You never know where life will lead.

Today I journeyed back in time to visit Oneida, New York, where I had worked for several years. The area was a farming community, small town, with friendly folks when I worked there.

Drove the New York State Thruway to my destination. Stopped to use the EV chargers at the rest stop. Found them problematic, and their foreign customer service folks clueless. I left without a charge but much fodder for an email to the New York State public servants. Hope this helps to improve this service. Sad to hear that this contract service is using this brand of EV chargers at all rest areas.

Seems the chargers installed by the contract service at these sites are unable to accept charge cards, and being in the cold attempting to access this service for 20 minutes with assist from a gift shop attendant was not pleasant. The company’s foreign customer service folks were pleasant, but clueless. I left upset, and without a charge. Was hopeful Turning Stone Casino would have bountiful resources, however, found all 4 EV chargers for my vehicle in use, but the 10 Tesla chargers available and empty. Another helpful email was sent to Turning Stone this a.m. I left without visiting but met a helpful Valet Parking Manager who knew of nearby charging stations.

Luckily, these were in the direction of the route I was taking, and available.

Turning Stone Casino has become a complex of monoliths since visiting over 35 years ago. Some pictures:

The Casino has definitely created an impact in this area. Many new strip malls, fast food places, housing, and apartment dwellings have cropped up since last visit over 35 years ago, and how the little town of Oneida, N.Y. has changed.

Am grateful our indigenous population has blossomed in this enterprise.

Next stop: EV Charging, and was grateful to have helpful Anthony from the EV charging company able to get me hooked on for a charge. Found a movie theater in the adjacent strip mall and spent my next 3 hours viewing 3 of the 2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films. Here they are:

• How Do You Measure a Year? In this 29 minute film a father films his daughter annually till her 18th birthday. Interesting how much insight a child has.
• The Elephant Whisperers – A couple dedicates their lives to 2 orphaned elephants. What a beautiful story and a must see. It is a photographic masterpiece.
• Stranger at the Gate – A man who visits an Islamic Temple to murder the inhabitants is transformed and becomes Islamic.

And in closing a picture of Chittenango Falls, another part of the visit..