We awoke early to the sound of the ranger’s wheels crunching on the gravel. We made our coffee and took the dogs into the woods for a hike before breaking down camp. PJ really wanted to drive through the Poconos so we took the back roads and drove past the lake and through the quaint little resort towns along the way. We wound our way through small narrow roads stopping occasionally to take a photo or have a quick break. Many of the small tourist towns looked as if they had seen better days with many of the hotels run down or boarded up. After about an hour, we emerged onto route 84 heading into New York. 

Easy rolling on the interstate as we crossed the border and entered state number eleven. We passed over the Hudson River on a toll bridge looking down at the broad waters dotted with sail boats, waters that flow all the way down to the Statue of Liberty. 

I had found a campground that looked good on the internet with decent reviews so we set our GPS for Sylvan Lake Beach Resort. But as we all know, you can’t always believe everything you read on the World Wide Web.  When we arrived, we saw green lawns and a beautiful lake at the end of the drive. The unkempt, grumpy guy in the booth gave me a full page sheet of rules and waited until after he had our cash to tell me that the lake is closed. A lake, closed – because it is past Labor Day. No dogs on beach or in water or on grass. We drove to our dirty, uneven little patch of heaven that backs up onto the bathroom building. All dirt, no grass, no gravel, not even asphalt.

The “resort” is filled with full time residents. Not the nice park home double wide type of permanent residents, but the 30 year old leaking travel trailer kind of residents. Tired from driving and not really wanting to go forth and forage for a new spot, we decided to settle in and get up early for a quick escape in the morning. We worked hard to get some semblance of level for the refrigerator and then took the dogs down to the lake. 

The trailer park’s beachfront is really only about a 100 yards long. On the left, the trail runs into warning signs saying trespassers will be shot and to the right it buts up to a headland with some thick woods. We walked the entirety in a few minutes and had a look around.

The lake itself is really beautiful with a few fancy houses and large white swans swimming in the crystal clear water. We slowly strolled the area enjoying the view.

Back up the trail in little Appalaccia, we took showers and hung around inside with the A/C on. My T-mobile hot spot barely connects to a really weak signal, so I managed to get yesterday’s adventures posted on the web, although each photo took about 3 minutes to download. PJ made us a nice cheese platter and we had a dinner of fruit, cheese and crackers. Around sunset, we took the dogs for another walk up the road to the entrance this time. We shot some baskets and saw a beaver shoot across the road. That was about all of the excitement we could take for one day.

Now we are holed up in the RV reading, writing and getting ready for an early rest.