My Trip to Herkimer

Names have been changed except in cases where I couldn’t think of a cool nickname, so I just give the relationship. And Miss Lizzie better thank me for not using the nickname the brothers gave her! 🙂

I love day-trippin’, as I said in the previous post. Yesterday was a blast!

This was a family trip – 11 people total – and we started the day at 730am with breakfast at Gramma and Grampa’s. Eggs, sausage, Belgian waffles, French toast, three different kinds of muffins.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, it was time to put butts in seats.

As you can imagine, with 11 people, seating arrangements were a priority. I figured I’d be driving something, but I didn’t expect to get to drive the new business truck — a Mitsubishi Fuso. I was only driving it as far as Binghamton though, to drop it off to the dealer-authorized repair shop. Made Miss Lizzie (sister #2) ride with me, since I’d never driven it before and because, in case something went wrong, I’d have moral support. Which turned out to be a good thing.

PK drove the van, a Dodge Sprinter, and Grampa drove the Avalon. Owen (the nephew) rode with Grampa in the car, while Miss M, Pierce (the niece), PK’s girlfriend Memphis, along with Gramma, the step-sis, and the step-sis’s boyfriend rode in the van.

The plan was simple – once we reached Binghamton, PK would continue on I-81 while Grampa and I made a three-mile detour to drop off the Fuso. We’d catch up in no time.

Everything’s going nice and smooth. The Fuso is a freakin’ joy to drive. And then…

Just as we’re going through a red light, the jake brake comes on, and the Fuso stutters and DIES in the middle of the intersection. Thank the stars Grampa only got about half a block ahead before noticing we weren’t tailgating him any longer. Seems a clamp had come loose and was pinching the fuel line. Got it fixed/jury-rigged and headed out. Only to have it happen again after only a mile or so.

Got to the dealership — driving very, very carefully so as not to shift anything and pinch the fuel line again. While Grampa dropped off the keys, I talked to Mom and said we were going to be awhile catching up, only to discover we were only maybe 30 minutes behind them.

Seems that what I thought took an hour or more was, in reality, maybe 15 minutes. Time apparently slows to something even slower than molasses in January when people are honking and yelling and old ladies are flipping you the bird.

As Miss LIzzie said, “At least we got the bad over with early!”

Which is true. Something bad always happens on these sorts of trips, and having it done by 9:30am? Woot!

So, onward!

We drove and drove, and caught up with the van just after getting on I-90.

We hit a rest stop about 45 minutes from Herkimer, and had lunch. Which, in our family, is rarely fast-food. Nope. Gramma can move armies and feed them!

We commandeered two picnic tables, had a grill and a two-burner camp stove going. Hot dogs, bratwurst, meatball subs, chips, dip, sandwich fixings. Four kinds of drinks. Pretty soon, everyone was stuffed and it was time to pack up and hit the highway again. This time with me behind the wheel of the Avalon, and Grampa driving the van.

Got to the mine. Watched a little video about what to look for, and then proceeded out into the (very hot – did I mention it was 90 degrees!) open pit-type mine, where we bashed rocks with hammers for about four hours. Tons of fun, except for the parts where I fell and where I bashed a rock only to have a piece of it fly back and slam into my index finger.

The daughter and the niece and I tried the wall of Mine #2 – which had a lot more moisture on the face and little puddles. A young guy near us told us to check the loose stuff on the face and in the puddles, since smaller crystals can fall or simply be ignored by people looking for “big” rocks. The kids all seemed to have a good time. Owen enjoyed using his ball-peen hammer (the ones provided were too heavy for him).

He gave us the laugh of the day, too. Grampa had offered a $1 reward to the first boy and first girl to find crystals. The step-sis won hers about 3 minutes after we got to the mine, while Owen struck paydirt (literally, he hit the ground instead of the rock he was aiming for) about 20 minutes in, and announced, “I’m gonna go get my dollar, and then I’m goin’ to the playground.” Which he did.

Poor Miss M and Memphis, though. The heat gave them migraines, so both ended up retreating to the van, where Grampa (also suffering from the heat) had the air conditioner running.

And so went the day. We all wandered around, moving to different spots periodically, hoping for better luck – or, in the later part of the day, to find some shade. A little after 4 pm., Miss Lizzie, Gramma, Pierce, and I were the last ones still “mining” but the heat had taken its toll, so we started heading back toward the van to get cool drinks and hit the restrooms.

At which point we realized that we were going to look really great going to dinner. Every last one of us was dirty and sweaty. And Grampa was treating everyone to Cracker Barrel. LOL

I couldn’t do much about my clothes, but I did give myself a quick paper-towel wipe-down in the restroom to get the worst of the dirt and sweat off.

The four of us checked out the gift shop and museum and then it was time to head out. In perfect timing, we returned our borrowed hammers just as the rain started. I didn’t drive this time – PK took the wheel of the Avalon, while Grampa drove the van.

After a yummy, button-straining meal at Cracker Barrel, it was back on the road. We got back to the Valley about 10pm, exhausted, dirty, sunburnt, and smelly. An excellent adventure!

These are mine and Miss M’s finds:

As you can see, they’re pretty small, about an 1/8th inch, except for the large one. That’s about 1/2″ long and 1/4″ wide.