Good afternoon! Sunny and 57 degrees at Letchworth State Park in Castile. There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. Very pleasant weather for mid November. 

Driving to Letchworth this morning I was reminded how vast Western NY really is. Some pretty big hills too and a lot of farms too. Lots of big alluvial valleys for growing corn and feeding cows. Livingston and Wyoming Counties smell like you would expect them to in mid November. Fermented silage and cow shit. I probably should have spent more time at Rattlesnake WMA but I didn’t want to back track to Ossian State Forest or camp at such a blustery high elevation. 

Every time I drive through a small town and open countryside, I have to think those people are so blessed. Somehow they have the skills and connections to make life work in the hard, difficult country of Rural America. So much beauty and open country. I hope I captured some of it on the dash cam and can upload it later, if only for the sake of my memories. 

Albany sucks but it’s what I do to pay the bills so I can travel and explore. Sometime I want to get out of the big city, but for now that’s reserved for the road trip.

I saw the sign coming into Letchworth for camping open, but it ain’t open this time of year. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of nearby state forests for camping, so I need to leave by 2 pm so I have an hour to head southwest to my next camping location. That’s fine, I think I want to spend tomorrow at Zoar Valley and on Wednesday head to Chautauqua County. Campground camping with a hot shower and electric wouldn’t be a bad thing though mid week. 

I had to visit the Upper Falls so I could see the Portageville bridge one last time before it’s demolished. A modern arch bridge will replace it. The models of the new bridge suggest it will be much more scenic then the existing bridge. I also visited the other falls and some of the other vistas.