Monday, May 2, 2005

Know when to fold 'em It took us most of Saturday to get from Geneva, OH to Canisteo, NY. Once you cross into NY from PA, I-86 is so rough we got off on the east side of Chautauqua Lake and took sideroads the rest of the way. Without the camper, we'd have stayed on 86, but the truck hits the gap between two concrete slabs about the time the trailer hits another one, so one goes up and one goes down and a rider in the back seat gets jolted pretty bad. That's where Shivani rides, to get away from all the electrical stuff on the dash and under the hood. For more on that, go to electricalpollution.com. If you're traveling this way, the cheapest gas I found was at the Allegany Junction station on the Seneca Reservation on Highway 219 at I-86. Only $2.11 a gallon. Other Indian stations had it at $2.13-$2.19, still a bargain compared to $2.32, which seems to be the going rate at non-reservation stations. I scouted last night, but never heard or saw a bird. Same story this morning. Found some turkey poop, but no turkeys, in six hours of sitting and walking all over my brother-in-law's hillside. The sky went from blue to gray to black and back again all day. When the first big squall came through and it started snowing sideways, I came down off the hill and took a nap. I don't know what the elevation difference is up there, but it's a different world on top when it's windy. I'll have six more hours tomorrow to figure out where the local birds go before I head north to Erie County, where there are more birds or at least it seems like it because there are fewer trees. Oh, BTW, I counted 50 crows from Geneva to Canisteo. Mostly singles and pairs, except for a half-dozen in a small flock at Olean. Not altogether scarce, but certainly not as abundantg as they were pre-West Nile. Later... 10:51:45 PM    comment []

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