Nice Trip to Fort Drum (Watertown), NY

 (Fort Drum, NY) Hi 69 Lo 52 – We thought we were going to hitch up in the rain, but it didn’t happen.  It rained when we first got up then gave us a break and didn’t rain again until we were on the road. But it wasn’t much at a time. Just enough to keep turning the wipers on and off.

After we went up and down the hills around Colden, the land flattened out and we had no more hills to deal with. We took the NY State Thruway out of Buffalo, past Rochester, and to Syracuse, where we turned north on I-81 to Watertown and Ft. Drum Army Base. The trip took 5 hours (and almost $30 total in tolls).
There are a lot of deer crossing signs that give a specific distance, sometimes as little as a half mile. Jim wondered why the deer only cross in those designated areas. Is that the only area they're allowed to cross? (Ok, we're joking.)


When we go to the Ft. Drum base gate, the guard had Jim open the door to the RV and he went inside to make sure no one was stowed away inside. That was a first for us.


Ft. Drum is home to the 10th Mountain Division. They specialize in winter fighting, mainly in mountainous areas. It's a big base, with wide 4-lane boulevards, and when we got here there was very little road traffic. Very nice for finding our way around. We got set up in site #8 in Remington Park RV Campground.


It's a small park, only 12 sites, but all of them are pull-thrus. They have a small travel trailer on each site that they rent out. When you bring in your own RV they move their trailer off the reserved site to make room.


These are the rental trailers that belong to the base.


The road coming in. It's gravel but very smooth.



We ate dinner at the Enlisted Dining Facility (Chow Hall). Some bases let retired military eat at the dining facilities, and it's a real treat. Of course we were the oldest ones in the building. :)  All the YOUNG men around sure brought back memories of our military days. Full meal, all you can eat, for only $4.25 each. What a deal!


We’re settled in for the night. Tomorrow we plan to stay on base and do some shopping at the PX and commissary.