DAY 8- Cumberland Maryland to Watkins Glen, New York sept 17

10/30- Below, in red,  I have added Gene's and Barry's write up for the day. They were very prompt in getting it to me, but I neglected to add it here.

This was a day of many choices, all culminating in a Party and Birthday Party with the Western New York Morgan Club and other Morgan Owners in Watkins Glen.

Several of our group had previously purchased tickets to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. (photos by Colin), so they were up very early in order to join in the 8:30 AM tour. Unfortunately, Grant and Helen found out there are 2 towns of the same name, so never found the house to visit.

Fallingwater by Colin C

Falling water by Colin C

Falling water by Colin C

Philip and I alone decided to take the Bedford Covered Bridges tour of 4 bridges not too far from one another and pretty much on route.  While on the tour, we passed several Morgans going the opposite direction, and then later found out that Ken had led a group astray, going an extra 32 miles from Bedford before looking for the bridges.

Claycomb Bridge

Kniseley Bridge

Aero at Kniseley Bridge

Snook's Bridge

Bowser ridge

After continuing on up the road, we went into Lockhaven, a recommended lunch stop. The Old Corner Tavern had been plugged into the GPS, but when we arrived there, the place looked like it wasn’t open, and looked rather questionable. However, we parked, and I walked up the street and determined that indeed it was open and quite busy. Around the same time, Marj and Bart drove up, so we had a delicious lunch together. 

Lunch with Marj & Bart

As we needed to get to Watkins Glen for organization of the planned evening events, we decided to skip the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. We took the fast road to Wellsboro, which turned out to be fortunate, as those who took PA-287 found it was closed, and had to take lengthy alternative routes.  I heard that some folks made it to the Grand Canyon and found it to be lovely, but I don’t have any photos.

Members of the Western NY Morgan Club were awaiting our arrival. We can’t thank Annabelle (widow of well known Morganeer Bob T), Desi and John for all their preparation in getting the club members together to meet up with us.

As it was Harry’s birthday this day, I had arranged with Desi and Annabelle to pick up cupcakes for a Birthday Celebration.  Harry was Steve’s temporary navigator for the week, and we had told Steve that we needed Harry at the hotel by 5 PM for the celebration.

We all gathered in at outdoor restaurant at the  Watkins Glen Harbor Inn to celebrate, but no Harry or Steve.  

Switch to Plan B- have the party after dinner at the Seneca Lodge (they had said we could NOT have it inside there, which had been our original plan).

It was getting dark, and the organizers were getting concerned about leading us on a tour of the Old Watkins Glen Race Track. They had concerns about deer getting on the road. We were then organized into the fast group and the slower group by John  to do the tour, the slower group being those Morgans who couldn’t climb the first hill rapidly. In our Aero, we were placed in the fast group.

Lining Up for Running the Track

We headed out on the tour, following Grant in his Aero. After  heading up the hill and 4 turns, we lost Grant, and subsequently never did find our way back to the race route, despite having a map of the old track (the signposts aren’t the same). We had to ask a local how to get back to Watkins Glen after getting thoroughly lost. Of course we hadn’t brought our GPS as we were being led. We heard some made it close to 100 mph on this public road.

Dinner was planned at the Seneca Lodge, so eventually we headed over there. Many had already eaten by the time we arrived, but not Steve and Harry. Where were they?

Finally, Steve and Harry arrived and had dinner.  We managed to keep most of the group around to celebrate Harry’s birthday outside of Annabelle’s room at the Lodge.

Harry's Birthday

 We presented MOA Rallye Plaques to Annabelle and  Desi for all their work, 

Presentations to Annabelle and Desi with Elaine and John

and Stan presented an Australian Club 50^th Anniversary Badge to Annabelle, as Bob had also been a big collector of Morgan badges.

Presentation by Stan

It was a great day, and again, many thanks to all those WNYMC members and others who came out to greet and meet with us.

"This was the Fallingwaters day, terminating at Watkins Glen after minimum of 260 miles depending on your route and choices. Many of the group had left early for their booked tours of Fallingwater, so only a few of us had breakfast together. We planned to do the covered bridges and the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvannia, while others wanted to see the fort near Lockhaven. 

4 cars left together, manouvuring through the construction site surrounding the hotel to get petrol and then set off for Bedford, where 3 cars followed the directions to the 4 covered bridges, and were surprised to meet Elaine and Philip apparently doing the route in the opposite direction - it turned out there were 2 opposing sets of directions.  We recommenced the route for the Grand Canyon, with a lunch stop where Patsy had the best fruit pie she had ever tasted, and despite driving hard, we realised we were in danger of arriving late for the Watkins Glen arrangements. We were texting to try and decide if we should take the side route to the Canyon, when we took a wrong turn, so stopped at a small local diner to ask directions, and were told we could not "drive through" the canyon area, there was only the one north entrance; then a customer told us the main route was closed, and the detour added miles. So after we reluctantly decided to go straight through to the hotel,  Janet and Nigel had an ice cream. We still had to drive fairly fast to get to Watkins Glen in time, only to find the 5 star hotel had an elegant setting, beautifully set out bathrooms with extremely fancilly "fanned" toilet paper and towels but no tea or coffee available except between 6 and 11 am. Luckily we had brought our own kettle, so Janet and Nigel came for tea.

We later heard other stories of long detours and hard day's driving, so it seemed no one had an easy day.

We all drove off to meet the local Car Club, and they led us around the original Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Track 6.6 miles through the park and the town - it was very clear why they created the new track away from the town.

We all converged on the Seneca Lodge for dinner with the club, to learn some members had driven long distances to meet with us, and then got together outside to eat cupcakes and celebrate Harry's birthday, before going to bed."