weekend in the entire state). It was a bit out of our way but it was on a lake and offered some nice hikes, so we got our steps in and were able to relax a little. Few mosquitoes, but the flies were annoying. By the time we left, we were still trying to get them out of the trailer.

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The next morning we headed out early for what turned out to be a quite pleasant 238 mile drive to the Grand River Valley wine appellation along the banks of Lake Erie in Ohio. Wine in Ohio? Who knew? There are 34 vineyards in this appellation alone. However, I gotta say, California wine enthusiasts will be a little disappointed to learn that there seems to be a large swath of our country who believes that wine should be sweet, preferably made with other fruit besides grapes, and perhaps mixed in with soda pop and made into a slushy. Yes, these “slushees” are quite popular – lots of people at the Winery at Spring Hill near Geneva, Ohio were drinking them as we watched. Yes, I witnessed it first hand!

We discovered this wine appellation and The Winery at Spring Hill in the Lake Erie through my cousin Jil Reinhold Smith’s recommendation and through Harvest Hosts. Harvest Hosts is a website for RV’rs that offers free, dry-camping at wineries, farms, etc. in exchange for patronizing the host’s establishment. Forcing us to buy something at a winery is not a hard sell! Besides, they offered food, and it was a nice opportunity to get away from our trailer kitchen.

The owner explained to us that their growing season isn’t usually long enough to grow red grapes for “dry” wines to maturity for picking. They can grow some whites here, but those have traditionally been sweet. After purchasing a small flight of six wines from their supposedly “dry” selections, Rick settled on the Merlot, made from grapes from California. I chose the Riesling, made from Ohio grapes. It gave me a headache! But I just couldn’t stomach the Chardonnay.

But in spite of the somewhat disappointing wines, it was a lovely afternoon. The temperature was just right, in the mid-70’s, we sat outside and there was a surprisingly good duet playing guitar, piano and singing classic rock. We had a rare meal out, for a change. We were on a nice grassy field adjacent to the winery.

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The next day, Rick and I headed up to New York to visit my nephew Dan Murphy and family. On our way, we continued up the Lake Erie shoreline for a while, just to enjoy the water. Lake Erie, as one of the Great Lakes, looks more like an ocean than a lake. You can’t see across it and the wind and waves build from a long distance. The air smells of breezes freshened by water, and seagulls abound.

On our way to New York, we passed through the NW tip of Pennsylvania, giving us rights to place our Pennsylvania sticker on our US map of states visited. But we were only there for about an hour.

Our first destination in New York was to visit my nephew Dan Murphy, his wife Stephanie Murphy and their adorable three little girls near Buffalo. It was yet another visit that completely filled our hearts with love and engulfed us in the happiness of innocence. We got to play with Maggie and Molly and hold Junebug, their newborn. And we learned what real Buffalo wings tasted like, and true Buffalo Mac and Cheese!

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Next, on the way to New Hampshire, we took a slight detour to visit Rick’s birthplace home in Rochester. It was still a nice neighborhood and the home looked really well cared for. We worried about getting down the narrow streets but all went well.

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RICK’S POST:

We had an 800 mile drive ahead of us to get to Buffalo NY from Lenior, Tennessee. The drive took us through Kentucky, Ohio and along the shoreline of Lake Erie through the Northwest tip of Pennsylvania and finally to Buffalo New York. Once in Buffalo would visit with our Nephew Dan, his Wife Stephanie and their three girls: twins Maggie & Molly, and baby Junebug.

The first day on the road was a long one at 327 miles. We decided to drive a long way so we could get some miles under our belts and then afford to stop and rest for a few days. We had no reservations when we headed out in the morning, and spent most of the day trying to find any Ohio public park at all that had a reservation opening. We finally found one in Conover, Ohio called Kiser Lake. It was off of our route about 50 miles, but since we were planning a three night-stop, it was worth it.

Traveling through Tennessee and Kentucky, we were struck with how green everything was for the time of year. It made us think about home and the fires that were still raging in drought-ridden California and Oregon. We hoped we would still have a home to return to when we flew back home for a break in early September. As we drove through Kentucky, we passed many horse farms where the thoroughbred race horses were bred and trained.

As we got into Ohio and were getting near Cincinatti, we realized we would be driving through it right in the middle of the rush hour. It was busy and there was a lot of construction but it wasn’t near as bad as we had worried it would be. Just as we were thinking what great time we were making, we got into a traffic jam in Dayton that was, I think, the worst traffic jam I have ever experienced. We spent two hours pretty much at a stand still. Cindy was looking for alternate routes and we jumped on the first opportunity to get off of hwy 75 at the exit we had been creeping towards over the last hour. We then began a long winding drive through the city, which eventually brought us back to the highway a couple of miles ahead of where we got off. From there on, the traffic was much better and we arrived at Kiser Lake campground finally right about dusk. We had been traveling through some heavy thunderstorms that we hit just a few miles before we arrived but luckily they were short lived and we were able to get set up in our space without getting drenched. The campground was nothing spectacular, but it was several miles off the highway and had a nice lake and some hiking trails.

In the morning we set out on one of the trails that was supposed to circle the lake but after about a half mile in, we aborted because the ground was getting very muddy and the trail was overgrown. We had noted at the beginning of the trail that it had been built by a boy scout troop, which we thought was cool, but whoever was maintaining it had a lot of work to do before the trail would be once again usable. We did a couple of other hikes there, one that went through a marsh in a big loop. Over the marsh they had built a wooden boardwalk just above the water level so you could keep feet dry while enjoying the hike. We spent three nights at this campground, to get a good break from the long haul out of Tennessee.

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Our next stop was going to be at a Harvest Host location in Geneva, Ohio called The Winery at Spring Hill. The name of the winery comes from the many natural springs in the area. We arrived late afternoon and they had us park in a big lawn area that was accessed off of the gravel parking lot. At a Harvest Host, one is only allowed to spend one night. There is an expectation that people who stay at Harvest Host locations patronize the business, which of course we did as soon as we were settled in.

It is an unusual-looking winery. It consists of a huge barn-like building that on the inside looks more like an airy casual style restaurant. There is a small wine tasting bar and many tables in a large dining area. They have their own kitchen, and serve burgers, pizza and a variety of appetizers, salads and other treats. There is a large area outside in back with many tables and a stage. When we arrived, a duet was performing music for a handful of patrons. We ordered a sampler flight of wines along with some food and sat outside so we could listen to the music, which featured a man and woman playing guitar and keyboard and singing covers of 80’s hits.

The proprietor stopped by our table and chatted with us a bit and when I asked, he told us the story of his winery. The business has been in his family for three generations; most of that history was as a fruit growing operation. They sold fruits and distilled hard ciders from fruit harvested on their 200 acre property. Then some 13 years ago, the third generation brother and sister Tom and Cindy, along with two other couples, made the leap and converted the operation into a brewery and winery. Each person brought in their own areas of expertise and they have been a popular venue from the start of the new operation in 2008. Tom told us that he used local grapes in some of his wines and also brought in juices from California grapes. Both Cindy and I, after our flight tasting, had the same opinion, which was that the wines we tasted made with local grapes did not compare to California wines, but we did find some that were passable.

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Later, after they had closed, we enjoyed some time sitting out in front of the trailer on their beautiful green lawn where we were parked. Another couple had arrived late in the afternoon with a big fifth wheel but we never saw them that evening and they pulled out sometime in the early morning hours while we were asleep.

The winery property sits very close to lake Erie so in the morning when we left, we drove to the nearby town of Geneva-on-the-Lake, where we followed the shoreline for about 20 miles until the road became a bit hostile for our rig. There was an old narrow bridge that spanned an
estuary and we had a tense crossing with just a few inches between us and the railing on one side and oncoming traffic to the other side. It was narrow enough that had we encountered another truck coming the opposite way, one of us would have had to somehow back up off the bridge to be able to pass each other.

We drove for another two hours before arriving at our next campground at Evangola State Park, in Irving, New York. This would be our home base for a few days’ visit with our Nephew Dan, his wife Stephanie and their three girls. When we arrived, and while we were setting up, another young family pulled in next to us and started doing the same. The husband seemed upset and when I said hello to him, he told me that they were locals out for the weekend and he had not realized when he left but the storage compartments on their trailer were locked and he did not bring the key. I remembered having heard from one of the RV blogs we follow that the keys for the storage lockers are not so unique and that there are only a few different cuts, so I suggested he tried our key. He did, and happily it worked! So much for RV security. Our neighbors’ bad joss continued when he found that his hose was about 20 feet short of reaching the water supply to fill his tank, so we offered him the use of ours.

The experience made me think about the cruising community we are a part of when we are sailing, and how reliant we all are on each other to resolve problems. Wherever we happened to be, we normally had some type of regular radio net going each day and if someone had a problem or needed a part or a referral, most likely it would be resolved by someone else on the net.

The first evening, Dan and family came over for a visit and to share a dinner together. The twins, Maggie & Molly, were excited to check out the trailer and June, the infant, was content to hang out under the awning in her stroller/car seat. The next morning Cindy and I traveled to Dan & Stephanie’s home nearby in West Seneca, New York, where we would be staying in their home for the next two days.

Our nephew Dan is an agent with the Secret Service. His assignment in Buffalo is working in the US Treasury Department, dealing with various types of fraud and bringing the perpetrators to justice. He also works as a part of protection details for high government officials and foreign dignitaries, and serves as a US Marshall. He told us a fun story about a time when he was working providing protection for a foreign diplomat in a large hotel. It was a difficult assignment because it was a busy hotel and the person he was assigned to had taken over an entire upper floor of the hotel, but at the same time, Bill Gates was there occupying the top floor penthouse. One morning Dan was escorting his charge from his room to his limo and driver, which were to be waiting for him in front of the hotel. When he got to the entrance of the hotel, he found that Mr. Gates’s car and driver were in the spot that was supposed to be taken by his person’s limo and driver. Before he could bring the person he was protecting outside of the hotel, he had to go out and exercise his authority to have Mr Gates’s car pull down the street to wait for Mr. Gates. The drivers of that car were a couple of off duty policemen from the city on private duty to protect Mr Gates, and they were not pleased, but they complied with the order to move. When Dan’s charge got safely into his limo and drove away, Dan waited out front to let Mr. Gates know where his car and drivers were. Mr. Gates took it all in stride and thanked Dan before walking himself to his limo down the street.
Later, Dan was escorting his charge back to his room and as they got on the elevator in the lobby, Mr Gates walked up and asked if he can join them in the elevator. Dan’s charge insisted that Mr Gates be allowed to join them so they ended up sharing the ride up to their rooms.

I had asked Dan for his advise on how to get a pass to visit the White House when we eventually get to DC. He told us that the only way to get one is on by submitting a request through your state representative. Regardless, all tours are currently suspended, as part of the fallout from January 6th. Dan said that when the tours are available, quite often people will get set up for one without realizing that it will trigger a background check on them. So if a person happens to have outstanding warrants, they normally would be allowed to enter the front door, but during the check-in process when they must present their ID’s, the White House security team will detain them and turn them into the authorities. Ha!

Dan had to work the first day we were staying with them so we got to spend the day with Stephanie and the girls. We played some games and watched a couple of the girls’ favorite shows. That evening when Dan got home, we had pizza as well as Buffalo’s version of mac & cheese mixed with spicy chicken, like we had tried in Nashville. The pizza surprised me as it was actually better than my favorite Chicago deep dish pizza we always have when we visit Dan’s parents, Kim & Pete. Sorry Chicago, but Buffalo has stepped up the competition!

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The next day, Dan took the day off and we went to visit Niagara Falls along with the twins. It was a bit rainy outside so Stephanie stayed home with the baby for this trip. Cindy had been to Niagara Falls before but I had not. She said it looked much different than she remembered it from her early 20’s. There were nice walkways all along the river leading to the falls. Though there were many parts of the walkway that were very close to the river bank, when we got to the US side of the falls, it was very well protected against tourist loss, with serious metal guardrail fencing, while still allowing spectacular views of the falls.

There was a statue of Nicola Tesla, who late in the 19th century teamed up with George Westinghouse. They had won a contract to harness the power of Niagara Falls to provide the first-ever long distance transmission AC hydroelectric plant. It would transmit power to the city of Buffalo, NY, 23 miles away. They engineered a water tunnel that would be two miles long and dropped 160 feet, leading to a power house with ten 5,000 hp Tesla Hydro-generators capable of delivering AC electricity. On November 15, 1896, they successfully completed their goal as they lit up Buffalo NY! In the end, of course, the entire planet adopted the AC power transmission that we use to this day. How fitting that Elon Musk named his company Tesla. We could see the old brick power house that still remains on the banks of the river below.

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After we had exhausted the twins with our visit and walk around Niagara Falls, we went back to their home, where we spent one more night before heading back to the campground, collecting the trailer and getting on the road to Rochester, NY. Rochester is the city where I was born, though my family moved from there to California when I was an infant so I have no memory of it. As a kid I was told about Rochester by my mom and my older sister Linda, who has lots of childhood memories of the place. Since Cindy had shared with me her childhood home in Illinois, we would now both try and find my birth home.

When I told our nephew Dan of our plans to go to Rochester, he cautioned us to be careful, as Rochester is currently on track to become the murder capitol of the entire US, surpassing
both Chicago and New York City! Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in Rochester is currently one in 132. Dan said that the neighborhood we were going to be visiting was safe but that we should try to be out of the city before nightfall as we could look like a tempting target: a couple of seniors traveling in a trailer with California plates!

When we drove through town on our way to my birthplace on Winona Blvd, it didn’t look sinister at all. There were a lot of older neighborhoods we passed through but they all seemed fairly well kept at least by California standards. The biggest challenge was driving the rig through downtown and through residential areas with very narrow streets. We did not know the actual address of the home we were looking for but we had a good description of what it looked like and approximate location from my sister Linda. When we arrived we took a slow drive down the street and found what we later confirmed was the house when we showed Linda photos of it. The neighborhood was really very nicely kept up and well established, with big trees lining the streets. We took some video to share with Linda of the house and the entire block as Cindy filmed through the sunroof while I drove slowly down the street. There was a lady walking her dog who offered to take a photo of us in front of the home. It was the kind of area that made me feel like it would have been really fun to grow up in.

We did not stay long in the area, not so much from fear of becoming a crime statistic, but because we had at least another seven hours’ drive in front of us to get to our next destination, the home of my sister Chrys, her husband Barry and our nieces & nephews Maria, Elena and Marky. They live in Gilford Village in New Hampshire, and we were excited to be able to spend a week with them, splitting the time between their historic home in Gilford Village and in their island summer home on Mink Island on nearby Lake Winnipesaukee.

We were not going to try to make the rest of the drive in one push, so instead we went to about the halfway point in Glenville NY, where we stayed the night in a Walmart parking lot.
Probably as a result of Dan’s warning about Rochester NY, I did a bit of research on Glenville while Cindy was shopping and was pleased to find that Glenville NY is rated in 99th percentile for safety, meaning that 99% of cities in the US are more dangerous places. So reassured, we both had a good night’s sleep in Glenville, NY. The following day our travel to Gilford, New Hampshire would take us through some of the most beautiful countryside we had yet experienced on this voyage.