The Flowers Explore - Four Mile Creek State Park - Niagara New York - 2021/09/30-10/04

After two separate nights at Harvest Host Apple Orchards, we're back to a place where we'll be spending a few days! We're at Four Mile Creek State Park in New York!

Our travels today will keep us in New York as we work our way west across the state. 

Just about 3.5 hours for today's trip too. Nothing too crazy. Usually we can make it and only take one stop. And with such a short drive, I won't need to gas up either. I get about 11 miles per gallon, even hauling Beauty, so with a 48 gallon diesel tank, we're good to go over 400 miles. Since it's diesel I can fill up where the truckers do and don't have to worry about maneuvering the RV through a normal gas station. 

Up north we go until can't go north any more. We're taking the last US exit. If we stayed any longer, we'd be going to Canada!

After checking in at the ranger station, we've got to fill up with water. We've been on the road for 2 days, with no hookups, so we need a refill. These state parks don't have any hookups besides electric, so we'll have to fill our water tanks and hope they last for the 5 days we're staying. I love the spot we're in! Out back is a giant field with a playground and soccer goals. 

While Theresa and I got the RV set up, the kids burned some energy by kicking the soccer ball around. 

We ate dinner then took a walk around the campground. Our timing was perfect and we caught a gorgeous sunset by Lake Ontario. 

The sky was fiery. 

Looking across the water, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north, we can just make out the silhouette of the city of Toronto. We're not going to be able to make it to Canada on this trip. With COVID restrictions in place, you need a test within 72 hours of your visit. For us, that's 4 tests, and that's just a little too much to go through for a quick day trip. 

Kids - Daddy, come play soccer with us! Please, please, please!

Alli - Ian's getting pretty good. 

Uh oh, now I have the ball. Better cover your goal. 

After running them back and forth for an hour, with them scoring goals and me scoring goals, it came down to sudden death. Next goal wins! 

Aww! Good match kids! You got me. We'll have to do more of this while we're here. 

On one of our later walks, we stopped by the ranger station. This kids got permission ("Can I pet the kitty?") before petting this bobcat. It looks just as upset stuff as it would in real life.  

Ninja Warrioring their way across the 2nd playground at this site. 

We're spending a lot of our time at Niagara Falls walking around, but there were still days we'd walk around the campsite after dinner. On Sunday it rained all day, but during a drizzle we got out and put our walking miles in. Got to reach that 500 mile goal!

What do you do when you run out of water in the RV? Fill up at the potable water station and carry it yourself. I know they make collapsable 5 gallon containers but we haven't bought one yet. Instead, Theresa and I filled up bottles as quickly as we could and siphoned it into our holding tank. Just enough to shower, wash dishes, and flush the toilets. 

On the weekend this place was packed, with every RV spot filled. Now that it's Tuesday, this place has really emptied out! 

Theresa is my spotter while I'm moving the RV, and she was watching my stabilizers pretty closely when I was backing in. It has been raining here quite a bit over the 5 days we've been here, and now that I'm pulling out, things are sinking a bit lower into the ground. Grand Design, who built the RV, has some pretty low clearances on the back stabilizers and it wasn't looking pretty as I started to pull onto the road. 

Thanks Theresa for the ramp to get the tires up in the air and keeping the stabilizers from digging into the ground! I don't need another project to work on with broken stabilizers!

Let's hit the road!