Leaving Pennsylvania

Today we hitched up and headed to New York. Usually I am anxious to move on to the next destination. But today I was a little sad to leave. I have really enjoyed being at Strasburg. I think it is the farmland—that sense of being back to the earth, to a time gone by. Some folks might not find the farm life appealing, but I have always been intrigued by the ability to be so independent. I have wonderful memories of the many, many months I spent as a child on my grandparents farm—feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs, picking tomatoes and gathering potatoes, driving the tractor, running in between the field rows, fishing in the creek—all good memories. But alas, I wax nostalgic. Getting back to the present—

View East along Lakeshore

We left the Amish country behind this morning and have arrived in New York. We stopped for the night in a small campground just across the state line. Since we are here only for the night and plan to leave early tomorrow, we didn’t even unhitch the Montana from the truck. That’s one thing we really enjoy about the Montana—not having to unhitch. When we were in the pop-up camper, no matter how short our stay we always had to unhitch. With the Montana (or any Motor home or trailer other than pop-ups and hi-lows) we have the use of almost everything without unhitching. Even with the slide rooms in, I can get to the refrigerator, most of my pantry items, dishes, table and bathroom. So when we stop at interstate rest areas we come inside our Montana and fix our lunch and use our own bathroom.

Before we left Pennsylvania we added that state to our map. We have some sort of vague rule about when we add a state. We want to at least have seen a few sites and stayed there a few nights. When we add a state to our map we want to feel like we have really visited that state. That is, of course, not to say that we have seen everything. Most places we’ve been we want to go back to see the rest (or at least some of the rest). There are no rules about these maps; everybody does their own thing. Our map represents the states we have visited not just driven through.

On to New York—Finger Lakes Region. Tomorrow we arrive at our destination.

By the way, I have decided to post at the end of each day, rather than at the beginning. Early mornings are a special time for me and my cat and we have been missing that time together.