Blue Goose ~ Day 71

August 10, 2014 - Auburn, NY to Ticonderoga, NY

This was the day I was going to drive through the wild and primitive Adirondack Park with tall old evergreens and lakes and campsites with dry brown pine needles covering the ground. There would be the occasional efficient state-run concession or information structure with maps and helpful personnel. I would camp by one of the little lakes, the air scented with fragrant smoke from campfires nearby. There would be a canoe on the lake at sunset and then a full moon rising.

First, it took half the day just to get to one of the entrance roads on the west side, but that was my fault as I should have got on the Thruway. I didn't and instead poked along far too long through cities and between towns. The speed limit never stayed the same for more than five miles and never went above 55. Dozens of stoplights and turns and local traffic....and missing turns and having to backtrack...

Adirondack is a huge park, over 3000 square miles, pretty much all of northeastern New York state, and romanticized in my imagination and by various stories and reading. Well, it was like driving through northern Michigan but with 50 times more traffic and occasional tourist attractions and modest Adirondack cabins / cottages with screened porches and dinky lawns and parking places right off the road.

Cabin - Adirondack Park - NY

So I couldn't figure out what was private and what was state land. It was nothing like I expected. I got homesick and wondered what in hell I was doing. I wanted to be in Michigan. I missed my family and familiar places. And then there was an hour-long delay with stop-and-go traffic for road work. We moved forward at 2 mph.

At one place, a tourist attraction was almost as bad as the Wisconsin Dells garishness with bright plastic pools and watersides and hundreds of people. I opted to just get out of the Park instead of driving to the Lake Placid area which was undoubtedly even worse. Now I know there surely are all kinds of remote rivers and trails and lakes and campgrounds and my impression perhaps is not the reality at all, but....I couldn't wait to leave. I was somewhat mollified when I turned east at Blue Mountain Lake, the traffic decreased by 90% and the rest of the trip really was like northern Michigan.

I passed bicyclists who were on the Ididaride who were nearing the end after a long downhill. Many were relaxing and celebrating at a general store where I bought a hot dog and large chocolate shake. This was definitely not a clean food day since I also ate too many chili lime crackers and had an iced lemon bar for breakfast.

The route became even more pleasant as I neared Ticonderoga, NY, where I found a quiet Walmart, parked between some fellow travelers, read a long time and watched the largest and most beautiful moon of the year - rich and faintly yellow.

Blue Goose ~ Day 70

August 9, 2014 ~ Canandaigua, NY to Auburn, NY

I worked awhile in the morning and left at 1100 heading for Montezuma NWR. I still was on main roads (but not the NY Thruway) which were slow and busy (US5 and US20). I turned north to be able to go through Phelps, NY, passing fields of ripe cabbage which emitted a faintly unpleasant odor but gave the town reason to have an annual Sauerkraut Festival. (Stephen and I had stopped here once before, a long time ago, returning from an Ottenhoff visit.) The town was representative of most of the places I've been driving through, with several gorgeous old houses near the center of the town. I love the old homes which were built with stones of different sizes mortared together.

Montezuma is just outside of Seneca Falls, NY.

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention.^[1] It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".^[2]Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including one in Rochester, New York two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annual National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts. Female Quakers local to the area organized the meeting along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was not a Quaker. They planned the event during a visit to the area by Philadelphia-based Lucretia Mott. Mott, a Quaker, was famous for her oratorical ability, which was rare during an era which women were often not allowed to speak in public.

I saw a beautiful, brightly painted sign and thought it was for the refuge until I saw it was a winery. If I hadn't been traveling alone, I/we would have stopped for sure.

I got to Montezuma 15 minutes before the Visitor Center closed and talked a little with the lady in the gift shop. Pete Dunne's large descriptive book on birds was on the bookshelf. There were also two women getting information. Their native language was not English but one of them was translating. They weren't speaking French, Spanish, Italian or German so I was curious.

The VC overlooks a huge marsh (or pool as nearly all these "wet soil impoundments" are called.) I started on the auto route and was happy to note I wasn't the only visitor for once. In fact, in the three hours I was on this refuge, I saw at least two dozen other vehicles and many were birders with binoculars spending time scanning the wetlands, creeping along in their cars, and often parking and peering into the marshes. I stopped almost immediately and sat for an hour with the windows open. On one side were marsh reeds and grasses and cattails, equally mixed in with thousands of showy pink Swamp Rose-mallow flowers.

Swamp Rose-mallow - Montezuma NWR - NY

On the other side was more open water with a very occasional bird moving about. I watched what I thought was a Marsh Wren grooming itself but not vocalizing and too far to positively ID, a few Wood Ducks in the distance and then I noticed a large plump grayish bird also seriously preening, preening, preening. It was a juvenile Common Gallinule which stayed in the same spot for most of the time I watched. There was an Osprey perched on a dead branch farther along the route and many GB Herons. And shorebirds, although silhouetted by the late afternoon sun and difficult to ID. Most were Lesser Yellowlegs but there were a few other species also, along with Pied-billed Grebes and Caspian Terns with their "blood red" bills, uncommon here according to the refuge list. Finally, some birds!

I know I perseverate on insects, but again, there were none!

The New York State Thruway bisects the refuge so at one point we were moving directly parallel to heavy traffic, separated only by high security barbed wire fencing. It was the perfect time to be on a refuge; I have often been arriving in he middle of the day, and all the pamphlets say the same thing: the best chance for viewing wildlife is dawn or dusk...the crepuscular time of day.

I walked a mile-long trail along a river, passing right under another osprey on a nest....the only sounds a distant hum of traffic but otherwise totally peaceful.

Montezuma worked with Cornell and introduced biologic (beetles and weevils) controls for invasive purple loosestrife in July of 1997. That program has been very successful in keeping this pretty invader from replacing native flora.

Purple Loosestrife at Iroquois NWR - NY

Auburn was only 12 miles east so I stayed there for the night, parking near a large RV, half-watching the owners move around inside. I had stopped at a Wegmans grocery store near Rochester earlier just to buy a NY state map and could have spent a day in that store! I only wandered through the produce and deli but it was a renaissance fair of food, and I had to leave before I spent way too much money. I tried some asparagus and peppers lightly coated with a "basting oil," wrapped in foil and heated on a grill that were the best I've ever tasted, so I bought the oil, along with a dark chocolate candy bar, an apple and some postcards...and the map. Faith, when / if it works out that I visit you, we need to do some veggies this way.

And I bought delicious shrimp / veggie sushi rolls with a dipping sauce which I had for dinner.

Blue Goose ~ Day 69

August 8, 2014 - Olean, NY tos Canandaigua, NY

There was early morning fog which slowly cleared to full sunshine as I headed to Iroquois NWR. I am definitely in the east now. It is more dense with small towns closer together, houses closer together and narrower, older roads with fewer or non-existent shoulders and with tar ribbons, cracks, dips, slumps and which seldom run straight. The roads also are more congested and there is little dawdling room or pull-offs to check out a bird to take a photo. Many of the grand old homes near the centers of the towns are stone or brick, two to three stories, with lovely gardens and balconies and porches, of varying architectural styles.  The cemeteries are huge with a mix of small, gray, weathered grave markers that are often aslant, along with newer, polished, more modern markers. The fields are lush; the corn is tasseling. I cannot remember such perfect weather...warm and cooling at the same time, sunshine, no insects at all, blue skies, slight breezes....

Iroquois is 17 square mile of mostly wetlands for the birds with a large Visitor Center. I walked a couple of trails. One was the circular Swallow Hollow Trail, through woods and around a marsh. I did see and hear a few woodland birds at the beginning of that trail but almost nothing subsequently. Avian silence and no insects which almost seemed science fictiony. A second trail / boardwalk also wound through wetlands and woods, but at least I saw several Great Blue Herons and ducks in eclipse plumage in the distance, some Song Sparrows, a buteo perched too far to identify and the ubiquitous Canada geese. But walking was a pleasure on these well-maintained trails in the sun-dappled woods and over the marshes.

Jewelweed at Iroquois NWR - NY

As I began, a young family of three were just emerging from the woods; they were all overweight and the 100-pound overweight man was whining as ponderously waddled along, "Now that I'm all bit up...." The mom and kid were stoically moving towards the parking lot, not smiling or responding. Another happy family outing....

When I tried to make a motel reservation, I found my options were limited. I was moving east in the Finger Lake region of NY which, of course, is a tourist destination. But I did find one that seemed a good deal and booked online. It had three stars, so imagine my surprise when I arrived and it seemed more like....well, I didn't exactly know what. The guy at the desk assured me it was a motel but was also a college dorm. The room smelled like a mix of Lysol, urine and popcorn. The floors had no rugs or carpet. It was clean though and not worth trying to move somewhere else. I was only going to sleep, clean up and work. Which I did. And the Internet connection was very stable as I would have expected for college students. There were only a few other "guests," and I think I was the only one on my floor. I am getting more leery of booking online, as this was my second experience with marginal accommodations that were offered with a high rating. But, then, I've also had some very nice motels....

I ate chocolate, wine, crackers and cheese for dinner.....

Blue Goose ~ Day 68

August 7, 2014 ~ Chardon, OH to Olean, NY

Chardon turned out to be a charming small town with a central square surrounded with local businesses including Beans, a coffee shop where I also had a cheese and veggie omelet with bacon and toast. The coffee was exceptionally delicious, and it was nearly noon when I finally left Ohio. 

The land became constantly hilly with curving roads and remained that way the whole day. Does Pennsylvania have any straight roads? I stopped at Erie NWR and walked a short trail through dense hemlocks. It was silent in there, like a old church sanctuary on a week-day afternoon. August has even fewer singing birds than July.

Erie NWR - PA

I seldom heard a sound and, surprisingly, there were few mosquitoes or flies. I need to research why and how and where these populations wax and wane. A sign at the exit gently warned there might be black bears about and not to run but rather talk quietly to the bear, slowly back up, avoid looking a bear in the eyes and raise your arms to "look bigger." Yeah....right. The trails are wide and well marked and a respite from "the world out there." Sometimes, I can hear distant traffic but that is the only sound. I remember Bill once saying he ran a trail early enough to break the cobwebs spun during the night, and sometimes, even late in the day, I too break through them. 

This refuge has two units, Sugar Lake and Seneca, separated by 10 miles. I detoured for gas and then returned to drive through the Seneca unit where I stopped along Swamp Road in two places for 15 minutes each. I need to continue to impose the goal of an hour of down-time somewhere, someplace as I travel. There being very few birds to see or hear, I concentrated on a Black Walnut tree with handing fruit/nuts of lemon-lime size and color. The nuts are inside the yellowish husk which drops in the fall along with the leaves which are pinnate and at least a foot long. I am in awe of the complex and varied flora that is everywhere in this verdant landscape. I would love to be able to name every single plant, tree, weed, shrub and flower. Can a trained botanist do that? The roadsides were lined with blue chicory, white Queen Anne's lace, yellow brown-eyed Susan....

There was often a sweet perfume in the air from the flora I was passing by.

Leaving Erie NWR, I drove north into New York. The first town was named Busti. At Jamestown, I got turned around but eventually found I86 with much relief. Enough of the constant slow-downs for small towns and villages and the curving, narrow roads with no shoulders. Even I have my limits. I drove over the Roger Tory Peterson bridge just east of Jamestown heading towards Salamanca which is on a Seneca Indian reservation:

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Since the later 20th century, the Seneca have been increasingly active in exercising sovereignty on their reservation and enforcing their property rights. The relationship between the Seneca Nation and the non-native surrounding population has been contentious, both in regard to excise tax advantages and in regard to property rights.

In the 1990s, the Senecas won a prolonged court battle to assume ownership of all land on their reservation, including that owned by private non-Seneca. (This was particularly contentious in Salamanca, where non-native landownership had been tolerated for decades. State and local officials said that this is the only United States city located on Indian reservation land).^[11] The city had been developed under a 99-year lease arrangement with the Seneca Nation, as railroad land was developed for workers and their families, and related businesses. This arrangement was confirmed by acts of Congress in 1875, 1890 and 1990.^[11]

When that lease expired in 1991, Seneca demanded that the previous owners sign leases with the nation or be evicted; as a result, fifteen property owners who refused to sign leases were evicted.^[11][12]

In a similar case in 2012, the Seneca ordered an eviction of 80 residents of summer cottages at Snyder Beach on the Cattaraugus Reservation. They had previously notified the owner of the land that leases to non-Seneca were not permissible, but he had done nothing to clear his property. Some of the residents were from families who had rented there for decades. The Seneca described the non-natives as constituting a long-standing "illegal occupation".^[12]

The Seneca are teaching their language again in schools. The Faithkeepers School was founded in 2000 in Salamanca to emphasize the teaching of Seneca language and culture. Also in the city is the Seneca-Iroquois Museum, which offers interpretive displays and exhibits.

The Seneca continue with a matrilineal kinship system, as was traditional for Iroquois peoples.

I am always interested in this sort of history. There is, of course, much much more information available for anyone with an interest. The exploitation and assumption of land to the detriment of Native Americans and to native flora and fauna has resulted in the acquisition and protection of land (one-third of US land mass which includes the NWRs) and the continuing battle for some sovereignty by Natives. As we fight globally for other peoples' rights to ancestral lands, we must not forget our own country and its Native people and their claims.

By dusk, I was in Olean, NY, driving by St. Bonaventure University with its spacious green lawns and pristine buildings and suddenly found myself with an Applebee's on one side of the road and an "upscale" Walmart on the other. No fuss about reservations or carrying in stuff or rooms with windows that don't open. There are always dozens of places to pick to sleep. But first I had a delicious dinner: a wedge salad with blue cheese and bacon and a small-portion shrimp scampi pasta deal..tasty, I am sure, because of the added salt. A physician once told me that in order to cut down on salt, "You can't eat out any more of course...."

It was lively in the restaurant with sports on the TVs, satisfying my small need for human interaction.

Blue Goose ~ Day 67

August 6, 2014 ~ Adrian, MI to Chardon, OH

I have been blessed with good weather most of this trip so far and today was one more full-on summer day...sunny, not too warm, not too muggy.

I started driving southeast through busy but tolerable interstate traffic near Detroit and through Toledo    arriving at Ottawa NWR in Ohio in early afternoon. For the past two years early in May, DHC and I have gone to The Biggest Week in American Birding on the south shore of Lake Erie. While the main attraction is the boardwalk at Magee Marsh, all of the area to the south, east and west are also part of this amazing migratory spectacle. Ottawa NWR is contiguous with Magee so I have been here before.

Martin houses at Ottawa NWR

There are auto routes and hiking trails, and after inquiring about the insect quotient and being was told it was bad, I figured I would at least try walking some in the woods near the VC. Near the trailhead was an elderly couple, the woman in a wheelchair, the man quietly sitting on a bench, both with binoculars, waiting and "hopefully" watching for birds, the lady told me. There were  far fewer visitors than in May, and the 1-2 mile walk was surprisingly free of bugs, as long as I didn't stop too long in one place. At one point around a curve I surprised a Great Blue Heron standing in the middle of the trail; another time I heard a crackling noise, and a Red-tailed Hawk flew from a perch right above me. There were thousands of blooming wildflowers, but the best were Cardinal flowers near the beginning of the trail.

Cardinal flowers at Ottawa NWR in OH

And there was a lovely bathroom placing it alongside those at Necedah and Big Stone NWRs.

Much of the refuge is closed to road traffic most of the year to protect the wildlife so I drove to Magee Marsh. All of this area was once the Great Black Swamp, comprising 1500 square miles, which continued in a broad swath from the southwest corner of Lake Erie to Ft. Wayne, IN.

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Although much of the area to the east, south, and north was settled in the early 19th century, the dense habitat and difficulty of travel through the swamp delayed its development by several decades. A corduroy road (from modern-day Fremont to Perrysburg) was constructed in 1825, see Maumee Road Lands, and paved with gravel in 1838, but travel in the wet season could still take days or even weeks. The story of the first European settlement in 1833 in the Great Black Swamp at Lauber Hill is told in "Out of the Wilderness, History of the Central Mennonite Church," 1835-1960. O. Grieser and E. Beck, The Dean Hicks Company, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1960. The impassibility of the swamp was an obstacle during the so-called Toledo War (1835–36); unable to get through the swamp, the Michigan and Ohio militias never came to battle. Settlement of the region was also inhibited by endemic malaria. The disease was a chronic problem for residents of the region until the area was drained and former mosquito-breeding grounds were dried up.

In the 1850s the states began an organized attempt to drain the swamp for agricultural use and ease of travel. Various projects were undertaken over a 40-year period. Local resident James B. Hill, living in Bowling Green, Ohio, in the mid-19th century, made the quick drainage of the Black Swamp possible with his invention of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher.^[6] Hill's ditching machine laid drainage tiles at a record pace. The area was largely settled over the next three decades. The development of railroads and a local drainage tile industry are thought to have contributed greatly to drainage and settlement (Kaatz, 1955).

Great Egret at Magee Marsh, OH

The value of wetlands ecologically (and for the sport of duck hunting) is now the impetus to retain, manage and enhance what is left. The non-wet part of this land is now productive farms.

I spent the rest of the day moseying east on US6 along Lake Erie into Cleveland. The shoreline is much less dramatic than Lake Michigan with parks, small cabin and motel resorts, many rivers and creeks flowing from the south into Lake Erie and, closer to Cleveland, impressive, large and gracious older homes. I somehow got into insane interstate traffic in Cleveland with 8-12 lanes of traffic, all going 65+ mph. I didn't know exactly where I was going, had to pay attention and couldn't easily look at my phone or  a map. So, after 15 minutes, I just exited, continued east awhile and ended up in Chardon, OH, in a park-like suburban area with the usual stores, including a Walmart with trees along the perimeter of the parking lot. I ate a Starbucks salad I had picked up earlier - brown rice with grains and veggies and greens, had a glass of wine, read and slept well.

Blue Goose ~ Day 66

August 5, 2014 ~ Kalamazoo, MI to Adrian, MI

I lingered in Kzoo, working in the morning, having coffee on Ranney Street with Boo and Ginny,  browsing in Barnes and Noble for house plans, finally leaving mid afternoon. 

The first thing I noticed was the sumac foliage changing to colors of fruits: oranges and lemons and limes, peaches and plums and pears, apricots and apples. All the other tree and shrub flora were still green and a backdrop for this lovely early sign of fall, warm and bright in the afternoon sunshine.

At the first shady rest stop, I reorganized and rearranged the van. We had used the cot at the cottage and that had to be set up again, trash collected and disposed of, clothes sorted into clean and dirty, etc. 

I94 was busy with a lot of truck traffic, which I will probably encounter for most of the next several months on the interstates and a big contrast to the open roads of the west. 

I stopped in Adrian, southwest of Detroit, ate Mexican food, read awhile and slept well, again in a Walmart parking lot. (I had bought a box of Rice Krispy treats in the store after dinner, ate one but left the rest in a shady spot under a tree the next morning....like I do NOT need to be munching on stuff like this whenever a bit bored with driving or just the least bit hungry.)

Blue Goose ~ Days 53 - 65

July 23, 2014 to August 4, 2014

Days of Summer Vacation at Big Star and Lake Michigan...and Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo:

 - an amazing loon family on Big Star Lake, totally unperturbed by the all-sports lake commotion, consisting of parents and two half grown babies who looked exactly like slightly bedraggled brown rug rats, all swimming and diving amongst the jet skis, pontoons, skiers, fishing boats, paddle boarders and kayakers...
- helping RW make his final decisions and eating dinner with him several nights with a final bittersweet leave-taking of Townsend
- Blu Moon
- reading
- DHC working on puzzle at BS
- hearing about Emily's experience on a WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in the Netherlands
- getting to know Damien and Azaria
- discovering the gem of Bowman Lake (finally!)
- watching Red-headed Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a dozen other species busy at the feeders
- Tino
- the labyrinth, which is a work in progress and will always contain Maria's spirit
- DHC's daylilies - my favorite garden flower

- Opal's Cottage
- everyone being pleasantly surprised by the rentals on Lake Michigan
- freshly ground delicious coffee every morning

- an impressive 12-foot inflatable paddle-board that got constant and heavy use on Lake Michigan
- hiking to the lighthouse in Ludington with 16 of us and eating pizza at Chuckwagon afterwards
- no TV
- marginal to nonexistent cell phone service
- trips to Manistee for groceries and playgrounds and river walk and movie
- fireworks and sparklers
- the girls from France
- the boy and girl from Oregon
- the adorable baby and charming 3-year-old from California
- Cards Against Humanity
- grown kids from the Bay area, Bend and Eugene in Oregon, from France, Indiana and Michigan
- communal dinners
- beaches
- books
- badminton
- a wonderful Charley Harper puzzle
- a birthday party for the pre-teens
- sunshine every day
- storm clouds bringing high winds and wicked skies but no rain
- the screen house
- 62 steps to the beach
- lazy mornings - beach afternoons - social evenings
- make-up session
- Clue and Candyland
- tie-dyeing
- yoga
- running
- no ambient light at night allowing a star-filled sky
- walking the trails behind the cottages
- 1000 photo ops and a couple of group pictures
- owl pellet dissection
- and, early on the day of departure, dressing for a wedding, altering dresses, curling hair, constantly checking the time, and finally moving out....

Winding down at Bill and Stephanie's beautiful new home, spending most of the time on their porches....Thanks so much Stephanie for this. (Bill was in New Mexico getting Jake settled in. He will be teaching in Crownpoint there.)

Binder Zoo in Battle Creek with kids and grandkids, including wee Duncan with whom I fell head-over-heels in love....kids feeding giraffes, riding the carousel, petting goats and a gigantic tortoise, monkeys, tropical birds, prairie dogs, peacocks, a sleeping cheetah, ostriches...eating at Logan's in Kzoo....take-out on the porch the next night, getting to feed Duncan and looking into his lovely blueberry eyes as he smiled his goofy baby smile at me...watching Joey and Tesla move through their day....all good...