Home Sweet Home

We left Brunswick, GA at 7:10 am for the last 5 1/2 hours of our trip.  We were at the FL/GA line at 7:40.  We actually drove for 43 minutes ( I record, I think) before Rich complained about the other drivers on the road..   It was about 9:15 when we merged on to I-4 when I realized we were getting close to home.

We made our usual stop for breakfast at Bob Evans in Haines City where we exited I-4 on to 27S that would take us straight to Lake Placid.   And when we turned onto Heartland Road we could see Lake June ahead of us.   Then we passed the public boat ramp and then the Tobler Park/Boat Ramp and the canal we take to get on the Lake..........We were almost home!

At 12:42 we were pulling into the driveway.  We'd made it home safely!  After 5 weeks, the house looked good!   Now it was unpacking the car, getting everything put away inside, taking the patio furniture and plants back outside.........and then a little grocery shopping to get some food in the fridge!

And outside the yard looked great and Cindy (the lady who does our lawn) had trimmed the palm trees while we were gone.  The Caladiums were looking good, the bushes out back, from all the rain are in need of some serious trimming.  The boat, except where some squirrel had been cracking nuts in the front, looked good.  Bad news:  someone stole our pineapple!  We talked on the way home about picking that when we got home.  It was a big one - and ready for eating.   And the people who own the house next door, and who have been having a hard time selling.............I guess have decided to quit mowing the lawn!  It has to be 3 ft high!

We were both tired after the drive and getting things put away.  It was Chinese Take-Out for dinner and early to bed!  We could not even stay awake to watch the finale of 24!  Things will be back to normal in the morning.  

We had a wonderful trip.  It was so nice to be able to visit with old friends and meet new ones and especially to share our experience of re-visiting and creating new memories of  Black Lake with our son and his family!   Amazing how quickly 5 weeks pass by.   God willing - we will do this again next year. 

Harrisonburg, VA to Brunswick, GA

Sunday morning we were on the road early again. It was 7:52 am.   We had 610.59 miles to travel today and according to Map Quest it should take us 9 hours and 9 minutes.   This would be the longest leg of our trip back home.  There was a continental breakfast at the hotel, but it was too early to eat, so we filled our thermos and our 2 coffee mugs and headed out.

Today, while a long drive, was also very uneventful.    Continuing on in VA I snapped a few shots, again of the mountains and farmhouses.  As we continued along I spotted a couple of times these signs that said  "Runaway Truck Ramp".    The roads here through the mountains of VA were indeed quite steep at times, so I would imagine that in the winter they could be quite treacherous!

The ramps started to appear, in the mountainous regions back in the mid 1960's.  According to Car and Driver :  trucks rely on the additional friction created by gravel or sand and, usually, the gravitational slow-down effect of an incline to stop runaway, vehicles.



We stopped for breakfast at McDonald about 10:00 and filled the gas tank.  Gas in VA in GA is the lowest so we filled up here at 3.23/gallon.   We continued on into NC and by 1:25 we were in Columbia, SC.   Again, not a lot of pictures, but the view of Lake Davidson in NC and the color of the trees in NC and SC were beautiful. The vibrant colors were a sure sign of summer rain and summer sunshine.

Other than a little rain the rest of the trip to Brunswick, GA was boring.  We filled up with gas again in GA - This time finding it at $3.12/gallon.  Sure not going to find these prices in FL.   We arrived at the Comfort Inn in Brunswick about 5:08.  We stopped at a Subway shop about 1/4 mile from the hotel and picked up a couple of subs, a bag of chips and a couple of peanut butter cookies.   We completed this leg in 9 hours and 16 minutes, including stops!  Driving sure does make you tired.  We were both sleeping very very early.

Tomorrow - BACK HOME!

The Long Trip Back HomeW

Unlike our trip northbound, where we stopped for a couple days, a couple of times to visit with friends, the trip from Black Lake, NY back to Florida, was just long days of driving, a little sleep and then back on the road.  Next time we will make different plans for our return.

We were up early on Saturday morning, finished packing and on the road at 7:50 am.  You'll see that I take less and less pictures as we continue our journey home.  I took as many pictures as I could of the beautiful scenery in NY - the hills and valleys.  I knew once we got here that I'd missed all of this, and
now I hated to leave it.

We were making good time: into Syracuse at 9:25, lunch at Denny's around 10:30.  Breakfast is usually pretty good at Denny's, but the service is always so slow.  Today we enjoyed the Senior Omelet, which was delicious and the service today was actually very good.   We had our meal and we were back on the road about 35 minutes later.





The trip through PA was uneventful.  Again, this was still familiar territory from our days in NY State, so the scenery, the beauty of the hills and rock ledges still had my attention.

About 6 hours in our travel time for the day, the traffic in PA was heavy, lots of trucks on the road and we ran into light rain right on into Maryland.   But the sun was shining when we crossed the state line into West Virginia. at 3:17pm.    Not for long!!!

 About 3:30 traffic on I-81, not far from the Virginia state line, came almost to a complete stop.  We were pretty sure that the way traffic was moving and backing up that there must be an accident ahead. We were close to Exit 12, so decided to stop for gas, grab an ice cream at Burger King and hope that the traffic would clear up quickly.

Another couple who had also pulled off at this exit checked their I Phones and found that there was indeed a bad accident and that traffic was being detoured both north bound and south bound.  So we got directions to get on 11 South that ran parallel to I-81 and we'd work our way south.  Some pretty unique houses along this road, (picture above)   An hour and 45 minutes later we were back on I-81 S.  About 22 miles north of Harrisonburg, VA, which is where we would be staying the night we ran into what Rich described as a Monsoon!  The rain was soooooo bad and the wind very strong and you literally could not see the car in front of you.  It was VERY frightening!  Rich managed to get to get to the right hand land.....where we could see that most cars
had already pulled over.  We found a spot and pulled to the shoulder of the road where we waited out the storm for close to 15 minutes.  What was supposed to be an 8 hour and 20 minute travel day ended up being close to 11 hours when we pulled into the hotel parking lot at 6:44 pm. Whew!

We stayed at the Econo Lodge in Harrisonburg, VA.  The hotel had recently been renovated and we were extremely impressed with the accommodations, especially for the price!

Just across the street was a Chili's Restaurant where we enjoyed a Mexican Dinner.

 It was their special 2 for $8.  Rich had 2 beef enchiladas.  I had the chicken quesadilla and the chicken enchilada.  They were Excellent!    Rich enjoyed a Bud Light while I had a Marguarita!  They were excellent too!

We could hear the rain and the thunder outside as we drifted off to sleep.  Another long day tomorrow.
  

Ou Last Day at Black Lake

Friday was our last day. Tomorrow we'd be heading home.  It was a beautiful day, one of the warmest in a while.  I spent a good part of the day making sure the cabin was clean,  cleaning windows and mopping the floors. No - I would not have done all that had we only stayed a week, but given that we were there a month - I felt it should be in the condition we found it - or better.

In the afternoon we took the remainder of our bait, and headed out fishing for the last time.  We had a couple of minnows, some worms and of course our tackle box with our jigs, spinner bait, artificial worms etc.  But no matter how hard we tried or how long we stayed out - we just did not have any luck at all.   Not ONE fish - well unless you want to count the tiny perch I "snagged" with the jig.  So as it ended, we had just 2 days that we were not able to fish because of the weather.  Rich had 2 days and I had 1 where we caught absolutely nothing.  And the total fish count was 114.  Rich - 69 and Me 45.  Plus what Dennis and the kids caught the week they were with us.


And so, with the grill cleaned, the house cleaned and the fishing done we were tired so we just ordered dinner from Ned's - the general store in town.

Rich had the Stromboli and onion rings and I
just ordered a turkey sub.

Nothing great - but it was better than cooking!

The neighbors had started a campfire, so we decided to go over and join them for our last night.  By the time we got there it was well after nine and really too dark to get any good pictures with my camera.  But I did get one of the moon and the reflection on the lake and one of the campfire.  We met so many nice people while we were here.  Most of them were from New York State or Pennsylvania.  The couple there tonight was from the Buffalo area.  And earlier we had met a family that was from Spencer, NY, a neighboring town to VanEtten where Rich has/had relatives and spent many a day rabbit or deer hunting.   Small world!

It was after 11:00 by the time we called it a day despite having to get up early in the morning.  Neither of us was ready for our time here to come to an end.  The time went by way too fast.    

Now this is a BIG Catch!

Thursday turned out to be a beautiful day.  Temperature in the low 70's and lots of sunshine.   I usually look forward to doing a "countdown", but counting the days until we leave is not fun!  The countdown is not at 2........

So, in addition to having fun - that means making sure we leave our cabin in the condition we found it.  So this morning while Rich was  doing his thing on the Stock Market, I began some packing and defrosted the fridge.  As you can see we are down to very very little food left in the fridge.......

With the phone working again I made a few calls making sure that our TV, Internet and Phone services were scheduled to be turned on when we got home and made a couple of hotel reservations for our stops on the way home in VA, and GA.  About 9 hours a day the first two days, then a short 5 hour drive on day 3.   We miss seeing our friends at home, but we really are not ready to leave.  We've enjoyed our stay here and met some really nice people.

Our friend Bill headed out around 8:00 this morning and was back before 11:00 with his limit of crappie.

AND he also hooked on to a real nice catfish!

Didn't measure, but it looks like well over 30 inches, and Bill guesses that it's about 4 1/2 lbs.

Whatever the stats......its a real nice catch!  Nice Job. Bill!

We were on the lake fishing by 4:15  and we fished for about 4 1/2 hours.  Rich caught 12 fish ( 1 Shell Cracker, 2 Crappie and 9 Perch).  Some of the perch were pretty small and he actually used one of them as bait before we left.  The rest were keepers, especially the nice size perch - but since we're leaving in another day we didn't keep any.  I caught 5.........4 Crappie and 1 Perch.   That brings our total to 113, with Rich in the lead with 69 and me with 44.

The weather was perfect for fishing and we anchored behind Tin Island until the last 35-40 minutes when there was enough of a breeze to drift. While behind the island, Rich directed my attention to the Moon, So..........below are the moon, sunset shots from the lake.   The top two are of the moon behind us.  At the same time I took those, I turned around and got the sun through the trees on the island........and the sunset as we headed back to the camp......and the last is a shot of the moon from the dock.   Amazing ...........a day ago it was the wrath of Mother Nature and today is the Beauty.

 It was almost 9:00 when we tied up the boat and got back to the cabin.  Ground Beef was thawed - and Rich wanted Hamburger Helper (UGH!)..  I did a tossed salad with lots of veggies and cut up the one chicken thigh that was leftover in the fridge.  We watched the new series that started on TV at 10:00  EXTANT -  looks like it might be OK.

Tomorrow is our last day........more packing more fishing.....

Lake is Still Choppy - Almost caught a Seagull

Wow - Wednesday already and Mother Nature insists on keeping the winds just strong enough to keep us from enjoying the Lake.  The temperature did reach the low 70's though after a rather cool morning, and with the sunshine it was actually a comfortable day.

We still had some minnows left, so in the afternoon, Rich headed down to the dock to try  fishing off the dock.  I went down and sat in the boat and watched............enjoyed the view and the sunshine.  And I had my camera.

Because the area in front of the docks is rather weedy, Rich decided to use the minnow with a bobber - keeping the minnow from getting caught in the weeds.    After a while  this seagull showed up and you could tell he was checking out the bobber.    After several minutes he took a dive.....and then another and then he actually grabbed the bobber, took it in the area, tangled the line and the minnow around the bobber and then dropped it.   Amazing!   Well, Rich didn't think so - I think if he'd had a gun he'd have shot the bird.   You see - Rich has a history with seagulls.....I'm thinking of the time at Clearwater Beach in Florida when one came down and literally took the ice cream off his cone!

After that - the fishing was done for the day.  

By the time the lake was OK for boating, it was getting a little to late to head out.  It was close to 7:00 when we decided to have some dinner.

Since we're leaving on Saturday, I'm trying to use up as much of the food in the fridge as I can.  So tonight we had a couple of drumsticks and a couple of chicken thighs and we threw them on the grill.  We've  actually cooked out a lot on this little charcoal grill - and except that it takes a little longer, we actually like cooking over the charcoal.  Believe it or not - we've been here almost four weeks and we only went out for dinner ONE time!    I don't know if that's EVER happened before!

Tonight it's supposed to get down in the mid 50's, but the forecast for tomorrow promises to be better.  Maybe we'll hit our goal of 100 fish tomorrow??

Cold, Windy and Bad Storms!

I know I'm not in Florida, because the temperature is way too cold......but this rainy weather and bad storms is not what we want for our last week at the lake.   We were ready to head out fishing on Monday, but we woke to an early rain and the lake was very very choppy.  Might try it if we had a bigger boat, but this little 14 ft. row boat likes a little less ripples!    Some of people at the camp tried fishing from the dock, and a few of the bigger boats headed out - but were back sooner than they liked when the winds got too gusty.  The only time that Rich spent in the boat was bailing out the water  !!!  And then it clouded up and rained again in the evening.  No fishing today!

The sun came out for a while on Monday and Tuesday.  Bill and Linda stopped by to visit.  Linda would be heading back to Rochester on Wednesday.  She needed to take a trip into Ogdensburg on Monday so I rode along with her.  A quick stop at Walmart, Joann's Fabric and Aldi's  to make sure Bill had everything he needed until she returned in a couple of weeks.   While it rained on Monday night she knitted me a set of pot holders.  Love them.  We will continue to enjoy Bill's company for the rest of the week, but I'll miss seeing Linda.  Really nice folks; it's nice to know they'll be here next year if we come back. 

 On Tuesday I made one last trip into Alexandria Bay.  The weather, again was windy so I knew Rich would  be spending time on the stock market so I headed to the Bay to check out some of the shops.   I stopped in Hammond at the Presbyterian Church to check out the Labyrinth of Peace.  It was really very beautifully done.

We checked the weather forecast when I got back and the wind was suppose to subside.  Storms were in the forecast but not until after 7:00 pm.  So we headed up the road to pick up some minnows for fishing and we headed out about 3:30.  It was overcast with barely a breeze so we anchored and fished for a little better than an hour.  The breeze increased just a little and we could the clouds starting to form in the south.  In less than 10 minutes the breeze changed to a strong wind and there were white caps on the water.   We made it back to camp, but the winds were so strong that a couple of the guys came down to help us get the boat to the dock.

And the picture below tells the rest of the story.  It got dark fast..........and the islands that we can normally see from the cabin were lost in the rain and mist over the lake.  You could barely see the boats at the dock - but you could hear them rocking.  The yard was full of water and the waterfall that had dried up over the past week, looked like a small creek!    Needless to say  - One  hour of fishing today.  BUT we did manage to add 2 Fish to our total.  Total now is at 96!

A bit of a cold front came in over night and the weather today.......Wednesday.  The temperature is in the mid 60's and Rich is in long pants and a jacket!!!  The winds are supposed to be anywhere from 13-17 miles/hour today - so the chances of getting out today don't look too good!

Windy Windy Windy - But Still able to fish a little

On Saturday the weather was beautiful, but it was very very windy.    But about 9:30 we ventured out to try some fishing.

Drifted for a bit, then anchored (no luck) then drifted some more. Winds had to be about 14-15 miles/hour so we were really moving.  Forecast was for the wind to get up to 20 miles/hour or better later in the day.

We did OK - nice batch of fish for Rich to fillet.

We hoped to get back out later - maybe before dark, but the winds were to high and the lake was covered with whitecaps.  Time to cook - so fried up some chicken and onions and peppers, heated up some re fried beans and made some rice.  Fajitas tonight - they were excellent and enough left for another meal another night.

We set the alarm for 4:15 am on Sunday.  Almost didn't get up, but finally up and filling the thermos with coffee and ready to head out fishing again.  We almost changed our minds when it started raining lightly but the weather report said 0% chance of rain.  We were on the lake and fishing by 5:15.   Again, it was very windy. We knew it would be, but wanted to get out early, since again today the wind was going to get worse.  It was just getting light out, when I had to get a picture of the sun peeking through a dark rain cloud.  The rays were beautiful.

You can see in the picture above how choppy the water was.  Had the sweat shirts on with the hoods up most of the time we were out.

  By 8:30 we had caught about 7 nice fish for filleting; one bluegill and the rest were crappie.   With this little row boat, we were starting to really get tossed around, and the trip back to the dock was not much fun.  We both (Rich more than me) got soaked with the waves splashing over the sides of the boat.  

 Rich headed to the fish cleaning station.  I cooked up some bacon and made some home fries and put on another pot of coffee.  We had bacon and cheese omelets a little later for breakfast.   Rich headed in for a nap.........  Hopefully we'll be able to get back out on the lake later today.

Total fish count for Rich and I to date:  94,  Rich - 56, Me - 38.  ( But remember he had 4 more days than me!  Our goal is to break 100 - and weather permitting we should be able to do that.

July 4th - With New Friends

Friday  - The 4th of July and the end of week three.......

We actually slept in on Friday.  It was about 10:00 when we headed out fishing.  A little on the cool side and a little windy so we would not anchor today; we'd spend the day drift fishing.  We stayed out about four hours and had some pretty good luck and some not so good luck.  Rich caught the first fish - a small perch, lost a real nice small mouth bass about 20 feet from the boat, and caught three real nice crappie ( but forgot to close the top of the minnow bucket - so the first one got away!).  I caught 2 very small perch and a nice crappie.  And Rich about scared me to death when he yelled VERY LOUD and rocked the boat when a very large hairy brown spider was starting to crawl under the pant leg of his shorts.   Yes - that's the picture I managed to get of the spider, dead in the water about 25 foot from the boat.

About 4:30 in the afternoon we headed over to Bill and Linda's where we'd been invited for a cookout to celebrate the 4th of July.  

These two have been coming to Black Lake for over 25 years and now have a permanent park model here at Roger's Camps.  Bill goes out fishing at least once every single day (weather permitting).  Linda doesn't fish.    Linda goes back and forth between the Lake and there home in Rochester and Bill spends the majority of the time between May and October right here.

 When he's not fishing - he hunts. and today we'd be celebrating the holiday with Venison on the Grill.

Also celebrating with us today was Dean and Sherry Rogers, the owners of Rogers Camps.   We met Sherry briefly the other night at the campfire - and of course Dean we see most every day working around the camp.

Our prayers go out daily for Sherry who is suffering with Liver cancer.  Needless to say she's not real active, rests a lot of the time and we were so glad that she was feeling well enough to join us today.

 I had a chance to talk with her a lot today and truly enjoyed her company.

Bill did a fabulous job with the Venison.  He fixed burgers, steaks AND tenderloin.  What a treat!

 Our freezer was always full of Venison when we lived here in NY State but that was many many years ago!  The meat was delicious..............and the tenderloin was as tender and delicious as any fillet Mignon we've ever had.    Sherry tossed together a green salad and I made a potato salad.  Bill brought out a couple of bottles of his home made wine which we enjoyed with some horderves.  It was a cool evening and a little breezy so we set the food up inside, but ate outside.  For dessert Sherry had brought a delicious Turtle Cake - which we managed to finish easily!.

Before the night was over another couple who have also been coming here every year for about 27 years stopped by to chat for a while and to say goodbye.  They had been here for the week and were leaving in the morning.  That was Mike and Jane - who said they had one of their best "fishing" weeks ever this past week.     By the time we headed for our cabin it was nearing 9:30 and you could hear the fireworks off in the distance.  A little later we could see some of them on the other side of the lake.  Our original plans were to go on the dinner cruise from Alexandria Bay and watch the fireworks from the boat.  Probably would have been a nice evening as well - but we're both glad we made the decision to stay and enjoy the evening with what we hope will be some new friends to keep in touch with.

The week is flying by......

This week the weather has been strange.  We have gone from the hottest day we've had, 89 on Monday to the coldest night - 57 last night and it's supposed to get colder tonight.   And most of the days have been windy.

On Tuesday the temperature was good and so we decided to head out around 4:00 and eat when we got back.

  Rich had picked up some crabs at the bait shop.  First time I'd ever fished with crabs.  We were also fishing a second pole with jigs.

 Rich caught a nice catfish, about 10 inches, a shell cracker and a couple of crappie.  I didn't catch anything on the crab, but got 3 crappie and a shell cracker with the jig.

 Seems the fish always start hitting the best as it nears dark.  Would have liked to keep fishing but with no light on the boat we had to head back.



Rich headed back out early evening on Wednesday.  I am so bad with some of my TV  programs....

.Wednesday at 8:00 is So You Think You Can Dance and it is my very very favorite program that I just did not want to miss.

 It was about 8:45 when Rich pulled in.  He had some good luck with the perch and crappie.  Crappie have to be 9 inches to keep  and these were all over 9 inches tonight.

Thursday was another bad weather day.  The morning was windy  and very very rainy.  Not one of the boats headed out early because of the windy and a couple tried fishing from the dock.   It cleared on and off during the day but the rain kept the boats heading back in several times.  We were out in the middle of the afternoon for almost three hours and we caught NOTHING!!  This was the first day we were skunked!

The dark clouds continued ...................

Tomorrow should be a better day.