Friday, August 27, 2022
Before departing this morning, we decided to explore more of Little Buffalo State Park. We drove back alongside Lake Holman and past the Visitor Center to a parking area for several trail heads. We walked to Shoaff’s Mill, crossing Clay’s Bridge along the way. Shoaff’s Mill was built about 1840 and was passed from father William, to son Ellis, who replaced the original wooden waterwheel with a 32 ft. diameter wheel that, at the time, was said to be one of the largest east of the Mississippi River. A group of Mennonites was holding a ceremony beside the mill as we were touring and, as we departed, were posing for group photos. After visiting the mill, we ascended stairs to the top of the Lake Holman dam for a beautiful view of the lake. On the way from the dam back to the parking area, we took a brief detour to a Butterfly Garden. Most of the flowers had gone to seed, but we saw one butterfly and lots of bees. We then returned to the car, dove back to our campsite, packed up the RV, hitched the toad, and departed for New York.
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| Clay’s Bridge |
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| Shoaff”s Mill |
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| The 32 foot Waterwheel |
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| Ascending the Dam Stairs |
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| Lake Holman from its Dam |
The drive north through rural Pennsylvania and New York was mostly pleasant but not uneventful. We found a convenient station to fuel up the RV tank along the way. We were wary of going through Williamsport, PA, because of the ongoing Little League World Series (LLWS) there, so we took an interstate bypass and had no traffic issues. Via her phone’s GPS, Jane identified a large parking lot adjacent to the highway where we parked for a quick lunch of veggie soup with cheese and crackers. We were tracking the progress of Jane’s sister and husband, John, who were traveling from Ephrata, PA, via a route to the east of ours. We crossed the New York state line before them. All was going well until, with about an hour of driving remaining, we came to a stop on NY 414 not far from Watkins Glen.
A vested work man was stopping traffic due to an accident. A bus and two cars ahead of us turned around but because we were towing the car, we could not, and so became the first vehicle as the highway traffic piled up behind us. We learned that a head-on collision had occurred and saw two damaged vehicles that had crossed a ditch to the left of the road. Another car had spun over the ditch to the right of the road. Two fire trucks were onsite and an ambulance left soon after we stopped. Sheriff cars and more ambulances arrived later; one ambulance driving through a field to access the severely damaged car. It stayed there for about half an hour before departing with its siren silenced. After the last ambulance departed, the firemen and officials began cleaning up the road and we were soon allowed to proceed after about a 50-minute delay.
The last leg of our route took us up the eastern shore of Seneca Lake before turning east toward Cayuga Lake. After finally arriving at Sned-Acres Family Campground, we set up the motorhome by a grove of trees in an open field wedged between two other RVs. While cooling off and relaxing in our motorhome, Jane played phone round-robin with her sister, Nancy (staying in Newfield) and her cousin, Cathy (staying in Hector with her significant other, Pat) about dinner plans. They finally decided to meet at Scale House Brewery. All six of us converged there and had a family reunion over beer and pizza. We sat outside with a nice view of Lake Seneca but were blinded (and heated) by the afternoon sun. After dinner, we all went to a nearby cabin at Single Island Shores that Cathy and Pat were renting. We sat and talked on their back porch with a view of the sun setting over Seneca Lake as the evening cooled before we dispersed for the evening to our respective lodgings.
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| We dined at Scale House Brewery with a blinding View of Lake Seneca |