Snow, grass, water........

Our Location: Frost Ridge Campground, Le Roy, NY

This morning at 7 am when I finally got out of bed the outside temp was 26F/-2C but inside the Igloo we were a balmy 50F/10C. I still turned on the propane heater even though we’re moving in a bit and it’s going to warm up to a forecast guesser’s 54F/12C at some point. The sun however is shining brightly and the outside temps had risen a degree to 27F already at 8 am here at Punderson State Park, Newbury, Ohio. 

I - 90 in Ohio. Some green, mostly the grass though.

Packing the inside of the Igloo isn’t a huge chore, it takes but a few minutes and I can have my room, bathroom, kitchen, and living room packed up in about 5 minutes. It’s a routine that comes easily these days after having been on and off the road for about 5 years now. When I travelled by myself for a couple of winters it was an easy routine to fall into and one that just hasn’t seem to change much over the past while. We don’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ out and about, everything has a place and while a few things need to be stored there is less than a dozen items to move. Now on Riley’s end of things, I think she could pack up in about the same length of time but she likes to take her time and putter around, so I usually just go outside and start the outside stuff. This morning however it’s too cold to do that and so here I sit starting my blog early. ~laugh~

We seen this pretty quickly during our early travels.

The snow will be gone by noon, there is just an inch or so on the grass, the black top and trees all seem to have been sufficiently warm enough to melt it. There doesn’t appear to be any wind either. I’’m going to head out with the Dogsled and find some fuel in the little town of Newbury before I hook up, it’s easier that way. So hopefully we’ll be on the road around 10 am.  We don’t have far to go, about 3 hours drive time.

Miss Kitty, also known as HRH (Her Royal Highness) has parked herself in front of the propane heater but watches everything with wide eyes, she knows it’s coming and doesn’t like the idea of moving again. However she’ll settle down a few minutes into the trip and be fine. 

Then this, there were actually 4 but one is much further ahead of the others.

I left the campground and headed into the little town of Newbury to find some food for the Big Dogsled and find it I did at a BP station there. Filled up but had to go across the street to the parts store to get some Blue Def fluid for the exhaust. It came in a box, well the container was in a box and it said don't take it out of the box, not sure why. Anyway, I couldn't reach the spot to pour it into without my stool and it's buried under the snow so the nice guy that owns the parts store came out and did it for me. Such a sweet heart. It took the whole box which was at least a couple of gallons (upon inspection, 2.5 gallons). I was surprised but happy that I don't have to store the box. I'll pick up some more one of these days and have it around just in case. You know that fella, Just-In Case? ~laugh~ 

Home to the Igloo I noticed that the message board was saying that the RFT and RR tires were low, so pulled out my handy dandy little air compressor and topped up all the tires on the Dogsled. I'd like to do the trailer before we pull again and hopefully it'll dry up enough to do that. 

This white showed up along the roadsides in numerous places.

So after that it was a matter of just getting things going, I called Frost Ridge Campground in NY to make sure we could have a site, and sure enough we have one. I had to take the ladder and the broom to semi clean off the slide toppers of snow as it was too heavy to push it all off. I managed to get it all off Riley's bedroom slide and the little closet slide didn't need any help but the big living room one I could only get about half off but that seemed to be enough, it finally just pushed the rest off and bingo the slides were all in. Unhooked the water and electric, backed into the hitch, and we were off. Left Punderson around 10:45 am. Sunny day for driving, nice but chilly, only made it to the about 46F/7.7C here with a wind but it's acceptable. 

The entire drive was done in about 4 hours, 225 miles, the Dogsled never grunted once on all those rolling hills. Fuel mileage wasn't as good as before but there were lots of hills and valleys along the way with a head wind as well. The toll road from the PA border to just into Buffalo was expensive at just under $12 but the toll from Buffalo to The Ridge was less than $4. We are located at Exit 47, the first of three exits for Rochester.    

 

We caught this view of Lake Erie as we came to the top of a hill.

We arrived here about 3:35 pm but only because we had to stop at the local Tim Horton's just before our exit. Not the same as Canada but it was good anyway. The cold wind was whipping across some open fields there but we managed. 

Arriving at the park we noticed the river on the way here was near to overflowing it's banks, and there is water laying in every slight depression you can see. We arrived here at the campground to find the hosts pumping water from the center area of the park. There is so much water that its coming up thru the cement in the office building. 

Followed by this view a bit further around the corner.

We managed to snag spot A22 for a week. We'll go from there. We are located about 50 miles from Buffalo and seen many Canadian plates as we drove today. Hopefully in a few days time we'll be heading there ourselves. Wish us luck. ~laugh~ 

Its hard getting used to the new time, the days are just whipping by before we know it it's already time to start dinner when it seems we've just finished lunch. ~laugh~ Oh well, you know how it goes.

This was a nice sign to see.

Around 6:30 pm I started making dinner inside, too cold outside and I"m too tired to set the BBQ up anyway. We had mashed potatoes, steamed veggies and sausage patties with English Muffins. It was good and I even managed to have chocolate pudding with oranges after dinner. Yum....sorry no pics I was too hungry and too tired. ~laugh~ 

A quick clean up inside, into my jammies and pretty soon I'm heading to bed. I'm tired for some reason, not sure why at 8:10 pm I'm this tired but that's the way it is. 

That's us all set up here at The Ridge.

Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment. Until next time...be safe, take care...

Snow covered day, then drip, drip, drip....

Our Location: Punderson State Park, Newbury, Ohio

A cold night with temps dipping below the freeze mark, snow mixed with rain then turning back to snow fell off and on most of the night. The wind was also present. We’re parked closed to a small lake type body of water and the wind is just whipping across there. Not the nicest of places in this weather but it’s only for two nights then I’m hopeful we’ll move on further north, closer to the border and a bit more out away from the lake. I’m hoping to move to a park with FULL hook ups, not just water and electric.

We woke up to this, and it snowed and blew most of the morning

The temps today will be cold and tonight as well but tomorrow should warm up nicely and the next two days after that even better, so this is just a short term thing. It’s one of the reasons I don’t come this direction as the wind and water off Lake Erie can cause late snows and cold temps. However I thought we had a clear track but with everything happening, it’s just not so. So we’ll just suck it up Buttercup and wait it out. ~laugh~

Not the best nights sleep I’ve ever had, waking up at 4 am and not being able to go back to sleep. I tried all the usual fixes but none of them worked. I finally fell back asleep but at what time I don't know. I woke up to Miss Riley standing at the foot of my bed rummaging in the closet. It was almost 8 am. I heard the snow plow going by, not the big road plow but a contractor with a truck and blade snow plow at least twice. Looking outside makes me want to point southward again. Fresh snow and it's really coming down still. Supposed to taper off by around 1 pm. I won't tell you my thoughts on this white stuff as this is a public posting. ~laugh~ MAYBE I'll go outside later and take some pictures when I go out to hook up the propane heater. I'll have to do my best Buttercup (suck it up Buttercup) impression when I go do that. ~laugh~ 

A good few inches of snow, look at the accumulation on the arms of the mirror and window of the truck.

No travel today, the roads will be ugly and I'm not going to chance this hilly country that I don't know well with even just the Dogsled unless it's necessary. I'm part chicken, didn't ya know? Don't ask about my feathers. ~laugh~

I ventured outside in the cold weather to get the propane heater set up outside, the tank from the truck, the hose hooked up and feed thru the window, the heater from the basement, inside and connected to the hose, connections checked and fired it up. While outside I can tell you the wind, and snow were cold and my mittens were soaked quickly. I managed to snap some pics with the big camera before hurrying back inside to warm up.

You can't see the snow coming down but it's there, but about an hour or so after this pic was taken it started to melt and drip off of everything, you could hear chunks sliding and falling off the Igloo.

It was almost 11 before I realized I hadn't had breakfast. ~laugh~ I immediately fixed the issue with two large Shredded Wheat. I just love that stuff, add some milk, pop it in the microwave for a minute and it's excellent. Being so close to lunch I then didn't need any lunch. However we made home made veggie soup today and it was ready around 5 pm and I had my dinner early for the same reason I had breakfast late. ~laugh~ Riley opted to eat later than I did. We both had two bowls, it was that good. And no I didn't take a picture but there's enough left for tomorrow for one bowl each. It was good stuff. I added a few ingredients I don't normally add to veggie soup, I added fresh asparagus and canned butter beans. I must say I liked both of them.

It was wet and heavy, full of water and finally started melting shortly after this pic.

By afternoon the temp was up to a balmy 43F/6.5C and things were melting quickly. As I write this blog at 10 pm there is still snow on the ground but it's going quickly. Tomorrow will be a warmer day still and the snow will be gone quickly. We will be pulling out tomorrow heading further north but a bit more east, further east than I would like but it can't be helped, I can't find any open campgrounds in the immediate area so we will be staying about 50 miles from the Peace Bridge in Buffalo.

We spent the day resting, chatting, doing a few odd things, reading and just staying warm. With both the electric heater and the propane heater going the Igloo was toasty warm all day.

Looking southward toward the warm weather we just left....

So that was our day, nothing exciting but we managed to put the time in easily. Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment. Until next time...be safe, take care...

Ohio, snow, rain, brrrrrr........

Our Location: Punderson State Park, Newbury, Ohio

(Thursday April 6, 2017 post)

I slept very well last night, Riley apparently woke and fell back to sleep often. The rain, the wind and the occasional flapping or banging of something seemed to be the culprit for her. I woke to steady rain, and the sound of a diesel big rig pulling out of the lot. It cooled off during the night enough that I got up around 3 am and closed the living room window but had no trouble falling back to sleep.

With the rain and the wind looking as if they might continue all day we decided to pull out and at least give it a try, if it wasn’t good traveling we could always back off. At 9 am we pulled in the slides, locked up, chugged our way over to the gas bar to fill up with diesel. About 15 minutes later we were on the road.

Still in Kentucky, in Covington actually, heading down the long grade to the bridge over the river into Cincinnati, Ohio

The day passed rather the same as yesterday except rain was pretty much an annoying mist and slop from the passing vehicles. Not enough to turn the wipers on fully and to much to turn them off completely. The temps however were much lower coming in at a high today of 43F/6C  and at times it dropped lower to about 37F/3C. A steady side/head wind buffeted us pretty much the whole day. The wind was from the north and we traveled north east all day long. We were also in the foot hills which made the roadway almost like a wind tunnel at times. However it was not dangerous and at no time did I feel unsafe. We travel with the Dogsled in tow mode, I set the cruise at 55 mph/85 km and with the engine brake we stayed pretty much right there.

We stopped a few times but with the cold temps they weren’t long stops. ~laugh~ I even pulled out our mittens, we wore heavy sweaters and I think Riley has also pulled her footed tights. With the heat cranked inside the cab we were pretty toasty.

Heading into Cincinnati, Ohio but still in Covington, KY

Riley managed a nap for a bit this afternoon. I’m sure it must be difficult to sit there for such long periods but she brings things to occupy herself as well. She’s turning into quite the GPS expert and can usually find whatever we’re looking for if she’s not rushed. She’s the go to person while we travel, she’s the water boy, the snack giver, the navigator, the sign watcher and the communications expert. She wears a number of hats each time we start out in the Dogsled. She is becoming very good at road signs and helping me to determine which lane we should be for upcoming changes, she also have figured out the ‘exit only’ signs and will point out I should get over one lane. ~laugh~ I tell her in advance which is our next city (for directional purposes, even if we aren’t going to go that far or thru that city) and she’s pretty good at determining from the signs what we need. It’s something I’ve been encouraging every day that we were out and about in the Dogsled. I’m not sure how much she will retain when we arrive back on the island where road signs are few and interchanges are non existent. However it’s something she’s picked up over the past few months and I’m very proud of her for doing so.

Today while Miss Riley was napping I saw a car in the medium against the wire banged up on both ends, no ambulance but a couple of state troopers with flashing lights were on scene. Traffic was backed up a bit on the other side but not our side. Ohio is the one state in which speeders are ticketed on a pretty consistent basis. I don’t think we travelled for more than 50 miles at one stretch without seeing someone pulled over. At one of the rest stops it was a tight squeeze between the back of a state trooper’s vehicle and the big rig parked along the edge of the parking surface. The trooper obviously followed a trucker into the lot and was giving him some grief, in fact he still had his roof rack lights on while sitting in the rest stop parking area. I counted 7 different sets of blues whirling in the air in less than 10 minutes. Smokey never sleeps. ~laugh~

Crossing the river into Cincinnati,Ohio

Our arrival at Punderson State Park was at about 3:30 pm EST as we crossed back into our own time zone yesterday. The park is very nice and I’m sure lovely in the summer time when the leaves are out, the air is hot and the sun is shining. However right now it’s cold, windy and damp. The forecast is calling for snow and I’m certain it’s falling outside now. Full hook ups in the RV world means water, electric and sewer, here at Punderson it means water and electric and according to a fella I spoke with camping here the new water spigots don’t work properly, the springs aren't heavy enough to keep the handles up and the back pressure causes the water to blow out the valve and releases the handle back to the closed position. Needless to say that’s not a good thing. The ranger told this fella that it’s to encourage people to fill their fresh water tanks and not just rely on the water hook up. I thought that was rather foolish. Some of the sites have the new water connection that stands about 3 feet out of the ground, with a feature that allows them to drain back out in the cold weather so there is no need to winterize them. They’ve had either a huge snow melt or lots of rain here as the ground is very soft everywhere. One has to be very careful about not getting on the grass or one might need some assistance in getting out. ~laugh~

Riley set up the inside of the Igloo including turn on the heater (brrrrrr) while I was outside setting up the electric and water. I wrapped the water line in insulation foam to hopefully keep it from freezing. I then gathered our garbage of which we had a lot walked off to find the dumpster.  I also found the Iron Ranger (pay station) with the little cards to fill out and drop in the box. Like the fella I chatted with earlier, I thought the price was half the regular price right now but he said no, it’s a full $34/35 per night, plus $10 for a dump fee. I disagree with the dump fee since I’m parking here and paying to stay and so I didn’t include that fee in my payment. We’re only staying two nights and we won’t have to dump here. I’m looking for a spot closer to the border in which to camp with full hook ups and I’ll dump there.

Some green here in the rolling hills of Ohio.

I called my dad tonight to tell him of our arrival here. He worries and it’s a small thing to call him and let him know we’re safe and sound. It sounds as if they are getting the same kind of weather there as here but with a bit warmer temps there. They are just finishing up the maple sap run for the spring. Everything is boiled and needing to be strained/cleaned but their season is now complete. The buckets and spiles are being removed, cleaned and put away for another season. I’m looking forward to having some McMurray Maple Syrup in the near future.

The long range forecast is cold for Friday with some tricky weather for driving, and we’re staying put. Saturday the temps are going to reach mid 50F/10C, and Sunday, Monday they are pointing to 70F/20C, so we just have two nights and one day to get thru before the weather is decent again. Tomorrow I’ll hook up the propane heater to help keep us toasty.

Some cloudy skies overhead

Due to the weather I’m not sure if we will venture into the Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame, it’s 30 miles away. We shall however see what the day brings.

As I write this it’s snow/rain mix but with the drop in temps I’m sure it will be snow before much longer. To think we left 80F/25C just a few days ago makes me shiver all the more. I’m sure the Big Dog is wondering what the hell is going on, it’s been a southern truck all it’s short life. ~laugh~

Further north from Cinnci there is little signs of spring.

Once again the Dogsled did great on fuel consumption with having traveled todays 320 miles on about 2/3’s of a tank of fuel. Considering the conditions I think it did great and I’m very pleased with it.

So on that note, I’m going to sign off. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Stay warm, stay out of trouble and stay in touch. Until next time…be safe, take care…