Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

We said our goodbyes to the sweet Kelly family and began a long, 366 mile drive from Cleveland, through a corner of Pennsylvania and into upstate New York, through Buffalo, past the turnoff to Niagara Falls (where we’d visited on our last cross country trip two years ago), to a farm between Syracuse and Utica called Tilden Hill Farm. There was only one other camper here when we arrived and another arrived late tonight. Otherwise, it feels like our own private campground. There’s a large grassy field and a pond that Lily explored immediately. With all this empty space, the dogs were free to roam unimpeded. They deserved it after our 8+ hours on the road.

So, what, you ask, could I mean by a “personal Niagara Falls”? I guess when you’re taking a long RV trip, you also sign up for the school of hard knocks and many “opportunities for learning.” And I learned a big lesson today. After about four hours on the road, we stopped at a New York Services Area where they have gas, restaurants and bathrooms. After using the facilities and taking the dogs for a rest break, I headed to the door of the trailer to begin making lunch. As I approached the door, there it was, our very own miniature rendition of Niagara Falls, flowing from just next to the steps onto the pavement. Fumbling for my keys and mumbling unmentionable words under my breath, I opened the door expecting a cascade of water. Fortunately, all things considered, it wasn’t that bad although you couldn’t have convinced me of that at that moment.

Turns out that somehow the kitchen faucet handle had jarred open and had been pouring out water for who knows how long. Before we begin driving, I cover the sink with a slab of counter meant to fit over the sink and I stop up the sink because I was told to by the Airstream orientation guy. As luck would have it, we had just filled our fresh water reservoir up to 100% before we left Cleveland, not knowing if our next Harvest Host would have a water hook up. The sink was full to overflowing, the floor next to the sink soaked and even the bathroom floor was wet (don’t ask me why). I freaked out immediately projecting dry rot in the floor (it’s made with a solid vinyl so I don’t think that will happen) but then decided it was an opportunity to have a clean floor. Over 70% of the reservoir had spilled out.

As I came flying around the outside of the trailer frantically looking for towels, I run into Peter who’s having a casual conversation with this couple probably our age, not a care in the world, oblivious of the Noah’s Flood I’d just faced. Turns out this couple and their labradoodle were returning from a 3 month trip in their slightly smaller, 23′ Flying Cloud and the same truck we have. Their track was the reverse of ours: from Lexington, MA to Oakland, CA and back.

They had seen us pull out the ramp to let our old dog, Cali clamber down from the truck and wanted to know about that and of course, the conversation had evolved from there. I blurted out that we had just averted (hopefully) a disaster of biblical proportions and the woman calmly and directly said, “That’s why we turn off the water pump when we’re traveling.” No judgement. Just fact. Duh.

The timing of their dropping by after getting gas was perfect. Lesson learned. Oh, and they invited us to stay at their house in Lexington if we wanted. Amazing timing.

The rest of the drive was sometimes monotonous, sometimes beautiful. Rolling green farmlands, red barns, white clapboard wood farm houses, silver silos, tilled light brown soils waiting, waiting, waiting. We stopped a few more times for gas and coffee. It was a long day. Finally, we arrived at Tilden Hill Farm, a remote field with a pond and a number of level, gravel lots with electric and water hook ups. There was one other RV parked but otherwise, it was all ours. Open fields, a pond; heaven’s reward for the dogs who were fantastic travelers and for us as we were pretty tired.

Fortunately, we had leftover pizza from the night before and in a first, wrapped it in foil and heated it up in our weber grill. It worked! Who knew?

Tomorrow is a day of rest and my friend of 48 years who lives 20 minutes away is coming by and we’ll hang out in the afternoon while Peter gets his well deserved alone time. We are getting to the point in the trip where our driving distances will mostly get shorter and our stays at each place longer. That couldn’t come at a better time as I think we need to slow the pace down. In the meantime, there’s a full moon and we have this private piece of land to call our own for the next two nights.