Adirondack Trip - First Day - August 22, 2005
Left home at 8:10 AM, towing Fleetwood Resolute tent trailer behind my Nissan Pathfinder. Eric was on board, having slept over the night before.
Arrived Westborough service area on the Mass Pike around 9:00 AM. Bill Earl and his kids and Paul and Mark were already there. Bill Cline called just before we arrived to say that he had come up route 146 from Providence to avoid the 495/90 intersection (a very good move). He and Milan would be waiting for us at the Charlton service area.
We had a quick breakfast. Having already had granola and orange juice at home I only had a chocolate cruller and a large black coffee.
We left, stopping at the Charlton service area to meet up with Bill and Milan. Our next stop was in Lee to pee, then on to Lake George for lunch. Bill in his pick-up stayed within sight of Andy and Eric, and Bill and Milan stayed within sight of Mark and Paul. Mark and Paul, and Bill and Milan arrived at the Adirondack Pub & Brewery in Lake George NY at least thirty minutes ahead of Andy and Eric and Bill, David and Christopher. This was due to (a) stopping for gas in Saratoga (odometer = 16769 miles; got 18.515 gallons @ $2.929; 14.6 MPG) when Andy's "out of gas" warning light came on, and (b) a rolled over SUV on 87 north (which the earlier group had not seen).
The service at the brewery was slow, and we didn't get out until (1:30 PM)? After the brewery we went to a grocery store that Bill Earl had found via the web: the Price Chopper in Lake George. This turned out to be a pretty poor grocery store for the kinds of foods we were looking for (edible; fresh). Not too big and poorly stocked. Marc and Paul found a "Tops" grocery store less than a mile up the road that was large and likely much better stocked.
It was probably 2:30 PM by the time we left there. We all split up with two cars in search of gasoline. Eric and I promptly got lost by following route 9N instead of route 9 north. We found a route back, but the roads didn't intersect and we ended up on route 87 north! We found our way back to route 9, having saved a few miles of local roads. We were on our own all the way to the campground. When we arrived Bill Earl and Bill Cline were already there.
Paul and Marc showed up soon after, in spite of the fellow at the gate telling them that they were at the wrong campground. We set up the tent trailer, tents and dining fly, and almost as soon as we were done it started to rain. And it poured.
Our first night dinner was Macaroni and Cheese. We had bought the pre-made, and it was kind of plain. Next time Paul will make it from scratch.