I woke early this morning, about 530am. Rather than disturb Connie, I thought I’d do my crosswords on the iPhone with the screen on the dimmest setting as possible. Unfortunately that didn’t work and before long she was awake.
After breakfast we packed up and once again were headed out by 8am but not before a quick stop at the RV Park Store for a coffee on the house. Normally, I’m not a fan of this kind of coffee but this morning it was really good!
Before leaving we asked the lady at the RV Park Store if she’d ever taken the ferry to New York. She told us that her husband and she took their RV across not too long ago and it wasn’t too expensive and a nice trip. We decided to go that route and were on the road by 820am.
We had planned to drive south on I 87 to Syracuse and skirt the east side of the Adirondack Mountains. Unfortunately Siri had other plans for us. Before long we were at the turn off point and the GPS directed us to keep going on US 2. As we drove by the turn off, I commented to Connie “perhaps there is another ferry?” Nope! That was the turn we should have made. Instead we drove north on US 2 and along the Canadian US Border (south of Montreal).
Other than adding 30 minutes to our trip, it turned out to be just fine. The sun was shining and the drive along Lake Champlain is quite stunning. Some of the homes along the shore are gorgeous – again old but very well kept. Some were made of stone, some brick and some log homes.
Around 9am, we crossed the top of Lake Champlain and entered New York at Rouses Point. As we drove across the bridge, on our right we spotted an old Fort. It was Fort Montgomery, also known as Fort Blunder. Construction of the fort began in 1816 but shortly after it was discovered, the fort was being built on Canadian soil. In 1844, the US began to rebuild the fort on American soil and completed it in 1871.
I can’t help but wonder who exactly the fort was protecting, as the gun portholes face toward the US. We didn’t have the privilege of seeing the back side but perhaps there are also gun portholes facing Canada.
Rouses Point is a cute little border town with lots of old buildings. We drove through town on US 2 and then turned right on US 11. We soon discovered that we were in the northern Adirondack country, which was also Amish country. For most of the day we saw signs that warned us to watch out for horse and buggy and in fact we saw several of them along the highway.
We saw many Amish farms (you can always tell because there are no vehicles in the yard) and a couple of Amish saw mills where the men were working making furniture. On one farm we saw a newly raised barn with a group of boys and girls standing inside all dressed in their traditional attire. One mom was out cutting her grass with an old push reel mower (Leona, her lawn was as big as yours will be! So perhaps you don’t need a gas mower after all). We didn’t have the time and I don’t know what is proper protocol but I would have loved to stop and chat with some of these folks.
Among some of the Amish properties were huge windmill farms. When we drove through all but two of them were stationary, which makes me pause and wonder. I expect the Amish scratch their heads a bit when they see such hideous monstrosities popping up around them. We also saw a few solar farms, which are equally hideous in my humble opinion.
Also on US 11, we came across a huge dairy farm. I’d never seen one so large before. We don’t have a photo but the barns filled acres of land. They must be milking thousands of cows.
Siri directs us on the shortest routes, so some of our turns were suspect and not really appropriate for towing a 30 foot trailer but we made it through. Although, I didn’t mention it in the blog, she did the same yesterday. On one road she took us over a bridge with signage that said one truck at a time.
Connie likes to map out our route, preferably on a paper map, but it’s definitely challenge to do so when following Siri’s directions!
We stopped in Canton New York to pick up a few groceries and eat a bite of lunch. I’ve been to Canton Massachusetts a few times but had no idea there was also a Canton in New York. Evidently, this isn’t uncommon as we came across another Bangor and a second Mexico.
I decided to listen to some Jimmy Buffet this afternoon, and as we approached the turn off to Mexico, Jimmy started to sing Mexico (actually a James Taylor tune but Jimmy sings it well). Funny how that kind of thing happens from time to time.
We avoided the interstate for most of our drive today – only about 80km on I 81. I prefer this as I enjoy the slower pace and more interesting scenery.
We arrived at the RV Park around 315pm. It is located in a small town called Wolcott, half way between Syracuse and Rochester, and close to the shores of Lake Ontario (also due south of Kingston/Bellville Ontario). Ours is a full service site, which suits us well (versus Onion River – LOL).
Tomorrow will be our longest drive to date (about 6 hours 30 minutes), so we plan an early start.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Mal and Connie's Cross Canada Adventure 2.0 