Clayton, NY
Since our last post (over a week ago) we’ve been hanging out in the small town of Clayton, NY (pop. 2,000). Clayton is a nice little village right on the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands and is home to Pam’s mother, Fran.
Frinks Park along the St. Lawrence River
one block from Pam’s mother’s house
When visiting Clayton, we park the motorhome in a side driveway of Fran’s friend, John Eppolito. John, a retired dentist, is gracious enough to allow us to park there, provide an extension cord for enough electricity to run our refrigerator and some lights, and even provide water so John can wash the motorhome. It’s only around the corner from Fran’s house, where we are sleeping and spending most of our time.
Cleaning the motorhome at Eppolito’s RV Park
We arrived in Clayton a bit earlier than originally planned, as our daughter, Jessica, was coming to visit and run in a 10k on Saturday and we wanted to see that.
Three generations along the St. Lawrence
The start of the race was in Frinks Park, just a block from Fran’s house along the river.
Jessica and John discuss race strategy while Fran listens in
The race course meandered through the streets of Clayton. Fran was a “road guard” at a nearby corner, stopping traffic to let the runners go by.
A race participant conversing with her grandmother along the course
Part of the course ran across a narrow causeway to a small residential island called Washington Island, where it made a loop and came back into the village.
At one point a runner offered to buy one of our bicycles, but she had no money with her (as usual!).
Jessica posted a good time, just a few seconds off her goal, and finished in the middle of the pack in her age group. Pretty good for a girl who just a couple of years ago wouldn’t run out of a burning building!
One afternoon we decided to take a test voyage with our new toy, an inflatable kayak from Sea Eagle. We purchased one of their new models, a Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track Deluxe.
Pam operates the foot pump while John supervises (he’s good at that!)
For the maiden voyage John put in one of the seats and took it for a spin.
We then put in the other seat and took a ride around French Creek Bay, just off the main channel of the St. Lawrence. After this one experience, we are very pleased with our kayak. You can unpack and inflate it in under ten minutes. It paddles easily through the water and is very stable. Re-packing it takes a bit longer as you have to take a few minutes to dry it before folding it up. The greatest advantage of the inflatable over a hard shell kayak is that it will easily fit into one of the storage bays in the motorhome as we travel.
We have a few more things to complete during our stay in Clayton before we head south. Our immediate plans are incomplete, but we will be back in our former home town of York, PA the third or fourth week of August for a two month stay.
More on that later . . .
Oh, the Places They Go! 
York, PA looks forward to your arrival!
Great job Jessica!
Love the inflatable kayak!
Fran’s mom lives in a lovely area. We’ve only driven through there on a loop drive from DC to Montreal and Quebec, but have it on our list to return to the Thousand Islands to explore the area someday. Congrats to Jessica on the run.
Erin, you definitely should stop and spend a little time if you get back to the Thousand Island area again. But try before/after July and August. There are very few parks and those that are here are often filled with summer permanents. Thanks goodness we have a place to park the MH and have some electricity. The river is so beautiful, clear, and clean. Our favorite activity is to go down and sit by the water and read with a coffee.
Great parking place for your visit.
Lovely photo of the three of you. Mom looks great.
Clayton looks like a lovely town.
Congratulations to Jessica. Great job girl! So happy to see mom still involved.
You bought a inflatable kayak? Is this because y’all are going to Florida this winter? Kelly and Dave just tried kayaking when they were in Cancun. They loved it. Hope you continue to enjoy that beautiful weather. Miss you!
How neat you got a kayak! That’s one that Hans has been looking at too. It will be perfect for your winter in FL! Sounds like some good times with family. Lisa
Hi Friends Looks like you got your new kayak and are enjoying it. We have sure missed kayaking while Bob’s arm heals. We are in Bend, OR and there are so many beautiful places that we could have used it. Your kayak looks perfect. The sides are much lower than ours and I see that you bought the inflatable seats in which you sit higher. It looks very comfortable. Bob got his cast off yesterday and everything looks good. His wrist is still stiff but he will have to work at moving it. Attached is our revised 2014 travel schedule. I have changed our travel schedule again for 2014 as I do not want to go anywhere near the Midwest during hurricane season. We will get the coach worked on while we are in Morgan Hill this fall instead of going to the factory next year. Hope that somewhere along the way we will see you again. We move on to the Columbia Gorge tomorrow for a weeks stay. The Gorge of very unique and beautiful. We always enjoy our time there. Stay safe and happy. Love Sandy and Bob
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:08:27 +0000 To: randssilva@hotmail.com
What a nice looking town. We used to camp somewhere in the Thousand Islands when I was a kid. The only memory I have is that it always rained when we were there!
Glad I finally caught up with your travels. I love the three generation photo. How lucky you are to still have your mom in your life. I have heard that the Thousand Islands area is quite beautiful. We will come somewhat close to that area in October when we visit the Finger Lakes region of NY.
Love the kayak purchase! It is one of our favorite things to do. Hope we can join you in Florida sometime this winter.
Your daughter’s 10K participation is great!
I know Clayton……we were there last year. And lucky enough to be invited on an outing from the Antique Boat Museum, on board an old wooden boat. Equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, and lovely views we were out several hours touring the 1000 Islands. Thank you for bringing that to mind. It is a GREAT area to visit in the summer months. Love the water and the islands. Hope you are having a great time!!
Looked like a great day…nice blue skies even back east.
Box Canyon Mark
Thanks,Mark! We’ve had beautiful weather so far during our two weeks. It’s not always like that.
That Sea Eagle kayak looks very familiar. We have one ourselves and love it! Pam, I love the photo of you, your daughter, and mother. 🙂
I think we are going to get a lot of use out of kayak.
Thanks, LuAnn. It was great to have the three of us together.
Lovely ladies, three generations…
Kayak is one thing we have not ventured in yet so we will enjoy with you on your fun ride.