Ditching Dyna: Rochester/Owego Surprise

Disclaimer: This blog was written at a significant delay (November 2018). As in, the delay was so significant, that I don’t feel that I can accurately represent our time at this location in story form. So, I am just going to post photos I captured here and then ramble about some of my clear memories of the place via some bullet points.

How did I get so far behind? Well, there was a summer visit from a nephew, and also a giant party in Rochester that needed to be planned for. But, also, if it comes down to blog writing or sleep – I will always choose sleep. So anyways, back on the blog game. But in abbreviated form until I catch up to the present day.


After spending a few days in Chicago, we sought out an affordable RV park somewhere East of Chicago where we could book a month-long spot. Reasons:

  • My dad (Liz) would be turning 60 in May and that kind of event requires a surprise birthday party. We needed to find somewhere safe to leave Dyna while we drove the Jeep back to Owego to celebrate the event.
  • Jake’s BFF, aka, Sketchy Scott, needed to be celebrated because he was also having a birthday – but this one would be down in Winston-Salem, NC. This birthday was also a surprise. You get a surprise! And you get a surprise! And you… you get a surprise!
  • Memorial Day and July 4th were coming. Now, Memorial Day and July 4th may sound pleasant to you. “Yay! I don’t have to work and I can get drunk and watch some fireworks, maybe around a campfire, at a campground.” Memorial Day and July 4th are not as fun when you live transiently in RV parks, but don’t like to plan ahead as to where you’ll be parking your rig. Because on Memorial Day and July 4th, campgrounds are full-up. Everyone wants to have a campfire and get drunk.

We initially steered Dyna towards a campground in New Carlisle, Indiana called Mini Mountain Campground. However, Mini Mountain was literally too mini for our big ass, so we diverted and ended up a bit further on at a really swell place called Spaulding Lake Campground, in Michigan.

  • Michigan is not the home of Mike Pence, so that’s nice.
  • Jake’s sister, Emily, agreed to come out and RV-sit for us for two weeks at Spaulding Lake. Which was awesome because Emily is awesome – and Lucy loves Emily. And we really did not want to drag Lucy the cat with us to NY, and then to NC, and then back to MI in the span of two weeks. Lucy isn’t too keen on riding in the RV while it’s in motion. She is definetely not interested in car riding.

So, we ditched Dyna in Niles, MI at Spaulding Lake Campground with Emily and Lucy. Other than deciding to spring a leak in our bedroom slide-out while we were gone, everything was well with Lucy and Dyna and Emily.

We spent a day driving to Rochester, NY – with a pitstop in Jamestown, NY to say hi to Jake’s other sister, Jill. We spent a few nights (crashing with our friend, Jeff) in order to catch up with a few people and firm up a few Rochester related things before finishing our trip to Owego to surprise my dad.

We spent a week in Owego – including Memorial Day weekend, doing Owego stuff, and crashing at my brother’s house.

  • Surprise birthday party! Yay!
  • Binghamton Rumble Ponies game. It involved Tim Tebow. He has a large booty and hits home runs a lot.
  • Hiking, then swimming in the world’s coldest water up at Treman Park in Ithaca. It involved befriending a bee that Dexter named Gerald.
  • Building a trampoline, which was a childhood dream of myself, my brother and my sister. Take that parents! We didn’t even break our necks jumping on it!
  • Practicing our bow skills at the local archery range.
  • Building a bench for sitting around fires, then sitting around fires. Because Dexter really likes fires.
  • Eating at The Kitchen, which has become my favorite place to eat and get coffee in Owego. Also, they always have Jamaican Me Crazy coffee, just in case you were wondering about that.

Then we left Owego – and pointed the Jeep towards North Carolina. To surprise Scott. Because we are the rolling surprise brigade.