NOT a do over day!



This big steer crossed the road at
the exit for Rome!

August 1 – It was nice out when got up but by the time we were ready to go the rain started.  We headed back onto the toll roads and suffered the rain as we headed west to Rome, NY.  Luckily the skies cleared shortly before we were to exit for Ft. Stanwix.

Fort Stanwix was along a main trading route connecting Canada, 6 Native American tribes and US east coast.  A war started in 1754 with the French and Virginia Colonial troops in Pennsylvania, called the French and Indian War.  By 1756 (remember we were still subjects of England) the fighting spread to England where it was known as the Seven Years War.  The fort was actually built in 1758 by the British and played a vital role in the war.  It was detrimental to the Indian Nation whose people chose sides and destroyed

Model of the fort

crops and trading for a long time.

The foundations of the fort were excavated and a replica of the fort now stands where the original did.  A few of the original out buildings were not redone.  There are furnished bunk quarters, officer quarters and the Sutler Store.  Bill was able to navigate most of it on his scooter and the exhibit in the Visitor Center was very interesting as well.

We had to park across the street in a regular parking lot and luckily it being a

One of the bunk rooms

Monday it was not too full and we easily got in and by the time we were ready to leave a couple of key cars had left making our departure much easier!  Yahoo!  Then it was back on the toll road to Waterloo, NY.  The weather the rest of the day was good which makes a huge difference.

We stopped and got diesel but they had no DEF fluid at the pumps and none in the store by the gallon.  We tried another stop about 50 miles further up the road and no DEF at the pumps but they had it by the gallon, at $8.70 per gallon.  What a ripoff!  That’s how it is when they have a captive audience.  So we got one gallon and that barely made the needle move.

Onward to Waterloo!  (which is named after Waterloo in Belgium) Bill checked his Next Exit book and saw there was a big Petro truck stop when we got off so we went there and topped off the diesel and used our 2 empty DEF containers to fill at the pump.  I guess trucks have their DEF tank on the driver side but RV’s (who knows for what reason) have it on the passenger side.  So we filled the containers and dumped them in and I filled them a second time and we used 1 ½ so I pitched the smaller container and topped off the larger one and stowed it.  The DEF was $2.89 a gallon, big difference!

As we headed out of Petro Bill said to go right and shortly down the road he realized he should have said left and now we’re in farmland and need to turn around.  CRAP!  Well, here’s what went down!  There were nothing but houses and we see a food bank with a drive way into a parking area, bear in mind that we are not crawling down the road as there are cars behind us and your mind is working fast and you’re in a panic wondering how far before you could easily turn and I hesitated so didn’t stop and we both saw the exit from the lot and I still wasn’t slowed enough and Bill said turn, so I did and I stopped because I knew I hadn’t swung out enough for the narrow lane, which was narrower than the first lane and I just stopped!  Bill is telling me to go and I do know the limits of the RV pretty well and knew I’d go in the ditch on one side of the lane.  I said no, I can’t and he reminded me that we can’t back up with the car towing.  I totally got panicky which I rarely do and was seriously ready to cry and he got out and gave me very slow directions in and I heard a big scrape.  He got back in and I pulled on in further and got my tears over with.  Then he joked and said maybe I should check the mud flap.  So I got out and sure enough, the mud flap was hanging from one side.  Bill with his walking boot on and

The missing link!

crutches, got down under the RV and unhooked the one side and asked me to see if I could find the hooks that came off.  I was only able to find one so thought it flew off across the road. We struggled to get the mud flap into the car.  It was very slightly bent but without the hooks we couldn’t put it back on.  I was leery of towing out of the small lot onto the narrow 2 lane road so we unhitched and Bill, who is not supposed to drive, drove the lead to the Waterloo Harbor Campground.

The campground is on a canal where they do a lot of kayaking and canoeing.  They rent them here.  There are a lot of seasonal RV's here as well.

The spot we were assigned was not the most level and we had some difficulty there so we hope we haven’t created a new problem when we go to leave.  I think I’m starting to drink more!!!

Once again we enjoyed having leftover pickle steaks for dinner and I enjoyed not having to cook,  We watched one of our remaining TV shows, Rizzoli & Isles.