Well, Actually, There was a Little Bit of Swearing.
August 22, 2025 — Day 2
Cracker Barrel, East Greenbush NY — New York State Fair, Syracuse NY
We started off with breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Some of them are pretty good, some are pretty awful. The one in East Greenbush is on of the good ones.
When we got back we found that we accidentally parked overnight in someone’s “reserved” spot.
We hung out some, Paul tried to figure out the AGS (Automatic Generator Start) and then hit Target for some groceries we forgot.
Yes, we take up 6 to 7 spaces.
We passed under this cool section of overpasses. It must be new because we think we’d remember the curved column!
We made it to the Paterson NY Rest Area where we had planned meet up with Donna and Bill, and here they are with their brand new RV! (susan here: It’s really beautiful inside. It feels like a Tiffin, like we have, but with a different floor plan and color scheme. We wish them many thousands of happy miles & adventures.)
Caravanning with them was fun.
It was also scenic. Upstate New York is a pretty place. We drove alongside the Erie Canal for parts of the ride.
We topped up our tanks on I-90, we finished first and pulled up ahead to free up the lane. As Bill pulled in behind he paused to set the GPS. We pulled out leading the way on the highway. But, we want to follow because they’ve been to the NY State Fair before, not lead, so soon they passed us.
We made short work of the drive from Pattersonville to Syracuse only to arrive at the absolute chaos that is State Fair Boulevard and the “Pink Lot Daily Camping” of the NY State Fair. This is first come, first served RV parking lot and it was packed. Donna and Bill commented that it’s never been this crowded. And yet? Here we were with people parked every which way. We hoped we could park next to each other since being next door to each other is part of the fun and adventure! Susan was optimistic that we’d pull it off and Donna was less so. The boys remained neutral about it.
We pulled over alongside the road, grabbed walkie talkies, unhooked our Jeeps and went exploring. We found a nice grassy area but it was pretty buggy. Surprisingly even thought it was smack in the middle of the ramps and highway it was fairly quiet. We left Donna and Susan there with the Jeeps to reserve spots—just like a lawn chair reserves your parking spot in downtown Boston after a snow storm. Paul and Bill hoofed it back to the parked RVs. Along the way they found two spots that looked better. We may move after the weekend to get off the side of the road.
The grassy area is marked with the red A, we parked at spot B. The grassy area was underneath and inside the off ramp. It was pretty noisy there. Paul picked up a bad party vibe from that section. (susan here: Paul and I have a relationship rule that when someone wants to “tap out” whatever we’re doing is done. In this case it was a party vibe. Sometimes it’s I wanna go home. Or, I’m bored. Or whatever. It’s served us well.)
For the first time ever we were not able to level Clifford using our new Liquid Spring suspension! This is ok, Paul has been chomping at the bit to try an unlevel spot, building ramps, and driving up them. We want to do this so we can remove our hydraulic levelers, gaining us 270 pounds of additional cargo weight. It’s not that we can’t do it, we’re good at doing it but it’s hard, it’s work and it’s time consuming. Just as we were figuring out if we wanted to do this a big pickup parked behind us. Well so much for flexibility. We were left only with a forward option to build the ramps, and drive up on them. So we were “forced” to use the leveling jacks because things were so out of level here.
Oh, and our fancy new suspension and the fancy Level Mate Pro were disagreeing about what was level. We fell back to the old reliables, the bathroom door trick and Susan’s inner ear. She’s pretty good at sensing when things are even a little off.
Then the swearing started.
Ok, that’s an exaggeration (susan here: is it?) Both Paul and Bill wanted to swear. (susan here, again: Donna and I were nestled in the cool comfort of our RV while the boys did their thing outside to level Donna and Bill’s RV. We can’t vouch for their claimed choir boy behavior. We have to take them on their word. I dunno…seems not very plausible if you ask me!) Their new rig didn’t want to level without lifting the rear passenger tires off the ground. This is very bad. It’s also not safe. You’re too tall, you risk damaging the RV if a hydraulic line fails (and you fall) And best of all? Your parking brake and the rear axle is in the air so you’re not really in “park”.
This is ok, we carry a lot of orange leveling blocks. RV folk are a friendly group for the most part and we’ve had things someone loaned to us when we needed them. Bill would temporarily lift the RV off the ground and Paul slid ramps under the tires. But things kept on going wrong. It was probably the second most difficult level Paul has ever done and he has no idea why. The road has significant crown, and it does fall off toward a ditch, but that doesn’t account for the trouble.
And least we were parked, dinner and beverages could start!
And we’ve had our first dinner error, the meal plan said White chicken chili with salsa verde and that’s what Paul heated up. But it was the Harissa and White Bean Chili, which was very good. I wonder what is in that labeled bag!
(susan here: We know the Jeep is sticking out. That’s deliberate since it forces people to go wide rather than risk someone clipping the slide out or the motorhome. Damage to either would involve a tow. Towing the motorhome would have been a bill where the dollar amount had a comma in it. Insurance would probably cover it but why tempt fate? It’s very expensive to tow a motorhome. You need folks who really know what they’re doing. This isn’t a “call a guy to tow your car to the shop” level of tow. Jeep was there to manage traffic.)
Daily: 152 miles
Total: 297 miles
Driving miles/Day: 149 miles/day
Overall miles/Day: 149 miles
mpg: 6.54