Day 1 Sat 5/17/08 North to Alaska, at least as far as Seneca Falls, NY
After months of planning and weeks of preparation we were at last on our way. However, we were a little out of practice in the packing department. We left several essential items in the Lowell Condo so we stopped there on our way. Once on the highway, we drove 387 miles, most of it on I-90. We stopped for the night in Montezuma, NY. After supper we walked around this large grassy campground with streams and ponds. We spotted a dozen different species of birds in less than an hour. Tomorrow we will check out the migrating birds at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and tour the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in nearby Seneca Falls.
Day 2 Sun 5/18/08 Sightseeing in Montezuma and Seneca Falls, NY
This was the sort of day that reminds us why we love traveling in our motorhome so much. Oh, where to begin. Well, we’ll start with the numbers. Today we got four additional stamps in our Wildlife Refuge and National Park Passports, we hiked almost four miles, saw 54 different species of birds, visited two wineries and tasted 12 different kinds of wine each. Or was it 54 kinds of wine and 12 species of birds.! We learned a lot about the women’s rights movement during our visit to the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Conference. Happily the weather synchronized very well with our activities, cloudy with just a few sprinkles as we hiked and birded, a steady downpour as we had lunch and visited the national historical site and beams of sunlight and a rainbow as we drove along Cayuga Lake to the wineries.
Day 3 Mon 5/19/08 Driving to Port Clinton, OH
We rolled out of the campground shortly after nine for a pretty full driving day. We stopped for lunch at the PA Welcome Center where we loaded up on maps and tourist info. Then it was on into Ohio and north to the lake shore. Sandy found a lovely state park along the lake with lots of birding trails. We will be here for two nights.
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Day 4 Tue 5/20/08 Birding along Lake Erie
Today we went birding at Magee Marsh, a place that came highly recommended. For those of you who know birding hotspots, this place is on the shore of Lake Erie, just across from Point Pelee in Ontario. We were really psyched when we saw the huge list of birds seen yesterday. However, the wind had shifted overnight and one local birder estimated that 75 percent of the birds left last night. With our expectations suitably lowered, we started down the boardwalk. Ninety minutes later we had gone just 30 feet! There were birds everywhere; mostly very colorful warblers but also thrushes, orioles, wrens and vireos. We managed to complete the one mile boardwalk but it was hard to keep moving. After lunch we drove to the nearby Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge where they have a beautiful new Visitor Center and more trails with more birds. By the end of the day, we had seen 67 different species, including two life birds. Quiet a day!
Day 5 Wed 5/21/08 Halfway to Sioux Falls
We had not originally planned to go through Sioux Falls on our way to Alaska but recent events changed our plans. A call from the VISA fraud department told us that $6,000 of charges at a Costa Rica hotel had been made on our credit card. The account was being closed and new cards would be sent to, where else, Sioux Falls, SD. They would have been forwarded to us but we wanted to get the new cards as soon as possible so Sioux Falls here we come. It was an easy 420 mile drive to a delightful KOA in Lena, IL. We had WiFi and got laundry done so we were ready to move on.
Day 6 Thu 5/22/08 “Home Again” in Sioux Falls
Today was a long driving day. It was 440 miles to Sioux Falls with lunch in a K-Mart parking lot in central Iowa where we noticed that virtually all of the parked cars were US makes. Guess some folks in middle America still want to reward GM and Ford for making inferior products. After a fuel stop in Blue Earth, MN it was on to Sioux Falls for a quiet evening in the coach.
Day 7 Fri 5/23/08 Hanging Around in Sioux Falls
The wind blew hard overnight and shook the coach like a rag doll. After breakfast we picked up our mail, found the new credit cards and spent the afternoon notifying companies that automatically charge to the old card. Some were easily done on line (Netflix, EZPass) and some were easy with a phone call (AT&T). Only Comcast was a hassle. They are a monopoly and now act like one with miserable customer service policies. We also got shopping done, went out to eat and spent a quiet evening reading mail.
