The day after that dinner with the Wilsons, we kind of just had a lazy day, finding out how long it was to Boston. Due to no cell coverage, Dad and I had to go into supermarket in Cooperstown to finally find bars on Dad's iPad. I just looked around at the different shoppers and talked to Dad a little. He was directing that a route to Boston, MA, was about 4 hours by car. That means about 6 by motorhome. Of course, we probably couldn't get into Boston, so remained 2 problems: We needed to find an R.V. Park at a reasonable distance to Boston, and yet not in a big city. Foxboro was that city.
Dad and I visited a body shop of Dad's friend father. We had a good talk with him.
While we were out, Dad told me stories about his childhood. We saw and talked about bundled hay and the use of cows. I said I've always wanted to milk a cow (foreshadowing).
We also stopped at a boat rental stand and got a brochure. Dad said he always wanted to ride on a boat on a finger lake, and that's what was close by. I was excited to ride on a finger.
Later, at home, (the RV) I went into the petting zoo at our current campground. Before telling you of the petting zoo episode, let me say that the campground we were at was mostly a trailer park.
It also looked pretty old and was tended by a few toothless older women.
It still was fun at the petting zoo though.
There were many exotic kinds of birds, a really loud and spectacular peacock, and other animals.
The only bad thing was, the brother of the friend we had met was shooting his water gun at the birds. I asked him nicely to quit.
He didn't.
I asked again.
Still he didn't stop.
One more time I asked him.
Same results.
I went off to tell someone with authority.
A teenager on a four wheeler who looked like he worked there was in my range of sight. The kid who had been shooting the birds yelled,"Okay, I'll stop!"
"Too late for that."
"Hi," I began to the teen,"What do you do if a guy starts shooting at the birds."
An old but firm looking woman was sitting behind him. She heard me.
"Oh, no, no one hurts the birds!" She then got up and firmly asked me where he was.
By this time (or so Rebecca knew) he was in the barn, hiding.
"Get out of there! Come HERE!"
Long story short, she took his water gun, gave him the riot act, and took him to his father. I was there to see the whole bit, sadly.
Then, after that, Rebecca and I went back to the petting zoo. Karen (the firm woman) asked us if we wanted to milk the cow. Dad said that would be, and I quote,"mighty fine". He asked what time. She said about two. Dad said we would be on a boat at that time and she said she could do five. Dad thanked her.
We ate lunch, and then at 1:45 we traveled to the marina. A middle aged man with a cap and a tall, thin brown haired lady with a red dress greeted us. They explained we would be renting their pontoon boat, a red, little craft. Gary (the man) showed Dad how to maneuver it, and showed him the paperwork he had to sign. Mom asked me to buy drinks (three waters and a coke) at the nearby restaurant, and Geri (the lady) offered to come with me. Coming back, with the drinks, Dad had learned the ways of the lake. Geri pushed us off, and Gary drove us out of the marina. Then he got off on another part of the dock, and told us to be back at 3:30, calling him 15 minutes before arrival.
Dad rode off.
In this finger lake we saw a tiny castle- looking, the restaurant where we had spent the night before, and many other things. The sky was sunny but not blinding, the fish in the water swimming elegantly, the motor buzzing, the wind swaying. It was so great...
Stretching my feet out on the front half of the boat, I slowly crept into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up and we were pulling into the marina. I had been awake for a while til I dozed, but I still slept for 15 minutes. At the dock, we said goodbye to Geri and Gary. They were very nice.
We went to the grocery store, then arrived back at the campground and rode the pony. I wasn't scared of that creature and it was very fun. But now for the cow.
We went into the barn, and there at the very entrance was the cow going,"MOO!" I was terrified.
Karen sat down on a stool by the cow, and asked,"Who's first?" All arms pointed towards me. I raised my hand anxiously. "You? Okay, come over here. Pull here and squeeze really quick and short. See?" I tried pulling the thing, felling weird. I pulled and nothing came out. I tried again, this time making it short and quick. Doing this many more times, I had a pretty good amount of milk in my bucket. Rebecca tried too and hit it straight on the mark.
Later, we had dinner, played a game with all of the trailer park kids, and had a fire. I went to sleep at like 11.
Farmer Andrew
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