T and A On The Road: August 2014

I have happily driven hundreds of thousands of miles without ever once worrying about hitting the top of my car on the underside of a bridge. But, those carefree days are over. We've heard many horror stories about truckers and RVers hitting the tops of their rigs on low bridges.

We are 13' 5" tall, so we go to great lengths to make sure we never go anywhere near a low bridge. We carefully plot our course the night before we move Betty. We use the Rand McNally website and our Rand McNally RV GPS -- both of which are supposed to route us away from any too low bridges.

While driving from Monroe to St. Clair we drove under two Detroit bridges marked 13' 6"!!! That's only ONE INCH of clearance. It was frightening!!! The Rand McNally RV GPS thinks 1" of clearance is good. Really?!

I snapped the photo above after we successfully passed under the second 13'6" bridge (and my heart rate returned to normal). We noticed that the trucks were traveling in the middle lane, instead of the right lane. So we moved over too. Bridges are higher in the middle, so the truckers must feel safer near the middle of the bridges. Whenever we're not sure of low bridges or even low hanging big tree branches, we look for other trucks. If they are on the same road as us, it's probably a safe road (although Jessica Tuell can tell you stories about not-so-smart truckers).

What if the road had recently been resurfaced?

We already travel with 2 GPSs, a road atlas and multiple state maps. Terry is out right now buying us a Truck Atlas.

- Amanda

We loved the Finger Lakes area of NY. Every place we looked we saw lush vineyards sloping down towards sparking lakes. Tucked into all of this beauty is a seemingly endless variety and number of waterfalls. The August weather was unseasonably cold so we didn't get our boats in the water, but we did visit one winery and we saw lots and lots of beautiful waterfalls. A big thank you to our Williamsport friends Chris and Peter for compiling a list of Ithaca area sights to see!

Make sure you read (or browse) all the way to the end -- I saved the best for last.

The very best state park swimming area I've ever seen was in the Robert H. Treman State Park.Who wouldn't want to swim next to a waterfall?

Beautiful Ithaca Falls are right downtown in the middle of a neighborhood:

We loved Taughanook Falls too. Terry won the RVillage photo contest for this photo:

Our Williamsport friends Linda and Brian got married at Buttermilk Falls 25 years ago:

While driving around the Finger Lakes area, we passed this sign in front of an antique sale place.

"DON'T GET DRUNK BUY JUNK SALE"

We walked across a suspension bridge over the Falls Creek Gorge and visited the Johnson Art Museum. The museum had a quilt exhibit and panoramic views of Ithaca from the wall to wall windows on the top floor. As we were leaving, a museum guard recommended the Seward House in Aurora, NY.

The Hector Falls weren't on our list of sites to visit. We happened to see them from the highway. Terry pulled the truck over and I dodged traffic to run back and snap these photos:

Our Williamsport friends Chris and Peter used to live in Ithaca and they gave us a list of sights to see -- including the Ithaca Farmers Market. We both had delicious breakfast burritos.

We had the best bread and dipping oil at The Groggery. The food was excellent too!

As you recall, the museum guard at the Johnson Art Museum recommended that we visit Seward House in Aurora NY. He told us the Seward House held more vaulable antiques than the Johnson Art Museum! So we visited the Seward House and it was probably our second most favorite place in the Finger Lakes. Remember "Seward's Folly" from history class? William H. Seward was Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln (after he narrowly lost the Presidential election to him). Seward traveled all over the world and brought back art and artifacts to his NY home. He survived an assassination attempt the same night President Lincoln was killed. The most amazing part to me is that three generations of his family kept EVERYTHING. Terry and I just sold everything, and this family kept everything. Seward's grandson donated the house and all of it's contents to a museum. It's amazing!

After a rather strenuous "walk" up 800 steps at Watkins Glen, we stopped to enjoy a drink and the evening view at the southern end of Seneca Lake.

My most favorite spot in the Finger Lakes was the Watkins Glen Gorge. We walked the mile and a half long trail (with 800 steps) and saw 19 waterfalls. Breathtaking! If you have time to see only one thing in the Finger Lakes -- go to Watkins Glen State Park!