Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish Country, Lancaster, PA are all names that describe this area of Pennsylvania. I have never been here before, but I have developed an image in my mind of what I expected to see. As we got off the interstate in Lancaster County I was mightily disappointed. Highway 30 took us through the town of Lancaster and I was reminded of hundreds of tourist towns across America. Along both sides of the 4-lane highway were fast food and big chain restaurants, T-shirt shops, an outlet mall, even a place that offered buggy rides. This was not the image in my mind. I’m sure, if we had gotten off Hwy 30, we would have found more of what I expected, but this first impression saddened my soul.

Our campground is in the small community of Strasburg about 5 miles from Lancaster. Strasburg is the place of my Amish dreams. There are large beautiful farms side by side, in every direction, for as far as you can see. Main Street through town is littered with horse dung and the country road that passes by our campground has almost as much buggy traffic as motorized vehicles. I took this picture of the buggy from inside the Montana.

Strasburg is a small community of about 3000. The town is old, but very well maintained. We found a gravel parking lot where we left the truck and struck out on foot. A couple of the larger homes are B and Bs, but for the most part the houses looked like single family dwellings. There are a few shops selling items you would expect to see in this area. There was a small sandwich/ice cream shop, but no chain eateries of any kind. This is so refreshing. I haven’t seen any fresh produce stands. However, it is too late for strawberries and too early for everything else.

This is a great location for all kinds of sightseeing. Strasburg is only 50 miles from Philadelphia and 50 miles from Baltimore. Hershey, PA and all the chocolate you can stand is just around the corner. We are not going to be here long, but there are a few things we want to do. Valley Forge is probably on the top of our list. We also want to educate ourselves on the difference between Amish and Mennonites. Gene has his heart set on home baked pie so the search is on. This should be fun.

Traveling to Strasburg, Pennsylvania

We are here, we are set up, and we only have the slightest blemish on the Montana.

We had a pretty long drive today; long for us that is. It is about 275 miles from Waynesboro, VA to Strasburg, PA. We got an early start and that served us well at the end of the day when it took the better part of 2 hours to get unhitched and set up.

We really had an uneventful trip. Weather was good, traffic was light, and for the most part the roads were in excellent condition. We even had an easy refueling stop at Flying J. We stopped for lunch at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center and Gene had a nice conversation with the driver of the 18-wheeler parked next to us. He was from Tennessee so we had to speak and found out that he is interested in buying an RV. Gene gave him a few pointers and then we were on our way. Our luck was running so well that in the construction zone we didn’t even have to change lanes. How often does that happen? I’d say it was a miracle. A MAAX truck passed us and on the back was “Enjoy Everyday.” I was moved by that and took the opportunity to count the blessings of this day. We found the campground and pulled along side our site. The day took an awkward turn after that.

I’m not exactly sure when it started to rain. There was suppose to be only a 20% chance of rain today. Maybe that meant 20% of the day it would be raining. Whatever, it poured along with lightening.

We had to back into our site. We haven’t had much practice backing. Although the campground map looks like the intersecting street near our campsite is straight, it isn’t. Plus there is a large tree 2 inches from the pavement which the road curves around. Perhaps the easiest way to get a good angle to back into our site would have been to pull into that intersecting road and instead of pulling forward around the curve and tree, just pull up in the grass. That was impossible to do without running over all the little yard lights stuck in the ground at the edge of the road. Gene pulled forward and backed up over and over in the precious little space available, inching his way toward the center of our site. When Gene’s nerves were spent, I got behind the wheel. Back and forth; back and forth. Oh, did I mention that the water was on the site behind ours forcing us to back up as far as possible in order for our hose to reach? There was a tree on one side and the electrical box on the other. With our slides out we are about 6 inches from the tree and about 3 from the electrical box. Cozy. And did I mention the hole that is about where the rear tire should be? When we finally got in the site we were so out of level that the bubble wouldn’t even show on the side-to-side level. We put out leveling blocks and unhitched.

The second miracle of the day occurred when I noticed that, even though our kitchen slide would clear the tree, the slide awning bracket would not. The only thing to do was hitch up and pull forward about an inch. And all the while the rains came down. When hitching up, one of my jobs is to raise (or lower) the Montana to the appropriate height to meet the hitch. I was busy doing that while Gene was pulling the truck around. The third miracle of the day occurred when the truck didn’t make a hole in the front end cap when Gene backed under the Montana before it was up high enough to clear the truck rails. It did make and awful sound however, but it was drowned out by the thunder.

We hitched up, pulled forward an inch onto another set of blocks and felt relieved that this ordeal is almost over. Before we unhitched, Gene went around to make sure the slide would clear the tree. That was when he noticed that we had failed to get one of the chocks out from under a tire. The tire, and its share of the 14,000 pounds of trailer, was sitting up on the wedge of the chock. Return to the truck, back off the leveling blocks, remove the chock, pull onto the leveling blocks. Finally, I think we can safely unhitch.

God is good all the time--saving us from one disaster after another all day long.

Area Attractions

Before I get too far away from Northern Virginia I wanted to let you fellow travelers know of other things of interest in this area. Two of these we have visited in the past so I dug the pictures out of my archives. The third we had planned to visit while in the area this time, but time ran out.

English Farm

German farm

One of the most unusual museums I have ever seen is in Staunton. The Frontier Culture Museum is a living history extravaganza. As immigrants flooded to America in the 17th and 18th century, they left behind their native cultures. The Frontier Culture Museum seeks to recreate the type of homestead unique to each ethnic group. At the museum, small plots of land have been transformed from Virginia farmland to a typical German farm, Scotch-Irish Farm and English Farm. These “farms” are complete with vegetable gardens, cattle, pigs, even cats all of the variety typical for that region. Living history interpreters dressed in period costume are available to answer any questions. This museum is well worth a visit.

Scotch-Irish Farm

In Charlottesville is Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. I recommend this in the spring or early summer. Jefferson was quite the gardener and, in my opinion, the gardens are worth the visit.

Monticello, West Lawn

The one place we were unable to visit is Montpellier, home of James Madison, the 4th president of the United States. It is also located near Charlottesville.

Hiking in Shenandoah National Park

For the past few weeks I have been focusing my hiking on the Appalachian Trail. However, in Shenandoah National Park there are some 500 miles of trail with the AT being only about 100 miles of that total. Today we created a loop hike which took us off the ridge by one trail, back up to the ridge by another and then back to the truck by way of the AT.

View from Big Run Overlook

Shenandoah is a long, skinny park with Skyline Drive and the AT running north/south for about 100 miles along the ridgeline. From the ridge the motorist, biker, or hiker can get breathtaking views to the valleys on either side. Many of the park trails begin at a parking area or overlook along Skyline Drive then descend the slope of the mountain. Just because it is downhill, doesn’t necessarily mean it is steep. On our hike today, the downhill trail was pretty steep as we lost 1400 feet in about 2 miles. However, the trail we used to come back up was much more gentle gaining that 1400 feet over about 3.5 miles. The AT is, of course, blazed white and the park trails are blazed blue. Horse trails are blazed yellow.

Doyle's River Trail

Shenandoah boasts of its many waterfalls. I hadn’t been too enthusiastic about hiking to a waterfall since Virginia has been near drought conditions for a while. Ever hopeful, we decided to try it today and we were not disappointed.

Piped Spring

We began our hike on the Doyles River Trail. Within a half mile we came to a side trail which led to the Doyles River Cabin. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains several cabins within the park. Doyles River Cabin is one of these. Near the side trail to the cabin was a piped spring. Water is relatively scarce close to the ridgeline so having such easy access to water is a blessing to thirsty hikers. Past the spring we soon came to an unnamed waterfall. As we continued our descent the water flow became larger. We were soon rewarded with Upper Doyles River Falls and then in about a half mile, Lower Doyles River Falls.

Unnamed falls

Upper Doyles River Falls

We continued down hill until there was no more down left. That was where we found the trail junction with Jones Run Trail. This would lead us back up to Skyline Drive. I think the prettiest of the three falls was Jones Run Falls. It was not the highest, but it had the most water. We took a short break here just enjoying a glorious day in a wonderful place.

Lower Doyles River Falls

We were getting pretty hungry by the time we got back to the top of the mountain. We found a wide, grassy spot on the AT and sat down for lunch. I had eaten my little half sandwich about the time a thru hiker on his way from Georgia to Maine came upon our “picnic”. Thru hikers are always hungry and we had a small ziploc bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies which Gene offered. Then two more thru hikers showed up. We offered more food. They ate the grapes, they ate the cherries, they ate the chips, they ate the rest of the cookies, they ate the M & Ms, they ate the bit-o-honey (which they had never heard of before), they ate everything we had. I guess I was lucky to have eaten my half sandwich before they showed up. Actually, we were glad to give what we had. We have been on the trail for long periods of time and it is incredible how hungry you are all the time. It was always wonderful to find food or cold drinks that “trail angels” had left for hikers. This was an opportunity for us to be trail angels. These boys were headed to Loft Mountain and we encouraged them to get the blackberry milkshake. Word up and down the trail is that it is to die for. We bid them a safe journey and packed up our stuff and headed north on the AT to the truck, some 3 miles distant.

Jones Run Falls

By the time we got to the truck, I was starving. My bowl of cereal and my half sandwich were long gone. Gene offered to take me to Loft Mountain Wayside. You know what I ordered—blackberry shake. Before we left, the three thru hikers came in. They ordered cheese burgers and fries and one guy even got a blackberry shake.

RVing With Peanut

Peanut came to live with us when he was just a kitten, so for most of his life he has lived in our Montana. When we are traveling from place to place, he is very content to ride in his carrier in the back seat of the truck. Only on very long days does he get restless and start to cry. 

Climbing the Walls

On the stove

He has learned when we are ready to move. We take him to the truck just before we put the slides in. I certainly don’t want him running loose for that. We were in a campground once when a dog got caught between a slide and whatever it was moving against. It broke a bone or two. Anyway, I am very careful that Peanut is completely out of the Montana before I put the slides in or out. When we stop at rest areas for lunch or a potty break, he also gets to come inside to his litter box and food and water bowls. Again, I am careful that the open spaces which allow access under the bedroom slide are sealed off so he can’t get under there. It looks like a great hiding place for a cat to me.

In the Christmas tree

In the pantry

When we are parked, the Montana is his domain. Peanut is deaf, but it doesn’t seem to have slowed him down any. He knows every nook and cranny. And he knows how to follow the path of a bird, dog, rabbit, or squirrel by racing from one window to the next in a great long circuit around the trailer. He can spend endless hours on the back of the sofa watching for any movement outside. For naps, his favorite place is the recliner. Since we have a rear kitchen, we only have one recliner and he apparently thinks it is “his chair”. He eats his dinner at 5 PM while it is usually 6 or 6:30 before we have ours. In that hour to hour and a half, he has eaten, groomed, run and played, and before we can get up from the table after our meal, he is sacked out in the recliner for his evening nap.

Play hard; sleep hard

I must say that Peanut was on his best behavior this week when we had company. He isn’t shy in the least and is very friendly with strangers. In his earlier, kittenhood days, he seemed to want to show out for guests. He was much better behaved this week. I remember one occasion when we had guests for dinner. Peanut was the perfect cat all during the preparations. He napped, dreaming little cat dreams, as far away from the kitchen as you can get in a trailer. He woke up about 30 minutes before the honored guests were due to arrive. It was his dinner time so he was quite content to eat and groom himself afterward. It wasn’t until after the guests arrived, when Gene was giving them the grand tour of our home, that the sugar or whatever kicked in and Peanut took off. He raced from one end of the trailer to the other using every handy piece of furniture as a springboard for the next. As far as I know, Peanut only stepped in the middle of one plate. I quickly whisked it away and replaced it with a clean one. Clean is a relative term now that the cat dander had been stirred up. Peanut had to spend the rest of the evening in the truck. That was like the terrible twos and I’m glad we’re past that stage in his life.

He is far from a sedentary cat but not as energetic as he was, so I guess he is now in his adolescent/young adult years. He has become a cuddly little lap cat. He is as sweet as he can be and quite adapted to the RVing lifestyle.

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Virginia Farmland

We opted to do a little sightseeing today rather than hitting a woods trail. Our destination was Harrisonburg, VA, located about 25 miles north of Staunton off I-81. One of our great pleasures when traveling around our great country is to get off the interstate highways and take to the back roads. This part of Virginia is farmland and absolutely beautiful.

Courthouse

Harrisonburg was settled in 1780. It is the county seat of Rockingham County and the home of James Madison University. The railroad runs through the community and it saw a couple battles during the Civil War. The American Volkssport Association offers a self-guided walking tour of the downtown area and James Madison University. We started our walk at the Visitor Center downtown.

The Spring on the square

The courthouse is located in the center of the town square and, like most courthouses, is not the original. Also located on the square at the corner of the courthouse, is the “community spring”. This was a real drawing point for residents as well as travelers in the 1800s. It appears water is still flowing from the spring.

Homes along the walk

One of the things we enjoy about walking tours of cities (old or new) is seeing the different styles of architecture, both in commercial buildings as well as homes. In Harrisonburg, like every other city, some structures are better maintained than others. I think it is fun to see what people have done with there homes—how they have landscaped the yards, furnished the porches, and their selection of paint and color schemes. Our walk today also took us through the old cemetery in town. This one was not particularly special like some we have seen.

James Madison University

The main feature of the town today is James Madison University. JMU began its life in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women, in 1924 became the State Teachers College, in 1938 Madison College, and finally in 1977 James Madison University. Men were allowed admittance in 1946. The campus is pretty spread out with the original buildings on one side of the interstate and the newer portion on the other. Access is via Duke Dog Alley—a tunnel which passes underneath I-81.

There always someone so  special they don't have to follow the rules.

Also included in the walking tour was the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum. It was a great place for a rest by the pond. It was toward the end of the tour when we were tired and ready to get back to the car, lunch, and something ice cold to drink. However, it was a beautiful area and I wish I had had the energy and time to explore it more closely.

Pond at Carrier Arboretum

We will now turn our attention to getting ready to leave Virginia and head toward New York.

Eagles, Falcons, and Mrs. Rowe's

This was another wonderful day spent with friends. Our friends are bird watching enthusiasts so I thought it would be fun to do a short hike to an area where we might be lucky enough to see some peregrine falcons. For several years biologists have been releasing peregrines from the high cliffs of Shenandoah National Park. Hawksbill is a good place to get a glimpse of these birds.

Our hike to the summit started at Hawksbill Gap and climbed gently but steadily to the highest point (4,051 ft) in Shenandoah National Park. This park is full of wildlife and one of the most common seen is the white tail deer. We had hardly gotten warmed up on our hike before we saw a handsome young buck. He moseyed across the trail between us women and our guys. Near the summit we came to a rock outcropping we couldn’t pass up without a quick look. The view was fantastic so we sat down for a little rest. An Appalachian Trail thru-hiker came by and while we were talking with him, Charlie heard a bird that seemed to be pretty agitated. Searching with his binoculars, he finally spotted the source of the noise—a golden eagle perched in the top of a dead tree about 50 yards away. As we continued on toward the summit of Hawksbill, we found a college intern sitting on a rock with a scope watching a falcon. Unfortunately, it flew before we were high enough on the rock to see. Still, we were thrilled at having seen the eagle.

This evening we met again in Staunton for dinner. This time we selected Mrs. Rowe’s Family Restaurant. They specialize in home cooking at a very reasonable price. We knew we were in for some good eating when we drove up. This was an ordinary Thursday evening and the parking lot was full. We were not disappointed. If you are ever in the neighborhood, I recommend it. Mrs. Rowe’s is located just off I-81 and US 250. There is lots of parking, but it is not arranged well for an RV, however.

We had to say good-bye to our friends after dinner. But it has been a special two days that we will treasure for a very long time.