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Once at the airport we got the paperwork done then headed up to collect our car. We was given the choice of a Toyota Corolla,ford focus and a couple of Hyundai's. Being that I was driving I had the choice and having owned a Toyota and a ford I took the Toyota which was a good choice as once I turned the key it read the total mileage of 1400 miles!The brand new car was loaded with our stuff and we was on our way,first we had a quick look at Arlington cemetery which has vast fields of graves for the U.S. Servicemen and women who's lives have been lost. We walked up to the John Kennedy burial site before leaving. I thought the whole concept was a bit strange at the cemetery in the way that there is tours on buses around the site which made it seem a bit more like an attraction than somewhere to pay your respects. Surely if someone wants to pay their respects they should use their own two feet to take them which is no effort compared to what the people buried here went to to ensure the freedom of their people (other than if they are disabled etc) not on tour buses but that's just my opinion.
We left the cemetery then had a quick look at the pentagon before going to the Walmart and collect the camping bits and some food. One stop at a Wendy's for some lunch on the outskirts of the city in the ghetto then we was on our way looking forward to getting away from all the busy city. We must have spent about 3 hours getting 30 odd miles due to the traffic which was fun, although it seemed like we escaped the city at the right time as although the sunny weather had broken by now and there was rain,sometimes torrential with the odd echo of thunder above us, over the radio there was severe warnings of a storm with flooding and strong winds hitting where we had just left, advising people to get indoors on the lower floors of buildings and wait there.
Eventually we got away from the traffic and was on our way through Pennsylvania heading north west to a free campsite about 30 minutes short of New York State. Because of the traffic the original arrival time of 9pm had moved back to 11:30pm so we was worried the park would be shut and we would have to find somewhere to sleep in the car for the night. On the road we went through the hills and with that the cloud was low in places with us driving through it. We saw sun followed less than a few minutes later rain so intense I was crawling at 5mph with zero visibility and winds followed by more sun! The weather was crazy. It would be nice then in an instant darken over and the clouds erupt before clearing as quick as it came.
By around 11pm we was out in the middle of no where heading towards this campsite so pulled over to go to the toilet and have a quick break. Once out the car the incredible silence was frightening and we began to doubt the whole camping situation! When stood there surrounded by darkness we noticed some blue flashes all around us in the bushes everywhere which turned out to be fireflies! It was an incredible site and I tried to photo them but with no joy. Unfortunately the beauty of the fireflies didn't take away the sketchy feelings we had about camping out there but we carried on anyway and eventually arrived at the camp site. Once down the track we read the sign which stated no vehicles and the camp site closed which was excellent so we then headed towards another campsite which was down the road. This was also already shut for the night. So then we decided to just carry on and head to another free camp site near Letchworth state park. We decided the next day we would try to camp the nights at the park which would cost us rather than hope the free parks would be ok!
On the way we had seen plenty of deer near the side of the road and crossing sometimes but a fox came running out and it was too late so unfortunately went under the wheel adding more gloom to the night. The only plus side was the car wasn't damaged in the process!
Arriving at the free camp site it was around 1:30am and although it looked a bit more promising it still seemed to be shut so we just went back down the road to a lay by on a quiet street and had a horrible few hours sleep in the car! The problem is if you park or pitch up a tent on private land you can go to jail it's a serious offense, so when I woke around 6am and started seeing cars moving from the houses I got out the sleeping bag, waking Rich in the process and got us out of there on our way to Letchworth state park.
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