Thursday, September 29, 2011

STATS

Departure: 10:40 am
Breakfast: in the RV
Lunch: “the Pub” in Jamestown, NY
Dinner: in the RV
Arrival: 7:00 pm EDT, Letchworth State Park
Distance: 183 miles
Comments:
We left Ohio today, saw about 45 miles of Pennsylvania, and made it into New York. We decided that we wanted to see the “real” upstate New York, so we skirted the turnpike and headed due east on I-86 through Jamestown.

Any Lucy fans out there? Jamestown, New York, is where Lucille Ball was born and raised. The town is very proud of their “favorite daughter” and has erected the Lucille Ball Museum, where among other things, you can be on TV and do the “VitaMeataVegimin” commercial. However, you can’t see yourself on TV—the TV is pointed out so others can see you. Also, you can’t get a copy of your performance—it’s not taped. And they don’t have the script for you, anyway. But it was fun. They have two sets recreated so you can see the apartment in New York and the apartment in Hollywood. Most of the sets and props have been lost or destroyed, so these sets were recreated from pictures.

We had lunch at “The Pub”, a little bar and sandwich place around the corner from the museum. Although physically quite different, the place has the distinct feel of “Cheers” of Boston TV fame, but they didn’t know my name.

We both had the specialty of the house: Roast Beef On Kummelweck. Ever hear of Kummelweck? Neither had we. It’s a soft, white roll with caraway seeds on the crust. It’s apparently only made in that area of the country (world?). Very tasty.

We had detached the car and left the RV in a Walmart parking lot about three miles away. We left Lucy around 3:00, returned to the RV and reattached the car, and headed for our destination: Letchworth State Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the East. It was only about 100 miles away, so plenty of time, right?

So back onto I-86 from Jamestown. At Randolph, we left the interstate and headed north-east on Main Street/394. In East Randolph, we got onto 242 going north-east. In Little Valley, we got onto Main Street/353/242, headed for Ellicottville. Finally in Machias, we left 242 and headed north on 16. Or was it 20 to Delevan? No, I’m pretty sure it was 16. At Yorkshire, we took Main Street/39 to Arcade (at least, I think it was 39). In Arcade, we took 19 north, except 19 doesn’t go through Arcade. Let me check a map, hang on for a second….

Okay, the map has to be wrong, because somehow I ended up on 19 north out of Arcade. Except there was a sign in Arcade that 19 was closed 12 miles ahead. So we took a detour, which had to be 98, then to, wait, I know this… Java Center, yeah, then east and then north. I think we went through Silver Springs, or maybe not. Somewhere, we drove up a switchback that was about two feet wide and on an incline of 85 degrees. At the top, there was a railroad track, which had a vertical stone wall on the side I was approaching. Fortunately, I have new tires, the tread grabbed, and we went up and over the tracks like a fairly stiff caterpillar (and I was wishing I had a fairly stiff drink in my hand).

(By the way, did you know that there are 4,238 streets in New York named Main Street? I know, because I drove on every one of them today.)

At this point, we called OnStar, because the Garman was totally lost. So was OnStar. Neither one could route us into Letchworth through the Perry entrance (west side). We turned them both off, found a road heading north, and we drove that way until we came to 20A. Then east to Perry. Once there, we found the signs to Letchworth, and eventually pulled into our site at 7:00 pm.

Four hours.

To go 100 miles.

We saw the “real” upstate New York.

I got my stiff drink.