Day 42 & 43 - Homing in on Home

The first thing Dick did in the morning was check the tire pressure in the spare. The patch was holding as the pressure was the same as he measured last night. He was feeling better about having a spare again. At breakfast we got talking to some guys who were here for the week fishing on Lake Erie. They were happy they had caught their limit on Perch and Bass; I think they had hundreds of each. They reminded me of the guys returning from a fishing trip with all those boxes of fish with them in Vancouver. They had been fishing Lake Erie for years, sounds like us going to Hershey.

We followed the Lake Erie Ohio Coastal Trail which afforded us a pleasant drive through some nice towns and great views of the lake. We managed to make good time and didn’t get caught up in traffic in Cleveland or Erie PA which was good. We stopped in Dunkirk, NY to visit the Historic Dunkirk Lighthouse. We got a history of the light house and how it came into the hands of the Veterans group who now help maintain the light which is still active, although it is now fully automatic. Some interesting points: the lens that multiplies the power of the lamp cost $10,000 in 1857, about a Million dollars in today’s money; and local fishermen still use the light house tower as a reference when establishing fishing locations. I asked about taking some pictures of the Model A’s at the light and was given the green light. Even the lighthouse staff came out to take some pictures. We bid the lighthouse good bye and off we continued, eventually stopping in Henrietta, NY for the night.


Off and running in the morning we could really feel the call of home. We thought today would be a good day for some antiquing. We managed to find some interesting shops along the way, with Nan & I buying some old magazines. We took a pleasant break in Skaneateles, NY for lunch at our favorite place in that area, the Sherwood Inn. Lunch was great, especially since I was able to get a Yuengling beer, which is not available outside of NY and PA. We also did some shopping in the town before continuing.

We have been travelling on RT 20 for much of the time since leaving Yellowstone NP. In this section of NY it is quite hilly and some of the grades really tested the Model A’s strength. I think we went over the Rockies easier. We forged on and eventually put the “big” hills behind us and finally stopped for the final time in Albany.