Antique Boat Museum

The biggest attraction for us onshore in Clayton was the Antique Boat Museum. It covers almost 5 acres and focuses on the boats used in the region over the more than 100 years. There is a permanent exhibit on speedboats, boat construction and restoration. We spent some time watching how the Wild Goose is being rebuilt. Originally built in 1915, it will be better than new when the job is done.

The collection is very impressive and for those interested in old wooden boats, many hours will be spent studying the fine examples in display.

We took the tour of the Le Duchesse, a huge barge style houseboat built originally for George Boldt. Boldt is perhaps best known here for building the Boldt Castle on Heart Island, Just off Alexander Bay, NY. This vessel served as an active residence for over 100 years.

The museum is a great way to learn about the history of the area and the vessels that were used.

Just wondering

We have moved north to Clayton, New York along the shores of the St Lawrence Seaway. The Birch Haven campground is really more of a fixed community of park models and permanent campers, with only a very few sites for transients. It has a very friendly staff and, as it turned out, helpful neighbors. It is also located on the banks of the seaway and has a fairly steep slope downhill from the roadway.

Since there are very few visitors, there is no office and you have to hunt for the manager to determine what spot you will be assigned. This was interesting for us, as the only place I could safely park and wait was the narrow driveway, effectively blocking in and out traffic. We got a spot in the grass between two small roads and up against a park model. The turn was very tight and it was necessary to pull ahead into the road in front of me to get the toad straight enough to unhook. I did not see a small TV cable that was just out of my sight line and as I moved forward, it was snagged on my satellite dish. My first ever overhead entanglement. Fortunately, one of my fellow transient neighbors quickly came to my rescue and pushed the cable out of the way with a long pole and I backed up.

This started me thinking about the arrivals and departures from campgrounds. Over the years, I have noted two very common types of reactions from fellow campers. On arrival, there are regularly one or more folks who will rush over , while the engine is still running and greet us, discuss the pros and cons of the place, their history and perhaps an invitations to a social event, while discussing to me the best way to get into my spot. Most often this group turns out to be fun to talk too. Then there are others who pretend we are invisible.

Now the most interesting part of the departure scenario for me is when one or more of those who pretended we had not arrived and often were less than responsive to friendly waves or hello’s while in the park, will come over and start talking to me while I am hooking up the toad, as if we are old friends-or should have been? On our last departure, our next door neighbor who went inside every time I came around their side of my coach, actually came out in the rain and started a conversation about where we had both travelled too and all kinds of other friendly stuff. I just had no idea what that was about. So, I am wondering, am I the only one this happens too?

If the rain lets up, I think this is going to be a fun stop. The 1000 island area is famous for its summer resort activities and beautiful waterway scenery. Looking in a real estate office window, it seems the crunch is on here, also. You can buy a 15 acre island with three bedrooms, 3 baths home. You will need your own boat for only 280K. Now that sounds like a deal to me.

Cooling off by the water

After an enjoyable visit with family, we headed north to a membership campground to wait out the ongoing heat wave before starting our tour of the Thousand Island area and the St Lawrence Seaway. The campground is large with all the amenities and happily had recently put in some 50 amp sites, which have come in very handy with all the heat.

Yesterday, we braved the heat and visited the small maritime museum in Oswego, New York. We almost passed on the idea due to the high temps, but are glad we went. As always, you never know when you are going to find some unexpected historical gems. This was one of those occasions. We were expecting the usual local history, which was there in and very interesting. The gem came in the form of an ocean tug specifically built in 1943 for the European invasion of Europe- LT-5 tug. It joined a North Atlantic convey with supply barges in tow. At just over 100 feet in length, she experienced horrendous weather but still managed to arrive safely in the UK. On June 6, 1944 she departed with the rest of the invasion fleet for the landings on Normandy beach. She not only delivered her cargo of ammunition to the beaches, but shot down one of the many aircraft attacking the fleet.

After the war she was renamed the John F. Nash and was turned over to the Army Corp of Engineers. She served on the Great Lakes for over forty years and was retired in 1989.

The museum also provides good information on the port of Oswego during its long history as a key port in the early marine trade of the region.http://www.bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif.com/img/blank.gif

There is also a 1925 derrick barge and a traditional local fishing vessel on display.

Another interesting fact mentioned in the museum exhibits is that there are two local Medal of Honor recipients from the area and both buried in the old local cemetery. James H. Lee was awarded the medal for gallantry under fire during a sea battle off the coast of France during the Civil War. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was awarded the medal for bravery while treating soldiers behind enemy lines and acting as a spy for the Union. She remains the only woman awarded the Medal of Honor. Her award of the medal became quite a controversy inside the military community and was for a lengthy period revoked but restored in 1977. She was a real suffragette before the movement really began.

Can you go home again?

The last week has been spent visiting with my family in western New York. We found a centrally located campground for the visit. The campground was an interesting place. It was originally a skiing resort. I had no idea that such a place existed in the greater Rochester area. Apparently it was not the best of ideas, as it has been replaced with the campground. Some of the ski apparatus is still evident on the grounds and certainly the slope in the campground is apparent. It was a level site with full hookups, so it worked out fine.

We have not been here in five years. Our last visit was for my mother’s funeral. I am sort of the odd man out in my family. Except for me, virtually all of my family has lived only a short distance from where they were born. Since I have spent all of my adult life moving around, the first thirty years with the U S Coast Guard, then with several post military jobs, and now nearly five years of traveling around in a motorhome, I am definitely an anomaly.

Our first outing was to visit my mother’s sister in Hilton, New York. On the way, we stopped in Kelly’s hometown of Spencerport of the Bayfield Bunch. Visiting my aunt always brings on a lot of memories of my childhood. She still lives in the main house of the farm where I spent the longest single period of my entire life in one place. I also really enjoyed being on the farm. When my father returned from WWII, my parents, my mother’s parents and their three other girls and myself moved to the farm. It was a 163 acre dairy and crop farm. While I did not know it at the time, I was two, none of them knew anything about farming. I grew up with cows, horses, pigs, turkeys and assorted other animals. I worked in the fields and the barns and loved it all. So whenever I walk back into that house, the memories always start to flow.

The house itself has some history, as it was built in 1835 with the materials that were dug up while creating the Erie Canal. Someone from my family has lived in the house for over sixty years. Too me, that is a big deal, since I have never lived anywhere more than nine years and that was on the farm. Today, everything belongs to someone else expect the house and the surrounding five acres.

We next caught up with my brother and his family at a cabin they have on a large plot of land. It was great to see them all and catch up on events of the last years. We met our great niece for the first time, and hope we will see here again sooner rather than later.

Finally, we visited with my sister and her family. This was also a lot of fun and we met a great nephew that we had not seen before.

These occasions always cause me to reflect on how different our lives have been compared to the rest of my family. They live were they have always lived, still know and see regularly the people they have grown up with. They have friends they see routinely over decades. We also have friends, but we make them in a brief stay in a location and then see them at very infrequent intervals over the years. One of our practices is when we pass thru an area we have lived to look at the house we have lived in. It is amazing how many houses that really is.

So for us the answer to the question: can you go home again is: yes, but which home are we talking about?