Day 2 - Shuffling Off Past Buffalo

Day Two is history and I'd say that it went very well.  Our first official night's sleep on our first official really grand trip was the stuff dreams are made of (see what I did there?).  Possibly a teeny, weeny nightmare as well.  I'm a sign reader and during our walk around the campground I happened to read the sign that warned me that the beautiful creek that was my view could rise and flood very suddenly.  I know there wasn't any rain in the forecast and I know that there was nothing to worry about.  But the sound of that water babbling away every time I woke up gave me visions of a 20 foot standing wave that caused a goose bump or two.  The only emergency situations occurred in my mind.  I'd come to terms with the water by the time the 7am call to breakfast and packing up came.  We parted best of friends.
Our destination for today was McKean, PA for our second camping stop.  

I thought I'd share what has been my view for the last 713 miles.  I sit in the back of the F250 all cozy with my pillow and comforter and laptop and GPS and iPhone and Kumihimo loom (I may be doing the world's longest braid).  I probably told Brett that I sit where I do so that I can have the best view but actually it's because I can see the gas gauge and the speedometer (I may also be the world's most curious passenger though some would say nag).

 Today I discovered that NY State very politely places Service Plazas at roughly 26 mile intervals AND they generally have enough places for trucks and RV's to come to a stop.  Take THAT Massachusetts!  A conveniently placed service area appeared at lunch time and we got to park with the big rigs.  Weird, but I find it thrilling to be milling about with these big trucks as though I understood what they and I were supposed to be doing here.  I've noticed quite a few women truck drivers and think I might be okay at that kind of a job.  Plus I would get to wear one of those cool bluetooth headsets and people wouldn't look at me like I was crazy when I spoke out loud to what looked like nobody in particular.  Ah, the nice sound of a manly diesel...

Our Favorite Thing to Not Have to Do

Items of note from today's travels:

• It was wondered by several what is the definition of a skyscraper - this prompted when we saw a tall building standing by itself in the middle of a field.
• Need to know what is the best way to find a donut in the morning when you are pulling around a 36 foot impediment to turning on a city street if you make a mistake.
• It is possible to amuse oneself by sending text messages to the other occupants of the vehicle.  It is not however very amusing when they ignore your text messages.
• Therefore, it is most wonderful to have good friends who find it fascinating when you text them with a picture of the back of your son's head.
• We saw a blue heron on the side of the road take what looked like dead aim on the car in front of us and narrowly avoid flying into the side of it.  This could indicate that blue herons are quite careless.  But I might have seen the first proof that they stalk motor vehicles and this one was just clumsy.  
• Today I went further west on I90 than I have ever been before.  I felt a bit like Sam Gamgee in Lord of the Rings when he stopped at the edge of the corn field to note the extent of his previous travels.
• I caught a glimpse of Lake Erie.  It is big! But then it would be, wouldn't it?

• Quite a bit of time can be passed discussing the subtle variations on the meaning of the word skwudge.  As in, the right lane is about to end so you need to skwudge left now. Or, Lowell there isn't room to open the slides so can you skwudge past the dining table and eat your lunch over there on the desk.

 So we arrived at the Erie KOA in due course.  It is in a pretty location.  There seems to be a lot of corn growing around here.  I learned today that the McKean PA mascot is a turtle.  So that probably explains why one of the campground rules is "No Swimming in the pond on account of snapping turtles". 

We are all cozy in our campsite now, dinner has been served, blogs have been written and Brett is puzzling over how to buy something on the iTunes store.  Life is good!