Category Archives: Grilling

Washington DC

We had the jacks up and I lit the fires on the Cummins ISL by 10:30am on Wednesday. Our route was only 80 miles to Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland (map). We drove down US15 from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to I-270. It was an easy drive until we hit the I-495 Beltway at North Bethesda. Then the traffic picked up considerably and drivers were were making crazy maneuvers trying to gain a minute or two on their way.

I maintained a decent gap between our coach and other vehicles as best I could. I always say driving a 34,000 pound rig is high-performance driving regardless of speed. You need to be aware of your situation at all times. I check my mirrors frequently and think about emergency maneuvers. I also try to keep an eye on the big picture ahead so I can spot trouble before I’m on top of it.

We checked in at the Cherry Hill Park around 1pm. This was good timing as we wanted a pull-through site. They don’t take reservations for pull-throughs – it’s first come, first served. We were assigned to site 1711 all the way at the back of the park. It’s about a half-mile from the office and store to our site. The bus stop is also in front of the office – half a mile from our site.

Our main reason for coming to the Washington, DC area was to visit my youngest daughter, Shauna. She’s living in DC now that she’s graduated law school and has taken a job with a law firm here.

Shauna took the metro and bus to the park and joined us for dinner. I had chicken leg quarters on the Traeger wood fired pellet grill and we dined al fresco at the picnic table outside our coach.

Dinner outside our coach

Treager grilled chicken keg quarter, black rice with mango and black eyed peas.

Treager grilled chicken leg quarter, black rice with mango and black-eyed peas

After dinner and conversation, Shauna and Donna made the trek to the bus stop at the park entrance. Shauna was carrying her Tacoma acoustic guitar that we’ve had on board since she left San Diego. She needed to catch the bus before 9pm or it might be dicey for her to make it home.

On Thursday morning, Donna and I were up early and ready for a day on the town. We walked to the bus stop. I had two, large, framed antique photos under my arm. These were keepsakes from a trip Shauna and I made to Europe. The photos were taken at the Cinqua Terra region of Italy – Monterosso and Vernazza (link). Shauna will display these in her apartment here.

The bus took us to the College Park metro rail. We took the rail into DC and exited at U Street. We had a choice of walking one direction to 10th Street or the other way to 13th Street. We started walking to 10th Street. Then we got a text that Shauna was waiting at 13th Street since her place was on 14th Street. We managed to hook up after a few blocks of walking.

After a tour of her apartment and depositing the artwork, we went up on the roof of her building. It has a spectacular view of DC. Her apartment is very small – I would say the square footage isn’t much more than we have in the coach. Her bathroom is larger, the bedroom and living room not so much. There are amenities – a workout room, rooftop barbeque grill and tables, etc – that come with the apartment. This is what $2,000/month gets you in DC.

We decided to walk to the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue. It was about two miles away. It was nearly noon and we were hungry so we decided to make a stop about half-way in the Chinatown district. We had Chinese food for lunch – not the finest, but it was okay.

We finally made it to the Newseum. The Newseum is an interactive museum of journalism and TV shows depicting newsworthy events and the journalists that covered them. It’s a seven-level building – one down from street level and six up – with 250,000 square feet of exhibits. We walked for three hours and couldn’t see it all. My highlights were the Vietnam War coverage – I can remember so vividly seeing the war coverage as an 11 or 12-year-old. I would come home from school on my lunch break and watch the latest coverage on TV. The other item I really liked was the Berlin Wall. The wall coming down in the 1989 was a big deal. Then there’s the 9-11 display, including pieces of the Twin Towers. I didn’t take many photos inside thinking I’m in a museum, then I realized others were taking pictures.

National Gallery viewed from the top of Newseum

Looking up Pennsylvania Avenue from the Newseum

Federal Trade Commission library

The wall separating West Germany from East Germany shows the stark reality of the difference between democracy and communism. Although it was illegal to deface the west side of the wall – it was on East German property – many people tagged the wall in protest. On the east side, this was unthinkable.

West side of wall tagged

Barren east side

After we left the Newseum, we had a beer stop, then made our way to the National Mall. Much of the area east of the Washington Monument is being refurbished. They are shoring up the soil and replanting the turf. This won’t be complete until the end of 2016. The dome on the United States Capitol Building is also being refurbished with a timeline that should have it done by the time our next president is inaugurated.

Mall under renovation in front of the Washington Monument

Scaffolding on the capitol dome – that must be the Canadian Embassy next to us

I was getting foot-weary by this time and we headed to the Metro station. At the U Street stop, we said our goodbyes. It’s always tough – I don’t know when I’ll have to opportunity to see and spend time with my daughter again. We took a selfie in the hot, humid station.

Metro station selfie

We did some walking – my S-Health record of the day

We’ll be back to winging it tomorrow. We have a general direction in mind – we’ll probably head down I-81 through Virginia, maybe meander into North Carolina and then head west into Tennessee.

Gettysburg

I unloaded the scooter after posting to the blog yesterday. Donna went out for a walk while I was at it. When Donna returned, we rode the scooter from Artillery Ridge Camping Resort to Historic Gettysburg.

On the way to town, we rode through the Gettysburg National Military Park, then we stopped at the battlefield on the east side of Baltimore Pike. The battlefield is a park with monuments, statues and restored cannons from the Civil War. Most of the area is preserved with fence lines and fields much as they were in 1863.

Major General Oliver O. Howard Memorial

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock

Donna overlooking part of the battlefield

We left the scooter in the free parking lot at the Gettysburg Tour Center. You can buy a ticket and take bus tours of the various battlefields and monuments there. Donna and I aren’t into organized group tours. We may miss some of the sights, but we prefer to move at our own pace and decide where to spend our time.

We walked past the Jennie Wade House. Jennie Wade was the only direct civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg when a stray bullet struck her while she was in the kitchen making biscuits for soldiers. She was 20 years old.

We continued walking and went to see the Gettysburg Diorama. It’s in an old building on Steinwehr Avenue. It was hot and humid out, but we enjoyed walking through the quaint old village. Although the area is geared toward tourists, it still has the small village feel.

We had free tickets for the diorama courtesy of the campground. The owners of Artillery Ridge Camping Resort also happen to own the Gettysburg Diorama and a few other attractions in town. The Gettysburg Diorama is the largest military diorama in the country. We arrived just in time for the 11am show. I took a few pictures before the show began.

The diorama recreates the town and surrounding 6,000 acres as it appeared during the battle in July 1863. It contains over 20,000 hand-painted soldiers, horses, cannons and buildings. For the show, we sat in a small three-row bleacher along with a few other people. The show has light and sound effects and video displays as a narrator takes you through the events of July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 1863 which comprised the Battle of Gettysburg. The narrative was comprehensive, describing the ebb and flow of the fight. There were more than 46,000 casualties including nearly 8,000 killed in the three-day battle.

After the 20-minute show, we walked back up the street to the Dobbin House for lunch. This is the oldest standing structure in Gettysburg. It was built by Reverend Alexander Dobbin in 1776. Today it houses a tavern serving lunch in the spring cellar and a dinner restaurant upstairs. We had lunch in the tavern. Donna had a French onion soup and spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. I had a reuben sandwich washed down with IPA from Troegs Brewery in nearby Hershey, Pennsylvania. The IPA was excellent – citrusy and spicy.

Dobbin House

One of many historical markers on the street

We walked around a little more, then made our way back to the scooter. On the way home, I first stopped at a pizza restaurant to buy Yuengling beer. Yuengling traditional lager is a low alcohol (4.4% ABV) beer brewed in the pre-prohibition style. Yuengling is America’s oldest brewery. Here in Pennsylvania, they have weird alcohol laws. You can buy beer at a distributor, but you must buy a case at a time. Anything less than a case can only be bought at a restaurant that has a beer license. Grocery stores only have watered down 3.2% ABV beer.

We made another stop past the campground at a vegetable and fruit stand and bought fresh corn on the cob that they said was just picked two hours earlier. We also bought some really juicy plums and peaches.

When we came back to our site, Donna headed for the pool. She didn’t make it far before she heard thunder and returned to the coach as it started raining.

Roomy uphill site 422

We hung out inside and read. For dinner, I dodged a couple of showers and grilled sausage and corn on the cob. Donna served it with sauteed asparagus, peppers and onions with grated parmesan cheese.

Sausage, corn and asparagus plate

I need to get busy and load the scooter. Today we’ll move about 80 miles to Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland – just north of Washington D.C. I’m hoping my youngest daughter, Shauna, can join us for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we’ll take the train into DC and have a look around. We’ve been to all of the big monuments before, so we may take in the Newseum this time.

Up and Running Again

I didn’t post to the blog yesterday because I didn’t do much on Tuesday. In my last post, I mentioned Donna’s bike ride on Monday when she rode past the Hudson Headwaters Health Center where I was. Her route also took her past the confluence where the Schroon River empties in the upper Hudson River (map). Here are a few photos she took on her ride.

Schroon River looking west

Schroon River looking east

She got to a point where she thought she might have a missed a turn and stopped for directions at the ticket office for the tour train that runs up the Hudson River. The train doesn’t run on Mondays, but there was an employee at the office who helped Donna find her way. It turned out that it was not the route Donna had planned, but very scenic anyway.

Boarding platform for the train

Train track along the Hudson River

On Tuesday evening, I made chicken leg quarters on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill again and they were absolutely delicious. This has become a favorite dish. After an hour on the grill, I basted them with a honey-maple glaze and cooked for another 10 minutes. At 99 cents a pound, this meal can’t be beat! Donna served it with sauteed zucchini and corn with red peppers.

Honey-maple glazed chicken

Earlier in the day, Donna borrowed Linda’s car and drove to Westport on Lake Champlain to meet up with her friend, Karen Dayan (map). They had lunch and spent the afternoon together.

Karen and Donna

Karen is a long-time Ironman participant. She recently finished third in her age group at the Lake Placid Ironman. She’s qualified to compete in the Ironman Hawaii event several times and is headed to the Half-Ironman World Championship in Austria in a few weeks.

While Karen and Donna were catching up, I followed doctors orders and hung out in the coach. I used antibiotic soap and a pail of water to cleanse my feet, then let them air out without shoes and read a book. It was raining, so I had nothing better to do. In the afternoon, Ozark climbed into her carrying crate and napped. She usually only goes in her crate when we’re traveling. Maybe she’s trying to tell us it’s time for a change in scenery. She’ll have to wait a few more days – we’ll pull out of here on Sunday.

Ozark catching a cat nap

Last week, Donna’s sister Linda told me their generator wasn’t working. They have a 1800-watt portable generator that they use when they dry camp or have a power outage at home. She told me it worked fine the last time they ran it, but then it sat unused for several months and now it won’t start. I figured the fuel in the carburetor evaporated and left varnish deposits gumming up the fuel passages.

Yesterday, I couldn’t stand another day of inactivity. I started my day by deep cleaning the Traeger grill. Then I put Linda and Tommy’s generator on our table and went to work on it. I removed the side cover and the air filter housing. I saw the housing was cracked where it mounts to the carburetor.

Cracked air filter housing

Side cover removed exposing carburetor

I removed the float bowl from the carburetor. The float bowl is the fuel reservoir that meters the fuel mixture into the carb venturi. I expected to find varnish deposits. What I found was worse. The bowl had rust deposits and scaly, dry white flakes in the bottom. The white flakes were some kind of mineral left behind. I don’t know if water had gotten into the float bowl or what the origin of these deposits was – I’ve never seen this in a carburetor before.

Rust and scale in the bottom of the float bowl

I cleaned the bowl with carburetor cleaner and scraped the deposits. Then I removed the main jet from the carb body and shot carburetor cleaner from an aerosol can through the fuel passages.

When I reassembled everything, I used room temperature vulcanizing silicone sealant on the cracked air filter housing. Meanwhile Tommy went out to buy a gas can and fresh gasoline for the generator. He had to go out twice because after buying the gas can, he got side-tracked when Donna texted him and asked him to pick up something at the store. He came home with the gas can, but forgot to buy the gas. This was okay as it allowed time for the silicone sealant to set up.

By then, Donna’s parents, Duke and Lorraine Connor, arrived to spend the afternoon with us. Tommy and I set the generator on the ground. I opened the fuel petcock, switched the ignition on and set the choke. On the third pull, it started. I opened the choke and the generator ran smoothly. I think Tommy was surprised to find it running like that. I fully expected that I would have it up and running again.

Donna and her mom set out snacks on the picnic table. Unfortunately, while I worked on the generator I spilled old stinky gasoline on the end of the table. I rinsed it as best as I could, but the odor lingered.

We had a couple of rain squalls kick up, so we moved the heavy table under our awning to wait them out. The rain passed quickly the few times it fell and it was a mostly sunny day.

Donna prepared pork tenderloin skewers spiced with cumin and hot sauce and added red onion, green pepper and pineapple chunks. I cooked them on the Traeger grill and then Donna brushed them with a pineapple-ginger glaze that she prepared earlier. I neglected to take a picture of the dinner plate – it was fine meal. We had potato salad and broccoli slaw on the side and lots of appetizers from the afternoon still on the table. For dessert, we had a silken tofu chocolate pie that Donna made – no one guessed that it was made with tofu! This was yet another excellent recipe that a fellow RVer, Karin Von Kay, shared with Donna.

Donna and her parents

Last night, we watched a Netflix movie at Tom and Linda’s RV – the movie was Homefront. I couldn’t give it more than 2.5 stars on a scale of five. The others were a little more generous with their ratings.

The weather looks good this morning. I plan to change the oil and filter on our generator this morning as scattered thundershowers are in the forecast this afternoon. Donna is headed out for another bike ride.

Kayaking the Schroon River

We unpacked the Sea Eagle SE-370 inflatable kayak yesterday. I filled it with air using the foot pump and we loaded it in the back of Tommy’s truck. Tom drove us to the kayak rental place in the campground on the Schroon River (map). We had easy access to the sandy beach and launched the kayak there.

I hadn’t been out in the kayak since we left San Diego. We paddled in unison and headed upriver. At the first bend, we had two out-of-control rental kayaks bearing straight at us, forcing us to take evasive action that ran us into the branches of an over-hanging tree. The people in the rental kayaks were totally oblivious as they paddled madly past us.

We put that behind us and continued upriver. We saw people tubing and kayaking downriver as we paddled along, but didn’t have any problems with the traffic. About a mile upriver, there’s a one-lane bridge connecting East Schroon River Road with Schroon River Road at the Warren County fairgrounds. This is where the bus drops off people tubing down the river. The bus must have arrived there just ahead of us as there was a gaggle of tubers in the water at the bridge.

Traffic at the bridge

A couple of days ago, Donna walked across that bridge after hiking on Hackensack Mountain. As she was crossing, a vehicle towing a travel trailer approached the one-lane bridge. The driver didn’t wait for Donna to finish crossing – she drove onto the narrow bridge and stayed tight to the right to give Donna room. As she passed by, Donna heard a loud screeching sound. The trailer was making contact with the bridge railing. Donna looked back as the trailer passed by and saw scrape marks on the metal rail. The travel trailer was damaged for sure – all because the driver was too impatient to allow a pedestrian to finish crossing the bridge.

As we paddled to the bridge, we saw Tommy there taking photos of us.

Tommy’s photo of us approaching the bridge

We continued upriver past the bridge

Once we passed the bridge, we only saw a few other kayaks. The river current is moving slowly in most places and paddling upriver wasn’t too hard. We stopped where a pond formed on the west side of the river and ate ham and cheese sandwiches that Donna had packed for us (map).

The river bends and twists back and forth from there. The outside of the bends have deeper water. In the deeper areas, the current is slow. In some shallow areas, it picks up speed but the paddling wasn’t too hard. It was very quiet along this stretch with no houses or roads in sight.

Looking back after we passed the bridge

What’s around the bend?

Quiet, deep water

We turned back and headed downriver. The current didn’t hinder us much going upriver, so it was no surprise when it didn’t carry us with any speed downriver. At one point, Donna wanted to see how fast we could sprint. We paddled with quick strokes and picked up speed quickly, but found it was hard to keep our paddling in sync to stay the course. We’ll have to work on that.

We only saw a few fish in the river and some geese. I expected to see more wildlife. We saw a few fishermen but no one was catching anything. We pulled out at the kayak rental beach and Tommy came back to pick us up. We were out on the river for over an hour and it was pleasant.

Last night, I grilled chicken leg quarters on the Traeger. We dined at Tom and Linda’s table – Donna made mango salsa to put on the chicken and we had white rice and a side of green beans with garlic and parmesan cheese that Tommy made.

After dinner, Donna, Linda, Tommy and their daughter Felicia went to the rodeo. I stayed home and soaked my feet in a warm salt water bath. The infection on my feet healed while I was taking antibiotic (Keflex) but it looks like it’s returning! I followed the salt water bath with triple antibiotic ointment. I hope I don’t need another visit to the doctor.

Today I’ll hook up to the campground cable TV and watch the Moto GP race at Indianapolis. Donna and I attended the Indianapolis round of Moto GP twice in the past.

Dry and Dusty

Today started out the way most mornings have lately. Ozark the cat becomes active shortly after sunrise. She leaps off of the bed and runs full speed to the front of the coach. She flies onto the driver’s seat and bounces up to the dashboard. She runs across the dash then jumps onto a narrow counter next to the co-pilot’s seat before hitting the floor and beating feet back to the bedroom. She runs past the bed onto the raised floor by the closet and jumps on the bed to complete her lap. Then she repeats the performance without pausing. This goes on for several minutes as I try to return to dreamland. Eventually she slows down and stays on the bed. I usually manage to doze off again until she starts walking over us.

This morning, as I was trying to go back to sleep, I thought about how many nights I’ve spent in an RV. I don’t have an exact count because I can’t remember the date we started sleeping in our coach in the driveway after we sold our bedroom furniture. I know it’s been somewhere over 750 consecutive nights in our RV though.

We first hit the road on July 23, 2013. That puts us in our 25th month of full-time RVing. During the last 25 months, we’ve covered 17,000 miles and visited 20 states. We’re often asked how long we intend to stay in our RV. Our standard answer is, “We don’t know, but we’ll know when we’re done.” The truth is, we feel like we’re just getting started. There’s so much to see and do. Every place we’ve been has something to offer.

Yesterday was a low-key day. I had a chore to tackle. Our battery banks were very dirty from driving in the rain and driving on dirt roads. Dirt build-up on the battery cases can cause voltage leakage across the terminals when the dirt absorbs moisture. I was also having a problem with a poor connection on one of the starting battery posts. I hosed down the batteries, then scrubbed with a stiff nylon brush dipped in a baking soda solution. This cleaned everything and neutralized any acid build-up. I removed the cable connector from the post that was giving me trouble and cleaned the post and connector before reinstalling it. All is well now.

I think I need to clean the batteries more often

Dirt roads left a lot of dust on the batteries

I also unpacked my mountain bike and pumped up the tires. I took a ride through the park over to the beach area on the Schroon River. I’ll probably go for a longer ride today.

In the afternoon, I prepared four half-racks of baby back ribs. When I bought the ribs at Oscar’s, they had them cut into half-racks. I cooked whole racks before. To prepare ribs, you first remove the tough, thin membrane on the bone side of the ribs. If you don’t do this, the spices won’t penetrate on that side, plus you’ll have a tough, chewy side to the ribs. I spiced the ribs with the rub I bought at Papa Joe’s in Michigan. I like dry-rubbed Memphis-style baby back ribs.

I cooked them on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. After two and a half hours, I turned the heat down to low heat and cooked for another half hour. I thought they would be fine but they turned out to be over-cooked. I think having them cut into half racks made them cook faster. Oh well, it was a learning experience.

Baby back half-racks on the Traeger

Yesterday was International IPA Day, so I paired the baby backs with Saratoga IPA brewed in nearby Saratoga Springs.

Saratoga IPA

This IPA was more to my liking than the others from this area that I’ve tried. I know you can get good East Coast IPA, like Dogfish Head from Delaware, but I’m sampling local brews.

The forecast calls for a warming trend with the thermometer expected to hit 80 today and move well into the 80s over the weekend. It’s been dry and dusty in the campground. Next week, I’ll try to sneak a wash of the coach.

Indian Lake

After posting to the blog and doing a few chores, I loaded Donna’s bike in the back of Tommy’s truck and we piled in yesterday. We drove through Warrensburg up US9 to NY28. We followed NY28 which runs along the upper Hudson River up to Indian Lake, a distance of about 45 miles (map). By the time we got there, after making a stop at the train station in North River, it was noon.

The plan was to drop off Donna and her bicycle at Indian Lake and she would cycle back to the Lake George Escape campground. We decided to find lunch before she made the ride back. We ended up at the Indian Lake Restaurant and Tavern. The place has an interesting history dating back to the 1800s when the bar was located in Princeton, New Jersey. In the 1930s, the bar was going to be demolished as Palmer Square was being constructed. The bar was bought, disassembled and reassembled at Indian Lake.

Bar history – click to enlarge

Donna waiting for lunch at the bar

Donna ordered a tandoori naan bread pizza with cheese, artichoke and chicken. I had the fish sandwich. The food was excellent! I paired my sandwich with a locally brewed IPA from Paradox Brewery in Schroon Lake called Beaver Bite IPA. It was average at best. I’m still searching for a locally brewed IPA in the east that matches the flavorful offerings of West Coast-style IPA.

Beaver Bite IPA on tap

We dropped Donna off outside of town at 1:15pm and she started her ride back. Her route would take her back through North River and Wevertown before she headed down US9 to Warrensburg. I expected her to ride for about three hours.

As we drove back, Tommy took a detour at Thirteenth Lake Road. We drove a few miles, then turned into the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area. It covers more than 100,000 acres and, like all designated wilderness areas, prohibits motor vehicles. We made a short hike down to Thirteenth Lake and had a look around.

Thirteenth Lake in the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area

On the way in, before we hit the wilderness boundary, we passed the Barton Garnet Mine. They offer tours of one of the largest garnet mines in the world. They’ve been mining garnet in the area since 1878. The mine tours started in 1933 and you are able to find and keep garnet stones you find on the tour. Garnet is the January birthstone and the state stone of New York.

When we came back onto NY28, we were almost to North River when we saw Donna cycling up ahead. I was really surprised to see her that far from her starting point. She had some long downhill stretches and was making good time.

We stopped at Oscar’s Adirondack Smoke House where I bought two racks of uncooked baby back ribs. I plan to cook them on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill on Thursday evening.

After Tommy and I returned to the campground, I went out and explored the place. Around 3:20pm, my phone rang. It was Donna. She was in Warrensburg and said she just rode past the Top Foods store and didn’t remember seeing it when we drove through earlier. I told her she was on track and would see her turn at Horicon Street by the Chinese restaurant a little ways down the road. She made it home about 25 minutes later.

Last night, Donna prepared turkey burgers with special sauce – a recipe she got from Karin Von Kay. Donna met Karin when we were in Des Moines and they exchanged several recipes. The special sauce had an Asian flavor profile. I put a grill mat on the Traeger and cooked the burgers. Linda joined us for dinner. She put pretzel rolls on her grill and toasted them. The turkey burgers with special sauce were outstanding.

Turkey burger with special sauce on pretzel roll

This morning, Ozark woke us up by walking over us. She would walk over the top of Donna, then stretch and reach over to me before walking up my belly and onto my chest. She gently bites and chews my fingers. I think it’s her way of saying it’s time to get up and feed me and pet me.

Yesterday’s temperature reached 83 degrees. The forecast calls for highs in the upper 70s over the next couple of days before we reach the 80s again. I don’t have a plan for today. There are a few chores I should do and maybe I’ll get my mountain bike out and kick around.

Lake George Escape

We pulled out of the Walmart in Queensbury around 11:30am on Sunday. Our overnight stay was very quiet and peaceful. This Walmart had more foot traffic than any Walmart I’ve ever been to. There was an apartment complex and condos on the side street and people walked from there to shop. Donna said she could easily spend a few days there at what she dubbed the Queensbury Walmart Hotel. There were so many shopping opportunities and restaurants within walking distance. Walmart parking lots are just for quick overnights between destinations though.

We had a leisurely drive of about 23 miles to the Lake George Escape campground (map). Lake George Escape is within the Adirondack Park, which basically comprises the entire Adirondack Mountains. It encompasses an area of 6.1 million acres, 52% of which are privately owned. The area is managed by the Adirondack Park Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation under the Adirondack Park Land Use and Development plan. It contains 102 towns and villages. All of the park, both public and private land, is bound to comply with this plan.

Wikipedia file showing the area of Adirondack Park in green

Our route took us through Diamond Point and Bolton Landing, small touristy villages along the western shore of Lake George. Our campground is about five miles northwest of the village of Lake George. We checked in at 12:15 and we were assigned to site 664 – a long, narrow, pull-through site. This is a Thousand Trails and Encore membership park. We aren’t members so we’re paying full price to stay here. We decided to do that so we could spend some time with Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy.

Our long, narrow tree-lined site

Our site is bordered on both sides with trees separating us from our neighbors. The trees also block my satellite antenna. I had reset the satellite dish to hybrid programming which toggles between three satellites and should work in the northeast. I confirmed its operation while we were parked at Walmart and it worked beautifully. But it can’t pick up a signal through trees.

Linda and Tommy’s site next to us

After setting up and relaxing through happy hour, I fired up the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. Donna prepared a whole chicken with a dry rub. I preheated the Traeger to 450 degrees, tied the legs of the chicken and placed it on the grill breast side up. We also had fresh corn on the cob. About 40 minutes into the cooking time for the chicken, I started soaking the corn in water. Twenty minutes later, I put the corn, still in the husk, on the Weber Q gas grill over medium heat. Another 20 minutes and everything was ready to serve. I quartered the chicken into breast-wing white meat quarters and leg-thigh dark meat quarters. The chicken was moist and tasty and the skin was perfectly crispy. Corn on the cob grilled in the husk is another summertime favorite of mine.

Roasted chicken quarter and grilled corn

We enjoyed our dinner at Linda and Tommy’s place and sat outside and talked until the bugs chased us in around 9pm.

Tommy liked the chicken

The temperature is supposed to reach 90 degrees today with a chance of thunder showers later in the day. We have a 50 amp hook-up with good voltage here, so running both air conditioners won’t be a problem. The weather guessers say it’ll cool off with highs in the upper 70s for the rest of the week. That sounds good!

PS – Happy birthday to my middle daughter, Jamie. She turns thirty today.

Secret Caverns

On Friday morning, Donna and I rode the scooter down Caverns Road, aptly named as Secret Caverns and Howes Caverns are located along this road. This area of upstate New York, north of the Catskills Mountains, has a number of caves. Intrepid spelunkers can explore on their own, but beginners are best advised to tour one of the commercial caverns.

Howe Caverns is located on a large, well-developed property with a motel, gift shop and outdoor activities. It has an elevator that drops you 156 feet into the earth and the tour includes a boat ride on an underground river. It’s the second most visited attraction in New York State after Niagara Falls. In 1928, another cavern was found nearby. Roger Mallery was working as an engineer developing Howes Cavern at the time. He purchased the newly found cavern up the road and called it Secret Caverns and began to develop it.

Secret Caverns is doesn’t have the huge manicured lawns and buildings found at Howes. It’s a little off-beat and funky. We opted to visit Secret Caverns. Donna had been to Howes before, but this was her first trip to Secret Caverns.

Secret Caverns is still owned by the Mallery family. Being privately owned, they set the rules and the rules are pretty loose. You take the tour with a guide. The guide tells corny jokes and also gives interesting facts. The guide also operates the lighting – turning lights on as you make your way down and turning lights off behind the group.

The first part of the descent into the earth is on steps either cut into the rock or cast from concrete. Water drips from the ceiling in many areas and the steps are mostly wet – along with the hand rail. You’re allowed to touch the walls and take all the pictures you want on this tour.

At the bottom of the 103 steps, the cavern floor becomes a narrow trail that slowly descends. The overhead clearance is low at times, I’m only 5′ 9″ and I had to duck to get through some sections. It’s also narrow enough in places to make your shoulders hunch. The temperature inside the cavern is a constant 50 degrees year ’round.

I won’t try to explain all of the pictures – hopefully they capture some of the feeling in the cave.

Entrance

Cave entry

Calcite flowstone

Narrow passage

100-foot waterfall at the bottom

At the bottom of the cave, there’s a 100-foot waterfall. A subterranean stream empties into the cave. It’s warmer by the waterfall as the water hasn’t cooled as much as the water that seeps through the stone. It’s also very humid by the falls. The waterfall forms a shallow pool before it seeps into the Cobleskill and Schoharie creeks.

On the way back up, the guide stopped us about halfway and turned out the lights. It’s total darkness without artificial light. You can’t see your hand in front of your face! The last part of the tour was climbing up 103 wet steps to exit. It was fun and I recommend the tour.

Afterwards, Donna and I rode through the Howes Cavern property but didn’t stop. It was crowded – it’s a popular place. From there we rode to the Caverns Palace Restaurant and met up with Donna’s parents for lunch. The food was good and it was a great opportunity to visit with Duke and Lorraine before we pulled out of the area.

I spent most of the afternoon packing the trailer and stowing the windshield covers and tire covers. I also checked tire pressures. I drained the water from our fresh water tank. I had filled it at Addison Oaks in Michigan where the water is hard and had lots of iron along with other minerals. I had filtered the water, but the naturally soft water here is so much better. I refilled the tank with 100 gallons of fresh water.

Some people don’t travel with a full fresh water tank – they don’t want the weight. I prefer to have the tank full and the holding tanks empty. You never know what might come up on the road. If you’re stranded or stuck somewhere, plenty of fresh water, holding tank capacity and diesel fuel all come in handy.

I grilled wild salmon on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill for dinner along with sliced red onions wrapped in aluminum foil. Donna served the caramelized onions over the salmon. I’m still learning how to use this grill and unfortunately I overcooked the salmon.

Caramelized red onions on grilled salmon

On Saturday morning, after a brief thundershower, we pulled out of our site and hit the dump station. We made our way up to Amsterdam, New York and headed east on NY29. We drove through back country roads and found a Walmart that allows overnight parking in Queensbury.

Today we’ll make the 20-mile drive to the Lake George Escape campground and meet up with Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy.

Low Voltage – Again

I spent most of the day indoors reading while the miracle of modern medicine continued to do its thing. Donna’s oldest step-granddaughter from a previous marriage, Kayla, came for a visit on her day off work. Kayla is 17 and they hadn’t seen each other in more than 10 years. She drove here from west of Oneonta, which is the furthest distance she’s ever driven on her own. But she made it here with no problem thanks to GPS on her phone. After catching up indoors for a while, they sat outside in the shade of a tree and went through a bin of old photos, looking for photos of themselves from way back when.

Kayla and Gramma Donna

Donna made Asian coleslaw and I grilled Nuremberg sausage for lunch. I finished reading another Vince Flynn political espionage thriller – part of his Mitch Rapp series. That’s the third one I’ve read this week and I started another.

With the temperature in the mid-90s, Donna and Kayla hit the swimming pool after lunch. I hung back at the coach, I don’t think anyone wants to see someone with a skin rash at the pool. The Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) shut down the power to our coach. I went outside and looked at the pedestal – voltage on the L-1 leg was down to 101 volts. That’s too low and creates a risk of damage to the compressor motors on the air conditioning units. I wrote about that in this post.

I fired up the generator as air conditioning was essential in this heat. It’s frustrating to be hooked up to a faulty 50-amp line and needing the generator to provide clean electrical power. I talked to the park owner again and inquired about the wiring scheme for the pedestals. He was adamant that the problem wasn’t the park wiring, but the power company. When we pull out of here on Saturday, I don’t think we’ll return to this park.

Donna wanted to try something new on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. She had pizza dough that she picked up at Vince and Joe’s in Michigan. She rolled out two discs and lightly brushed them with olive oil. I grilled one side for two minutes at 450 degrees, then brought them back inside. Donna topped the grilled side with smoked gouda cheese, a mixture of cooked prosciutto, cherries, rosemary and mixed baby greens, then I put it back on the grill for four minutes. She called it a flatbread, not a pizza. We took a vote and gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 5. Donna really liked the topping, but I wasn’t too keen on the combination. And the pizza dough didn’t crisp up like we had hoped. I think we should have left it out longer at room temperature before rolling it out. Do you have any experience with grilling pizza?

Flatbread on the Traeger

Ozark the cat was moving slower than she was the day of her surgery. I think she must have still had some residual effect from the anesthesia on Tuesday. Yesterday she was obviously sore but didn’t seem to be in too much discomfort. She spent most of the day napping on a cat blanket that Donna’s mother made for her.

Ozark catching a nap on her blanket

The prescriptions I picked up on Monday are working well. I would say my dermatitis is 90% clear this morning. I have two more days on the Prednisone. The secondary infection on my feet is healing well. The antibiotic is a little hard on my stomach at times, but I’ll follow the full course of the 10-day treatment.

Thunderstorms are in the forecast for early afternoon. I can see a line of storms to the west of us on the weather radar app, so I believe we’ll see rain before too long. Donna wants to go out for a power walk and hit the pool before it rains. It looks like another lazy day for me.

Recovery Day

I stuck with my plan and hung out inside yesterday. I spent most of the day reading a book. I got a little ambitious and cleaned the place and did the dishes – Donna always says there’s nothing sexier than a man doing dishes.

Donna and her mom, Lorraine, came home with Ozark the cat a little past 5pm. I was battling the low voltage problem here at the Hide-A-Way Campsites. I had the coach cooled to 72 degrees early in the afternoon knowing that I would most likely have to shut down the front AC due to the low L-1 voltage I wrote about two days ago. We ended up sitting outside in the shade of the canopy.

Ozark had surgery earlier in the day (spayed) and the vet said she might be nauseous. Not Ozark – she came inside and immediately went after her food bowl and asked for more. A blog follower named Pat Thorpe generously offered to make a cat blanket to fit Ozark’s carrier crate. She sent the blanket to Donna’s mom’s house and we received it the other day. It’s cute with a paw print fabric and fits perfectly. Thanks, Pat!

Padded blanket in Ozark’s crate

Lorraine also gifted us with a cat blanket that Ozark lounges on.

While I sat outside talking with Lorraine, Donna prepared a rack of lamb. She made a rub with olive oil, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and pepper, cayenne and minced garlic and let it rest for about 45 minutes. I fired up the Traeger and roasted it at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. I also put a rimmed cookie sheet with olive oil, rosemary and diced potatoes on the grill with the lamb.

Roasted rack of lamb

I didn’t think the potatoes cooked well enough at first glance, but they were crisp and tasty. The lamb was moist and tender.

Roasted potatoes from the Traeger

Donna served the meal with green beans and we dined outdoors at the picnic table across from our site. Our neighboring site is empty and opens up to a large grassy area with picnic tables.

Doorstep view across empty site

Last night’s dinner table

Dinner is served

Ozark slowed down as the evening wore on. She found a comfortable place on the dashboard next to the windshield and stretched out.

Ozark in recovery mode

She still seems a little slow this morning but isn’t complaining. We all slept well last night.

My dermatitis condition is responding phenomenally to the Prednisone. I would say I’m 75% clear this morning.

Today we expect another warm day with temperatures in the 90s. We’re expecting a guest today – Kayla is Donna’s step-granddaughter from a previous marriage. I think they’ll hang out at the pool while I read and recover. We may take a short ride down to the Howe Caverns or Secret Caverns later (map).

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Grilling

Washington DC

Gettysburg

Up and Running Again

Kayaking the Schroon River

Dry and Dusty

Indian Lake

Lake George Escape

Secret Caverns

Low Voltage – Again

Recovery Day

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