to the van 5-7th Sept

We said goodbye to Marios and his small but very well appointed flat and made our way via the subway system to Penn Station. We got there much quicker than anticipated ... where is the NY rush hour?.. and had over an hour to wait for our train. The train was fully booked and unfortunately by the time we got on the train their were no foursome seats left. We tried to get an Indian couple to move out of a foursome to a twosome seat but they refused even though the guard was telling them that families had priority for the seats.. they insisted that they were a family too! The journey was long, nearly 8 hours, but it was fascinating to watch the scenery go by. NY state must be as long North South as England (I suppose), since that is about the same time as a train from London up to Scotland, or maybe a bit more. We followed the Hudson River North for over 2 hours; it is very nearly straight and on its West bank has a towering cliff but on the East side (where we were) it was really flat. After Albany there was so much countryside; but not like UKs country side with fields etc; just wild woods and swamps. At Rochester we left the train and got a taxi to a motel, ate and slept.
Saturday morning we went to pick up our camper van. Our booking form said we could pick up at 9am so we got their nice and early, only to be told that they normally gave out pick ups in the afternoon; however, since we were the only customers that day, they put a rush on and within the hour our van was ready. It was a great size, about 5 years old, and had all that we required; the forms were signed all the ts crossed and the is dotted when we saw that there was a 15cm crack in the windscreen. So the guy found another equivalent van for us, but this time it had a plasma screen TV, a DVD, microwave and was only 11/2 years old with 20 hours on the generator and 30k on the clock - also we were given a rebate for our trouble plus a free picnic table and chairs - bargain.
We decided to head south (don't know why) and we stopped at a supermarket to fill up the fridge and then at a 'dollar mart' to buy some nice pillows. Celso did his first driving of a left hand drive and his first drive of anything larger than a car; a bit hairy at times especially when he tried to drive on the left when we were turning onto a new road, but it will be great if he can do some of the driving and I can ponder on the scenery (I did all the driving in Canada because it was ridiculously expensive to put an extra driver on our rental). After exactly 100miles we were in our first campsite and trying to learn how to set up everything. I went and played the pathetic English tourist with our neighbours; it worked perfectly; who came and showed us how to do everything; connect to the electricity and water; empty waste (even though we didn't need to), tune the TV in to watch our 'HOW TO' DVD of the van.
So here we are in Bath, our backpacks are unpacked for the first time and the bags are stored away under the sofa seats. We had a home cooked chicken soup and are feeling quite pleased with ourselves.
It was a bit cold last night; we didn't expect that; but we still slept well and for a very long time. We didn't watch the 'How To' DVD in the end as we chatted to the neighbours who helped us out for a while and then Tristan and Celso went for a night walk to see what they could find in the big pond. Tristan grabbed a huge Bullfrog and made swipes at many other frogs but they slipped (literally) away.
A breakfast of boiled eggs and toast was followed by another chat to our neighbours and a tour around their enormous camper (Third Wheel - one that fits onto the back of a pick up truck). We exchanged email addresses and then we were on our way by 1pm. Tristan chose that we turn left out of the campsite and then right and we ended up on a fantastic road over the hills with amazing views away across wooded valleys. When we finally reached a town we decided that we had to do some shopping to get some more blankets and Celso wanted to get more fishing gear ... so into Walmart (kind of like a large, glorified Woolworths) we went and stocked up on everything!
We found a campsite on the map and headed towards it, on the way we found the entrance to a State Park and stopped to have a look at the info board with amazing pictures of a huge gorge; we vowed to visit tomorrow.
At the campsite we bought some firewood and started a fire. We had bought a big circular grill that fitted above the fire pits (I think they are made out of lorry tyres) and we cooked Corn on the Cob in its leaves on the top to accompany our sausage, mash and cabbage (a little reminder of home!).
We now feel quite proficient at hooking up the camper. The electricity plugs in; the water is connected via a hose; the sewage is emptied followed by the grey water (the water that goes down the sinks) to clean out the hose; the chocks go under the wheels to level out the van; the water heater can be put on; the ipod plugged in; the electric toothbrush and the battery for the camera charged..... all mod cons... not really camping at all!
We were camping down in a valley by a small river in which we skimmed stones and looked for wildlife but didn't see much; but again after dusk the boys went out with torches and were treated to bats flying by; several 2 or 3 inch crayfish; long thin fish and loads of 2cm salamander.
Since we were hooked up to the sewage we had hot showers in the van before bed.
Monday 7th (Labour day.. like a bank holiday) we returned to Letchworth State Park and spent a fabulous 4 hours following the river along the gorge; both up on the cliff and down by the river. We had close encounters with Garter snakes and could see buzzards circling on the air currants way overhead, but oddly enough very little other wildlife. You will have to look at the photos to see what fabulous views we were treated to. Some of the trees are starting to turn red showing that autumn (fall) is close upon us in this part of the world and we even had a little light rain - poor us (I wonder what the UK weather is like!)
Mr Letchworth was a man before his time.. in the late 1800s he bought up over 1400 acres of land along the river because he was sick of seeing all the logging, he replanted and restored the land, and on his death in 1909 he bequethed all the to the State.
We are now in a campsite in the State Park (about half the price of the 2 private ones we have stayed in) and have eaten more fire cooked corn on the cob and played poker until it was too dark to see even by the light of the fire.