Day 48, Friday May 20, 2016, From MD through PA to OH

Day 48, Friday May 20, 2016, From MD through PA  to OH 

This will be the last blog of the trip.  Sorry to end, and as Ruth said, “Can’t we keep on going”?

But it has been a great trip with notably the birds and lighthouses, and wildlife and backwoods roads, but also the people we have met along the way. I especially love to meet the clerks and wait staff and workers in the businesses. Today is good example. I needed to put my spare on  the right rear trailer tire as it was wearing very strangely. The young man who assigned the job in the HSL tire store near Belafonte PA, got one of his workers to do the job. He was cordial, and friendly, came over the the trailer, we talked about it, and directed me where to park the rig. He saw that the plate holding the spare was bent and took time to straighten it for me before he put the other tire back on. It was a team effort with two men helping to finish and put the roper air in, and I was out of there in 15 minutes. The rate was very reasonable ($5.00) complete. 

But this was the ways it was the entire trip. Only once did I have someone assist us who was less than friendly and smiling. Could've been his bad day. I still pray for the young man who’s favorite Uncle was dying that week.  (Eric)

The sign on the Maryland side of the Mason AND Dixon line.

Sarah and Ruth playing a game of Othello.

Emily sets up the game of "Mancala"

We spent sometime wth the Simmons on Thursday and they had a late “shoot” practice so we declined as it would have been quite late.  We played some games and talked again about summer plans and work projects. Adam has a part time job and that’s probably enough during the school year/

This morning (it was a glorious day) we worked our way north to York and Harrisburg , up I-83, and followed the Susqehanna River almost all the way to I-80 and then took a westerly turn.  We passed Puxatawney but didn’t see “Pete”.The HUGE Lordsburg Chevrolet plant is on that route, It is massive and reminds me of the Flint auto plants in their heyday.  Ruth looked for birds along the way but there were few. We did identify  23 birds today, five of them being in the Park after we set up.

The Susquehanna River 

Some of the steep cliffs along the River

Typical view from west and central Pennsylvania.

Lots of snall farms and many hills.

Valleys add to the steepness of the view.

Again one of the features of the land in PA, moving from east to west along the I-80 corridor, is the degree of slope of the mountains and hills.They become less steep and stretched out as you go further west, Just before the Ohio /Penn line, they seem to almost flatten out. The Adirondack ridge (Poconos too) provides the up lift and being the oldest range into USA they have had a lot of time to erode and begin to flatten out.

Tomorrow we will head to Grand Rapids via I-80 and head up US 131 where we will get the vehicles washed at the truck wash at 76th street. Some rain expected in the AM but none further west. Thanks for tagging along and see you on the next journey.

One of the events today was the Turning Over of the odometer
to the 100,000 mile mark.(This is an '07 model)

Our campsite near Streetsboro OH (40 miles from PA)