We left Steve’s family and friends in Albany and headed to Cortland NY about a 2 hour drive west, to see Chris’ friends made 47 years ago. A pleasant drive through farmlands and the towns of Cooperstown and Corning.

Chris met Joe at a Who concert in London in ‘75 and he invited her to his upcoming graduation from Cortland College, difference between Americans and the British is that when extending an invitation to visit, the British mean it, Americans mean it as a casual statement, so over to the US she came much to Joe’s surprise and liked the US so much decided to stay for a spell. The rest is history.

This post is a little different from our usual as it’s all about the people we met rather than the scenery we saw.  Chris was determined to see as many old friends as she could in the time allotted, but of course over the years people had moved away, but many were still close by. In fact it turned into a mini “Tribal Re-Union “ as Herbie would say.

We booked the Country Hills Campground in Marathon NY about 10 miles south of Cortland.

A pretty campground close to Virgil and the Greek Peak ski area where Chris lived for a couple of years and made an attempt to ski, just once was enough.

A good sized site with full hook-up expensive though at $47 a night, and the sewer connection was slightly uphill, which was a problem. (Why construct them like that?)

Most of the campers were seasonal residents, who only came Friday and Saturday night. It was beautifully landscaped and they even offered a cooked breakfast and dinner, delivered to your site at the weekend. Typically only KOAs offer that and they don’t deliver.

First night a dinner with Liane, Jane & John at the Community restaurant on Main St.where Steve had one of the best calamari he’d ever tasted, and he’s had quite a few. We met up with Liane, center, she and Chris shared an apartment in Little Italy NY in the 80’s and had way too much fun, so many stories from that time.  John and Jane Walker were good friends, just caught them before they move to Albany in September.

Meeting up with Herbie (Jim Meyer), Liane, Lynn, Laurie at Frosty Caboose for cheese steaks and ice cream.

Herbie, Lynn, Liane and Laurie, the latter spent her working life at RCA in Manhattan and found Chris her first job in travel which would last 30 years

Herbie with Pete. who traveled to Mexico with Chris again in the 80’s. There used to be a company in NYC called White Rabbit, who found people without a car who wanted to travel cross country and connected them with people who wanted to get their car cross country but didn’t want to drive. Five of us drove from NYC to Tucson AZ, just paid for petrol, then we boarded a train and travelled south to Mazatlan Mexico, where we took a ferry to Stone Island and met up with more friends.

During the week it was Jane’s birthday, so we got together to celebrate at Lynn’s
A fabulous cake

The ladies who party, clockwise from top left : Lynn, Louisa, Chris, Liane, Laurie, Jane and Gig

Oh the pool water was cold, but Liane and I went in, reminded me of the old days in New York, where we could goad each other into doing anything

Chris masters the selfie stick

Next stop was Linda and Bruce. Linda (the hippie girl) and Chris lived together with their spouses for a year or two. It was such great fun, always people dropping by.
It turned out they lived in the same town we were camping in, just the other side of the highway. They lived on 60 acres where Linda had a huge vegetable garden, about the size of a tennis court, where she was experimenting with companion planting.

First Amish sighting. Many Amish in these parts, but they don’t like being photographed.

The Third Rail bar was an enterprise partnered with Artie, Gil and Chris which was an old railway station which we refurbished and worked on for months, shopping in NYC  on the lower east side, built a huge brass bar and offered music and snacks, a very popular drinking establishment in the day. 

It looks pretty sad now, but back in the day…

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It was a masterpiece..

Anyway Gil went on to get a medical degree from Harvard and other major medical institutions and became the lone practicing doctor in Key West. On the left is Gil who, when Chris met him was a car mechanic in NYC and later a partner. Gil’s home is in Trumansburg NY on Cayuga Lake just outside Ithaca, and we’d been warned about his dog an Anatolian Shepard who was a150 lb. untrained puppy who jumped, who had  injured the last visitors.

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When we arrived we could hear Seiko behind the bedroom door trying to get out. When Gil’s daughter finally opened the door and let him out, we were ready to jump on our seats. Fortunately, the dog had gone through training and was so friendly, his size was just very intimidating.

Seiko is one huge dog, her mothers name was Rolex.

We went to a bakery to get bread, but they’d run out and all they had was dough, so….

Had a cook out at John and Jane Walkers house with Louisa and Gil. Great friends from the old days

A blast from the past, Jane, Chris and Louisa back on Chris’ birthday in 1976

Couldn’t leave without a last hoorah at the Hollywood Restaurant, an old haunt from yesteryear

It was wonderful to see everyone again, hopefully it won’t be too long before we meet up again..