(Flight from Manchester) -- On time. Right. I *know* it left over an hour late!
Shauna's car has seen better days
Silly Corning parking lot. Big lot, tiny entrances.
Taughannock Falls (near Ithaca, NY) See the people way down at the bottom? This is a huge waterfall.
Josh picked me up at the Cleveland airport on Friday evening about 8:30, two hours later than I should have arrived. We had dinner and headed down the interstate towards the track at Mid Ohio.
We observed the immediate aftereffects of a single car accident in front of us. Car hit the right guard rail and then ran across the highway down into the median. We stopped, backed up, and Josh ran out to see if all was OK. Lots of debris on the highway. I called 911 to report, got the local sheriff, who transferred me to the highway patrol. They said that the accident had been observed by a patrolman going the other way, and that he was just turning around. I went down to the car. When the cop arrived, I told him there was bodily injury, so he called for an ambulance. He was a jerk. He went down to the car, and instead of asking the woman if she was OK, he just asked her to produce identification and insurance papers. When he asked if there was someone who should be called, she gave a number, but he said he couldn't remember it, and had no paper or pencil. We decided to leave, and he asked us to help clean the debris off the roadway- something very dangerous, since it was an interstate, with traffic flowing. We kicked a few things off as we crossed the highway to the BMW, and took off.
Got to the track and the motor home, and called it a night.
Rained all night. Noisy, but I was tired, so slept pretty well. The next day it was very damp, but not really raining. We went to find the friends that Josh had been hanging around with. The first race of the day included two of his friends, and the fourth race, just after lunch, included 3 more. We hung out in the paddock area, and then went to watch the first race. Since the track was wet, there were several spins, and one of his friends failed to come out of turn 6 safely, and hit the wall at turn 7, smashing the front of his M3. But Dave was OK. After the race, we went back to the paddock area, giving help and support where we could. At lunch break, it really started pouring. The race started - we were watching above turn 7. Josh was carrying a walkie-talkie, in touch with his friend Ren, who was crew for his wife, Shauna. She was driving a BMW Z3 against a field of lots of Miatas. We watched the first few laps. At lap 5 we heard the announcer say something about an accident and one of the cars involved was Shauna's. The race shut down (red flag). Then we heard the announcer say that she was walking out of the car to the ambulance. So we ran to the medical facility. Shauna, it turns out, was OK, but was being taken to the hospital for full checkout.(Josh has since talked to Ren). Don't know about the other driver. I understand that the car in front of Shauna was suddenly facing her, and she didn't have time to do anything. Probably going 70 at the time, based on where the accident took place. Poor visibility, lousy traction. Both cars totaled. Race went only to 7 laps because it ran out of time.
We went back to the motor home and packed up. Started to back up the RV, but since it had been raining for days now, it was stuck in very slick mud. It was hard to believe the a 23,000 pound vehicle couldn't get traction, but it couldn't. Really wanted out of there that day, so had to figure it out ourselves. All the tow trucks were busy on the track, and with the accident having just happened, all Josh's friends were otherwise occupied. We found some straw bales, and started stuffing straw under the rear tires. As Josh rocked the RV, I kept adding straw, and it finally worked. But with all the mud, we wanted to be careful, so we had to move the trailer by hand to the RV, as opposed to moving the RV to the trailer. That is one heavy trailer. We could only move it 6 inches at a time, but finally got it in a position to hook it up. Loaded the car, and we were off.
Spent the night outside Erie, PA. Uneventful.
Got up this morning with the idea of visiting the glass museum at Corning. Got there about noon. Decided to get some lunch first, so went downtown. Parking a 36 foot RV with a 21 foot trailer is not easy. But we found an empty Corning Glass parking lot, and decided to put it there, and walk to lunch. The entry way had a "gateway" made up of stone block piled on each other. It was a tough entry. The fender of the trailer kissed one of the stones and the whole thing came tumbling down. Josh felt terrible. We went to have lunch. Came back, and the exit was similar. But we thought we got out OK. As we were driving down the street, I could see this guy waving at us. I opened the window, and he told me that we had destroyed the gate on the way out, and that we should report it to Corning, as it was their parking lot, and that he was going to as well. Since it was Sunday, we figured we'd call on Monday, when they were open.
Went to the glass museum, spent a couple of hours, and as we are pulling out, a security guard tells us to pull over. He has pictures of the damaged gateways, and tells us that the police are on the way. Very quickly, the Corning Police show up. If it were up to the guard, we would have spent the night in jail. The police were more reasonable, recording Josh's registrations and license and letting the security guard know that he could pick up the accident report at the station, and could contact Josh with an estimate of damages. We'll see what happens with that - that is, how big the bill to restack the stones will be. The fender on the trailer is damaged a bit, and the running light is gone.
While one of the cops was doing all the paperwork, we chatted with the other one. Watch out in Corning! The police cars all have video cameras to record vehicle stops, and the driver has a mike to record all conversations. Josh asked the cop about his vest. It is a bulletproof vest, and both were wearing them. Individual choice, not department policy. Why, Josh asked. Looks like a sleepy little peaceful town. The cop told us that because it is near Elmira and Rochester, and lots of drugs move through there, they want to be protected. So when you drive through Corning, really be careful. It may look peaceful, but apparently it is a very dangerous place - at least the cops appear to be worried.
Left there to go to Ithaca, and to see some neat waterfalls. Now we are very cautious about where we take the trailer. Impressive falls, but we move on. Got as far as Oneonta, NY. About 90 miles southwest of Albany. Home tomorrow, either directly (sort of) or through Manchester, NH to pick up my car at the airport.
So it has really been action-packed. Even at the slow pace we are going, I understand when Josh says that there still isn't enough time to do everything. Wish I could spend more time on this trip. Maybe Sue and I will borrow the motor home from Josh after he gets back to California and drive around the west.