10/20 to 10/21 - Covered Bridge - Livingston Manor - New York

  Covered Bridge Campground

New York

October 20th to October 21st

After a wonderful, relaxing breakfast at the Dorset Bakery, my next stop was to be the Sunoco gas station less than a mile further north from the Bakery…said the GPSs…both of them as well as Google maps. I traveled that "less than a mile,” then, more than a mile…many more miles and no sign of any stations. The narrow, two lane, VT-90, country road continued on and on. A predicament. There were no turn offs, no side roads for me to pull a U-turn and go the way I planned. Narrow driveways into people’s homes were the only paths off this road. The GPS indicated the next turn was in twenty miles. Problem was, I was heading north and my destination was Livingston Manor, NY...southwest. As time went on, the mist settled in and once again I was traveling in dark, gloomy drizzly weather. I found a Stewart’s in Hartford, NY and with a sigh of relief filled my tank...only to find the price was $.10/gal cheaper at the next Stewart’s I encountered.  This wasn't going to be my day. Up one side of a mountain and down the other a few times with elevation changes ±1,500 feet. Winnie was put through her paces maintaining speed up hills and came out fine, dark, gloomy, drizzly weather notwithstanding. 

To make a long saga of traveling about an hour in the wrong direction in Vermont short, I’ll segue into the next ordeal awaiting me as I approached my destination 208 miles later, the Covered Bridge Campground. I had received notices from the campground that if I went the way a GPS indicated, I would wind up at the entrance on one side of a closed covered bridge. The campground was located just on the other side of the bridge. Re-routing took me over the rolling hills of New York, again on narrow two lane country roads. None of my camping friends would have had success in their Class As, Fifth wheels or trailers navigating these curvy, steep hills. Finally, a left turn onto the road to the campground. The seven-tenths of a mile dirt road took me past side roads on either side that had run-down, old, rusting uninhabited RV trailers that made the entire area look like a graveyard for dilapidated, abandoned RVs. These turned out to be the “seasonal" RV sitess, one of which was going to be mine, site 46. That voice in my head repeated itself, "today wasn't going to be my day."

At the end of the road, just before the barricaded covered bridge I was lucky enough not to see from the other end, I turned into the campground office. First impressions? This place was O-L-D and being kept up with minimal maintenance. This was not going to be one of my better encounters. After checking in, I returned up the road to one of the side “roads” and pulled into site 46. This should have been a back-in site but the narrow road would not allow for such maneuvering so I pulled in forward. My 50-foot power cord just made it to the source. The site was level, water/electricity only, had a picnic table and a fire pit. It was desolate. No one occupied the three rusting relics around me. As I posted on my FB page, this campground so far gave new meanings to the words, “in the boonies," "quiet,” "away from civilization” and “dark". And to put icing on the cake, once settled, there was no cell service and therefore no Internet. This called for good ol' "patience." I never felt 'fear' or 'danger' being in the desolation and alone, but unable to work on a blog, read emails, play on-line games, make phone calls (like 911) or being otherwise productive for four days didn't sit well.  A decision had to be made.

The next morning, I packed up and backed out of the site onto the “main" road and headed for CPP...days early. This four day stayed turned into an overnight stopover. This was the first time e-v-e-r that I cut short a stay at a campground. Fortunately, CPP could accommodate me (with a move from one site to another). So, a one-night stay cost me. I had to forfeit my payment due to the early departure and pay for four extra nights at CPP.

A bright side? Yes. I'll end this blog post on a positive note. The leaves were changing into what I expected for this "adventure"...and I just had to travel through New York State to see it. The trip to Livingston Manor provided the best fall foliage scenery I've encountered since leaving Rhode Island. Yes, timing is everything.  The sun broke through and the Route 55 around the Rondout Reservoir was beautiful (the highlight of the afternoon drive). The following photos were taken from a moving vehicle without taking my eyes off the road...I just pointed and shot.

Thanks for joining me for this different type of blog post. Good for a laugh...now that it's over. I'll see you in Croton. Stay well and warm.

“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” ― David G. Allen