S2 E66 Finger Lakes NY and Wine Time

Relax RV Podcast

Toilet started to smell. Previous rig I put in a roof vent which worked great https://amzn.to/2WA1ZC4 This rig didn't have any smell then all of a sudden it did. And then toilet wouldn't hold water in bowl. We cleaned the toilet seal and then applied petroleum jelly to seal and that did it, yay.
-A.C. had problems. Thought it was the thermostat but it turned out to be the AC control box. I 1st accessed from roof then a friend said it's much easier to do it from in the rig. I replaced the control unit and all is cool again. https://amzn.to/3xGbrla How I deal with stressors as they pile up. Here's an example: We had gotten home from our last trip and the lever that switches from tub to shower in our stone and mortor house wasn't working and I didn't know how to fix it. So I started googling it. Then Trish said the house refrigerator felt warm and the freezer had ice in it. So I again started googling. And I also had a list of things to do on the rig, like the toilet the AC and other stuff. I started to feel overwhelmed. So I took a few deep breaths to help me relax and focus.
I then prioritized problems and tackled them one at a time in priority order. And by the time we were ready to hit the road, the shower, the refrigerator, the rigs toilet and AC all worked and the list of fixes and installs in the rig were done.
So we headed out Sunday 7/18/21 to the finger lakes. We stayed near Watkins Glen the 1st night. We spent the day exploring water falls. And walking town. The next day we headed into Watkins Glen State Park for 3 nights. We tried to get a site here a few times over the past few years and we finally scored them. The 1st day we hiked the gorge, beautiful ! And with all the rain we had over the past few weeks, it didn't disappoint. We think this was the best gorge trail we've ever hiked. We did over 1600 stairs over 4 miles of hiking. Our previous favorite was Robert Treman State Park and this rivalled it, so we will go back there in a couple days to compare the 2 parks. But the next day we went to Ithaca. We had visited it last year but because of Covid only half of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail was open. This year the half We had previously done was closed for repairs and the portion we didn't get to do was open. It was pretty but considering Robert Tremaine State Park and Watkins Glen State Park while it was what it was.
Afterwards we went to buttermilk Falls which we had visited last year with covet and 90° weather also. This time with all the rain that's been pouring in this area the gorge was raging. We hiked up the gorge trail so we got the view of the waterfall on the way up with the aid of about 400 stairs. Then walk down the Ridge Trail through the wood s. That was a perfect way to do it on a hot day it was 85 when we did it this year. After that we went to Castel Grisch Winery. Enjoy the nice glass of wine in the air conditioning and bought a couple of bottles to go. We had stated this winery previously with our motorhome through Harvest Hosts.
Then went back to the campground through some shrimp on the grill. And then walked a couple loops in the campground.
The next day we wanted to revisit Robert Tremaine State Park and the temps were going to be in the upper 70s as opposed to 95 3 years ago when we last visited that park. So it's funny how we remember things one way but when we've revisited that place it's not like we remembered it. Perhaps it's because of all the other wonderful new places we've seen in the past 3 years and the fact that Robert Tremaine three years ago was the first Gorge hike we had ever done. But either way it didn't hold up to Watkins Glen. Now don't get me wrong Robert Treman is a fantastic State Park and we will hopefully return at some point in the future.
So the next day we packed up and we headed off to a campground in the finger lakes region. We weren't ready to leave this area yet.
We found Sned Acres campground on line. This was a Thursday morning and where we were looking for a place for Thursday Friday and Saturday nights so we reached out to this Campground. http://www.snedacresny.com/
They said they just had a cancellation and I had one side available for the weekend so we grabbed it. It's in the middle of the finger lakes and we had planned to stay at some Harvest host wineries in the area but we couldn't find any. Now it's not like us to be looking for a place to stay that evening but our plans changed and here we were looking. So we decided for the weekend we'll stay at the campground. And then Sunday night will start staying at some wineries. This gives us a few days to reserve a spot via Harvest hosts and it gets us away from the busy weekends at the wineries. Now as usual if you go to my website and click on the discounts page https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/ you will find information about Harvest Hosts there and there's also a discount code you can use there. The day we visited a section of finger lakes national Forest and then we stopped at a winery. Now this is July of 2021 and the wineries in the finger lakes are still feeling the effects of covid. Some of them require reservations for tastings. They'd still have empty tables between guests. And the one that we stopped at didn't have any place to sit down and have a glass of wine so we ended up buying a bottle going back to the campground and having a glass of wine there. The next day we wanted to do a hike so we went down to the finger lakes national Forest. We did a 7 mile hike which was beautiful.
This trip is so different from all our other camping trips. We left home a week ago and every night has been spent within a 30 mi radius. It feels like we have been gone for 2 weeks, not just one. It feels good to slow down.
That afternoon we found a winery 5 minutes from the campground, which had Jazz duo guitarists. Very peaceful listening to Jazz, with a glass of wine over looking Cayuga lake.
Saturday we drove to Seneca Lake for a paddle. Unfortunately Cayuga lake has a blue green algae bloom. :( And Seneca Lake was too choppy so we up to Oak Island in Waterloo NY to paddle on the canal. The funny thing is we pulled into town and realized we had been here before. It turns out 3 years ago we stopped for a farmers market we've seen in Waterloo and then went for a short walk but it was too brutally hot to continue so we moved on. This year it was 82 and muggy but a really nice day for a short paddle. We then passed Miranda's Cheese Market and did a tasting . There was some really good cheese but not good enough for us to buy. We then headed down to She'll drink Point Winery on kyoga Lake. This is a harvest host location. We did not stay here however we found it intriguing cuz they have a dock on the lake that boaters can land and enjoy the wine. So we stopped in and bought a bottle what's that by the lake enjoyed it and headed back to the campground to cook dinner on the grill.
After dinner Trish did her workout and I jumped in the pool for a little while. The next day we packed up and headed to Barrelhouse 6 Distillery which was a Harvest Host location. But to get there, we needed to go go up a narrow gravel and dirt road and so we pulled into a vacant lot and disconnected the jeep and took it up the road. We decided to not chance it. A wonderful guy named Paul came over and talked to us how steep and narrow that road was. He explained that if we drove on the left side of the road we should be able to make it. I asked, so what happens if someone comes down the hill and we are on the wrong side of the road. Paul agreed that it wasn't prudent. I asked if he knew the owner's if the vacant lot, he said he was the manager if it and invited us to park there for the night. Wow. This was to be our 1st night camping without hookups with this rig. And I started to get anxious.
Flash back to Catskills 1st nite of Montana trip ...genny died.
So now we were doing our 1st moochdocking and without hookups.
Out to dinner at Switzerland Restaurant, fantastic food and a live band but we were sweating.
85 degrees during day with 75% humidity. Sweating in the shade.
So we went back to rig, started genny and turned in AC.. ..the AC that had died rite b4 this trip.
Talked with Paul some. Then drove to the north end of Keuka Lake. We threw the kayak into a canal and paddled out to the lake. We noticed the temp was cooling off. B4 bed shut off genny and AC. The nite was cool and we slept well.
In AM we said out thank you to Paul. And decided to cancel our next 2 HH stays because of the temps. And headed home.
So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
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Or you can watch them on
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