Hey, Phade, anyway I could be adopted into your family? :-) We have been interested in buying land in the Southern Tier -- something we could camp on in the summer and hunt on on the fall. Don't imagine it will ever happen on my salary and the wife is home with the kids. I've wondered about the tax auctions. I have lots of access here in the Rochester area to a few acres here and a few there and it's great to have access so close, but it also means worry about houses, scads of hunters, and the constant drone of planes, trains, and automobiles, and always asking for permission or waiting for an invitation.