The Highways and Byways of New York!!!

From Ohio to New York, we seem to have skipped right over Pennsylvania, but we will check it out on our return trip ... I hope!!

We left Ashtabula with their covered bridges just in time to catch this train coming into town.  We all searched the internet the night before trying to find a place to stay near Niagara Falls, but it was Tom who finally located a spot.  Everyone on the East Coast goes to their camping spot on the weekends, so it's sometimes difficult to find room at the inn!!

It was only about 12 miles to the Pennsylvania border, and you can tell I almost missed the sign.  By the way, although a little scratchy sounding, my poor little camera survived the worst fall she's taken.

It didn't take long before we hit another toll road.  You would think the road would be in pretty good shape, but snow and ice take their toll on these highways too.  The section through the Seneca Indian reservation (I assume) jarred my teeth something terrible, vibrated the dog water bowl 20 feet, clear up to the drivers seat and unloaded a cupboard in the bedroom.  I'm sure I will be needing that #2 screwdriver to put all the loose screws back.

Somewhere I missed the "I (heart) NY" sign when we crossed that state line, so this sign will have to do!!  

Goodness ... the infrastructure here is in very bad shape.  The bridge before this one was so eroded the rebar was hanging out the bottom of the concrete block supports where the concrete just fell away.  There is lots of construction, but all bridge work since apparently they have had some collapse.  Yikes!!

I can't thank Barbara enough for being the navigator on this trip.  I never would have made it through Buffalo.  There are so many crazy roads, overpasses, underpasses and roads that just stop in the middle of nowhere, that it boggles the mind, especially for a first time New York driver!!  The locals don't help ... they drive with their middle finger because we were in the left lane, trying to make a left hand turn.  Eventually we landed on a two lane road through some beautiful farmland.

Sadly, along the way were many large businesses with their doors closed for good, obviously hurting the economy.  

All of a sudden Barbara said this was the Erie Canal.  Where???  I couldn't see anything but the back of their rig.  As they moved forward, I realized they were letting oncoming traffic cross a bridge ...  I snapped a quick picture and looked forward to see ...... YIKES!!

We're crossing this narrow bridge over a canal!!!  Are you sure this is OK??  What about weight limits??  It was too late to turn back ...  I took up the entire space and thank goodness the two trucks ahead pulled over til I passed.  See ... there ARE some nice drivers in New York!!

A few more miles down the road and we arrived at Niagara Hartland RV Park/Campground on Hartland Road in Gasport New York.  We are about 35 minutes North of Niagara Falls and obviously pretty close to the Erie Canal!!  $48 for 3 nights with Passport America and we have full hookups.  This IS the country however, so we share a water hose bibb, and the sewer is plugged with a large soda bottle instead of a plug.  I went straight to work and got two small loads of wash done and although I had to turn off the AC occasionally due to overload, I got 5 loaves of banana bread baked!!  Oh, and you have to pay for metered electricity, which will probably be over the $15 deposit due to my activities!!

Today I think we are going on a boat tour of the Erie Canal ... I can't wait!!!