“A Day Late and A Dollar Short”

Monday, October 15, 2012

“A Day Late and A Dollar Short”

We decided last night before we went to bed that we weren’t going to get up early this morning. So we crawled into bed, early for Tom and way early for me, and settled down for a good night’s sleep. Yeah, right!

I was awakened way too early with the trailer rocking and making noise. I opened the blinds that are beside my side of the bed and saw the trailer awning being shook by a fierce wind. The weather radio had told us that there would be a front passing through the area with showers and a wind. I wasn’t expecting something like this.

I lay back down and must have dozed off because I was awakened again by the same things. I sat up, looked out of the window (the awning was still in one piece) and then lay back down again.
The next time I heard and felt the same things Tom beat me to the sitting up part. He put on his sandals and went outside. I slid my feet into my shoes and followed him. He did most of the work because he knew what to do. I was there to lend moral support. The awning was rolled up and secured and we were on our way inside. It wasn’t as noisy or shaking as much. We got back into bed and tentatively lay down listening for more noises. It was soon after 2am. We went to sleep.
I was a wake and asleep all night but soon it was near 7am and Tom was getting up. I decided that I would too. Off to the wash house to get the day started and then back to get dressed and eat breakfast. And so our day started.

One of the things that was offered to us as a possibility for our time here was to take a ride on the Erie Canal. A brochure was given to us even though we thought we had spent enough on the tours. Tom looked over the brochure several times and said that he’d like to go to Lockport, NY, anyway even if we don’t get to take the ride. Then it was that we would have to see what time the cruises were being scheduled. So we were going to Lockport just to see what things were like there. And then he looked at the brochure a little more thoroughly and found out that the last day for the cruises was yesterday, October 14, the day we were on the American Falls tour. “A day late and a dollar short,” Tom says. “But we will go anyway.”

So we had about two hours just to relax. We haven’t had much of that kind of time so we just vegged and enjoyed it. I even dozed as I sat on the sofa. We had lunch and were off to Lockport, NY to see part of the Erie Canal.

We found the Cruise Office. Two vessels were tied to the dock. They were very trusting because no one was around and everything was open. Tom and I or anyone else could have just walked on the vessel and taken off or done damage. We looked at both vessels from the dock and walked further down the property to see the area from a different point of view.
We saw a sign across the canal for Upson Park and decided to go see what that was all about. Besides it looked like you could see behind a lock or something like that. So Tom asked “The Man” to take us there and that “he” did.

We found the thing that we were looking at from across the way. It did look like a sort of a lock that might have been used to put vessels in dry dock. We don’t know for sure and there was no one there to ask.[On further investigation it is indeed a place to put vessels in dry dock!]

Another thing we found was a Canal Trail. We followed it backwards and found the Canal Museum, one of the locks of the canal, the mechanism that opens and closes the gate and the place where the water bypasses the lock. There were lots of things in the museum to see and a video presentation about how a lock works, the history of the canal and a musical presentation of life on the canal, the “Erie Canal Song.” We found many things along the Canal Trail that raised even more “what’s that” questions. As we walked away from the park Tom was heard to say, “Oh, well, a day late and a dollar short.” It would be a place to which we would want to come back.

We headed back to the campground by way of the Hobby Lobby store for more yarn and a gas station for gas for tomorrow’s trip to Lantz Corners (Kane, PA) and the Foote Rest Campground. Back at our present campground where we will be for one more night, Tom grilled ham and potatoes for dinner.
It seems that the wind has died down. I haven’t put my head out of the door to find out for sure. Think there is a possibility of showers tonight and again tomorrow morning. Gee whiz! Just in time to break camp. Low temperature for tomorrow morning is in the low 40s with a real feel of somewhere in the 30s. “Tom, where are your gloves?”

This campground is less than a mile from the Niagara Falls Air Force Base. I think that is the name of it. Earlier in our stay here I heard this loud low frequency sound that I had been taught somehow to associate with a “bomber.” (Excuse me, Steve, if I get this all backwards.) But tonight is the loudest and the longest that I have heard them. It may have something to do with the weather we are having right now; the wind and all that.) It may have something to do with “touch and goes.” Every once in a while I get to see one of these “chubby” fuselaged planes as opposed to the sleek fighter jets. But tonight is the first time this noise has been so loud for so long.

Yesterday I forgot to say something about the black squirrels that we saw in Niagara Falls, NY Park. They were beautiful. Our guide offered us this explanation: some years ago, as a project, the students at Kent State University introduced some black squirrels into the schools grounds and kept track of them to see where they would show up. A few years ago they showed up in Niagara Falls, NY. I wonder how long it will take for them to get to your area.

The evening is getting late and I have a few things to do yet, including seeing to it that this thing gets posted. We need to get some rest so that we can get out of here tomorrow. Talk to you all tomorrow night from Foote Rest Campground.