All our paperwork for the scooter finally arrived and we were able
to start our travels. Only problem was we had to dig out from the snowfall of
the previous couple of days. It is not for nothing that Buffalo is known as
Blizzard city. This is unreal to us even though we come from 800 miles further
north, we cannot remember ever having been in conditions like it. It really
makes you understand the impact of the Gulf Stream in the UK. |
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After several days of fine weather which had almost melted the
winter snows, we had caught the back edge of a slow depression which dumped 15 in of
wet snow on us. The next county down got 30" ! It is easy to understand why
folk in this part of the country regard four wheel drive as a necessity. These
sort of conditions are not driveable in an RV. But it was almost spring and with the aid of a
tractor plow to clear the drive we were off. |
Once out of the drive the roads were clear and the weather fine. Heading
west we passed close to Lake Erie, often blamed for much of the snow and
then on into Pennsylvania, As we travelled south the snow gradually cleared.
200
miles later we camped for the night at Mercer PA on the Ohio border. We still
had six inches of snow on the roof (which lasted well into the following day)
and our water system was still full of antifreeze but we were out of the worst. |
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The following day we went into Youngstown to register the title and plate the
scooter. This caused considerable interest since most of the staff had
never seen the paperwork for a chinese scooter and had never registered a
scooter to a passport. The fact we obviously did not live at our Ohio address
was not of consequence. And my word that my UK driving licence covered
motorbikes proved sufficient. |
Then off down through Pennsylvania, past Pittsburgh and down into Maryland
and West Virginia to Shepherdstown where we were to
visit friends we had made when the Sheffield dance team came to the US in 1998. We
travelled interstates and paid the tolls (which were not expensive) in order to
save time. It still took six hours driving but the weather was good and the
driving easy. |
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