Category Archives: New York

Itchy Situation

For some reason, mosquitoes love me. I always seem to attract more mosquitoes and mosquito bites than others around me. When we were in Texas, I started getting mosquito bites. Mosquitoes aren’t much of an issue in southern California or Arizona where we spend a lot of time.

When we were at Tom Sawyer RV Park in Memphis, a couple of mosquito bites I got on my left foot back in Rockport, Texas were getting irritated by the straps on my flip flops. In Missouri, I got a couple more bites on my right foot. These were also irritated by the straps on my flip flops. I started putting antibiotic ointment and band-aids over the bites to keep the straps from rubbing and further irritating them.

By the time we got to Michigan, the irritation was spreading on the tops of both feet. I had rough red skin where the straps of my flip-flops ran behind my toes. When we left Michigan and were driving across Ohio, I told Donna my shirt felt funny. I thought it might have had something to do with some new mosquito bites on my shoulders and arms.

The next day, driving through the Finger Lakes Region, I told Donna I thought there was some kind of contamination in my shirt. I wasn’t just feeling mosquito bites – I had splotchy red areas on my neck, shoulders, back and chest, and underarms.

I have severe pollen allergies. Most of the time, I react to pollen with the usual sneezing, runny nose and itchy, watering eyes. Sometimes, when the pollen count is really high or I’m doing yard work, my skin will react with small red itchy bumps.

That’s what this felt like, except the areas of bumps were joining and becoming large skin irritations. Donna told me that the dryers at Addison Oaks in Michigan had a lot of plant matter in the filter screens. She thought someone had dried a blanket or sleeping bag that had been used outdoors. My shirts might have become contaminated in the dryer.

I started taking Benadryl tablets and rubbing Benadryl cream on the affected areas. It seemed like things were improving every morning, but by the end of the day, I would be worse off. Sunday night was the last straw. I had a burning, itching sensation in my arms and shoulders all night long.

On Monday morning, I rode the scooter to the nearest medical facility, Cobleskill Regional Hospital. I brought a book along thinking I would be in for a long wait. I was pleasantly surprised by their efficiency and was soon examined by a doctor. Doctor Trimble diagnosed two separate conditions – contact dermatitis on my upper body and a wound infection on my feet. He prescribed Prednisone for the allergic reaction (dermatitis) and Keflex for the infection. He told me that it isn’t contagious and to avoid scratching or rubbing any of the affected areas. I’ve been hanging out in the coach with my shirt off.

Donna’s mother, Lorraine, came by yesterday afternoon. She took Donna and Ozark the cat to the vet. Ozark had an exam and this morning, will get her vaccinations and get spayed. Donna stayed the night at her parents’ house and will catch up on our laundry. Since we’ve been in parks without sewer hook-ups lately, she hasn’t used our washer/dryer.

This morning, just one day after starting my course of medications, I would say my condition has improved by 50%. I think in another day or two, I should be fine. Of course I’ll follow the prescription of five days on the Predisone and 10 days on the Keflex even if I clear up sooner.

I plan to lie low again and read a book today. Donna and Ozark should be home in the late afternoon.

Balance of Power

We pulled out of Beaver Spring Lake Campground around 11am. I used their dump station to dump and flush our holding tanks – we won’t be on a sewer hook-up for the next week. We backtracked several miles to Oneonta and pulled into the large parking lot at the Price Chopper grocery store. There were a few other stores there as well. I went to Rite Aid to pick up a few items and also to the liquor store while Donna shopped for groceries.

We opted to stay off the bumpy I-88 and drove east on New York State Route 7. This is a typical two-lane highway that took us parallel to I-88. The highway is a mixture of 55mph stretches through open rolling country broken up by small villages along the way. Some of the villages are speed traps – suddenly, without any warning, the speed limit drops to 40 or even 30 mph. Any time it looked like there would be a settlement ahead, I kept a lookout for posted speed signs.

We pulled into the Hide-A-Way Campsites near Central Bridge, New York a little past 1pm (map). Donna’s parents live nearby and we plan to spend a week here visiting them. We’re in a long pull-through gravel site and didn’t have to drop the trailer. The check-in process was efficient and the people at the office were friendly. The layout of our site is strange though. We have a picnic table and grassy area on the driver’s side of the coach where the power and water hook-ups are. On the passenger side, where you would normally find a picnic table, it’s all gravel under our canopy.

Gravel outside our door and under the canopy

Gravel outside our door and under the canopy

Grass Picnic table and fore ring on the "wrong" side

Grass picnic table and fire ring on the “wrong” side

I unloaded our grills and got the ladders out of the trailer. After completing our set-up, including the window shades and wheel covers, I got up on the roof. In the northeast – from Pennsylvania up through New England – our Dish Network needs to be re-programmed. The western arc satellites (110° and 119°) may not work here. I removed the dome from our Winegard Roadtrip satellite antenna and reset the dip switches (dual inline package). The dip switches modify the circuit in the board for the antenna.

Satellite dome - two screws already removed

Satellite dome – two screws already removed

Antenna controller with dip switches

Antenna controller with dip switches

I reinstalled the dome and went through the tedious process of programming the receiver to tune in satellites 61.5° and 129°. While I was doing this, our power suddenly cut off. I went outside to check the breaker at the pedestal. We’re on a 50-amp service and shouldn’t be overloaded.

I found an error code on our Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) showing low voltage on L-1. If the voltage supply drops below 104 volts, the EMS will shut down. Low voltage can damage electronic components and electric motors. Things like air conditioner motors may still run on low voltage, but there’s a risk of damage.

I reset the pedestal breaker which, in turn, reset the EMS. I read 107 volts on L-1 and 117 volts on L-2. This isn’t good. About five minutes later, the EMS shut down again with the same code for low voltage on L-1. I reset it again and walked up to the office.

Progressive Industries EMS

Progressive Industries EMS

The ladies in the office were friendly and took me over to a house behind the office where several people were sitting on the porch. A guy named Fred was called over and I explained the problem to him. He said, “The only time we ever have electrical issues is when you people with big buses are in the park.” What?

I told him about the low voltage and the error code on my EMS. He was very surly and said, “I can’t make voltage – it’s whatever the power company delivers.” I said, “Maybe there’s a poor connection in my pedestal creating excessive resistance – can you check that out?” He said, “It’s the weekend and I don’t have anyone here to do that work.” He added, “If you can’t deal with it, I’ll give you your money back and you can go somewhere else.” I couldn’t believe his attitude and what I was hearing. I asked him if he was the campground manager and, he said, “No, I own this place.” Wow!

I went back to the coach and shut off the front air conditioner which runs off L-1. Fifty amp coaches are set up with two lines of electricity splitting the loads between L-1 and L-2. Each leg provides 50 amps of current and shouldn’t overload the power supply. There was clearly something wrong with the L-1 power supply.

About half an hour later, Fred was at our pedestal. I walked outside and greeted him. He had a volt meter and told me he had checked the power at pedestals all down the line. He said there was low voltage on L-1 everywhere, thus it was a power company problem and he couldn’t do anything about it. He said no one else was having a problem with it and added that it’s always the guys with big buses that complain. Everyone else here is in a travel trailer or fifth wheel trailer. I told him since he measured low voltage throughout the park, everyone has a problem – they just don’t know it because they don’t have an EMS.

He said they would call the power company and also shut down the pool pump which puts a big load on the power supply.

After thinking about for a while, here’s my take. Most of the travel trailers in the park are probably 30-amp set-ups. The power supply to the park has two legs of 120 volt AC power. Thirty amp circuits only run on one leg of the power supply. When the park power pedestals are wired up, the 30-amp receptacles should be balanced by wiring the first one to L-1, the second to L-2, the third to L-1, the fourth to L-2 and so on. I’d be willing to bet the park wasn’t wired correctly and everyone using 30-amp power is on the same L-1 circuit. This would explain the disparity in voltage between L-1 and L-2.

Around 5pm, Donna’s mother Lorraine and her father Duke came over. We sat and talked for awhile as Donna prepared cumin-toasted tilapia over sauteed mushrooms with lemon parmesan broccoli and black rice. Duke is not fond of fish, so Donna heated a chicken pasty for him. We had an enjoyable meal and lots of conversation.

Meanwhile, I was still trying to complete the programming of my satellite dish and acquire a signal. It wouldn’t lock on to the new satellite settings. I think I’ll reset it back to the western arc and see if it acquires a signal today. I’ve already missed the Formula One race.

An Up and Down Day

I ended my last post saying we would head over to Skaneateles. We’d heard that it was a fun touristy stop. Our plan was to head east on US20 along the northern tips of the Finger Lakes. We drove through the little villages of Geneva, Waterloo and Seneca Falls before we reached Skaneateles. All of the villages were quaint with narrow streets and nowhere to park with the exception of a visitor’s center in Geneva that we saw too late to pull in.

It was farmers’ market day in Skaneateles. I was hoping to park in town by the public park at the tip of the lake so we could wander around. It wasn’t possible. All of the parking spaces were full and the side streets were too narrow to park our rig. The small downtown area of Skaneateles has many interesting shops and restaurants that we would have liked to explore, but we continued eastward.

Donna was looking through the Escapees Days End directory and other resources for dry camping or discounted campgrounds. We had two nights to fill before we can check in at Central Bridge near Donna’s parents where we are booked for a week. Our route was taking us along the northwestern edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The road was constantly rising and falling before us in short, very steep climbs and descents. These were some of the steepest roads I’ve traveled. We were either going downhill with the jake brake on the high setting or going uphill with the pedal to the metal. Most of the grades were short – less than 1/2 mile, but there were a few longer ones.

At the junction with I-81, Donna told me to get on the interstate and head south. She found a park in Cortland with a Passport America rate of $14. She also found a park near Davenport, just east of Oneonta with an Escapees rate of $19. We stopped near the park in Cortland and discussed our options. The Passport America rate was only good for one night and they didn’t have a pull-through site. We would have to drop the trailer, which I prefer not to do for a one-night stay.

The park near Davenport was another 80 miles away. However, the Escapees rate could be applied to two nights and they had a large pull-through site. The downside was no sewer at the site, only 30 amp electric and fresh water. I was tired but voted to continue on to Beaver Spring Lake Campground near Davenport (map). We could set up quickly and not drop the trailer, plus we could stay two nights. And Donna has family in the area that she had hoped to see on this trip.

We stopped and topped up the fuel tank at a truck stop in Cortland. We took on 47 gallons at $2.95/gallon which is higher than we pay out west but a good price for this area.

Dry camping opportunities are not as plentiful in the east as they are west of the Missouri River. I don’t think the Walmart parking lots are available for overnighting anywhere in New York. There isn’t any open public land like the large BLM holdings in the west. Being spontaneous about overnight stops doesn’t work as easily in the east.

We checked in at Beaver Spring Lake Campground around 4pm. We were directed to a large pull-through double site. They don’t take credit or debit cards here, cash or check only. This has us positioned to to make the 45-mile drive to Central Bridge on Saturday.

Large open site

Large open site

No neighbors tonight

No neighbors tonight

Our site is large and spacious, but not at all level. I put my wood pads below the jacks on the left side of the coach which needed to be raised considerably.

We had fair weather all day and drove without running the air conditioner. We slept with the windows open last night and the coach was a chilly 61 degrees this morning. Today the forecast calls for a high in the upper 70s with mostly sunny skies. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

Clambake

When we bought our motorhome in December 2012, we had no thoughts of going full-time in it. Our intention was to use it to visit friends and family. In January we planned to vacation in upstate New York to attend the Lake Placid Ironman event and visit Donna’s family and friends. That’s what we’ve been doing since we left Michigan.

As I’ve said many times, plans have a way of changing. We  decided to move up my early retirement date and hit the road full time in our motorhome. We have a plan that will take us through the end of the year. Like most first-year full-timers, we will spend too much time and money traveling in the next couple of months.

Yesterday we had a friends and family day. Donna’s dad, Duke Connor, came to our campsite at Thompson’s Lake and picked us up a little after 1pm. We drove to his place in Quaker Street. On the way we stopped at a market in Delanson and picked up 200 Rhode Island littleneck clams that he had ordered.

When we arrived at his house, Donna’s friend from her college days, Lynne, was waiting out front. On the deck in back we found her mother, Lorraine, her aunt Margaret, her brother Mark and his wife and daughter, Miriam and Michelle.

Lynn, Donna and Mark

Lynne, Donna and Mark

I did what I do best – that is, I sat back, relaxed and drank beer while Duke and Mark got the charcoal grill lit. There was a spread of hors d’oeuvres on the table. We snacked and talked. In due time, Mark and Duke had the clams steaming on the grill. More just picked local corn on the cob was cooking in the kitchen.

Duke and Lorraine Connor

Duke and Lorraine Connor

I ate a dozen clams; they were delicious. I was a lightweight compared to Donna and Michelle. At last count Michelle was downing her 58th clam. Lynne drove us back to our site around 5:30pm. Donna gave her a tour of the coach and we visited for a while. Donna and Lynne met in England when they were foreign exchange students in college.

After Lynne left, we had more visitors. Donna’s friend, Joan, and her husband Art came out to see us. Donna and Joan worked together when they were in their 20s. We sat and talked for a couple of hours. Art is a chef so the conversation wasn’t all about reminiscing old times. Donna loves to cook and I like eating so we talked a lot about food. Art shared some interesting ideas including plans for cooking pumpkin leaves. Although they live nearby, Art hadn’t been to Thompson’s Lake before. I think he’ll be back today with his son to drown worms and maybe catch a fish or two.

Today marks the end of our planned “vacation.” From now on, we are really full timing. The vacation plan took us to the northeast. Now we will start to head west. We have a time schedule to meet in the next couple of months before we’ll be able to really settle in a place and live the full-time RV lifestyle as we should.

Our next destination is Minneapolis. I hope to be there by the end of the week. Donna will fly from Minneapolis to New York city for a media tour job. Donna does spokesperson work in addition to her work as an author. She also has family and friends in Minnesota that we hope to connect with. I’ll hang out near Minneapolis while she goes to New York for a couple of days.

From there we will go to South Dakota to establish our domicile. I’ll write about the reasons for choosing South Dakota in another post. Eventually we’ll end up in San Diego in time for my oldest daughter, Alana’s, wedding on September 19th.

With the road schedule ahead, I don’t know if I’ll be able to update the blog daily, but I’ll try. Time to pack up and head west!

Thompson’s Lake

I’m having a little trouble remembering what day of the week it is. I think this is a good thing. My days are no longer ruled by Microsoft Outlook and meetings on the calendar.  Yesterday was Friday, I woke up around 8am. It was a move day so I had to get things done.

Donna packed up the interior while I took care of things outside. I dumped and flushed the holding tanks and we were ready to roll at 11:45am – a little later than I expected. The drive was uneventful except for a couple of traffic tie ups. The last 4 or 5 miles on Rt 156 were steep climbs. The road was narrow and the going was slow.

On the way we stopped at Hannafords supermarket for a few items. Donna bought a few groceries and I bought beer. Donna knew the store and assured me of a large parking lot that I could easily maneuver the coach and trailer in. I love it when she’s right.

Before we left Lake George, we off loaded an upholstered rocking chair and nightstand from the trailer. We hauled these from Michigan to give to Donna’s brother, Mark. They are family keepsakes from Donna’s grandmother. I packed them as carefully as I could considering the trailer was over loaded with stuff. I wrapped both items in furniture blankets, but Donna said there were some slight dings on the chair.

We checked in at Thompson’s Lake State Park and were directed to site 15. I thought I would have to drop the trailer as they said 40′ was their maximum length. When I saw the site I could tell we had more than 40′, so I backed the trailer in and fit our whole rig easily. Coach and trailer combined are about 50′ long. We haven’t dropped the trailer since leaving Michigan 11 days ago.

After I positioned our rig, I got out to check out the hook ups. The Reserve America site said we were reserving a site with 30 amp electricity and fresh water. I found neither in our site. I walked around and looked at a couple of other sites and didn’t see any hook ups. Donna phoned the office and was told there are no hook ups in the park, no electricity except for the public restrooms and no water other than a couple of faucets.

This was pretty disappointing for me. I left lake George with less than half a tank of fresh water – about 25 gallons. I would have filled up if I knew we were dry camping for the next few days. I guess I’m sugar coating it when I say disappointing, I was mad as hell. Donna had her usual calming influence though and we agreed it was just a small bump in the road. It gives us a chance to practice water conservation. No big thing.

The park is full with mostly families camping. Adjacent to our site is a basketball court and a volleyball net. I wondered how noisy it would be. There were kids and young adults playing, and other than a few people using our site as a shortcut to the courts it wasn’t a problem. Cutting through someone’s campsite is poor etiquette though, right?

Donna’s mother, Lorraine, drove out here for a visit. Donna’s parents live about 12 miles away from the park. Lorraine stayed for dinner. I grilled curried shrimp and corn on the cob. Donna and Lorraine took a walk down to the beach area. When they returned. they told me I had to have a look at what’s going on a few sites down from ours. At that site there were a few cars. Apparently the campers had visitors. A woman driving a Volvo pulled in to park there and didn’t realize there was a ditch between the road and campsite. She pulled in next to a car parked at the site entrance and drove right into the ditch! When I walked by there were 7 or 8 people standing around the car, arms crossed and scratching their chins looking at the front wheels dangling over the ditch. Later I saw the car had been extricated.

Today we’ll go visit Donna’s parents. Her brother, Mark and family will also be  there.

Thompson's Lake

Thompson’s Lake

A Day at the Races

Thursday morning we slept in. It was after 8am when I woke up. I’m getting used to retirement! Actually, Thursday was my first official day of retirement, I was using vacation time in July. First pension check deposited to my account!

I sat at the table and posted to the blog. We planned to go the horse races at Saratoga with Donna’s sister, Linda, and her husband Tom at 10am. Somehow the time got away from us and we were scrambling to get showered and dressed. We left around 10:20am. We were supposed to meet Donna’s brother, Mark, his wife Miriam and daughter Michelle at 11am. We made it on time thanks to Tom’s lead foot driving.

Srtga

Thoroughbred racing has been going on in Saratoga Springs since 1863. The facility was built in 1864. It’s a great place. We had reserved seats in the clubhouse thanks to Mark.

With Donna at Saratoga

With Donna at Saratoga

The first two races were steeplechase events. These are long races (2+miles) and involve the horse and rider jumping over fences. In the first race, a rider toppled from the horse on the back stretch. I hope he’s okay. I picked up the racing form and studied the expert advice. I’m not in the habit of going to horse racing. It’s been at least 20 years since I last attended a horse race. When I lived in San Diego, I would occasionally go to the races at Del Mar.

I played Exacta bets – this type of bet requires you to pick first and second place. I won the fourth race, but at the end of the day, I was just a contributor to the pari-mutuel pool. Donna introduced a new food to me – Montreal poutine. These are French fries with gravy and cheese curd. Very tasty. We also had Manhattan clam chowder.

beertnt

There were beer gardens at the site and live music as well. Unfortunately shortly after we arrived it started to rain and the temperature dropped. Donna was cold and left with Tom and Linda after the 6th race. I stayed with Mark, Miriam and Michelle but we also decided to leave after the 7th race.

bnd

Back at the campground, I grilled Key West chicken and Tom roasted local corn on the cob. Tasty! They stopped at a bakery on the way back and picked up dessert – cannoli, eclairs and cookies.

It was a great way to kick off my retirement and I’m ready to get used to living like this.

Today we’ll move to Thompson Lake.

DMsrtga

Changing Plans

We’re still at the Great Escape RV Park in Lake George. Yesterday we decided the extend our stay here until Friday. I didn’t post yesterday so I need to catch up.

Tuesday we thought about tubing the Schroon River but it became overcast and a little breezy in the afternoon. We made it a mostly lazy day. Donna used the laundromat onsite to get all of the laundry done. We have a Splendide washer/dryer combo in our motorhome. It works well but can only handle small loads. We had towels and whatnot from our clean-up of the gray water incident as well as bicycling clothing stored in suitcases that got wet. Using two machines at the laundromat allowed us to get all of our laundry done in a matter of less than two hours.

Donna whipped up a salad from leftovers for lunch. She can put together the most amazing dishes.

LKGlnch

Donna’s sister, Linda, and brother-in-law, Tom, have mountain bikes here. They’re camped across the road from us in their fifth wheel trailer. I borrowed Tom’s bike and rode around the campground. This is a large park – 178 acres with 575 sites. There’s a mile of Schroon River frontage. I enjoyed cruising around, people watching and checking out some of the RVs.

We got together with with Tom and Linda and grilled chicken and zucchini for dinner. Altogether a very relaxing day.

LKGdin

Wednesday, July 31st was officially my last day of employment. Technically I’m on vacation and my retirement starts August 1st. We planned to move to Thompson Lake State Park but plans have a way of changing. The day dawned bright and clear and we still wanted to go tubing on the Schroon River. Thursday we will join Donna’s brother, Mark, and his wife, Miriam, at the horse races in Saratoga. Thinking about this, it made sense for us to stay here in Lake George. We can catch a ride to Saratoga with Tom and Linda instead of having Mark drive way out of his way to Thompson Lake to pick us up.

I rode Tom’s bike to the campground office to extend our stay. This turned out to be more complicated than I thought. The girl at the counter said our site was only open for one more day. I needed to extend at least two more days or we couldn’t go to the races. She said she could extend one day in our site then we would have to move. It was a little hard for me to understand why I had to move. There were open sites and it seemed like she could re-arrange a reservation with a few keystrokes on the computer. I guess managing 575 sites might be more complicated than that.

Instead of staying in our site one more day then moving for a one night stay, we opted to move now and settle in to a new site for two days. The move was all of 150 feet from site 653 to site 660. This took about an hour. We had to unhook, pack, pull the slides in then drive the loop to the new site, hook up, level the coach and put the slides back out. It was a hassle but it was worth it.

By the time we finished, cloud cover returned and it felt a little too cool to be tubing in the cold river water. We spent the afternoon relaxing. Donna and I took bike rides around the park. For dinner I grilled cedar planked steelhead trout. We toasted my last day of “work” and are ready for the road ahead.

LKGslmn

We capped the day with a trip into town for ice cream.

Today we’re off to Saratoga to bet on the ponies.

 

Conestoga

On some of the blogs I follow, people have names for their RV. I’ve never been one to name my vehicles, but we’ve been trying to come up with a name. This morning I woke up thinking about our trip out west coming up. I thought about the settlers heading west in their Conestoga wagons. I think we’ll call our RV “Connie” as it’s our modern day version of the Conestoga wagon heading west with all of our possessions aboard. What do you think?

Photo, caption and description below courtesy of Wikipedia

Painting depicting a Conestoga wagon

The Conestoga wagon is a heavy, covered wagon that was used extensively during the late 18th century and the 19th century in the United States and Canada. It was large enough to transport loads up to 8 tons (7 metric tons), and was drawn by horses, mules or oxen. It was designed to help keep its contents from moving about when in motion and to aid it in crossing rivers and streams, though it sometimes leaked unless caulked…

Yesterday was a move day. We were still trying to dry things from the disaster the day before. It poured rain overnight. This didn’t help with the things we had hanging to dry.

In the morning, I rode the scooter to the FedEx office in the village to overnight the title to my BMW motorcycle. I’m really happy that it sold; it’s been on consignment at the BMW dealership for a few months. Donna’s Beemer sold after couple of weeks there.

Packing up to move took a lot of time. I had to rearrange much of the trailer before I could load the scooter. We didn’t hit the road until 1PM. We followed Rt 73 out of Lake Placid through Keene Valley to I-87 (the Adirondack Northway). The first section of 73 to the village of Keene has a few steep downgrades. This was part of the Ironman cycling course. Driving 11+ tons of RV requires attention when going downhill. I used lower gears to utilize engine braking and braked with the service brakes as necessary to maintain the desired speed. The worst thing to do is to ride the brakes all the time, they will overheat and become ineffective.

We arrived at the Lake George Escape Campground a couple of hours later. While we were on the road, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything except for a cup of Greek yogurt all day. In our estate sale, I sold pants that were tight fitting and only kept a few with a 36″ waist size. After one week on the road these are loose and falling down. I’ll be wearing 34″ again very soon!

We checked in and found that Donna’s brother-in-law, Tom, had set us up with a nice pull-through site. The Lake George Escape Campground is a large private facility with all of the amenities. We have full hookups with 50 amp service and cable TV. The site is large, level and the trees and shrubs make it relatively private. We booked our stay here several months ago and neither Donna or I can remember what we paid; we’ll have to check our records.

We’re thinking about tubing on the river today. The campground is located on the Schroon River which runs from Schroon Lake to the Hudson River. We plan to make today a mostly lazy day as we had a fairly busy time in Lake Placid.

Tomorrow we’ll move to Thompson’s Lake State Park where we’ll visit with Donna’s parents, her brother Mark’s family and some old friends (she grew up and lived in the area for many years).

Tough Day in Lake Placid

Yesterday the Ironman event was held here in Lake Placid. This grueling event combines timed swimming (2.4 miles), cycling (112 miles) and running (26.2 miles). Our friend, Allen Hutchinson, competed. He’s been training for about 18 months and competed in half triathlons in the past. This was his first full Ironman event.

Allen set reasonable expectations. When asked what goal he set for the race he said he would like to beat the average time which is over 13 hours. Donna and I didn’t see the swim event as the race starts very early and there was a light rain falling. We followed Allen’s time splits online and knew he hit his swim goal of 1 hour 10 minutes.

When I saw his 30 mile bike split time, I knew he was flying but didn’t know if he could sustain the pace through the next 82 miles which included significant climbs. Donna and I went to the course to cheer about 30 minutes before we expected to see Allen come though town. He surprised us by coming through 10 minutes after we arrived.

The streets were lined with spectators, all of them cheering the competitors. We walked over to Donna’s sister, Pam’s, house and visited for a awhile. Donna decided she would walk the three miles back to our place while I scootered back.

Upon my return I removed my helmet and could hardly believe my eyes. Water was coming out of one of the bays behind the right rear tire. I opened the bay and it was full of water dripping down from above. I ran inside the coach, the bathroom floor was flooded with water coming out of the shower stall. I quickly went back outside to the left side of the coach and opened the gray water drain valve.

When I came back in to the bathroom, it didn’t look like the shower was draining very fast. I looked at all of the faucets to see if something was left open, filling the gray water holding tank. I was puzzled as no faucets were dripping. I went back out and turned the water inlet valve from outside water to the freshwater tank position so the plumbing would no longer have pressure.

By now the shower had drained and I began mopping up. Luckily I arrived just as the bathroom floor was filling with water and it didn’t get into the rest of the coach. As I was mopping, I was trying to think of the cause of the flood when I heard and felt a loud pop in the floor. Hmmm…what was that? Then it happened again.

I dashed outside again and opened the bay where the fresh water tank is. When I diverted the incoming freshwater to the tank I neglected to open the vent valves. The tank was blowing up like a balloon and pressing on the floor of the coach. I quickly opened both valves and wondered what else could go wrong. I inspected what I could see of the tank and it didn’t appear to be damaged. One of the level sensors had a few drops of water around it but didn’t leak once the pressure was relieved.

In the middle of all this Donna sent me a text message stating she was on her way here. I replied “disaster here.” I set up a fan and space heater and continued to clean up. When Donna arrived she went to the fire station and borrowed a wet/dry shop vac. I finally figured out the source of the water. Before we left Donna started a load of laundry, neither of us thought about how much water that dumps into the gray water tank or what the current state of the tank was. Lesson learned. I was wound up tight for hours. Water damage is an RVers worst nightmare.

Meanwhile out on the course Allen was continuing his fast pace. His average speed for the bike portion was a hair under 18 MPH. On a hilly course this is excellent. I knew he would be strong in the run.

After all of the clean up work I was sweaty and felt not so clean. We had dinner plans with friends so Donna and I showered and changed clothes. We planned to go into the village to cheer Allen on during his final leg of the run. Just as we were beginning to leave it started raining again. Donna stayed back and finished tidying up the place instead of riding in the rain while I scootered into town.

The village was crazy — streets lined with cheering spectators, competitors straining to reach the finish. I looked for Allen. I walked over to the Prague Motor Inn and looked for his wife, Crystal. When I couldn’t find her I realized Allen must have already come through and she would be at the finish line.

I walked back to my scooter and rode over to the stadium where they finish the event. It was an absolute zoo. Masses of people, supporters and athletes milling about everywhere. I gave up trying to find them. I phoned Crystal but didn’t get answer. It was no surprise considering the noise.

I returned “home” and looked up Allen on the Ironman site. He finished well ahead of expectations with a total time of 11 hours, 40 minutes and 48 seconds. It was an outstanding performance, even more impressive when you consider that it was his first full triathlon. He competes in the 40-44 age division which is probably one of the toughest. His time placed him 98th in the division.He was 480th overall in a race against 2800 competitors. I’m impressed and proud to know him.

We finished off what turned out to be a tough day on the Ironman circuit and a tough day in the RV by joining friends for dinner. We ate at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid with Wendy, Ian, Karen and Bernie. Good food, good conversation with good friends was a great way to end the day.

Today we’ll pack up and drive to Lake George to join Donna’s sister, Linda, and her husband Tom.

More From Lake Placid

The Iron Man event takes place today. In fact it’s 7am as I write and the competitors are already in the water for the 2.4 mile swim. But I’ll write about that tomorrow, this morning I need to catch up on the last couple of days.

Friday morning Gene and I went out in his boat on Lake Placid intending to do a little fishing. As we cruised across the lake, Gene filled me in on a little of the history and the layout of the lake. Suddenly the outboard engine started making unusual noises and lost power. We turned around to limp back to the boat launch, but soon the engine quit running.

It seemed like a fuel delivery problem to me and I began to investigate. After a while another boater saw that we were powerless and offered a tow which we gladly accepted. While we were being towed, I continued to look for the problem and found a pinhole in the fuel line under the cowl. The pinhole was allowing the fuel pump to draw air, so the engine ran lean and then quit.

The good news is that I saw some of the lake and the issue with engine is an easy fix, but our tour was cut short and we didn’t get a chance to fish.

Donna and I went into the village and it was really hopping. Sidewalks filled with people, streets filled with cars, bicycles, runners and scooter (yes, we had the only scooter that we saw in town). There was a large vendor area with a platform the could raise and lower. Under the platform was a large inflatable cushion. Kids were lined up for the opportunity to jump from the platform and land in the cushion! No thank you.

The Platform

The Platform

Jump!

Jump!

 

Friday night we were invited to dinner at Wendy and Ian Poole’s house. Donna’s old friends, Karen and Diane, were also invited along with their husbands, Bernie and Patrick. We had cocktails, good conversation and good food. It was a great dinner party. Our contribution to the dinner was a bottle of wine – “Triple Overtime” from Igor Larionov’s winery, signed by the man himself.

Bernie and Karen drove us home but first we stopped at their place for a nightcap and tour of their house. It’s a beautiful place that Bernie built.

Yesterday I had good news from Detroit BMW. They sold my R1200RT motorcycle! Tomorrow I’ll sign off the title and send to them via FedEx overnight.

Wendy and Ian invited us to go boating on Saranac Lake. The village of Saranac Lake is about seven miles from Lake Placid and is slightly larger with about 6,000 residents. The lake itself is actually comprised of three lakes – Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lake. We were on Lower Saranac Lake. About half of the shoreline of this lake is public property. The islands are also state land and have reservable camp sites on them.

Cove on Lower Saranac Lake

Cove on Lower Saranac Lake

We had lunch on the boat anchored in  a small cove. Wendy made some delicious wraps. We talked and enjoyed the scenery and each other’s company and then took a short swim to cool off. It was a very pleasant way to spend a beautiful day.

Delicious lunch on Ian's boat

Delicious lunch on Ian’s boat

Last evening Allen Hutchinson, his wife Crystal and their three daughters joined us for dinner. I grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa (which Donna prepared). We also had a green bean and fennel salad and brown rice. We spent a couple of hours at the picnic table eating and talking. They’re a lovely family.

Donna and the Hutchinson family

Donna and the Hutchinson family

I hope Allen is doing well in the swim right now. It’s raining, 62 degrees and cloudy. The rain shouldn’t affect his swim but I hope it stops before he begins the ride. He expected to complete the 2.4 mile swim in ~70 minutes so he’ll be transitioning to the bike soon. We’ll go watch the bike portion.

That’s what we’ve been up to. Tomorrow we’ll move to Lake George to camp alongside Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy.

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