Yogi, Boo-Boo and the Buffaloes

Driving in NY State is always a challenge. We got off the NY Thruway and headed on narrow, twisting roads to our campgrounds, Yogi Bear Jellystone Park. On the banks of the nearly waterless Wallkill River, we were greeted with signs like, “Please Feed the Bears” and life-size statues of Yogi and Boo-Boo. We had one option for our site- the campground was completely filled for the weekend invasion of family tenters. Once we got settled, found that cable would work (barely), we got to appreciate our little haven in the trees….separated from the hoards of families, tents, firepits and swirling kids in helmets riding their bikes.

It was hard to believe that these NY towns are so close to NYC. There is no evidence of the trendy towns of the Berkshires, filled with antique shops and farmers markets. The towns here are real – with cafes (not Starbucks), small post offices, libraries, old time hardware stores and courteous people. There’s some evidence of "suburbification" – some of the farm fields being converted to McMansions with huge perfectly mowed lawns.

On the track of the Harlows, we searched local libraries and historical societies- checking out old maps, books and files. In the County offices of Orange and Ulster Counties, we found old wills and deeds. Strange to find wills dating from 1797 . John claimed that our family search was over – so we had our “graduation dinner” in New Platz at the Indian restaurant. Somehow, I’m just not sure that it’s truly over….

Kingston, NY Where the buffalo roam…
We had another reason for being in this part of NY State...installing our motorcycle lift on the back of the motorhome. The "gold standard" for motorcycle lifts is a company called, Overbilt. It's a true family operation…everyone is related – all the kids work either in the office or in the “factory”. Art, the owner, has quite an operation. He just closed a deal with Blue OX for an semi-exclusive relationship with them- they handle the manufacturing and get the use of the Overbilt name. Art’s going to be handling “R&D” and doing installations. We got the full tour of his shop. Across the road from the shop is his farm. Art and Darlene have a home on the farm- next door to his father- at 79, still riding motorcycles.

And the best part- Art has a herd of buffaloes—no plans to sell them as buffalo burgers. He told the story of when they delivered the herd. Evidently you have to introduce buffaloes to a new environment during the day so they have time to acclimate to their new surroundings. Well, they were delivered at dusk. The buffalo took a few laps around the farm fence- then went wild- taking off at speeds of 40 mph – straight through the fence and across the highway. 3 of them were killed on the highway in front of the farm…some of them made it onto the Thruway and met oncoming cars. They had no choice but to get to the loose animals and shoot them as quickly as they could. A sad ending for the loose buffalo…