Moving the RV means packing. We cannot have loose items bouncing around inside while driving. We had this down to a fine art in 2017, but it took a bit longer for our first departure on this trip. In particular, Chuck is quite worried about the slideout motor, and unpacked much of what we packed in the slideout to lighten the load.
Once on the road, things went smoothly, I90 was pretty empty except near Buffalo and there are lots of service areas. Chuck handled the traffic and Naomi drove a short stretch of empty road — miraculously, 33 miles with no construction.
We will stay for 3 nights at pretty little Green Lakes State Park. This park is built around 2 small unique lakes. These lakes, in basins formed during the retreat of the last ice age, have a very small surface area but are very deep. As a result, they are meromictic (learn a word every trip!). This means that the waters do not mix vertically, giving the lakes a unique color (aqua) and a unique ecosystem. Among other features, there are fresh water reefs built from calcium precipitated by cyanobacteria. There is a pretty 2.5 mile loop around the lake which we hiked after supper.
(The photo of Chuck does not show the true color, as I had to lighten things up to show his face.
The photo of the lake shows how the color progresses, with the lighter blue showing up in the very deep water only a few feet from shore.)
This YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFl4N244oAk was taken in the summer (not by us) when the beach is crowded with visitors and a few rental boats are allowed on the larger lake. At the end of the video you can see the natural color of the lake at the quiet end. The very last frame is the largest piece of the reef protruding from the shore. Here is another video with some of the science (and better views of the reef) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9LZkWPZrbw
Although the park has many RV “full service” campsites, arriving on a weekend, even this early in the season we had to settle for a site with no water or electricity. We are pretty self-sufficient, but we cannot run our electric heater –not a problem at night, but a bit chilly for sitting around in the RV when the temperatures are in the 40’s. We do have a propane furnace, which we run when it feels too cold.
When we awoke on Sunday, it was cold and rainy. All around us, campers were packing up to leave. Given the exodus, we were able to move to a full service site, getting soaked and muddy in the process. However, since hooking up to electricity we have been running our little space heater non-stop and the temperature inside has risen to a more reasonable 65F.
We decided that we needed to get out for a bit of a walk, but stuck to the paved surfaces. It has poured steadily except when hailing, and everything is soaked.
On Monday it continued to rain. However, when it was simply dripping, rather than pouring, we went for a long walk along the towpath of the Old Erie Canal. This is a pleasant walk with lots of birds. I saw my first common yellowthroat, a bird that looks a bit like the Lone Ranger, with a black mask over its eyes. By keeping our eye on our weather app, we managed to get only slightly soaked.
This is a place on our “come back to” list, as the biking is good in the park and on the towpath, and the kayaking should be good on the canal. (Only park rental kayaks are allowed on the lakes.) We just need some decent weather so we can enjoy the local attractions. Fortunately, this is just one day’s drive from home (a long day if driving the RV) so we can always go for a short vacation.