Pennsylvania to Kentucky

Wednesday, October 9th
Ruined Plans

Yesterday we spent the day touring Amish Dutch Country.  I had woke with a back muscle spasm, but I had managed to get around.

Today, was a different story.  I was going to spend the day flat on my back.
SO... our plans of the York Harley Factory were out.

I'm so glad I have an understanding husband.  He didn't hold it against me.  He took care of me.



Thursday, October 10th
York and Gettysburg

Today was Travel Day.  Our 3 night reservation was up.  Fortunately, my back was a little better... I could get out of bed!

We had Google-Earthed both the York Harley Factory and Gettysburg Visitor Center, and saw that they did have parking for RV's.  So we set out for a travel day with stops at York and Gettysburg mapped out.

Both stops went smoothly... no getting lost or anything, but it was pouring rain all day, and the Big Rig parking lots aren't exactly close to the entrance, so we were a bit wet.

Harley Factory - York, PA

 

 

Gettysburg Museum & Visitor Center

 

The Museum & Visitor Center is not run by the Federal Government, so it was open.

But the National Park and Battlefield were closed due to the shutdown.

 

 

 

 

 

We landed at a Wal-Mart in Chambersburg, PA.  When we just need to stay the night, we are happy to stay for free in a Walmart parking lot.  This one was a good one.  It was a large parking lot so we able to park far enough away to be very comfortable. 

Friday, October 11th
 Happy Birthday, Mom!
Today is my Mom's 84th birthday.  Since she is in Oregon, I obviously was not there to join in the birthday celebration, but my sister Carol was there to fix her dinner and share in her special day.  Thank you Carol.

All my mom got from me was a phone call.   but if you know me... that is a big deal.

Meanwhile, back in the East...
It poured all night, so by morning, the Kayaks were full of water.  So Jeff put on his rain gear (I don't have any) and we tackled getting those weighted Kayaks off the rack and dumped.  So that this didn't keep happening, we needed to flip them over on the rack... and in order to do that we needed to remove our center bar.  So Jeff did all that, as well as replace a blown fuse under the hood.

 Pennsylvania to Maryland to West Virginia

 We drove 200 miles from Pennsylvania, into and out of Maryland, and into West Virginia.

It's not always easy to get a good pic of the State sign... especially when competing with the windshield wipers!

Sometimes we stop at the State Welcome Center... We did at West Virginia.

 

 

...and had a little fun

 

Again, we only needed a place to park for the night... so I found us another Walmart.  This one was in Clarksburg, WV.

About our Walmart stays... first I find them on our route, then I call ahead to see if they allow overnight parking, then I look the address up on Google Earth so we can see what it looks like.

This Walmart parking lot was a lot smaller, and Jeff's initial reaction was "I don't feel comfortable staying here".  But I was determined that we would make it work... so I talked him into parking, so we could walk up to Ruby Tuesday, then we would deal with it when we got back. 

Our first and only experience to a Ruby Tuesday was 3 years ago in North Platte, Indiana.  and it was a great experience, so we were anxious to try it again.   This Ruby Tuesday experience was just as good, and soon Jeff was "okay" with our staying in this lot.  Yay!  Also, a couple from Ontario came in with their motorhome, so we "teamed up" and made it our own little RV park strip.  Sometimes things are more comfortable if you're not alone.


Saturday, October 12th
 I'm a big shot!

Our next planned stop was Lexington, Kentucky... 300 miles away.  We could do it in one day, but why?  So we stopped at 130 miles in Cross Lanes, WV at Mardi Gras Casino where we could stay the night for free.

This place had 3 or 4 parking lots and none of them designated for RV's... but I had called ahead and was told we were Welcome to stay the night.  Usually the thing to do is park away from the building... and with all their parking, this wasn't hard to do.  We asked the security on duty about moving to the far end of this lot and unhooking so we could go get fuel for the generator.  He didn't see a problem with it, so WHY AM I A BIG SHOT??  Because while Jeff was scouting out the parking lot, I jumped in the truck and pulled the 5er WAY across the parking lot, across a lane of traffic even... to the end of the lot.  THEN I backed us up onto some levelers!  Whoo Hoo!  Ya I know, more like "Whoopty-Do" probably... but I FELT like a big shot!

 An explanation of the above collage of photos:
The top photo is where we initially parked and leveled and unhooked.
The bottom photos are where we ended up staying.  While in the casino, they paged the owner of a fifth wheel with Oregon plates... that would be us!  Jeff wasn't there at the moment, so I went to the security office and stated our case, and they stated theirs.  Apparently the night security had come on duty and they thought where we parked was unacceptable.  They wanted us to move to their undesignated "designated RV parking".  So it was a little work, but very little since we hadn't pulled the slides out... so we did.  End of Story.


 Sunday, October 13th
Kentucky!

We had a reservation at Fort Boone State Park, out of Lexington, KY.  This park is popular, and not easy to get a reservation.  We managed to get a site that would accommodate us for 3 nights. 
It's nice to have hookups... after 3 nights without.  Unlimited water is the best thing about hookups.  The next thing is knowing what time it is when we wake up, and not having to go turn the generator on.

This place was SERIOUS about October and Halloween!

Monday, October 14th
Lexington

Our plans for the day were to check out Lexington.  We had some packages we needed to get put in the mail, there was a 12 mile bicycle trail called "Legacy Trail", a Harley Dealership, and there were 3 breweries in town, so we had selected one.

We took a beautiful back country road to Lexington.

 

What are these?

From a distance, I thought "I didn't know tennis balls grew on trees!"

 



Our first stop in Lexington was to be the Post Office to get that out of the way... but nobody told us it was Columbus Day!

So we headed for the local Harley Dealership...

Man O'War Harley Davidson

We made our usual dealership shot glass purchase

Next up was the Legacy Trail.  An access to the trail was at the YMCA. 

We rode only 3 miles of the trail.  There were parts of it that were nice, but much of it went through parking lots and across or along streets.  It's great that they have a designated walking or biking trail for the locals, but its not that great for visitors.

After those grueling 6 miles, we were ready for a trip to a local brewery.
We had chose WEST SIXTH BREWING.  The reason we chose it was that they had 10 beers on Tap that were ALL their brews.  When we go to a brewery, it is to experience THEIR brews.  To me, a brewery with 32 beers on tap, with only 3 of them being their own... is no different than going to any bar.

 

Jeff selected their West Sixth IPA (of course) and after tasting a few, I went with their Pumpkin Ale.

Both were very good.

 

Our bartender was Aaron... who was very friendly and eager to please.  He was good at his job.

When he went off duty, he sat down with us and chatted until we left.

 

Tuesday, October 15th
 Kayaking Kentucky River

 Although it wasn't real warm, it was warm enough... and we were eager to get the kayaks in some water.  Besides, when would we be on the Kentucky River again?

It wasn't the most beautiful water, for sure...
                                          but there is history here!

 Ever watch the show "Daniel Boone"?  This is his territory.

After our kayaking, we went over to the Fort, only to find it closed.  So we drove into Winchester to look around and finally mail our packages.  We got the packages mailed, but didn't really see anything else we wanted to see.  So we went home and did laundry!

Wednesday, October 16th

Onward to Tennessee

Today was travel day... we would have stayed put another day or so, but our reservation was up and someone else was coming in.

Before we hooked up, we drove over to the Fort.  It was open, but even though we were staying at the park, they wanted $8 per person to look around.  We thought that was ridiculous... so we took a few photos and left.

 

Fort Boonseborough

After our brief visit, we hit the road for Tennessee.  But this is the end of this post.

I will pick up here on the next post!

Hope you're enjoying where you're at!

 

Thanks for checking in. 

Massachusetts to Pennsylvania

Saturday, October 5th
One of our Shortest travel days, and maybe our Worst!

The day started with us leaving the Wompatuck SP near Boston, and on the way out coming across a bicycle event where they had placed an inflatable arch across the road!!  What??  We would not fit under this arch.  This is the road in and out of the park... the park has RV's.  What were they thinking??  One of the event workers stopped us and said "you wont fit under there... you will have to turn around"  Two Words I had for her... DUH  and  NO!  

We were there awhile... so I'll just jump to the resolution.  What we DIDN'T do was take a knife to their inflatable arch so we and other RV's could cross.  What we DID do was back-up with Rangers controlling traffic, and follow the lead of a Ranger to another way out. 
End of that Story... Just the Beginning of the Stress.

Traveling these New England States pulling a fifth-wheel trailer is not our idea of a good time.  It can be beautiful, but the navigating, and constant maneuvering keeps us from viewing much from the road.  We have found roads to be poorly maintained with potholes, low hanging branches, narrow with power poles or mail boxes nearly on the road, signs hidden by bushes, and careless drivers. 

And even the highways, whether they are State highways or Interstates... they just wind around all over the place!  It's not like in the West, where we can pick a route and stay on it. 
I am not criticizing here... this is just the way it is because these States are so much older and so populated!  But it's not what we are used to nor are we comfortable with it.

This was our route on this short 55 mile day.  This isn't the entire 55 mile route, it excludes the side roads... this is JUST the Highways:
     - South on SR-228
     - North on SR-3
     - South on I-93
     - South on I-95
     - South on I-295
     - South on SR-146
Of course this gets further complicated with Fall construction and the dreaded DETOUR signs!

By the time we arrived at our first stop, we were frazzled and cranky.  We needed fuel, and could not find an RV friendly diesel stop.
We ended up staying in the parking lot of Twin River Casino in Rhode Island. 

We didn't play a lot, but we did check it out, and relaxed in our little cozy home... dreading tackling the roads again tomorrow... but hopeful that traffic would be light with it being Sunday.


Sunday, October 6th
Four States in One Day!

I recently posted "3 States in 1 Day" and thought that was good.  But now we beat that!  It sounds impressive... but its not that hard in some places of the United States.

We left the Casino lot around 10:00. 
We drove from Rhode Island to Connecticut to New York to Pennsylvania.

See... here's the proof! 

 It was a rainy day, but not bad.  The day started with our missing the turn for our first highway of the day.  So I did my own "recalculating" and we got turned around and back on our planned route.

 Like I said... we had been unable to find a fuel stop.  So the night before, using my map program and Google Earth, I found a gas station on US-6 with a diesel pump that looked like we could get into.  We did... but not without a lot of contemplating and maneuvering.

So now we had a full tank... that took a lot of the stress off!

Since it was Sunday, which usually means less traffic, we were going to attempt a 300+ mile day to hopefully get us out of the "rat race".
It turned out to be a better drive day, although at first we had our usual road changes, and frustrations with no truck stops, no rest areas, no convenient pull-offs.  Finally... once in New York, there was a Rest Area!

 

I didn't have to beg Jeff NOT to take this exit...

 

I found a Wal-Mart in Wilkes-Barre, PA that we could stay at...

and this turned out to be our best Wal-Mart or Casino boondocking stay yet!

It wasn't just a Wal-Mart... it was a plaza with many stores, and many restaurants. 

We walked across the parking lot to Red Robin and had a wonderful dinner and a few beers with good fun service... for a great price!
Then we walked home and watched the evening football game!
There's just something about knowing you're being self-sufficient.  I love stays like this!


Monday, October 7th
Stormy Weather

The next morning we debated on what to do.  We had dry camped for 2 days and were low on generator fuel and fresh water.  But there were storm warnings in effect.  We don't like to drive in high winds or pouring rain or especially be on an open freeway with a tornado!  And that was the forecast warning for the day.

The weather was calm at the moment, and given our situation, we made the decision to travel.
We hadn't gone far before the storm rolled in.  First the winds that blew us around a bit and some rain... then sheet rain that windshield wipers cant keep up with, and fog.  But we didn't get hit by a tornado!!

With the help of our Guardian Angels, we arrived safely at our destination in Lancaster, PA.
Having missed visiting an Amish community in Ohio, that was our reason for coming to Lancaster.

We selected a site, set up, and stayed put... Except for going out to do laundry.  We were soaked from head to toe from our earlier fuel stop, then selecting and setting up at our site.  So doing laundry was a must... but that was all we were doing.  This was another day that left us a bit frazzled.


Tuesday, October 8th
Amish Dutch Country

We woke up refreshed and ready to see the area.
First stop...  Lancaster Visitor Center.

We sometimes just look around at Visitor Centers, and grab a few brochures that may be helpful, but this place had way too much to figure out things for ourselves.  So we asked one of the men at the counter for some advice.  He took out a map of Lancaster County, and highlighted spots where we may want to stop.  We had told him that we were looking to see the Amish farms, so he pointed out back roads where the Amish live.  He let us know that any of the stores along the main streets were not operated by the Amish... that if the Amish sold any goods there would be a sign at their driveway.  He pointed out one Amish farm where the family had set up a storefront out front of their farm... so that was one definite stop for us.

So with map in hand...  we were off to visit Amish country!

Our first stop on our "tour" was Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA.

We really had no interest in this place... to us it was just another tourist trap.

But they had a parking lot, so we could walk down the road a bit...



I'll let the pictures speak for themselves... these are a few of our favorites.

 

 

this young girl sold us the most incredible buttery soft pretzel I've ever had...
I seriously could have eaten a dozen of them.

This is something we don't see at Costco in Oregon!

it seemed like it was Laundry Day at every farm

Coming and Going through the City of Lancaster was a little stressful... really narrow, crowded streets.  But I thought this was interesting.  The buildings, which seemed to be residences, were connected into continuous walls.

Sorry I am so late on my posts.

We are in Kentucky as I complete this post.  Hopefully I can get another post done soon.

 

Thank you for reading... We do appreciate you checking in on us.

Erie, PA and Niagara Falls!

 

I feel like we are experiencing things so fast that I'm losing track of where we've been as soon as we move on.  It's all very exciting and new!  I don't want to miss posting on a place... so I better get something posted before I have even more to share.

Our stay at Erie, PA was the place I was to post about next.

 

The best part about our time there was Presque Isle SP...

which is a 6 mile long Peninsula into Lake Erie and forming Presque Isle Bay. 

 

 

The RV park we stayed at was at the entrance to the Peninsula/SP... so we were able to ride our bicycles from our site to the bicycle trail, where we rode the entire Peninsula on the 13.5 mile bike trail. 

It was amazing!  There was plenty to see along the way, and with history to tell.

so we made many stops along the trail.

 

 

It was also amazingly exhausting!  It a very humid day in the 80's.

We aren't in great shape (we're working on it)

The last 3 miles I was really pushing myself, but we made it home.

 

 

 

We also did our other new favorite activity while there...

We put the Kayaks in Lake Erie!

 Actually, it was the bay we put the kayaks in... and even in the bay, the water got VERY rough when we got far out... in fact a wave came right over the top into Jeff's kayak.

Our arms definitely got a workout getting ourselves back to shore.

 

Here is the shore of Lake Erie (not the bay).  Them's some waves for a Lake!

 

 

So that was our stay at Erie, Pennsylvania.

 

Next up was NEW YORK!  and NIAGARA FALLS!!

I've wanted to see Niagara Falls for a long time...

 

but just as exciting, was that we were going to meet up with RV friends, Steve & Roberta.

We met in January 2012 in Southern California. 

We traveled together for a bit, boondocking near Yuma, AZ and goint into Mexico together.

 

It was SO good to see them again!

We met up at Cinderella campground, where we all stayed 2 nights.

 

It was so awesome... they had been in the area a few days, so they had already been to the falls and knew their way around... so for 2 days they did the driving and gave us a tour! 

 

 

 

 

We went to Niagara Falls, New York, the afternoon we arrived.

 

Those are some incredible Water Falls!

But...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday we went to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side...

Now THAT was Wow Incredible!

 

 

 

 

The view from the Canada side is just a lot better... same falls, just a different view.

Now we've done it... We've seen Niagara Falls!

 

The next day we parted ways, but headed in the same direction (sort of)

We both travel without a whole lot of planning, and like to be free to change our route.

We will meet up again on our way to Maine,

but for now, they went to Alexandria Bay and we are in Saratoga Springs.

We will both be in Vermont, tomorrow!

Vermont is another place I have wanted to see for a long time.

 

I'll be sure to get pictures!