Running, Running….

Location: Catskill, NY (High 85, Low 66)

Both Harry and I are going to be glad when this little marathon of last minute appointments is over!! Yesterday was another day of running to Albany. We also brought our niece Hannah to her appointment as well since we were already going in the same direction.

 

By far, the best part of the day was a trip to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream.

 

We have decided that next year we will finish our business of this type by earlier in the summer. It is too much to try to do it all at once in just a few days.

Other than getting last minute stuff done, there hasn’t been too much going on. My sister and brother-in-law leave this morning for a New England cruise so we are going over to see them off in just a little while. My mother is here and will be staying with the kids for a few days so Harry and I will be spending some time at their house between now and Wednesday…as well as taking care of some more appointments!

This is going to be a whirlwind FIVE days!!

A Little Unexpected Excitement

Location: Catskill, NY (High 87, Low 63)

Well, not super exciting, but out of the ordinary. Yesterday we were sitting in the living room just watching a little tv, and all of a sudden we heard a little pop! bang! from outside, and our power went off. We went outside and looked around, and there was smoke coming from the electric pole up by the road. You can see the piece hanging on the left side of the pole in the picture.

I’m not sure if there was any kind of power surge, but I was still happy we had the surge protector.

 

We called the campground owner, who called the power company, and they were pretty responsive, arriving at the campground maybe 30 minutes or so later.

It was kind of funny…the guy moseyed himself all the way up…took a look at it…and then came right back down again without doing anything.

“Yup, it really did burn up.”

 

Then they sat there and waited for about 15 minutes until another truck arrived with the guy in the orange shirt, who we assumed was a supervisor.

 

Then, original guy #1 went back up…and this time he actually stayed up there and replaced the burned up piece.

 

 

Back in business!

 

 

 

This is a laid back day…we are happy to have a down day from appointments. Tomorrow we will make up for it, as we will be running to Albany again for most of the day. We are getting all our ducks in a row, since we leave Catskill ONE WEEK from today!!

Up and Running

Location: Catskill, NY (High 83, Low 69)

I wish I could say that I’m the one that’s up and running, but nope, I’m talking about my computer. Harry cleaned it up and managed to save most of my stuff and yay! he didn’t end up having to install Windows 8. Very happy about that. However, I did lose a few of my desktop gadgets.

The past couple of days have been busy with appointments. After our massage yesterday morning, we came back to the fiver to pick up the cats for their appointments. Now they are all up to date on their shots etc. for another year. Last night Ariel was having some residual effects, soreness from the shot, even stumbling a bit. I was worried that she might fall off the cat tree during the night but she settled herself down and went to sleep. Today she seems to be back to her normal self so I am relieved about that.

Today we had haircuts scheduled, and then we stopped in town to check our mail and chat with my sister and brother-in-law for a bit. We are waiting for one more mailing from Alternative Resources in SD and then we will close the PO box that we opened last year before we moved to Catskill for the month in December.

 

We have our route planned for next week. We have broken our trip into three days. We will make a stop in MD, and then a second one in WV before we arrive in Campbellsville, KY on September 7th. Can you tell I am ready to get going? 8 days left!

Good News in the Weight Department

Location: Catskill, NY (High 80, Low 65)

Yesterday was travel day once again, as it was time for us to pack up and head back to Catskill. It was an easy job since we spent the majority of time at my mother’s house, and didn’t get a lot out. The weather was a bit gloomy but we didn’t hit any rain, so we were happy about that.

The highlight of the day was stopping at a CAT scale to get ourselves weighed. You may remember that we were weighed back in January at a Heartland rally in Florida and were surprised to find that we were over in a lot of categories. Since then we have made many changes, purged a lot of stuff, and left a few more things at my sister’s. The last step was dropping off the generator at my mom’s as she decided to buy it from us. So yesterday was weigh day.

We went through the CAT scale with our fiver attached. Then we disconnected and went back through with just the truck. It was $10 for the first weighing and $2 for the second. Harry went inside to pay and get the printouts of our weighing. We went to the Fifth Wheel app on his phone and put in the requested weights, hit the report button and were ecstatic to find that we are UNDER in all categories!! Our total weight was 90 lbs under spec. with our pin weight at 21%. We are so happy that our efforts over the past months have paid off.

So now we begin appointment week. In just a little bit we are heading to Albany for our best one – massages for each of us – yay! This afternoon we take the cats for their yearly checkup. We are getting all the last minute stuff done before we head out for Kentucky in just a little over a week – 9 days to be exact!

A Couple More Bike Rides and Ugh! Computer Problems

Location: Peru, NY (High 78, Low 50)

 

The past couple of days have continued the beautiful trend of weather that we have enjoyed for most of the time that we have been here.

 

For each of the past three days, we have gone on a nice bike ride. The scenery is wonderful. I think I am appreciating it more this year now that we have experienced some different places.

 

We have had such a nice active kind of visit. We went on two hikes for about 13 miles,  four bike rides for a total of 60 miles, went on several walks, and even went running once! I am enjoying it and feeling good.

 

I think Harry has had a fun time with his new camera. All of the pictures in this blog are from one of our most recent bike trips.

 

 

Now, as for the Ugh! part of the blog title, last night I went to a few websites that I have never been to before, played a few games of solitaire, and somewhere I picked up some kind of malware. This morning when I turned on my computer, my screen background was different and all of  my programs were messed up. Harry has been playing around with it and has managed to find my pictures and quicken files. So that was a relief. But the system is all haywire now and he is going to have to install Windows 8 on my computer. Boo hiss. Guess I’m going to have to get used to it now.

Tomorrow morning we will be packing up and heading back to Catskill. We have 11 days left before we leave for Kentucky.

Let’s Try This Again!

Location: Peru, NY (High 78, Low 62)

We have been so lucky with the weather while we have been here, and yesterday was another picture perfect day.

We decided to try another bike ride, hopefully without any blowouts this time!

 

Harry and I drove over to AuSable, and we left from there to bike to Upper Jay. The road basically follows along the AuSable River the whole way.

 

 

Harry and I were the tourists, asking my mother to stop every couple of minutes so we could take some pictures.

 

 

Oh, and we found someplace to get our propane tank filled!

 

 

In Upper Jay, we made a stop at a local bakery for some breakfast.

 

 

I had the raspberry stuffed french toast.

 

 

 

I think I may need to bike a few more miles!!

 

 

 

On our way back to AuSable, we stopped by the covered bridge in Jay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a really nice bike ride – we did about 21 miles.

 

 

 

And our great day wasn’t even over yet!

After we changed, we headed up to Fern Lake for the afternoon to visit our friends Jim and Ronda.

 

 

I went out in a kayak for the first time ever. I didn’t go very far, just practiced maneuvering, not far from shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat in the front porch and chatted for most of the afternoon, and finished the day off with a couple takeout pizzas.

 

 

It was great to get a chance to see Jim and Ronda before we head out on Monday. We had such a good time.

We have a couple more bike rides in store this weekend, and the weather looks fabulous. Should be a nice end to a great couple of weeks.

Twelve days left before we head for Kentucky.

Counting Down

Location: Peru, NY (High 86, Low 68)

After our long hike on Wednesday, yesterday was a relaxing down day. We went over to Mom’s for the afternoon, and Harry washed the truck. For dinner we went to Plattsburgh to get our yearly fix of michigan hotdogs. Michigan hotdogs are kind of like chili dogs, except the meat sauce is very fine and they have a different kind of seasoning. They were a staple of my growing up years, but I have never seen them anywhere else in our travels. Now I have introduced Harry to them, and he loves them too.

Time is really ticking down. Our departure date is two weeks from yesterday, and those weeks are going to go by quickly! We are here for the weekend yet, and then will pack up Monday morning to head back up to Catskill. We still have a few last appointments to finish up, and those are scheduled for next week.

Both Harry and I have hitch itch! We are ready to head for Kentucky!! Thirteen days ‘til departure day!!

Avalanche Lake

Location: Peru, NY (High 88, Low 62)

Last week we did a short hike with the boys. Yesterday we had a more ambitious goal – hiking about 4.5 miles to Avalanche Lake. I have done this hike before, and have been looking forward to doing it again all summer!

 

The trailhead for Avalanche Lake is at the Adirondack Loj in Lake Placid. The first two miles is the trail to Marcy Dam, and from there there are a number of different hikes you can take.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Marcy Dam to have a bite of trail mix and enjoy the beautiful landscape.

 

 

 

 

You can see in the background the old bridge across. It was taken out by Hurricane Irene.

 

 

We had to hike a short distance to the new bridge across the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us about two and a half hours to hike to Avalanche Pass, which is just a short distance before the lake itself.

Pictures do not do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Avalanche Pass, we continued the short distance to Avalanche Lake. This 4.55 miles took us almost exactly three hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped here to eat our lunch.

 

Then we had a decision to make. The hike so far had taken us three hours. On the road coming in to the Loj, there was a bridge being worked on. We had been told on the way in that it would be closed, with no way out - possibly until 5 pm. If we continued at the same pace (and the way out is usually quicker) we would be sitting at the Loj waiting for the road to open. So we decided to continue on the trail toward Lake Colden.

 

This was a very challenging portion of the trail, with a lot of ladders and climbing across rocks.

 

 

 

 

But there were also some gorgeous views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a little over an hour going around the lake, we decided it was time to turn back, so we never did make it to Lake Colden. Another day!

 

The hike back to the Loj went pretty quickly, and we arrived back around 4:15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It ended up being a good thing we took that extra loop, because the road still wasn’t open. We bought a cold drink and a few minutes later saw a couple cars heading out. We decided to take a chance and followed them out, and were happy to see that they had just opened the bridge. Good timing!

It was an awesome day, and another great hike.