In a friendly nod to the kids’ favorite podcast, WOW in the World, I bring you “two oops and a Wow.”
We were so proud of ourselves as we left Erie. Prepping for departure was a much smoother process, although still terribly time consuming. We had learned a new nifty trick after watching a myriad of neighbors, storing our sewage line inside of our trailer’s back bumper. When dealing with sewage lines, this is definitely the best kept secret. There were no broken parts or missing keys (I spent a night labeling all of our keys which came in handy as we have so many locks - the two exterior RV locks since I insisted on upgrading our security, the outside compartment locks, the hitch lock, etc., and many of the locks are persnippity, so it’s hard to know without labels if you have the right one). It also only took us three tries to line up the hitch (we’ve put off buying backup cameras on the truck because it’s so large you really can see easily for parking when there isn’t a huge trailer attached to the back of it) and we *mostly* got the steps in the correct order. John asked me to play our “theme song,” but the slow process of exiting the campground and stopping to check everything before entering the main road resulted in us listening to most of the song before actually entering the unknown, which was a little bit anti-climatic.
The truck even held up surprisingly well. It’s pretty funny when I’m excited to report that we only had to pull over four times to restart the engine on this trip. In Erie, we had a mechanic who actually hitched our truck to some equipment to experience the issue. Unfortunately, our warranty company wouldn’t work with him, and the Ford dealerships in the area only had appointments several weeks out. So we travel onward with a limping horse. At least we know the issues we will face with it. Limp mode doesn’t really phase me anymore and we will continue to avoid rainy drives until the ABS is fixed. There’s even the possibility that the ABS is related to the limp mode issue and may not actually be broken. Fingers crossed.
There was a bridge. I wish this was a metaphor, and further wish I could report that I’ve overcome my desperate fear of bridges. This is sadly not the case. We had looked ahead at our routes so I could be prepared, but somehow missed this. The experience of hauling the trailer behind us over a bridge was one I could skip.
Then, we missed our exit. This does not sound like a big deal, but when you need over 60 feet of clearance to turn around, it can be a rather costly mistake. This allowed us to traverse the scenic overlook (the one with the fun, rickety rusted railing on the side). John tried not to laugh while I snapped pictures without looking over the side. The view (what I saw of it) was spectacular.
We arrived at our campground and it was amazing. We had strategically picked a campsite that had more space with forest behind us. All RVs open on the passenger side, so this is the standard area for firepits and picnic tables. The neighboring campsite that we open up to is empty, giving us even more room. Overall, the “electric” end of the campground is busy despite camping just opening up at state parks in New York; however, it is not at full capacity and the primitive/non-electric campsites are pretty open.
As began setting up, we encountered the first of our “Oops.” The over the kitchen cabinet where we keep many of our pantry items exploded. We initially thought we were fairly lucky, finding in-tact glass jars on the ground only a mess of pumpkin seeds everywhere. We’ve learned the dog likes and seems to easily digest pumpkin seeds and continue to find them throughout the RV despite that first clean-out.
As Kaeli entered the kids’ room to put the rats back in their home, she screamed. We forgot to latch the drawer between the bunk beds and it had catapulted clothes across the room with the drawer dangling mid-room like a snaggly loose tooth that just won’t fall out. Oops. After retrieving countless tiny metal ball bearings from around the room, John came to the realization that he would never be able to re-insert them. He banged away at the drawer runners until they were straight and we re-inserted them into the track. It’s not quite right and can’t be pulled out the whole way as before, but it is good enough for daily use.
A look at the weather forecast for the next day on our drive in told us that it might rain all day. We decided to finish cleaning up the mess of pumpkin seeds and cans when we returned from Niagara Falls. We later learned that a bottle of Sunflower Oil had poured all over the carpeting under our dining table. Some dish soap and the carpet looks well loved, but is not ruined. This RV is definitely going to come out the other side of this looking well loved; we are living the good life and taking no captives.
Most people who have been to both sides of the falls remember the Canadian side. The most spectacular views and only way to see the falls from the ground up are on the Canadian side. The Canadian border is closed to non-essential travel and we didn’t think that crossing this off our kids’ bucket list counted as essential travel. It was kind of cool driving by the border checkpoints and seeing most of the lanes closed and no traffic across some of the bridges. What other time in history will we see these same closures? The tranquility. Even though there were more people than I had hoped for at the actual Falls, I don’t think there is a time in recent history when you could take a picture in front of the Falls six feet away from another person. There is something kind of cool about that experience.
When we were on our way to the campground, we decided to park first, then get gas as it’s a major to-do getting gas with the trailer attached. This was not a good decision. We were low on fuel and we didn’t know a great way to check out which gas stations have diesel gas. Naturally, we drove on fumes to the nearest gas station which did not have diesel gas. We were directed back the way we came, nervously driving for several miles past the point when the truck announced, “Low fuel; 0 miles to empty.” We were a little disappointed that this snaffoo cost us a sunset at the Falls, but overjoyed that we did not have to partake in our towing service yet again.
As soon as we got out of the car, we could hear the rumbling of the Falls. Ginny became rather excited, pulling us constantly until we arrived at the top of the Falls. The grounds around the Visitor’s Center are a lovely green park space where dogs were running and people were casually strolling. We saw three skunks playing, wrestling and rolling down a hill. We couldn’t believe we found skunks in such a populated area.
The Falls themselves are enchanting. When you stop to think of the power and natural beauty, it is breath-taking. The kids were especially enchanted with blue lights and the spray that comes off the water, preventing those on the New York side of the Falls from seeing the bottom.
Even though we didn’t get to have the full Niagara Falls experience, it was a magical evening. Truly a “Wow.”
