Trip report in diary format. Brother Eric's account of the day starts here and continues here.
We've loaded the van and are departing Phil's at exactly 11:00. There are five of us in a rented Dodge Grand Caravan with all our gear and supplies, and it's hard to see how we could cram anything else in. I'm surprised at how tight things are - we also had five guys in a Grand Caravan two years ago for the Great Smokies trip, and the van wasn't this full. I brought my travel guitar, and I said that if necessary, it would ride between my legs - and that's exactly where it is. It was either that or leave it home, and I very much want to bring it. Ah well, we're packed and on the road.
Eric picked me up around 9:30 and we drove to Phil's together. I have a number of smallish bags and duffels, and Eric has the same. We were the first to arrive at Phil's, followed closely by Ted, and then John.
In addition to our clothes and camping gear, we're taking a lot of provisions with us. Eric bought a list of non-perishable items, and Phil has planned most of the menus and has pre-packaged and frozen a number of meals. We'll just have a small list of perishables to pick up tomorrow morning before heading into the campground.
12:59pm
Lunch stop at Wendy's, Morristown, NJ. All is well, and we're making good time. Spirits are high. Phil is driving, as usual. Eric is the second driver, and is in the passenger seat. I'm behind the driver, John is behind Eric, and Ted is back in steerage.
We note, looking at the Wendy's nutrition chart, that their Baconator burger is over 1,000 calories, and I forget how many grams of fat. Much hilarity ensues, and the Baconator will be a recurring theme.
3:26pm
Rest stop on I-87 approaching Albany. We're making good time and all is well. It's scorching hot. The weekend forecast for home is very high heat, and we're pleased to see that the forecast for the Adirondacks is significantly cooler. I realize that I didn't bring sunglasses with me, which isn't a big deal...I don't wear them that often anyway.
Rodeway Inn, Lake George, NY. It was an uneventful trip, and we're very happy to be off the road. We have two rooms: one for the early-to-bed folks (Eric and I), and the other for the night owls.
We realize with disgust that we should all have put one change of clothes and our toiletries in our daypacks - so that we wouldn't have to completely unpack and re-pack the van. But we didn't think of that until now. Unpacking is a pain, and re-packing tomorrow morning will be a double pain. Oh well, no alternative now.
I should note that my older daughter considers staying in a motel "cheating." She thinks that on a camping trip, you're not allowed to do anything but camp. I'm not sure where she gets these ideas? I'm not sure if bringing frozen hamburgers is also cheating...perhaps we're only supposed to eat what we've personally hunted? I think we've watched too much Survivorman together....
10:00pm-ish
We had a pleasant low-key evening in Lake George. We drive into the town and walked around. The lake itself is very pretty - the town around it less so. It's very commercial and touristy - the kind of place I don't really enjoy. But it was nice to walk around. We found a place on the waterfront that had wings and beer, and we enjoyed our meal and the view of the water. We walked some more afterwards and even found a couple of geocaches (Phil is a cacher in addition to Eric and me.)
Now we're back in the rooms. We all watched some TV together, but now Eric and I are back in our room reading, and lights out will be soon.
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