Thursday, September 7, 2023 - Today we departed the Pine Tree Lane RV Family Camp at Fort Drum Army Post near Watertown, New York and drove for three and a half hours, mostly south, to Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The weather was great and the roads were excellent all the way to Cooperstown. There was quite a bit of two-way traffic through towns and in the country, but it was navigable all the way. We did have a pretty steep climb up to the RV park, but the Ford handled it without a whimper. A good trip. Set up was easy; level with full service.

As we were checking in with the RV park staff, the people ahead of us were asking if there was any type of shuttle service or taxi to get into town. The owners said that there was no shuttle and a taxi would cost around $65 one way. We offered to take them into town tomorrow when we go to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, and they accepted. Their names are Annmarie and Jim Bartkowski. Very nice people. We ended up spending more time with Jim and Annmarie, and it was a ton of fun. We all wished we had more time to explore the area together. We plan to meet again at some point during our travels.

Cooperstown is a pretty small community that is well kept with many classic, Victorian homes. It is fun to drive around the town to check out the homes and see how they are maintained. There is one main street with some very old buildings lining the road. Many tourist places to buy hats, bats, and baseball related merchandise. There are also some restaurants along the street too. We are here after Labor Day, so the season is winding down for many of the local merchants; there were not many people in town at this time. Cooperstown is also located at the very south end of Otsego Lake. This is a long, narrow lake the is about 20 miles long. There is a tour boat that goes out on the lake and there is fishing/kayaking available too. Very scenic.

Friday, September 8, 2023 - Today, we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame with Annmarie and Jim Bartkowski. These are very friendly people who we get along with nicely. They live on Long Island, New York and travel in a 28 foot class A coach. They are not pulling a car or truck behind them at this time, so they are dependent upon the local economy to get transportation into town. We were going to the Hall of Fame, so we invited them to go with us. We had a great time there. We share the same love of country with them, the same love of family, and many of the same views on the politics of our nation as of today. For these reasons, we got along admirably. There is not very much to do other than visiting the Hall of Fame or the Fly Creek Cider Mill. We ended up going to the Hall of Fame, the Fly Creek Cider Mill, and then driving around the area. There are no biking trails nearby that we would want to ride, so we never took the bikes out of the rig. Our three days planned here turned out to be just right. We would have liked to have spent more time visiting with Jim and AnnMarie, but they are leaving the same day that we plan to leave.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is a very fun place to visit if you like baseball at all. So much history of the game with photos and memorabilia from the players who did some awesome things on the field. If you like baseball, you should plan to go there at some time in your life. It is worth the trip. There is a baseball stadium behind the Hall of Fame where professional teams (mostly Double A and Triple A) can come to play. It is hard to describe, so be sure to check out the photo gallery to get feel for what the Hall of fame is about. The movie that they show in the Hall of Fame Theater is a great film. I recommend that any visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame begin with the movie.

On the south side of Cooperstown, there is a a baseball complex set aside for Little League players. You cannot be over 13 years of age to play there. There are 16 fields, four complexes of four fields, About 60 dorm buildings for players to be housed during tournaments, and about 20 batting cages all in a row. Teams that play here come for a one-week stay that costs $1,300 per player. They must stay in the dorms so that they can interact with all the other players. We think that they have tournaments here two or three times a year. Be sure to see the photo gallery to get an idea of what this Little League facility looks like. It is owned and operated by Major League Baseball. I also added a short video of the facility taken with "Lisa's" drone. It really show the complex.

Saturday, September 8, 2023 - We made plans today to meet with Jim and AnnMarie Bartkowski to drive over to the Fly Creek Cider Mill. It was an overcast day, but no rain. As we entered the town of Fly Creek, we were confronted with a host of fire engines all over the place. Turns out that today is the annual Fly Creek Fire Engine Parade an Festival. The parade had just ended, so the fire engines were all moving around trying to find a parking place in this small community that does not have many places to park. We ended up up driving part of the parade route and waving to the families along the road. I will add a couple photos of our trip through town to the photo gallery.

We then drove to the Fly Creek Cider Mill to check it out. Lots of beautiful flowers all around the venue. There was a huge Adirondack chair where we could take some photos. We entered the store and you could purchase all sorts of jams, jellies, donuts, signs with cutes texts, and much more. Next door was a concession where you could buy sandwiches, salads, and pastries. After checking out the entire store, we went next door and ordered pot roast sandwiches that turned out to be excellent. We had a great lunch there and spent about an hour talking with Jim and AnnMarie just getting to know them better. Jim was in the military (Army) as a military policeman and then worked in New York City as a policeman for about 40 years. AnnMarie was a nurse and worked in the medical field for many years. They are both retired and have several grandchildren. They have taken their grandchildren "camping" in the rig and they are making plans to take the kids on some longer trips in the future.

After departing the Fly Creek Cider Mill, we decided to take a drive around Otsego Lake. There are roads that travel both sides of the lake not far from the shorelines, so this makes for a very scenic trip. Beautiful farms line the roads and everything is lush green. Not much traffic at all, so we could go slow and enjoy the drive. We then headed back to our RV where we invited Jim and AnnMarie to help up consume the cake and ice cream that I had purchased for Lisa's birthday. Jim and AnnMarie were fascinated with the drone and are contemplating getting one, so I offered to show them how they work. We drove over to a vacant lot next to the Major League Baseball Dream Fields for Little League players and took some photos and videos of the complex. It was about 5:00 pm on Saturday evening and there was not a soul around. It was a rare occasion where we could fly anywhere over the complex and no one came out to shoo us away. We had some sunlight too, so the photos and videos came out pretty good. I will post to the photo gallery. They enjoyed seeing the drone operate and watching it through the goggles that go with the drone. After the flight, we returned to our rigs where I downloaded the photos to the computer and then put them on a thumb drive to take to Jim so that he could copy them to his computer. All in all, it was a great day. We had fun with Jim and AnnMarie, and we made plans try to visit with them in November in Phoenix, Arizona for Veterans Day. Hopefully, the schedules will align and we can make this happen.

Sunday, September 9, 2023 - Today we depart for Lake George and a four-day stay there before driving to Vermont to meet up with Bob and Charlotte Capp for a three-week journey to Nova Scotia.