Day 78 Up and Down to Cooperstown August 28, 2001

! got to see the weather this morning. It was raining pretty hard in
Rochester, but not due to Syracuse 'til about 1 pm. ! figured ! could outrun
it w/ a 4 hour head start. ! went a few miles and stopped for a bagel. When !
came out it was starting to rain. ! put on the rain covers and headed off. It
got stronger. After 3 miles ! pulled into a church to wait it out. An hour
later it was just sprinkling so off ! went. ! had estimated that today
wouldn't be a long day. It just didn't seem like ! was making any progress on
the map. ! compared the distance ! had done so far to what was left and it
looked like a whole bunch and ! was now behind going into the hills. The
hills got bigger and steeper. Hot and humid. Progress was slow. ! didn't
really have any choice. ! want to make Albany, NY tomorrow so @ least half
today and there weren't any campsites closer. About 60 miles in ! got a big
descent. ! looked @ MY computer. 28 mph. Ok. ! looked again. 39 mph. That is
way too fast w/ all the weight on the very back. It started to shimmy. ! hit
the brakes. It got worse. Now ! was on the wrong side of the road looking for
a yard to crash in. It's best to pick a spot if you can. ! had slowed a
little. The weaving was getting worse. Then a moment of lucidity. When your
trailer is shimmying accelerate out of it. ! did. It worked. ! could slow
down now. Just have to wait for all the traffic to get out of MY way so ! can
get back to the right lane. Maybe ! should move the laptop up to the front of
the trailer. ! was getting close to the campsite when ! spotted a KOA sign. !
figured that was where ! was going. They wanted $23.50. ! talked them down to
$10. The hills just went up and down all day. Mostly up. !'m probably a few
hundred feet up now. ! must have climbed a couple thousand though. !'ll have
no trouble sleeping tonight. On to Albany tomorrow. ! think it's starting to
rain now. !'m actually about 14 miles north of Cooperstown. 73 miles.