2017-20
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| Ives Run Recreation campsite, on Hammond Lake view looking across the lake |
Cortland New York
Tioga Pennsylvania
Campground: Cortland Country Music
Park and campground. 2 nights @ $28.00 30 amp and water. PPA rate:
2 nights @ $14.00. Usually only one night, I got two nights at the
discount rate.
Campground: Ives Run Recreation area.
COE park. Most of the electrical sites, paved in park like setting are booked up for weekends, so
I wasn't able to get into one for the two weeks here. I have a dry
campsite down a one mile gravel road. Nice spot overlooking the
lake. Cost: $10 senior rate. No hookups. No tv signal but I do
have 4g Verizon signal and clear site for solar panels.
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| Ives Run Recreation Area, Pine Loop no hookups |
I was glad to finally get out of the
Adirondack region only because of the overcast skies and cooler
weather which wasn't all to my liking. Now that I'm closer to the
southern boarder in New York, the sun has been out every day and
temps in the low 80 degree range with mild evenings.
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| Cortland Country Music park live country bands on weekends, country dancing: $8.00 pancake breakfast: $8.00 |
The Cortland Country Music park is a non-profit park with an official New York Country Music museum, music and dance barn and of course of campground which sits around a pond. The entire park is run by volunteers and all money collected goes to paying the performers and maintaining the facilities.
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| Cortland Country Music park , seasonal campers get the choice spots around the pond |
Mosquito's. Small innocent looking
little things that lightly set on your arm, a leg or neck and zap
they've got you. Here at Cortland park, they are out day and night.
Using a lot of insect spray just to enjoy a little time outdoors.
My next door neighbors live in New
Jersey and drive up here almost every weekend. It takes them 5 hours
or longer to get here with traffic. Having purchased a used 5th
wheel camper in the park, which they leave hear year round. The
husband and wife are on their second marriages and starting a second
family after raising a couple kids to adulthood already. A one year
old and another on the way. The husband, with quite the beer gut for
such a young looking guy has been remodeling the camper installing
all new paneled walls, flooring etc. Getting away from the congested
city life every weekend.
The next town over is Homer NY and the
beginning of hwy 90, where on Saturday I was able to enjoy a small
part of the 50 mile long yard sale. I was able to purchase just a
couple small items, after all I do live in my Rv fulltime and space
is always an issue. Still it was fun to walk along the route and see
what goodies were for sale.
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| Highway 90, 50 miles of yard sales |
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| the yard sales start in the charming little town of Homer NY |
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| a bargain for everyone |
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| Amish live in the area |
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| name your price if you don't like theirs |
In Cortland I went to the 1890 House
Museum. A 15,000 square feet over four main floors. Built for the
Wickwire family. Chester Wickwire made his money after someone owed
him money and instead gave him a loom. Out of that acquisition, he
and his brother were able to convert it into making metal screens for
house windows. The business boomed and after building a larger
factory Chester was able to have this fine limestone Chateauesque
mansion built. It's a self guided tour which I enjoyed, being able
to go at my own pace and take as many pictures and browse at will.
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| the 1890 House |
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| fireplace feature under the grand staircase, entry hall |
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| almost every town has a large mansion once owned by the local merchant |
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| the sun room |
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| wonderful roof lines and slate towers |
Being close to the finger lakes, I took
a day to drive over to one of the waterfalls and then drove along
two of the finger lakes. Owaskco Lake and Skaneateles Lake. High
rounded hillsides boarder the lakes, at times giving the viewer some
excellent views of the lakes below. Near the northern end of each
lake were a couple of towns and well maintained homes along the
lakes. Auburn looked like a very thriving town and Skaneateles, had
a nice town boarding the lake along with a nice park overlooking the
lake with a tour boat parked close to the downtown area. Making for
a nice walking area through town and along the lakefront.
The finger lakes were created along
river streams over 2 million years by glacial action as the ice
gradually receded 10,000 years ago. One of the lakes is 435 feet
deep and at it's lowest point is 53 feet below sea level.
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| Waterfalls are numerous on the southern end of the finger lakes |
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| natural flow hampered by a dam in disrepair |
CLOGGED Water.
RV issues. I was having trouble with
my water source, getting only a trickle of water coming through the
lines. After checking things out, I removed my hose connection at
both ends and discovered the screen filter leading into the camper
was all clogged with yucky stuff. Too disgusting to describe any
further. After cleaning it all up and spraying the heck out of the
area with a chlorine mixture, I now have a great flowing water source
once again. Though I don't plan on using any of the water for
drinking or cooking purposes anytime soon. I really need to go back
to using an inline filter attached to the hose.
Distance traveled: 98 miles
New York into Pennsylvania
Lots of back roads along hwy 13 before
hitting interstate 99. Before crossing over into Pennsylvania, I was
able to make an appointment with Stateline Rv to have my over the air
TV antenna fixed/replaced before heading to my campsite at Tioga PA.
I did my best to see if the attendant could book me into a site(s)
with electric, but she kept saying the longest she could get me in
for was 3 days and that wouldn't do. IE she didn't want to go
through the effort.
I do have a nice dry camp site (that
means it has no hookups) which is fine, especially since it is fairly
open with good solar panel charging capabilities. Sitting on a hill
overlooking the lake and fellow campers below my site closer to the
water. Temps are in the low 80's and mid to low 60's at night.
Comfortable especially in the shade during the afternoons.
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| wild flowers on the side of the road leading to my campsite.... |
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| views across the way from my campsite |
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| more wild flowers |
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| gone to seed, is fall around the corner? |
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| the mile long gravel road from the upscale campsites over to the primitive campsites where I'm staying |
ROKU Express
I had previously used Googles “Chrome”
device, but haven't been satisfied with the setup. The new Roku
Express was really easy to set up and with the Verizon WiFi signal
established, it makes for a really nice setup. Comes with it's own
remote control which is very easy to use. I'm testing out all of the
free programming first before leaping into any payed subscriptions
such as Netflix, Hulu or Sling.
I'm very satisfied with the reception
and there appears to be no “buffering” required except for the
initial set up for each channel initialization. One of the free
movie channels had too many commercials thrown in, so I stopped
watching the movie. Others appear to be free without commercials and
there are the usual NBC/CBS/ABC news broadcasts as well.
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| one of the menu shots from my new Roku device |
Overall, so far anyway, Roku appears to
be a very easy to use, moving around the menu is simple and
straightforward. Connecting each time only requires that I have my
WiFi connection on the phone turned on, then turning on the TV and
I'm good to go.
As one Rv-er commented recently, I can
live without not having one of the three (Tv, Internet or Cell Phone)
and that is so true. We have all come to rely on those communication
channels and as long as we have at least one or two of them we're
usually ok.
As you may have guessed, this week is
not a busy one for touring and exploring. Taking time just to enjoy
the surrounding tree covered mountains, small towns and a pretty cool
campsite overlooking the lake.
Thanks for all the information you share on your travels. I really enjoy reading them when I get time. I use Ruko in my art room. Happy to here it work's great for in the RV too.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Randy