Day 36, East Coast trip, Somewhere in Ashtabula County, Ohio Tuesday Oct. 24, 2023

 Day 36 Ashtabula County,OH, Tuesday Oct 24, 2023

Guinea Hens by the roadside

Ruth captured this beauty today at the Cpg.

Pin cherries in autumn brilliance.

 

This was the day! We sold the trailer at 2:40 PM , turned over the title, received our compensation and started back to Michigan.

Whoa, not so fast. There is a story to tell and only from our side of the picture.

During the wait  for signing, Ruth had invited Tammy to  visit the trailer one more time, so she could give her some hints on "trailer care" .Tammy was delighted and stayed a half hour and listening to every suggestion Ruth made. Both Ruth and I gave a sheet of "do's and don'ts" for the two of them to use. First time trailer users need time and proper instruction to be effective users. Ruth is a "Pro" at proper use.

Tammy and Joe the buyers, both work each day, so this had to be completed on their work schedule. Joe works til 2:30 everyday and Tammy was on her last day of work as a housekeeper at the Campground (Thousand Trails). We also found out today that she is an aide at the hospital and works usually 3 X 10 hours and one 8, then also fulfills her job here at the campground under contract..

So getting all this financial work done, had to be a strain on the two of them. Working by internet, they were able to save time and running around by getting some forms relayed over the 'net'. The last signatures were the hardest as she was in one place and he was in another, so it was done by fax and internet  e-mail.

Finally, at 2:00 Tammy told us that Joe had signed, and was on his way with the check he had picked up at the credit union in town. He arrived  at the park where we waited, and we exchanged the title for the check. He was a happy man and went in to celebrate with Tammy.

DONE!

The tile silo on Forman Rd.

Mr Roades built the silo. Owned the property earlier.

A full view of the silo. (This style started in about 1910-20)

 

We had time while waiting to get some close ups of that Tile Silo that Ruth admired so much. I said I would drive up to the house and ask if  we could walk into the yard and take a few photos. I was met by a 60 year old woman at the door named Lila, who was happy to show us not only the silo, but her well cared for animals on this working farm. Four  rescue horses were the main attraction and they came out to greet us ,and she called them by name for us. There were two turkeys, a goat (16 years old) lots of chickens,  a goose, no pigs or cows. (Husband said no) She was a softie and wouldn't kill them for food. We did get the photos Ruth wanted, and were able to get some history of the land, and its use. There were 250 acres most of which was in soy beans and corn. In this area the harvest is just beginning on those two crops. It was delightful stay and a time of sharing. She has 10 grandchildren and of course they love to ride "Grandmas horses".

This is "Warrior" one of Grandmas 4 horses

A second horse  we forgot the name

This is "Fatty" and has always been fat. The fourth one is named "Angel"

 We parted that area and headed for a time to  recuperate at the motel where we had stayed the night before. It was after 3:30 and we needed to sort the day out a bit.

We settled for the same Hampton Inn as the night before, and Ruth was "starved " for Pizza Hut pizza. (Her words).

We did that and got settled in  and slowed down a bit.  Probably two days going home ,even though the mileage is not too long (365 miles to Grand Rapids, MI.) Thanks for reading. I will probably blog tomorrow,and highlight  some parts of the trip with photos.

Day 35, Oct 23, 2023 Packed truck ,cleaned trailer, prepared for sale. Jefferson OH

 Day 35,  October 23, 2023 last day in the trailer, EVER! At Jefferson OH

We had reason to believe that the sale of the trailer would go through although it may take longer than we anticipated. Tammy , the buyer, was working through her Credit Union, and just was  getting approval today.

 

Last time we will see the trailer. It has been sold!

See tomorrow's Blog for the end story and the sale.

That meant that we would prepare the trailer for sale, including cleaning, storing, removing, and generally getting it ready for the new owner. Ruth sent most of the day inside , and I helped  by carrying and storing the bags, boxes and bins in the truck to take home and taking care of the outside items. Whoever gets this trailer is getting a lot of equipment with it as we won't take an unnecessary items home. Clothing to pack, canned goods, a few pots and pans we did not give away, our favorite clock, medicines, storage boxes, and the list goes on. By 2;30 we had it pretty well done. Ruth then vacuumed and washed the cupboards, shower and the  floors.

We met with Tammy to sign the CU papers that gave her the go ahead to meet with them to finalize the loan for Tammy and Joe. We went back to the trailer and waited. She called to let us know that we will meet with her in the AM to change title ownership.

In the evening we decided to check in at the Motel and get something to eat as it was past our time .(We eat at 5:00 usually.) Decided to try the "Corner Bar" down the street a bit, which from the outside looked pretty run down, but advertised the "World's finest Hamburgers". A very noisy place (not handicap entry) 6 steps--- One bar  gal, and 15 people in the place, all of them drinking at the bar. (VERY NOISY! We ordered at the bar and waited 30, minutes for 2 burgers and fries. Pretty ordinary in the insidewityh many faded posters and photos and ripped decor and  was just as we said."run down". We ate and left  knowing that we have eaten better burgers and seen better burger places. Bars included! Their slogan was "A sunny place for shady people"!

We headed for the motel, checked our baggage with Elana and headed for the room. Ruth was out in a very short time and I will follow. Tomorrow we hope to close the deal by 11:00 and stop one more night on the way home, arriving home on Wed one day later than planned. Thanks for reading! --Jim

Day 34 East Coast Trip, Sunday OCT. 22 Covered bridges OH

Ruth did get a few with color although no sun!

 Day 34, East Coast Trip, Sunday Oct. 22, 2023 At  Thousand Trails RV Ohio

This was “Let’s see the Covered Bridges” day.  There are 125 Covered Bridges in Ohio and 19 of those are in Ashtabula County where we are staying. We did get to see six of them today in a short five hour run around the county and environs. (We did not see Lake Erie to

A tad less color but good.

 As usual ,it also gave us a chance to see the countryside as it has been rainy and threatening off  and on for a few days so there's not much activity in the bean fields or in the corn rows. About half of the soybeans have been harvested but very little of the corn.  The grapes must be waiting  for a frost or something as they are yet to be picked. There was a large frost this spring that eliminated much of the Concord harvest this year especially in the “Lak Erie Region” of grape growing. Ruth did get some photographs of the barns today along with a few pictures of some colors on the maples as the sun shone only about .01% of the time.  And you had to be quick in order to get a photo with the sun shining.

So I think I will just list the covered bridges that we saw as most of them were within 20 miles of where we are staying at Thousand Trails RV near Jefferson Ohio. Here they are and they are listed in the order that we saw them. When I get internet by the office (“hot spot” they call it), I will post photos.
 

Doyle  Rd Bridge

Gdding Rd Bridge

Netcher Rd Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benetka Rd Bridge

Olins Bridge

South Denmark Rd Bridge

 The Doyle Road Covered Bridge which was near our camp ground about 12 minutes away.
The Netcher Road Covered Bridge only about 5 miles from the previous one.  It crosses Mills Creek which is the road and river by which  we are camped.
The Giddings Road Covered Bridge, again just a few miles from the previous one
 The Benetka  Road Covered Bridge a little further north nearer to Ashtabula Ohio and crosses the Ashtabula R.
S. Denmark Rd. Covered Bridge, actually very close do the Giddings Road Bridge
And finally the Olins Covered Bridge  also crosses the Ashtabula River. (No apostrophe)

It wasn't busy on the roads but there still were a few of people at most of the bridges today. Interestingly, one lady had a map of all of the bridges in the County of Ashtabula but she was certain the map did not have them in the right places!!! Maybe she was using a GPS so much she forgot how to use a paper map. How about you, do you still use a paper map once in a while? We always keep one handy as it gives references that the GPS does not. ( Personally, I would like to locate three or four places on the same GPS map at the same time. There is an idea for a new app?)

A brief ,but fascinating  story involves a silo we saw the first day we came into this area. Ruth had seen it on the side of the road behind a barn, and it was …a tiled silo. There have been none of these build in recent years so if this one must've been 100 years old or more for sure.  (They started using that form of silo  in the early 1900’s.) We didn't stop but vowed we would come back and get a photo of it some other time this week. Today was that day. After we had finished with the covered bridges, we decided to chase down that tile silo. We looked on  the roads where we thought it might be, remembering we had traveled on dozens of rural roads on which we were not familiar. The “road” did not come up with a tile silo. The only thing Ruth could remember was that she saw it  after we passed by “the Corner Bar” which was in the town of Austinburg about 10 miles away. We did GPS the “Corner Bar”, found it, and started from there. When we got to Victor road we turned there as she felt  for sure that was it. We drove it until we got to “our road”, Mills Creek Rd.. But it was not there. End of story. The tile silo will have to wait for another time. On October 24 as we were leaving the campground we saw it! So a photo will be in the next blog.

We will stay here at least one extra day awaiting the outcome of our potential buyers for the trailer. They will try to complete their financial work on Monday and let us know that day. If that works out we will finish packing the truck with what we have not left in the trailer and headed for home. We will see how that goes.

Oh, you want to hear about supper of course. It was one of our favorites for a cold, windy, and slightly damp night.  (Maybe yours , too?)  It was tomato basil soup and toasted cheese sandwiches using Colby Jack cheese instead of our favorite Havarti. But it was just what we needed.

Thanks for reading and I'll have another blog or two yet on the trip, whether or not we are pulling the trailer on the way home. ––Jim

Day 33 East Coast trip Sat. Oct 21, 2023 At Jefferson OH

 Day 33, East Coast trip, Sat Oct. 21,2023 At Thousand Trails RV NY

It was a lighthouse day, covering three lighthouses located on Lake Erie. The first one was at Ashtabula and what was called a pier light as it is out in the bay at the end of a long dike or breakwater. The other two were at a small town called Fairport Harbor about 30 miles farther down the coast.

As usual, we took the “back way” so we could be on the rural roads and maybe spot some color or some barns or unusual sites. We did just that. Some of these roads pass by some beautiful homes and some very old barns built in the 1800s. There also were an assortment of skeletons all prepared for Halloween and I'll put it in a few pictures of them. Ruth is keeping a list of the positions that the skeletons are in. Some hanging from roofs, climbing walls, sitting in wheelbarrows or on tractors. But you get the idea.

Fairport Harbor old light (not used today)

MORE PHOTOS LATER TODAY

When we arrived in Ashtabula we were really impressed with the waterfront and the history that the city has as a port in days gone by. It was the third most active port in United States at one time in the early 1900s. Those days are gone but it still maintains much trade from ships that come in to bring coal and to take out many different types of gravel. One key item that covers the horizon as you drive downtown is the old coal conveyor belt that no longer used and that the city struggles to have maintained as an icon of the city's history. It spans the channel for the ships coming in.

In 1876, just after the Civil War, a train that was traveling over the large  RR. trestle in town was the victim of a collapse of that trestle. There were 159 passengers that went down into the gulley with the train. 92 were killed and 64 were injured. That left three who had no injuries or death. One of the US’s worst train disasters.

We took photos of the lighthouse from three different places. It was out in the bay and it was tough to get a good shot. After visiting two beaches and one angle from the museum behind the lighthouse we had some pretty good pictures. Taking photos at a half mile or more away is difficult at best. It was a windy day at 20 mph from the north west which may the air feel 10° cooler then the 53°F that it was. This was the first day we got Ruth’s winter coat out as the wind was fierce.

The hiding place for slaves before and during the Civil War

A conveyor belt (not used now) that  Ashtabuka wants to memorialize.

The west Pier Light at Fairport Harbor OH

In Fairport Harbor, some 30 miles down the coast, and on the same street, Walnut, as the lighthouse, was the house (Hubbard House)  that was used as an Underground Railroad safety house both before and after the Civil War. Those slaves would stay in the house during the daytime and then go down to the harbor at night too catch a boat to Canada. This went on for many years. Mr. Hubbard was an officer in the Civil War and in active leader in both the emancipation of slaves and their freedom.

The lighthouse in Fairport Harbor stands on a very high Bluff overlooking the harbor. This is made of Stone, perhaps granite, and stands about 120 feet tall. It is a grand building, and although it is no longer in use it is a momento  of day's gone .

Again a that lighthouse  on the pier is a similar lighthouse to the one in Ashtabula. Although the one in Ashtabula was struck by ships more than five times this one in Fairport Harbor has escaped any crashes. We tried to get an angled shot of it from further on down the beach and did succeed in getting the lighthouse as a background to the splashing waves off the rocks  along the beach.

Lke Erie at Ashtabula Pier Lighthouse

 

The wind whipping the waves and crashing on the rocks was a splendid scene to watch if you didn't get too close. I got soaked when one wave washed over-the-top of me.

Again we took the back way back, some grapevines that Ruth wanted to photograph and while we were doing that on this totally cloudy day when we had not seen the sun all day a miracle happened. There was a wonderful woods with brilliant color but  in the shade of the clouds. When I looked up I saw in the distance some  sunlight on some trees in the distance and it was moving our way. I told Ruth to wait a minute and she might get some light. It was true. All of a sudden that beautiful scene was in brilliant sunlight. What a difference that made in the colors.

We finished the “back road ride” coming home and relaxing before our supper of John Wayne casserole over cornbread. It was the perfect meal for a rather cool evening.

Then a surprise happened as we got a phone call from one of the girls who works in the campground and wanted to know if we were really interested in selling our trailer. We were, and   invited them to come over in the evening to look it over. She and her husband came over and looked at the trailer over and we're truly interested. So that sale is pending and may take place in the next few days. We may stay over a day in order to confirm the deal. Say a prayer!

Thanks for reading and either way we still have a couple of days to go me. —Jim

 Day 32, East Coast trip, Oct. 20, 2023 Now At Jefferson OH, (Thousand Trails Cpg.)

We are gaining on the sunsets. By that I mean when we were in Massachusetts the sun was setting at 6:23 and as we move further west of course we get closer to the edge of the Time Zone. Tonight here in Jefferson Ohio the sunset is at 6:29. My daughter told me that in Michigan on the Lake Michigan shoreline the sun is setting 6:58 so we are gaining as I say.

The drive today was mostly on the freeways and route 104 in Northern New York. That latter route becomes a 4 Lane Hwy. For the last of 75 miles. Then it connects with the bypass around Buffalo and meets up with I- 90  skirting the edge of Lake Erie until we arrived at our exit

 

Grapes in the Lake Erie Region

It got me good as I was too close!

South shore of Lake Erie was active today.

It was amazing to me how much much this part of the country is into grapes and vineyards. Here is a bit of information about New York and his vineyards. There are four major vineyard regions in the state of New York. The one that we drove through it is called Lake Erie as it is along the coast where the waters and the clay soil keep it perfect for growing grapes. The second is the Finger Lakes which for a similar reason the area remains warmer longer in the year because of the water. There is another region on the Hudson river and the final one is on the east end of Long Island. The region we went through is mostly Concord grapes because of the aforementioned  reasons. It seems even along I 90 that the vineyards go on for miles and miles and miles.  New York has 962 vineyards, 11,000 acres planted, and produces 150,000 tons of grapes yearly.  

We also passed the Chautauqua Association which is near Erie Pennsylvania.

One of the largest buildings that we saw on the trip today was the Xerox headquarters and facility near Rochester..  Other cities that we passed along the way included Dunkirk, located on Lake Erie but was instrumental in starting programs to support cities of the same name in Europe after the war (WW2).  So it was Dunkirk/Dunquerque and towns like Hamburg that continued to supporting their namesakes in Europe. Dunkirk is also the site of the oldest locomotive works in the world. That industry there constructed over 4000 locomotives in its history.

It was not a totally sunny day today even though it started out that way. We ran through two heavy rain showers, and I even decided to get off the road during one and filled up tank with gasoline while the rain finally stopped. The mist being picked up by the trucks was not as bad as I've seen on I-90 near Chicago but you had to be careful just the same.

Geographically the state of New York extends some  65 miles from Buffalo along the shores of Lake Erie before it reaches Pennsylvania and the city of Erie. This a very picturesque drive and also a tourist mecca. Pennsylvania at that point on Lake Erie is only about 20 miles wide.

There were not many photographs taken today even though we are into deeper color as we continue west. I may post a few but they're nothing spectacular cause of the rain and the cloud

Along the route in Upper NY state

 Two goals while we are here, if the weather holds up. First to make a trip into Erie Pennsylvania where there are some lighthouses and some history of the war of 1812. The other is to visit a lake, dam, and park at the Pymatuning reservoir. It has a road that goes over the damn splitting the lake in two. This reservoir has a history of farming when the first settlers came, but became too difficult because of the marshes, mosquitoes and other harsh conditions. It was later converted into reservoir

. Thanks for reading and we just have three more days to go, until we will be back home again. All things being equal.

Day 31, East Cast trip , Thursday Oct. 19, 2023 MOntezuma NWR, NY

 Day 31, East Coast Trip, Th. Oct  19, 2023, Montezuma NWR NY

Was awakened this morning by the light coming through the shades. It was the sun! It promised to be a better day with some sunshine at least part of the day. We had planned to go to Montezuma's National Wildlife refuge again and we were going to do that

The sun seemed very warm and bright as we prepared to Head out toward the NWR. We made a few stops on the way for pictures of trees in the sunlight and also of a barn for Ruth's collection.

The early sun hits the trees on the road.

Look closely to see the Snipe. There were two.

Thousands of Canada Geese getting loaded  to head  south

I We 

 

 

 

 

 

 We could say that the drive around the auto route at the NWR was about the same as yesterday except that we skipped going to the locks and the dam on the Clyde River. We did see they had finished the repairs on the Dam, and the water was blocked by the steel gates. We focused on the birds and found that there were about the same birds as yesterday except for one group. That was the shorebirds who were missing. Does that mean they had flown south, or did the sunshine move them to different areas? Either was possible as it's getting late in the season and many of the shorebirds have already left. The exception to that and maybe you don't think of them as shorebirds, but there were Killdeer that we saw.  It is interesting to note that's some of the shorebirds (Red Knot) fly through these areas getting food as they raise their young in the Arctic and in the winter fly to tear up dill for wiggle in Argentina's Southern most tip. Shorebirds are very endangered with a loss of habitat and changing changing of the climate.

One of the small ponds onMontezuma NWR

It's a Yellow Rump who stayed put for a few seconds

We saw them flying but not on the ground

 

Green Winged Teal

 

A couple of special treats in the bird kingdom were given to us today in the form of three American Bald Eagles, and one Kingfisher. There were no bald eagles sitting in trees, but they flew overhead and one pair stayed around and hovered for a few minutes. They are such graceful creatures with their soaring hang gliding that seems almost effortless. Do you know that at 1,000 feet n the air they can see prey, 3 square miles  around?

A very old cemetery at the side of the road.

Yes,this is the cecond buck we saw , this on the side of the Auto Loop.

One of the viewing stands for the small pond.

 

At one point on the Drive around the refuge the freeway I-90 comes within 100 feet of the refuge road. Of course it is very noisy and even though there are ponds there, most of the Refuge traffic moves along at the maximum speed of 10 mph. At the end of that stretch however, there is a small pond of 30 feet or so in diameter in which we found  both days a small raft of Green Winged Teal. We saw them both days but they're not a bird we see very often. A group of ducks swimming can be called a 'puddle', a 'pontoon', 'a paddle', a or 'raft' , Take your pick.

We did try one short trail that led to what was called South Pond and did see a small flock of Yellow Rumped Warblers who were fleeting from branch to branch very quickly so it is hard to get any kind of photo of them. But we did manage to get one. One of the birds we did not see today were the woodpeckers as we usually see at least one of them. We did hear some birds singing and  know their songs but we cannot count any birds unless we see them. That's a rule of birding.

We finished exploring that day by traveling to what is known as the unit 14, or the Crane marsh. As we were driving there we did see six or seven small groups of cranes in the air making their' luk luk' sounds so far away. The end that road that led to the crane marsh hey, did not showing a cranes.  The Yup'ik word for Crane is 'luk luk'.

Fall colors

Ruth resting by the tower

A close up of those wonderful milkweed seeds

 Our final stop of the day was at the the local Audubon Center which was on the way back to the campground. One of the staff, Teresa, answered our questions, told us about the use of the center for education,  School children's programs, public use for meetings, and as a wildlife center. They have two huge ponds on the property. It is an excellent use, and well-designed, building. It looks out on two ponds or pools, which she said is filled with many birds in the springtime.

We headed back to the campground having a satisfied day and getting some fairly decent color pictures of the maples. Ruth suggested that we have dinner out and so we went into the town, Walcott, and ate at the "Village" restaurant where Ruth had a seafood combo,, and I had chicken Parmesan over spaghetti. It was a simple meal but certainly the helpings were overpowering.  One thing they had that I'd never seen before in any kind of restaurant we have ever been in, was the blue cheese dressing, that had the largest chunks of blue cheese and any dressing I have ever seen anywhere at anytime. I did ask the waitress, Sherry where they got them from and she told me. I'm going to look that up and see if I can order some. It was unbelievable. Kecks was the distributor of PA.

The day ended as we realized we had a great day with the outdoors, birds,  quiet back roads and friendly people. Tomorrow we head further west for Jefferson OH, skirting around Niagara Falls and Buffalo as the road makes a slight north to south turn. We hope to see lighthouses there, and lots of history about the War of 1812. Thanks for reading. See you again in a few more times as we are down to five days to go.

Day 30,East Coast trip, Wed.Oct. 18, 2023 Montezuma NWR NY

 Day 30, East Coast trip, Oct. 18, 2023,  Montezuma NWR NY

The sky was still cloudy even though the prognostication was for partly cloudy. We never saw the sun all day. That did not stop us from going to one of our favorite venues the National Wildlife Refuge's that have a auto drive through the Refuge. This Refuge was only about thirty minutes away and we will probably spend another day there hoping the sun come out.

Montezuma NWR headquarters

 

We got under way at about 9:30 and headed straight for the refuge.  (Well almost!) We made one stop along the way for a barn for Ruth and then stopped in the Refuge visitor Center to pick up a map and some information. Basically this refuge has a series of ponds, marshes, mud lots, flats, fields, and a few other units. There are 25 different units in all. Some are accessible by trail, but most can be seen from the auto route.

Bennings Pool at NWR

Main Pool

More of the MainPool

 

Driving at about 2 to 5 mph, it takes a while to get around the 50,000 acres of swampland and associated uplands although the auto route does not take you into all of those. (The drive is about 9 miles around) The first big stop was by the main pool, which is the largest on the refuge. Here we saw primarily Pintail ducks by the thousands, and some Pied Billed Grebes that we have been looking for but had never seen on this trip. At a small pond on the north end we observed about a dozen Green Winged Teal that were feeding together. At one point when we pulled order to observe, Ruth remarked/shouted that there was a Bald $agle that just landed in a pine tree next to us. Of course we got excited and took a few photos and spread the word to others coming down the road. The Eagle was very high in the White PIne tree and was still there after we had observed for a number of minutes.

A Green Winged Teal of many.

The Clyde River which is part of the Erie Canal

Those moveable dams .Note metal plates at bottom

The plates hold the water back and can be withdrawn.

Bald Eagle in tree

 

 

 

 

At the North end of the refuge there are some ponds adjacent to the Erie Canal. We took time to visit Lock number 25 and a dam on the Clyde River which the men were working on as we approached. So we got to see both a lock and one of those movable dams that I talked about previously. This part of the canal is met by three water bodies...the Clyde River, the Erie Canal and and old towpath that no longer is used on the canal. I think I mentioned before that the canal originally had 82 locks, then 75 locks while today there are 36 locks, so many of them are unused pieces of the canal that are used locally but not part of the canal system anymore.

There is some color starting to show.Come on sun!

Lock # 25 near  Clyde River, NY

Smartweed is invasive ...But pretty!

 

Including a few birds that we saw in the campground we saw 25 birds today, for our largest total on the trip. During migration or springtime the bird counts will reach 50 or 60 per day quite easily. But we were satisfied with that and super excited to see birds we hadn't seen previous until today. We did see more Halloween skeletons today and one that Ruth  liked particularly was on a swing having a good time.

It was a good day in spite of the sun not showing. A few colors could be seen on the trees and they would be much sharper with some sunshine. Maybe tomorrow?

We stopped for a few groceries in Wolcott  (Bob's Market) which for a town of its size was a wonderful store, very clean, organized and heavily stocked. We found everything we needed there

The day ended with supper of those noodles again made up with Alfredo sauce and chicken. Ruth also put on the table carrots sautéed with butter and brown sugar. Of course we ate the rest of the blueberry pie for dessert. Love that pie. (loved!)

We believe tomorrow we will head back to Montezuma NWR and hope that the sun does come out so some of those color pictures will be more brilliant. See you then.

Thanks for reading– –Jim