Days 54, 55 – Oneonta, New York

Hope you’ll excuse my failure to post last night, but I really didn’t have that much to say.  Truth is, I don’t have that much more to say tonight.  But let me bring you up to date, anyway.  Don and I did have a really nice walk yesterday morning, up here on our hilltop home.  We walked up a road to an open air pavilion with really great grass all the way around it.  I did a lot of rolling and running, and found a spot that required some excavation in order to savor the odors properly.  It’s always exciting to explore new territory, and this spot has a lot to offer. 

Upon our return, we all worked on coach cleanup, with Don working the front of the rig, Geri doing the interior, and me supervising and staying out of the way.  Chores finished, we had lunch and then took off in the truck for some sightseeing.  We wandered into the downtown area, parked the truck, and walked the main street, which we all found very charming.  There were some small dogs who wanted to kill me, but that’s typical.  Back in the truck, we drove up to the Academic Area of town, where the State University of New York (SUNY) and Hartwick College are located.  Both campuses (campi?) are very attractive, though Hartwick seems to have better view of the countryside.  It also has a lot of one-way and dead end streets, which tested Don sorely.  We dropped Geri off to have her nails done downtown, and Don and I went to a large park for a walk and a review of the monuments in place there.  One of these was a small railway caboose, enclosed in a large glass showcase, sort of like a shrine.  After reading the plaques on the caboose, Don explained to me that it was the meeting place for the guys who, in 1883, initiated the formation of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, a big railway workers union.  This used to be a big railroad town, with the largest turntable in the country! 

After we picked Geri up, we did some more exploring of the area, during which they discovered a very popular barbeque restaurant; they decided to violate one of our family’s key precepts, that The Dog Eats First!  They came out of the place obviously happily stuffed, and carrying (laughingly called) doggy bags.  Seems that the ribs were very good.  Back in the rig, I got my dinner (finally), we watched a little TV, and went to bed fairly early.

This morning showed up with a bang and a boom; big thunderstorms all around us!  Heavy rain, lightning in the clouds around us, plenty exciting.  The storm kept us all pinned down all morning, but at the first break, Don was out and into the truck on one of his genealogical expeditions, which he seems to do at least once every trip.  Geri and I kept close to the coach most of the day, as the storm wouldn’t really go away. 

Don returned late in the afternoon, and gave me a rundown on his adventures during the day.  I hadn’t understood until this trip that some of his ancestors had lived nearby, in Schoharie County, after their emigration from Germany.  Some of the information he had on them was questionable, and he was hoping to get some info locally to clear things up.  He told me that today he had gone to a place called The Old Stone Fort, which had started life in 1772 as a Church which one of his ancestors helped to build.  When he was paying his admission fee, he told the lady what he was looking for, and she let him know that there was a local Genealogist on duty in the back room, and took him back to introduce him.  Well, the upshot was that the massive documentation they had there was more than enough to solve his problem with who belonged to who back in the early 1700’s, and he left there a very happy camper.  He said that the drive through occasional downpours was well worth it, and he got to see a lot of really interesting little towns along the way.

Leftovers for dinner, a few good plates for me, catchup on the blog, and so to bed.  Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July!  Should be party time around here.  I’ll let you know what happens!