After Reach Knolls Campground we moved northwest to Newport, ME and Sebasticook Lake.  It offers water, electricity, and a dump station with sites near the banks of a huge freshwater lake.  It is not a good campground, but they offer ice cream cones in bowls surrounded by side ice cream for $1.75.  They didn’t have pistachio but those cones along with air conditioning were most welcome.  They charge you for WiFi if you can even get it but they rent canoes pretty cheap.  Kat and I had a paddle, our first in about eight years, and no one fell in.

From there we hit Wal-Marts in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Ithaca, NY.  Did you know Kat and I went to Cornell?  We did, this very week!  The pull into Ithaca almost became eventful twice, each time with lunatics attempting high-speed left turns in front of us pulling our 8,000 pound Airstream from the right hand lane.  I saw the first fool in plenty of time, but the second came with us waiting for a traffic light in the leftmost of three lanes on a one-way street.  There was a No Left Turn sign possibly hidden from the middle and right lanes by our trailer.  I was trying to read road signs 400 yards away (where I had to make a left) when the light went to green.  With a block to go I accelerated slowly still looking into the distance when Kat screamed!  Some dope was rolling at 40 mph and made a squealing left from the middle lane onto No Left Turn Street.  That scream and our brakes saved him.  Blood pressure meds saved me.

It rained nearly every day, but we saw most of the sights.  Cornell is a hodge-podge of architecture high on a hill.  Due to road repairs we never found its Botanical Gardens.  Ithaca Falls, just down the mountaintop from Cornell, was a thundering torrent.  Ithaca Commons, a pedestrians-only two block section downtown lived up to its freaky, foodie reputation.  A young fellow asked us in German accented English “Where is the hamburger?”  I understood his words but not the question, so I shrugged “I am a tourist too.”

We camped in nearby Lansing at the lovely Meyer City Park on Lake Cayuga.  From there we visited a couple of Road Food recommendations.   The first was Glenwood Pines Tavern overlooking Cayuga.  There we enjoyed a Pines Burger and an Ithaca Cheesesteak.  The latter was cooked too well, and for my tastes parsimonious with the cheese.  The former is a very good burger on half a split Italian loaf with Thousand Island rather than mayo and mustard.  Pines was good, not great, and so noisy dialogue was challenging.

The second, Shortstop Deli, earned its rave reviews.  Kat ordered a very good Reuben, but she found it needlessly padded with kraut.  I had a Hot Truck Pizza Sub of the Suicide variety, loaded with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, cheese, and truck sauce piled onto a ten inch split garlicky Italian loaf, baked to crackling crispness.  “Suicide” refers to its grease content (they butter it plenty before loading and baking); health nuts order Sui’s with lettuce and tomato.  Mine (no veggies, please) was incredibly good, but I couldn’t finish it until dinner when it was every bit as good warmed over.  This sandwich comes in three sizes – Regular, Double, and Grand Slam.  Delicious as it was, I’m glad to have ordered a Regular.

You don’t need sides or a dessert, but any fountain soft drink is a bargain.  16 ounces of Pepsi will run you 9 cents, but 32 is 79 cents.  Cornell kids order two 16’s.