It has been a very long and difficult winter in the Northeast this year. My Roadtrek has been winterized since mid-November and it has only been off my driveway for a single day - there and back the same day - trip in early December. We enjoyed that trip in December and since then have been looking to do it again.
We usually take these one day trips in the car, but with the car being a little uncertain for long distance trips, we have decided that we might as well take the Roadtrek and put some driving hours on it rather than it just keep sitting on the driveway. Using it just to drive around town is not easy here as just getting it off our driveway and into the steady flow of traffic at most hours of the day can take up to 30 minutes to safely have a clear enough opening to back it out and get it on the road. We had hoped to be able to do a repeat trip in January. The weather was not cooperating. Despite some warmer days in February, that month did not work out. We were sure that when March came we were going to be able to do it and we had four Nor'easter snow storms in March with no hope of going anywhere - including one on the first day of Spring. With April coming we were really hopeful and until just now, April has been cold and raining - too cold to even consider de-winterizing. But then there was a forecast like no others in the recent past - it was going to become suddenly warm and not raining - maybe even hot - not necessarily here where the ocean influences the temperatures this close to the coast, but inland. Inland was good - inland was where we would like to go. This sudden gift was only to last two days because following this phenomenon the temperatures would drop again into the 40's and perhaps lower once again with a two day rainstorm. Circumstances here - as they often do - were not going to let us take advantage for more than one single day. It would be out and back in the same day - as it was in December - but one day was good. One day was wonderful considering!
We knew where we wanted to go - one of our favorite haunts in Pennsylvania which to most would make them wonder why - but during those snow storms and those cold days and nights, if someone asked me where would I rather be - it was there. It was outdoors. It put me in the middle of people that I very much like interacting with and being around. We were going!
We left at 9:30 in the morning- to avoid the heaviest of Metro NY rush hour traffic - and off we went. Getting out of the driveway only took ten minutes after a steady stream of cars whizzing by. I had plugged the Roadtrek into the outside house outlet two days before and let it sit for 24 hours plugged in so that the batteries would be fully charged and there would be no problem running our Roadtrek's compressor fridge on batteries for the trip. There were plans to bring back some foods that are not available here. After an hour and a half this fridge reaches temperature.
As always, traffic getting out of NY was heavy but at least moved. The trip should take no more than three hours - but it generally takes four to four and a half hours - not counting the time to get out of the driveway. As I have written in the past, the trip is bang, bang, vibrate on the roads in New York. Once into New Jersey the ride gets noticeably better. In Pennsylvania with a newly repaved PA Turnpike it gets much better. The PA Turnpike - I suppose because of its new road surfacing -increased the speed limit for most of the part we drive on to 70 miles per hour. The 6L engine in my Roadtrek 190 Popular handles that speed very nicely - in fact it is too easy to get to 80 and not realize it - and it handles that speed nicely also , but I am never comfortable driving it at that speed and pull it back down. One thing that is odd, however, on the PA Turnpike with this new speed limit is that some cars and trucks do not want to drive at it. In fact they are driving below 65 - and more like 60. This was not making me happy. With one day and the long a drive to get there, I wanted to be at least the speed limit. Where I live the speed limit is 55 mph. At any time of the day or night local drivers see that sign and see 65 and faster. Most of the roads here are not made to go that fast but fast most go. I try to avoid having to keep up with that at times here can be more dangerous than not - and I not just in the Roadtrek. But here I was with a legitimate 70 mph speed limit which if it was ever to be the speed limit here would translate to 95 or 100, and I was sitting behind 60 mph drivers. It was not just the time of day because the same happens when we head home - and we travel later at night most trips when we are heading home.
When we arrived it was after 1:30 pm and it was 82 degrees outside. Oh my! The sun was shining. The place we were going was hoping and I was looking forward to a wonderful day - which we had. The trip down, at least past NY, the Roadtrek rode smoothly. Parking is in a large gravel and grass parking lot and we usually head down to the farthest section where it is open enough to park even a larger RV - and there are always a few RVs parked there - and there is no concern of being boxed in by cars or the narrow lanes that the rest of the parking lot has.
As we roamed around I realized that I have been in the house too long this winter and what is generally not tiring was really tiring me out after about two and a half hours. Not good - and I had to readjust to what it is like to be in over 80 degrees. I did find a bench and sat down and listened to two gentlemen talking about hunting and their tales of learning to hunt from their fathers. These are things one does not much get to hear being discussed where I live - and while I was not involved in this discussion at all, I did enjoy it. It was only fifteen minutes or so later that I was ready to leave the bench and get back to Meryl and keep going. (If you are waiting to hear of some catestrophe that happens on this trip - there was none.) This was a nice slow day with me trying to pack in months of not being there. Overall we were at this one location for over four hours. Nothing important to do. Nothing spectacular to find or even seen. As a mostly city boy, I have always had a special place in my heart for sprawling farm land and things that are basically plain - and this all is all around people that are, with no negative connotation, "The Plain People". Beaches don't interest me. Mountains only marginally appeal - and generally don't more than do. This is where I need to be to really relax and it has been for many, many years. And there I seek out being away from the tourists and get to be among the locals, and especailly the Amish and Mennonites of this area. I have met some. I am never intrusive. I don't gawk as some people do there. Any interaction and I am especailly respectful. And I am grateful that my good wife recognizes this in me and enjoys it as well.
Past 5 pm we headed to a favorite restaurant - again not a fancy restaurant but one that is really only known by the locals - and had a great dinner. After dinner I was not really ready to leave, so we started out the long way back. We drove past the campground we usually stay at. We even stopped at a store before we actually were on the road to go home. It was past 1:30 am when we arrived home. There was no traffic coming home -in fact some roads were surprisingly empty - yet we still found ourselves behind slow drivers with the road empty in front of them - and again, I don't mean slow because they were just at the speed limit - but well below the speed limit. I was in no hurry to get home but the last thing I like have happen in the Roadtrek is for anyone behind us to think it is us slowing them down - and resulting that - they speed around us and cut in too close.
Last Spring I took the Roadtrek for a ride to the East End of Long Island to get it on the road. I realized after that it would have been so much better had we come to this area instead. Eight plus hours of round trip driving plus multiple bridge tolls and turnpike tolls - almost a full tank of gas - and it was all worth it.
The Roadtrek did not balk the whole time. This is not always the case, and surprises no matter how minor are more the norm than the exception. I think it liked its drive. Had it not been for the past weather, it would have been on several more trips like this.
I am still not sure when I will dewinterize. Most years I would have done it already. Since I am hearing low 40s or colder in the forecast, I am not running to do it. One of the advantages of even a single day trip with the Roadtrek is having a bathroom along for the ride, I figured that were we in need, we would just use it and not be that concerned. I could always through more A/F down into the black tank when we got home.
So this was not a real - sleep in the Roadtrek trip - but we did most everything we would do if we went there to stay overnight for two days. What I knew before but this trip made me more immediately aware of was that the CO Detector has expired and needs to be replaced - which we will do when we dewinterize. That the Roadtrek Roadside Assistance policy needs to be renewed - and we have not heard anything from them about it. That we discovered after our last regular RV season trip was that our walkie talkies no longer worked and we needed to replace them which I put off until we were ready to start traveling again. We use the walkie talkies to get the Roadtrek out of the driveway and into the street in front of our house (Meryl "OK it is clear RIGHT NOW - GO QUICK!!!") and when backing into a campground site, Meryl guides me in using the walkie talkies. I know which I am going to buy and we will be doing that pretty soon!
So thanks for rambling along with me. Nothing exciting - but isn't that nice!
Roadtrek
Showing posts with label Amish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amish. Show all posts
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
COUNTRY ACRES CAMPGROUND, GORDONVILLE, PA
Country Acres Campground is located in Gordonville, Pennsylvania which is in Lancaster County. There are many campgrounds in this heavily tourist visited area. We have been going to a different campground here for several years and decided to try out Country Acres.
This campground is owned and operated by the family that owns several operations in Lancaster County - most of which are located around the Village of Bird-in-Hand. They own several hotels, a restaurant with smorgasbord, a bake shop, a dinner theater (as part of their restaurant), and this campground. The campground is not in Bird-in-Hand. It is off of Route 30 just east of the village of Paradise. Yes, Lancaster is full of towns with colorful names.
You enter the campground from Route 30 and travel up a short distance of road to the actual entrance of the campground. The road continues on to the right with residential houses. You turn left into the campground entrance which is a newly paved road. Ahead is a quaint looking building that is the office. The right lane of the entrance is to stop in to register. The left lane is to drive into the campground.
The campground has been developed over the years in sections and the newest RV section is just to the right of the office in an open field of gravel sites with hookups. There is also a full sized swimming pool in this area - with what they call a beach-style entrance (you can walk into the water). To the left of the office there is an electric lift gate that requires a keycard to open. When leaving the lift opens automatically.
When we arrived there were two people in the office and we were helped by a very friendly and welcoming woman. We had made reservations in advance - and I have heard that this campground is so popular that generally reservations are required sometimes well in advance to get a campsite. There is a discount club available to join for free that provides discounts at local businesses and attractions and nine punches on the card - one for each night stay - gives you one free breakfast for two at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant in Bird-in-Hand, up on Route 340. We had intended to join this when we arrived - and before I even asked the woman was filling out the discount card for us and punching the nights we would be there. We were handed the usual map with wifi login information on it and the list of cable television channels and our site number. We were also given a free Hershey chocolate bar! We received the keycard and told how to use it. When you first arrive, the gate is opened for you from inside the office. When you drive out, all you have to do is drive up to the gate and it opens automatically. When using the keycard, it is necessary to lean out of the RV window - the Roadtrek van window was slightly high to reach the slot without leaning out the window to reach it. A large Class C or Class A would need to have someone either get out to use the card or for the driver to reach down. The card slot seems to be at the height for a car or small truck window - which makes sense as other than a Class B, a C or A rarely leave the campground once in and a towed car is used to get around. The card was no problem - other than remembering to get it out when coming in - and in the rain, getting wet leaning out to get the card in the slot. If you have reservations and will be coming in after the office is closed, you must call them THAT day and let them know and they will let you know where the card will be left for you. You must, of course, return the card when you leave.
As you pull through the gate there are different roads ahead to go to different parts of the campground. All of the roads inside the campground are gravel. If you take the road ahead that goes off to the right you loop up and around to several RV spaces and then into the tent/pop up section. The tent/pop up area has sites with water and electric. Some of these sites have cable. There are also six primitive tent sites and two cabins. If you follow the road to the right, you will drive past a number of RV sites and this road leads up to a road going up a hill to another section of the campground with a number of "big rig" sites. We missed our site driving in the first time and followed this road to the right and where it branched off to go up the hill it also looped back to the entrance of the campground bringing us back to where our site was. I have to share what there are hills that the roads go up and over. Where I thought we had not gone up hill at all, we wound up driving on this road looping back with a drop off on both sides with nothing on the edge of the road to keep you from going off. I was glad that we would not have to drive that road inside the campground at night.
RV sites vary in price by the type of site. There are 30 amp sites and 50 amp sites. There are sites with electric/water only, electric/sewer/water, electric/water/cable, and electric/water/sewer/cable. There is wifi that reaches across the campground. If you don't want a sewer hookup at your site, there is a campground dump station to use. We had a very strong wifi signal at our site. The cable television was clear - it was a cable company and not a satellite company providing the signal. The selection of channels was large - there were a number of sports channels (which we had no interest in), all of the regular networks, and also several popular cable networks including Turner Classic Movies (TCM). We tried the antenna for over the air channels and had pretty good reception without having to raise the antenna or point it. We found the channels that we were looking for that way and there may have been even more had we put up the antenna and directed it.
We reserved a 30 amp, electric/water/sewer/cable site and that is what we got. There was an electric box with a 30 amp, a 50 amp, and a 20 amp outlet inside - all with circuit breakers. I was surprised when I walked around vacant sites that were marked on the map as 30 amp that there was a small outlet box with just a 30 amp outlet inside - and no circuit breaker.
The site that we had was bordered on three sides by upraised ground and large rocks that formed a wall into the ground around the three sides. This seemed to be the only site like this that we could see. I would prefer to not have this same site again. Other sites were flat to the grass and would have been much easier to back into and to position the Roadtrek to find level. When I made the reservations I told the gentlemen on the phone that we needed a level site as our RV has not automatic leveling system. He indicated that the site was level. It was not quite level - but I was able to move around enough in the site to find an almost level spot that was close enough to not have to pull out the leveling ramps, which while easy to use are a pain in the neck to deal with - especially as we go and come every day. I looked around at other sites over the days that we were here and other sites looked more level - and we pulled into one that was level right off.
All of the sites have a picnic table and a fire ring - and while our fire ring was on the grass the picnic table was in the site and too much to move over the wall up to the grass to get it out of the way. It would have been much easier to get around in the site if the picnic table was not there. The other sites we could see had their picnic tables on the grass - or easily moved onto the grass.
You can see in the photos above the space we were in. Below is a photo of spaces along the other side of the road from us that were all flat to the ground.
The restrooms were spotless. There were four shower stalls in the men's room and four toilet stalls with a row of sinks. There were also two urinals. The restroom was heated (we were here in the Fall). The ladies room was on the opposite side of the building. There was a utility sink outside the men's room and the laundry room was next to that.
The campground is well maintained. The cable TV connection at our site looked new. There is a large pavilion for campground activities up on a hill. This campground has ice cream socials and activities in the pavilion.
Many things are also offered to guests of the campground off site at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn on Route 340 in Bird-in-Hand. You may use the indoor pool, the fitness room, the game room, the tennis courts, the playground, the basketball courts, the hot tub, and the hiking trail there. You are also given passes for two complimentary two hour bus tours of the Amish Farmlands. These tours are the same as those sold by ticket in the area - and leave from the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn and Restaurant. While not at the campground, this is an area where if you stay all day and all night and never leave a campground - any campground here - you are missing all that this area has to offer. With a Class B it is easy - take off each day and explore. With a C or an A, you want to come to this area towing a vehicle that you can take off for the day in. Of course, with a trailer, you have your tow vehicle.
Sites are not pushed close together. There is a lot of room between the sites. The grounds are extensive with a lot of open space. You are very close to Route 30 which is a major truck road and you can hear the trucks going past at night. On nights that we had the heat pump (part of the A/C) on, we could not hear the trucks. When it was not on, we could hear the trucks going past. I was wondering why when I was listening to the trucks one night, why at the "other" campground I had not noticed them - but realized that when we are there, the A/C is on all of the time.
Will we go back? I am pretty certain that we will. Everything was nice about this campground. Another site would be preferred and we will make sure that we request not having this same site again. It is also less expensive than where we had been staying - and while not by a great deal, with repeated nights, the savings adds up for a stay. It is also much easier to get in and to exit than the "other" campground. Check in is at 2:30 and check out is at 2;00 pm which means no need to rush to dump your tanks on your last day. It is a bit further out from where we have stayed and used to stay when visiting here by hotel, but I know there are shortcuts through the farm roads to make that difference negligible.
Country Acres Campground is located at 20 Leven Road, Gordonville, PA 17529. The telephone number is 866-675-4745. There is a website. Use your GPS to easily find it, if you are not familiar with the area. There is a lighted sign at the entrance on Route 30 that makes it easy to find at night.
This campground is owned and operated by the family that owns several operations in Lancaster County - most of which are located around the Village of Bird-in-Hand. They own several hotels, a restaurant with smorgasbord, a bake shop, a dinner theater (as part of their restaurant), and this campground. The campground is not in Bird-in-Hand. It is off of Route 30 just east of the village of Paradise. Yes, Lancaster is full of towns with colorful names.
You enter the campground from Route 30 and travel up a short distance of road to the actual entrance of the campground. The road continues on to the right with residential houses. You turn left into the campground entrance which is a newly paved road. Ahead is a quaint looking building that is the office. The right lane of the entrance is to stop in to register. The left lane is to drive into the campground.
The campground has been developed over the years in sections and the newest RV section is just to the right of the office in an open field of gravel sites with hookups. There is also a full sized swimming pool in this area - with what they call a beach-style entrance (you can walk into the water). To the left of the office there is an electric lift gate that requires a keycard to open. When leaving the lift opens automatically.
When we arrived there were two people in the office and we were helped by a very friendly and welcoming woman. We had made reservations in advance - and I have heard that this campground is so popular that generally reservations are required sometimes well in advance to get a campsite. There is a discount club available to join for free that provides discounts at local businesses and attractions and nine punches on the card - one for each night stay - gives you one free breakfast for two at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant in Bird-in-Hand, up on Route 340. We had intended to join this when we arrived - and before I even asked the woman was filling out the discount card for us and punching the nights we would be there. We were handed the usual map with wifi login information on it and the list of cable television channels and our site number. We were also given a free Hershey chocolate bar! We received the keycard and told how to use it. When you first arrive, the gate is opened for you from inside the office. When you drive out, all you have to do is drive up to the gate and it opens automatically. When using the keycard, it is necessary to lean out of the RV window - the Roadtrek van window was slightly high to reach the slot without leaning out the window to reach it. A large Class C or Class A would need to have someone either get out to use the card or for the driver to reach down. The card slot seems to be at the height for a car or small truck window - which makes sense as other than a Class B, a C or A rarely leave the campground once in and a towed car is used to get around. The card was no problem - other than remembering to get it out when coming in - and in the rain, getting wet leaning out to get the card in the slot. If you have reservations and will be coming in after the office is closed, you must call them THAT day and let them know and they will let you know where the card will be left for you. You must, of course, return the card when you leave.
As you pull through the gate there are different roads ahead to go to different parts of the campground. All of the roads inside the campground are gravel. If you take the road ahead that goes off to the right you loop up and around to several RV spaces and then into the tent/pop up section. The tent/pop up area has sites with water and electric. Some of these sites have cable. There are also six primitive tent sites and two cabins. If you follow the road to the right, you will drive past a number of RV sites and this road leads up to a road going up a hill to another section of the campground with a number of "big rig" sites. We missed our site driving in the first time and followed this road to the right and where it branched off to go up the hill it also looped back to the entrance of the campground bringing us back to where our site was. I have to share what there are hills that the roads go up and over. Where I thought we had not gone up hill at all, we wound up driving on this road looping back with a drop off on both sides with nothing on the edge of the road to keep you from going off. I was glad that we would not have to drive that road inside the campground at night.
RV sites vary in price by the type of site. There are 30 amp sites and 50 amp sites. There are sites with electric/water only, electric/sewer/water, electric/water/cable, and electric/water/sewer/cable. There is wifi that reaches across the campground. If you don't want a sewer hookup at your site, there is a campground dump station to use. We had a very strong wifi signal at our site. The cable television was clear - it was a cable company and not a satellite company providing the signal. The selection of channels was large - there were a number of sports channels (which we had no interest in), all of the regular networks, and also several popular cable networks including Turner Classic Movies (TCM). We tried the antenna for over the air channels and had pretty good reception without having to raise the antenna or point it. We found the channels that we were looking for that way and there may have been even more had we put up the antenna and directed it.
We reserved a 30 amp, electric/water/sewer/cable site and that is what we got. There was an electric box with a 30 amp, a 50 amp, and a 20 amp outlet inside - all with circuit breakers. I was surprised when I walked around vacant sites that were marked on the map as 30 amp that there was a small outlet box with just a 30 amp outlet inside - and no circuit breaker.
The site that we had was bordered on three sides by upraised ground and large rocks that formed a wall into the ground around the three sides. This seemed to be the only site like this that we could see. I would prefer to not have this same site again. Other sites were flat to the grass and would have been much easier to back into and to position the Roadtrek to find level. When I made the reservations I told the gentlemen on the phone that we needed a level site as our RV has not automatic leveling system. He indicated that the site was level. It was not quite level - but I was able to move around enough in the site to find an almost level spot that was close enough to not have to pull out the leveling ramps, which while easy to use are a pain in the neck to deal with - especially as we go and come every day. I looked around at other sites over the days that we were here and other sites looked more level - and we pulled into one that was level right off.
All of the sites have a picnic table and a fire ring - and while our fire ring was on the grass the picnic table was in the site and too much to move over the wall up to the grass to get it out of the way. It would have been much easier to get around in the site if the picnic table was not there. The other sites we could see had their picnic tables on the grass - or easily moved onto the grass.
You can see in the photos above the space we were in. Below is a photo of spaces along the other side of the road from us that were all flat to the ground.
The restrooms were spotless. There were four shower stalls in the men's room and four toilet stalls with a row of sinks. There were also two urinals. The restroom was heated (we were here in the Fall). The ladies room was on the opposite side of the building. There was a utility sink outside the men's room and the laundry room was next to that.
The campground is well maintained. The cable TV connection at our site looked new. There is a large pavilion for campground activities up on a hill. This campground has ice cream socials and activities in the pavilion.
Many things are also offered to guests of the campground off site at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn on Route 340 in Bird-in-Hand. You may use the indoor pool, the fitness room, the game room, the tennis courts, the playground, the basketball courts, the hot tub, and the hiking trail there. You are also given passes for two complimentary two hour bus tours of the Amish Farmlands. These tours are the same as those sold by ticket in the area - and leave from the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn and Restaurant. While not at the campground, this is an area where if you stay all day and all night and never leave a campground - any campground here - you are missing all that this area has to offer. With a Class B it is easy - take off each day and explore. With a C or an A, you want to come to this area towing a vehicle that you can take off for the day in. Of course, with a trailer, you have your tow vehicle.
Sites are not pushed close together. There is a lot of room between the sites. The grounds are extensive with a lot of open space. You are very close to Route 30 which is a major truck road and you can hear the trucks going past at night. On nights that we had the heat pump (part of the A/C) on, we could not hear the trucks. When it was not on, we could hear the trucks going past. I was wondering why when I was listening to the trucks one night, why at the "other" campground I had not noticed them - but realized that when we are there, the A/C is on all of the time.
Will we go back? I am pretty certain that we will. Everything was nice about this campground. Another site would be preferred and we will make sure that we request not having this same site again. It is also less expensive than where we had been staying - and while not by a great deal, with repeated nights, the savings adds up for a stay. It is also much easier to get in and to exit than the "other" campground. Check in is at 2:30 and check out is at 2;00 pm which means no need to rush to dump your tanks on your last day. It is a bit further out from where we have stayed and used to stay when visiting here by hotel, but I know there are shortcuts through the farm roads to make that difference negligible.
Country Acres Campground is located at 20 Leven Road, Gordonville, PA 17529. The telephone number is 866-675-4745. There is a website. Use your GPS to easily find it, if you are not familiar with the area. There is a lighted sign at the entrance on Route 30 that makes it easy to find at night.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Kitchen Kettle Village, Lancaster PA
I get many questions asking about where to go and what to do in Lancaster, PA. One of our regular stops whenever we are in Lancaster is Kitchen Kettle Village in the town of Intercourse. Yes, that is really the name of the town and the origin of the name has various stories none of which involve what comes to most people's minds. Needless to say, had the original name of the town, Cross Keys, remained the town post office would not have done quite the business that it regularly does in letters and post cards sent from there just for the post mark. Kitchen Kettle Village has been around for many, many years and on my first trip to Lancaster, PA more than fifty years ago, we went to Kitchen Kettle.
Going in the Roadtrek, there is RV parking in the Kitchen Kettle parking lot - accessed from Route 340. If it is a crowded Saturday, and most Saturday's here are crowded along with any holiday that they are open, you really don't want to get in the mess of cars being directed by parking lot directors pointing you to the nearest space or chance that the few RV spaces that they have are available. It is easier to go turn into the parking lot on the opposite side of Route 340 behind those business and the entrance to that lot is right where Route 772 meets Route 340. This is a big parking lot with often very few vehicles parked there even on busy days. You will often see other RVs parked there, all much bigger than a Roadtrek.
Kitchen Kettle Village has grown over the years. It is a village of small specialty shops primarily geared to the tourist centered around a family business that creates homemade jams and jellies. All of the jams and jellies are made right there in the open kitchen at the Kitchen Kettle jelly shop and you can watch as Amish women make and can the jellies, jams, fruit butters, and preserves - and now much more. The jellies are wonderful and there are samples of everyone of them that they make out free for the tasting. Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch specialties served in local restaurants are also made here and for sale such as chow chow, pepper relish, pepper cabbage, apple butter and more.
Now I can hear everyone thinking that they don't want to go anyplace just for shopping but there is also entertainment here along with carriage rides of the Pa Dutch farmlands. This is a very popular spot with visitors to Lancaster County. What are offered here are horse and carriage rides and not horse and buggy rides. You will get a very good view of Amish farms as the horse clip-clops along the roads and you will see why, first hand traveling by horse power, it is very important to yield when driving to the carriages and buggies all throughout Lancaster County.
On Saturdays you will be entertained by Banjo Jimmy and his band. Banjo Jimmy LaRue has been playing at Kitchen Kettle for as long as I can remember and he never fails to draw a crowd and get everyone's toes tapping - even those too young to know the classic songs that he plays. You will often find Banjo Jimmy here playing solo but on Saturday's and holidays he is here with the band. If you like what you hear, drop a little something into their milk can. You can also take home a CD.
There are places to eat at Kitchen Kettle in addition to the shops. There is a fancy restaurant called the Kling House Restaurant that is located on the street along the west side of Kitchen Kettle Village which is Route 772. This is open for breakfast and lunch and offers a variety of American foods, though not necessarily Pennsylvania Dutch. There is the Kettle Cafe that serves lunch with burgers and sandwiches along with homemade soups. There is the Smokehouse Shop which has smoked meats and cheeses. Go in and have them slice you some local specialties and then go into the Bake Shop located in the building with the Jelly and Jam and buy a fresh loaf of bread and take that to the Roadtrek and fix your own lunch. While you are looking around the bake shop try a small, free sample of shoo fly pie. For some sweet treats there is a fudge shop and also Lapp Valley Farms Ice Cream. OK, now I have to tell you about Lapp Valley Farms ice cream. They are located in several locations around Lancaster at Farmers Markets. You can also go to the farm to their dairy and buy the ice cream right where the cows are. This ice cream is homemade. It is the best ice cream that I have ever had. You can taste the freshness of the cream in this ice cream and it comes in several flavors. If you get Chocolate Almond you are getting whole almonds throughout the ice cream. I have to say that you will pay more for Lapp Valley Farms ice cream at Kitchen Kettle thn you will at one of the Farmers Markets such as Green Dragon or Roots, but if this is your only chance to try it, don't miss that. They are located near where the garden shop is.
And that brings me to the garden shop. There is really no room in the Roadtrek to buy and take home large plants but they have great prices here and some very unusual plants. It is always interesting to walk through and see what the season has brought and look at all of the pretty flowering plants.
The shops you will encounter are varied. There is a PA Dutch gift shop, a candle shop, a shop that sells things made from iron, a jewelery shop, a pottery shop - the lady who is selling makes it all herself, a toy shop, a doll shop, two shops with ladies accessories and handbags, a craft shop with locally made handcrafts, a wood sign shop where they will carve a sign for you while you wait and watch, a leather shop, and a shop just for pets. There is an entire building that was recently moved from a corner of the parking lot to a location more adjacent to the rest of the shops at Kitchen Kettle and this building was picked up and planted down as if it had always been there. Inside is country furniture and early American home furnishings. I have to comment that over the years the shops here have become more commercial than they once were, which is OK but I do miss some of some of the shops were things were made right there.
The most recent addition to Kitchen Kettle Village is lodging and while you would not be interested in staying there since you have your Roadtrek or RV, there are now hotel rooms that are quaintly decorated located above several of the shops.
While you are at Kitchen Kettle keep in mind that there are a number of shops on the street adjacent to Kitchen Kettle Village and while they are not part of Kitchen Kettle there are some interesting things to see. Walk out from Kitchen Kettle Village onto Route 340 and turn left and start walking. You will come to a small fabric shop. This shop is there primarily for the Amish to shop in. While they have many quilting fabrics to purchase, there is a large selection of fabrics that the Amish and Mennonites use to make their clothing. Go into the rear of that fabric shop and through a door and you will be in a store that caterers exclusively to the Amish - though you are welcome to come in and buy if you see something that you like. I don't know why I have to say this but be respectful when you are in a shop like this as these people are going about their lives and are not a tourist attraction to gawk at - and never take a photograph of the Amish. You will be violating a basic of their religious beliefs.
Come out of that shop and keep walking in the same direction and you will see two Hollywood movie locations where the film, "Witness" was shot - Harrison Ford featured in both of those scenes. As you walk back to Kitchen Kettle come to Route 772, cross the road and make a right and walk down to the Amish Buggy shop - one part of the shop there will be a sign that you can't go in - this part of the shop is for the Amish only. Next to that is where the tourists are allowed in.
I told you about the various places to eat in Kitchen Kettle Village but I must add where you should go to eat lunch. Across the Route 340 from the main entrance of Kitchen Kettle is a small road that goes into a small shopping center. On the right and up a short hill there is the Intercourse Post Office. Right next door to the post office is Stoltzfus Meats. This is a Pennsylvania Dutch family owned business and they have exceptional country sausage made at their farm. There is a small cafe on the side of the meat store and you order at the counter and when your food is ready, you are called to get it and bring it to one of the few tables that they have - or you can get it to go. Try the country sausage sandwich. On my most recent visit there I tried something new that they have added to the cafe menu that is available in their refrigerated cases. A new Amish farm family has started making and selling Zook's chicken pot pies - also beef and sausage. There are few places that you can get these other than going to the shop at their farm but Stoltzfus has them and they are serving a whole small size pie at the cafe. It is just right for one and it was as good as I have heard. This is not the usual Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie which is actually "chicken bot bie" and is a chicken stew with thick dough noodle squares (which if you see in one of the many PA Dutch restaurants in Lancaster, you should try), but it is a traditional style chicken pot pie in a full pie crust. But try the country sausage for something different. One of the good things about the Roadtrek or any RV is that you have the refrigerator to bring home some of these treats. We fill the fridge with two dozen or more of these country sausages before we go home.
Kitchen Kettle Village is open from Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday) from 9:00 am to either 5:00 or 6:00 pm depending on the season. The only holiday it is closed on is Christmas. The address is 3529 Old Philadelphia Pike, Intercourse, PA 17534 and the phone number if you have questions for them is (800) 732-3538. Kitchen Kettle Village is very close to Beacon Hill Campground. It is a long walk but one could walk to it from there.
I will leave you now with some music from Banjo Jimmy and the band...
*The photographs in this article were taken with a cell phone camera and are not up to my usual standard for photographs I take to accompany my articles. The idea for this article came to me while walking around Kitchen Kettle and my camera was in the Roadtrek across the road.
Going in the Roadtrek, there is RV parking in the Kitchen Kettle parking lot - accessed from Route 340. If it is a crowded Saturday, and most Saturday's here are crowded along with any holiday that they are open, you really don't want to get in the mess of cars being directed by parking lot directors pointing you to the nearest space or chance that the few RV spaces that they have are available. It is easier to go turn into the parking lot on the opposite side of Route 340 behind those business and the entrance to that lot is right where Route 772 meets Route 340. This is a big parking lot with often very few vehicles parked there even on busy days. You will often see other RVs parked there, all much bigger than a Roadtrek.
Kitchen Kettle Village has grown over the years. It is a village of small specialty shops primarily geared to the tourist centered around a family business that creates homemade jams and jellies. All of the jams and jellies are made right there in the open kitchen at the Kitchen Kettle jelly shop and you can watch as Amish women make and can the jellies, jams, fruit butters, and preserves - and now much more. The jellies are wonderful and there are samples of everyone of them that they make out free for the tasting. Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch specialties served in local restaurants are also made here and for sale such as chow chow, pepper relish, pepper cabbage, apple butter and more.
Now I can hear everyone thinking that they don't want to go anyplace just for shopping but there is also entertainment here along with carriage rides of the Pa Dutch farmlands. This is a very popular spot with visitors to Lancaster County. What are offered here are horse and carriage rides and not horse and buggy rides. You will get a very good view of Amish farms as the horse clip-clops along the roads and you will see why, first hand traveling by horse power, it is very important to yield when driving to the carriages and buggies all throughout Lancaster County.
On Saturdays you will be entertained by Banjo Jimmy and his band. Banjo Jimmy LaRue has been playing at Kitchen Kettle for as long as I can remember and he never fails to draw a crowd and get everyone's toes tapping - even those too young to know the classic songs that he plays. You will often find Banjo Jimmy here playing solo but on Saturday's and holidays he is here with the band. If you like what you hear, drop a little something into their milk can. You can also take home a CD.
There are places to eat at Kitchen Kettle in addition to the shops. There is a fancy restaurant called the Kling House Restaurant that is located on the street along the west side of Kitchen Kettle Village which is Route 772. This is open for breakfast and lunch and offers a variety of American foods, though not necessarily Pennsylvania Dutch. There is the Kettle Cafe that serves lunch with burgers and sandwiches along with homemade soups. There is the Smokehouse Shop which has smoked meats and cheeses. Go in and have them slice you some local specialties and then go into the Bake Shop located in the building with the Jelly and Jam and buy a fresh loaf of bread and take that to the Roadtrek and fix your own lunch. While you are looking around the bake shop try a small, free sample of shoo fly pie. For some sweet treats there is a fudge shop and also Lapp Valley Farms Ice Cream. OK, now I have to tell you about Lapp Valley Farms ice cream. They are located in several locations around Lancaster at Farmers Markets. You can also go to the farm to their dairy and buy the ice cream right where the cows are. This ice cream is homemade. It is the best ice cream that I have ever had. You can taste the freshness of the cream in this ice cream and it comes in several flavors. If you get Chocolate Almond you are getting whole almonds throughout the ice cream. I have to say that you will pay more for Lapp Valley Farms ice cream at Kitchen Kettle thn you will at one of the Farmers Markets such as Green Dragon or Roots, but if this is your only chance to try it, don't miss that. They are located near where the garden shop is.
And that brings me to the garden shop. There is really no room in the Roadtrek to buy and take home large plants but they have great prices here and some very unusual plants. It is always interesting to walk through and see what the season has brought and look at all of the pretty flowering plants.
The shops you will encounter are varied. There is a PA Dutch gift shop, a candle shop, a shop that sells things made from iron, a jewelery shop, a pottery shop - the lady who is selling makes it all herself, a toy shop, a doll shop, two shops with ladies accessories and handbags, a craft shop with locally made handcrafts, a wood sign shop where they will carve a sign for you while you wait and watch, a leather shop, and a shop just for pets. There is an entire building that was recently moved from a corner of the parking lot to a location more adjacent to the rest of the shops at Kitchen Kettle and this building was picked up and planted down as if it had always been there. Inside is country furniture and early American home furnishings. I have to comment that over the years the shops here have become more commercial than they once were, which is OK but I do miss some of some of the shops were things were made right there.
The most recent addition to Kitchen Kettle Village is lodging and while you would not be interested in staying there since you have your Roadtrek or RV, there are now hotel rooms that are quaintly decorated located above several of the shops.
While you are at Kitchen Kettle keep in mind that there are a number of shops on the street adjacent to Kitchen Kettle Village and while they are not part of Kitchen Kettle there are some interesting things to see. Walk out from Kitchen Kettle Village onto Route 340 and turn left and start walking. You will come to a small fabric shop. This shop is there primarily for the Amish to shop in. While they have many quilting fabrics to purchase, there is a large selection of fabrics that the Amish and Mennonites use to make their clothing. Go into the rear of that fabric shop and through a door and you will be in a store that caterers exclusively to the Amish - though you are welcome to come in and buy if you see something that you like. I don't know why I have to say this but be respectful when you are in a shop like this as these people are going about their lives and are not a tourist attraction to gawk at - and never take a photograph of the Amish. You will be violating a basic of their religious beliefs.
Come out of that shop and keep walking in the same direction and you will see two Hollywood movie locations where the film, "Witness" was shot - Harrison Ford featured in both of those scenes. As you walk back to Kitchen Kettle come to Route 772, cross the road and make a right and walk down to the Amish Buggy shop - one part of the shop there will be a sign that you can't go in - this part of the shop is for the Amish only. Next to that is where the tourists are allowed in.
I told you about the various places to eat in Kitchen Kettle Village but I must add where you should go to eat lunch. Across the Route 340 from the main entrance of Kitchen Kettle is a small road that goes into a small shopping center. On the right and up a short hill there is the Intercourse Post Office. Right next door to the post office is Stoltzfus Meats. This is a Pennsylvania Dutch family owned business and they have exceptional country sausage made at their farm. There is a small cafe on the side of the meat store and you order at the counter and when your food is ready, you are called to get it and bring it to one of the few tables that they have - or you can get it to go. Try the country sausage sandwich. On my most recent visit there I tried something new that they have added to the cafe menu that is available in their refrigerated cases. A new Amish farm family has started making and selling Zook's chicken pot pies - also beef and sausage. There are few places that you can get these other than going to the shop at their farm but Stoltzfus has them and they are serving a whole small size pie at the cafe. It is just right for one and it was as good as I have heard. This is not the usual Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie which is actually "chicken bot bie" and is a chicken stew with thick dough noodle squares (which if you see in one of the many PA Dutch restaurants in Lancaster, you should try), but it is a traditional style chicken pot pie in a full pie crust. But try the country sausage for something different. One of the good things about the Roadtrek or any RV is that you have the refrigerator to bring home some of these treats. We fill the fridge with two dozen or more of these country sausages before we go home.
Kitchen Kettle Village is open from Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday) from 9:00 am to either 5:00 or 6:00 pm depending on the season. The only holiday it is closed on is Christmas. The address is 3529 Old Philadelphia Pike, Intercourse, PA 17534 and the phone number if you have questions for them is (800) 732-3538. Kitchen Kettle Village is very close to Beacon Hill Campground. It is a long walk but one could walk to it from there.
I will leave you now with some music from Banjo Jimmy and the band...
*The photographs in this article were taken with a cell phone camera and are not up to my usual standard for photographs I take to accompany my articles. The idea for this article came to me while walking around Kitchen Kettle and my camera was in the Roadtrek across the road.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Changes at Old Mill Stream Campground, Lancaster, PA
We stay at this campground whenever we are in Lancaster, PA and that is several times a year. When we were there at the end of October 2013 we learned that for the first time the campground would be closing for the winter - then at the end of December. We had reservations to come back there at the beginning of December as a return stop from Virginia, but because of very bad weather, that trip was cancelled. It was not until the Spring that I started planning for trips that would begin in the Spring and into the summer. For some reason I decided to go to the Old Mill Stream website. I was a bit taken back to find a very different looking website. It had become a website plainer in appearance and the personal touches of the previous site were gone. I also saw that there were some major changes at the campground over the winter. This campground has been owned by the Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park (a theme park for young children located on the lot adjacent). I began to wonder if with the changes the very nice couple who managed the campground were still there. Over the several years of going there we had become friendly with the people who work there and felt like we were with friends when we were there.
To read my first review of this campground please see this article. Many things are still the same. If they are not the same, you will read about the changes here.
It was not until we actually walked through the door of the office to check in on our next trip there that we were certain that these same very nice, friendly and accommodating people were still managing the campground and were still there. The people are the same but there have been changes.
The most important change has been the conversion of the "T" sites - sites that had one common entrance to two camper spaces - into independent back in sites. I have been in "T" sites here a few times and never liked them. If you were the only one in the site there was no problem, of course. But if you were sharing the site with a large trailer that needed room to hitch up to leave while you were in the site, there was a potential problem. (Though one skilled trailer tow car driver managed to do it without a problem with us in front of him once.) Many reviews of this campground mention the "T" sites as undesirable and a negative. All of those sites with the exception of one are gone. The one that remains has its front site as a pull through - a site we have been in many times and has been a site we preferred over some others. So, if you read about this campground in reviews and you see "T" sites mentioned - they are GONE! As half of the campground had been these "T" sites, this is a major change.
Another change has been the addition of cabins, taking the place of several sites and also four sites for Teepees that are complete with furnishings. We saw the small cabins - and they are typical of what you find at campgrounds. I was really curious to see a teepee and the furnishings inside. There were none set up when we were there in the sites they are designated in on the map. It may be that they set these up as needed or they have not yet set them up yet. They are listed on the rate schedule.
*This campground will now continue to close for the winter but not at the end of December but rather at the end of November. This actually causes a personal problem for us as we come back here when we go to Virginia in the first week of December - and now that will no longer be possible. There are other campgrounds that remain open in this area 12 months a year (not all but some) and we will have to go to one of those if we have decent weather to travel to the outdoor winter event we go to in Virginia. (We actually took a few detours to see some of those campgrounds on this most recent trip and found some to be on roads so twisting into the mountains that there would be no way I would want to drive that in the winter with possible ice in the dark. We did find two that would be fine and we will have to decide between the two before next December.)
*During a September visit I asked about their closing for the winter and I was told that despite what the website says, they will be open all year. The will not close for the winter - which is good news for us! On our next trip, I will confirm this and make sure it is true.
Check in and check out time has also changed. In the past both were 2:00 pm. They decided to give some time between the two and now check in is at 3:00 pm and check out is at 11:00 am. As we are not morning people this check out time concerned me, as we generally spend the final morning of our stay here dumping the tanks and refilling the fresh tanks - even if just to have water on board for the trip home. This all can take some time unless one likes getting up and out early - which we don't. I spoke about this with our friend at the desk and I no longer have any concern about it.
I have held the negative change for last - the rates have increased and they have increased a lot. The rate has been $48 a night for the past two years and I recall less than that our first year coming here. On season rates are now $55 Sunday to Thursday, $60 Friday and Saturday, and $65 for holiday weekend nights. These are full hook up sites - electric, water, sewer, and cable - 20 amp/30 amp/50 amp. There are about 4 electric and water only sites for less. Off season rates are now less. This now makes this campground the most expensive of the other campgrounds in the area - though some of those campgrounds charge additional for "extras" that are included here. This is now the most expensive campground that we stay in. Yes, it is a lot. It is actually less than some areas in the Northeast. Location is prime here. This campground is in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch attractions. It also has a fishing stream across the back border of the campground and a full view of farm fields and pastures behind across the stream. I have often seen cows at the stream - and in the stream - as we have gotten ready to head out for the day. None of this really justifies the price that they are now charging. For now, I am willing to pay the increased rates. We will see what happens in the future especially after we experience one of the two that we have found for the winter. And for all I know the other campgrounds here will follow suit and raise their rates also. Hotels here have become very expensive and this area has visitors steady from April to January. This is a popular area to travel to and this campground fills and books to full for holiday weekends a year in advance. As I have said in articles about our trips to this area, this is my home away from home. When I come I want no stress and to know that things are as I expect them to be. I have that here - at least now that I know what has changed and what remains the same.
The restrooms and showers are spotless and there are "single room restroom/showers available - often called Family Restrooms. Cable reception is still 48 channels and wifi is good. There are clean laundry machines. Sites remain fairly level. It does take some maneuvering in the space with the Roadtrek to find the spot on the site that is level. With the new changes, they have raised the dump pipe up about six inches on each site. I now longer will be driving over it backing into the site. (No that could not have been me! ;) ) Sites are shady and the whole campground is in the "woods" with trees everywhere. Roads in the campground are paved. Sites are gravel. There is a small shop selling some RV accessories, snacks, and fishing things. They also sell propane.
One other positive change that has nothing to do with the campground. I am able to now get a number of over the air antenna channels here without having to raise the antenna on the roof of the Roadtrek. This was not so in the past. The area broadcasters must have increased their signals. There is one over the air channel that comes into our cable at home that we like to watch and that is not on the line up of cable channels here - so late at night when we are looking to watch that here, all we do is push the antenna button and set the TV to antenna channels and there it is. A few button clicks and we can go back and forth. We always could get it in the past with the antenna up here but now that is not necessary.
So there you have it. I still recommend it - aside from the new rates. If you don't want to pay this much try one of the others, there are several to choose from. If you don't like staying in campgrounds then don't come here or to any of them in this area - or anywhere. Everyone is free to make the choice they favor. I like campgrounds and knowing I have a site for the night and power to plug into to use our air conditioner. It gets hot here in the summer and inside the Roadtrek the temperature has risen to over 100 degrees F. For health and comfort I will pay for a campground.
To read my first review of this campground please see this article. Many things are still the same. If they are not the same, you will read about the changes here.
It was not until we actually walked through the door of the office to check in on our next trip there that we were certain that these same very nice, friendly and accommodating people were still managing the campground and were still there. The people are the same but there have been changes.
The most important change has been the conversion of the "T" sites - sites that had one common entrance to two camper spaces - into independent back in sites. I have been in "T" sites here a few times and never liked them. If you were the only one in the site there was no problem, of course. But if you were sharing the site with a large trailer that needed room to hitch up to leave while you were in the site, there was a potential problem. (Though one skilled trailer tow car driver managed to do it without a problem with us in front of him once.) Many reviews of this campground mention the "T" sites as undesirable and a negative. All of those sites with the exception of one are gone. The one that remains has its front site as a pull through - a site we have been in many times and has been a site we preferred over some others. So, if you read about this campground in reviews and you see "T" sites mentioned - they are GONE! As half of the campground had been these "T" sites, this is a major change.
Another change has been the addition of cabins, taking the place of several sites and also four sites for Teepees that are complete with furnishings. We saw the small cabins - and they are typical of what you find at campgrounds. I was really curious to see a teepee and the furnishings inside. There were none set up when we were there in the sites they are designated in on the map. It may be that they set these up as needed or they have not yet set them up yet. They are listed on the rate schedule.
*This campground will now continue to close for the winter but not at the end of December but rather at the end of November. This actually causes a personal problem for us as we come back here when we go to Virginia in the first week of December - and now that will no longer be possible. There are other campgrounds that remain open in this area 12 months a year (not all but some) and we will have to go to one of those if we have decent weather to travel to the outdoor winter event we go to in Virginia. (We actually took a few detours to see some of those campgrounds on this most recent trip and found some to be on roads so twisting into the mountains that there would be no way I would want to drive that in the winter with possible ice in the dark. We did find two that would be fine and we will have to decide between the two before next December.)
*During a September visit I asked about their closing for the winter and I was told that despite what the website says, they will be open all year. The will not close for the winter - which is good news for us! On our next trip, I will confirm this and make sure it is true.
Check in and check out time has also changed. In the past both were 2:00 pm. They decided to give some time between the two and now check in is at 3:00 pm and check out is at 11:00 am. As we are not morning people this check out time concerned me, as we generally spend the final morning of our stay here dumping the tanks and refilling the fresh tanks - even if just to have water on board for the trip home. This all can take some time unless one likes getting up and out early - which we don't. I spoke about this with our friend at the desk and I no longer have any concern about it.
I have held the negative change for last - the rates have increased and they have increased a lot. The rate has been $48 a night for the past two years and I recall less than that our first year coming here. On season rates are now $55 Sunday to Thursday, $60 Friday and Saturday, and $65 for holiday weekend nights. These are full hook up sites - electric, water, sewer, and cable - 20 amp/30 amp/50 amp. There are about 4 electric and water only sites for less. Off season rates are now less. This now makes this campground the most expensive of the other campgrounds in the area - though some of those campgrounds charge additional for "extras" that are included here. This is now the most expensive campground that we stay in. Yes, it is a lot. It is actually less than some areas in the Northeast. Location is prime here. This campground is in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch attractions. It also has a fishing stream across the back border of the campground and a full view of farm fields and pastures behind across the stream. I have often seen cows at the stream - and in the stream - as we have gotten ready to head out for the day. None of this really justifies the price that they are now charging. For now, I am willing to pay the increased rates. We will see what happens in the future especially after we experience one of the two that we have found for the winter. And for all I know the other campgrounds here will follow suit and raise their rates also. Hotels here have become very expensive and this area has visitors steady from April to January. This is a popular area to travel to and this campground fills and books to full for holiday weekends a year in advance. As I have said in articles about our trips to this area, this is my home away from home. When I come I want no stress and to know that things are as I expect them to be. I have that here - at least now that I know what has changed and what remains the same.
The restrooms and showers are spotless and there are "single room restroom/showers available - often called Family Restrooms. Cable reception is still 48 channels and wifi is good. There are clean laundry machines. Sites remain fairly level. It does take some maneuvering in the space with the Roadtrek to find the spot on the site that is level. With the new changes, they have raised the dump pipe up about six inches on each site. I now longer will be driving over it backing into the site. (No that could not have been me! ;) ) Sites are shady and the whole campground is in the "woods" with trees everywhere. Roads in the campground are paved. Sites are gravel. There is a small shop selling some RV accessories, snacks, and fishing things. They also sell propane.
One other positive change that has nothing to do with the campground. I am able to now get a number of over the air antenna channels here without having to raise the antenna on the roof of the Roadtrek. This was not so in the past. The area broadcasters must have increased their signals. There is one over the air channel that comes into our cable at home that we like to watch and that is not on the line up of cable channels here - so late at night when we are looking to watch that here, all we do is push the antenna button and set the TV to antenna channels and there it is. A few button clicks and we can go back and forth. We always could get it in the past with the antenna up here but now that is not necessary.
So there you have it. I still recommend it - aside from the new rates. If you don't want to pay this much try one of the others, there are several to choose from. If you don't like staying in campgrounds then don't come here or to any of them in this area - or anywhere. Everyone is free to make the choice they favor. I like campgrounds and knowing I have a site for the night and power to plug into to use our air conditioner. It gets hot here in the summer and inside the Roadtrek the temperature has risen to over 100 degrees F. For health and comfort I will pay for a campground.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
First Trip of 2014
The Roadtrek did go to Pennsylvania in early April for one of the all too frequent needs for service, but that trip really can't count as our first trip of 2014. We had thought about extending that trip for a few days but the weather was just not good - and this has been the problem ever since. We went down and drove back home that night. It seems that once all of the snow ended in March, the rain started and there has not been a decent end of the week since then until just a week ago.
We planned this trip since April and every week we cancelled the trip. I usually make reservations ahead of traveling but current forecasts and long range forecasts were just not cooperating. We had initially planned to attend the annual 18th Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick in Big Pool, Maryland. The weather forecast was dismal and I learned after that the rain was so bad - when we would have been there - that the place flooded. We then decided that we would go to Lancaster, PA - our home away from home and with that I looked for decent weather from a Wednesday or Thursday though Saturday. Week after week it was raining at the end of the week there - and here for most of that time. At one point we heard on the radio, following another of what was becoming too usual a forecast, that it had rained on Thursday and Friday for the past eight weeks. I was sick of the snow - and it seemed that the rain was taking its place. (Yes, in some parts of the country - particularly on the West Coast - there has been a severe drought, if possible we would have gladly sent this rain back in your direction.) Anyway, week after week passed with no trip. There were a few weeks when I thought - go anyway. But with the cost of tolls and gas - to go where we wanted to go and be there in the rain, it was not worth the trip - no matter how badly I wanted it. Finally, a week ago, things were looking promising. They had looked promising other weeks too until the days were almost there, and then the weather reports that had said sun a few days before were saying severe storms. I even considered, two days before we would leave, calling to our favorite campground and making reservations. I was also eager to get to this campground as I had learned that there had been some big changes there and what was not being said was if the management had changed. (I will be publishing an updated review of the campground shortly and will not go into details here.) I decided not to jinx the weather and we would wait until the last minute to call for a reservation. We would call on Wednesday - we would leave on Thursday - as Wednesday was now forecast for rain. It would rain on Thursday but only at home. The call Wednesday was disconcerting - only an answering machine answered. We left a message. Two hours later we called again and this time got the reservation - not for "our space", but at this point I did not care. We still could not tell if the management was the same and there were more indications that it might not be. Anyway, we were set to go and there was no cancelling now.
We filled the water tanks and Meryl made the bed up in the Roadtrek. It was a hot day for the first week in June and I started the generator so she could have the A/C going while she did so. We then packed the Roadtrek with everything that we needed for just three days - really two nights - that could be packed and not needed that next morning in the house. A bag is set aside in the house for the must haves - medications, personal items, etc. that can only come out when we are about to leave. As each of those items is used and not needed again until we are on the trip, it goes into the bag. There is just s much that you want to have always in the Roadtrek that you get duplicates of for that purpose - and some things we have can't go in until the very last minute.
This was the first time that Meryl was making the bed with a new piece that she asked me to make for her. The boards that make up the bed fall short about six inches at the bottom of the bed leaving about six inches without support. This support is not needed as support but Meryl realized that bottom corners of the middle of the bed (see Meryl's method of making the bed) were not remaining tucked in because of nothing under them. She asked that I make a board to fill in that space. Our Roadtrek came with a short board that did not fit anywhere - it seemed to have been an extra piece of wood - in not so great condition (perhaps a cutoff) - that was just in the back with the rest of the boards. It was too big to fit in with the other boards and we just set it aside in the house waiting for some need for it. I took that board and after careful measurement of what was needed cut it down in my workshop, rounded the unfinished edges and fit it into place. It fit perfectly. So now Meryl had a platform of boards that went under the mattress cushions with no gaps of mattress without a board under it. She made up the bed with the new board in place and was very happy.
The next morning we were ready to go and it was pouring. That was OK as it was expected. I was just counting on the reports that in Pennsylvania that storm would have passed by 10 am and we were heading into clear weather for the next three days.
This was the first trip that we would be using the Copilot GPS app on an actual trip and not just test drives. It would be out in three states on interstates. I also had the Tom Tom in the Eclipse in the dash programmed with a pre-planned route to take us where we needed to go on roads that we were permitted in the Roadtrek to drive on. I set the location in the Copilot and knew that there were going to be some arguments between the two GPSs because the Copilot was going to send us correctly on roads that avoid some that I know I can get away with - as any RV GPS would do. Had I not been driving these local roads for more than forty years, I would not chance going as I would be going and I would have followed the Copilot's "safe" route. We finally set off.
What I learned pretty quickly about the Copilot was that its traffic function can be very valuable but very annoying if you know you are going a different way than it wants you to go - as it kept telling me to make turns that I knew I was not going to make - and it was finding traffic delays of hours along the route it had planned. I just ignored these - and discovered that the special traffic screen that comes up to present the alternative to you or asks if you want to just keep going the way you are going, goes away in less than a minute and returns to the map and route display. Good. Once it got to a point locally that it had no alternative but to follow the route planned on the Tom Tom, it settled down and the two routes agreed - no traffic ahead too! And it was raining!
Even with my modifications to the "RV safe" and permitted route, it takes us about a half hour longer to get off Long Island than it would in a car - and that gets added to what, with traffic and road construction, already can take four hours or more. Once off Long Island the routes on the Tom Tom and the Copilot agreed - except where I went the way I like to go which is not the short way. One thing to be aware of with any GPS is that it does not know about traffic light delays and it does not know to avoid streets in areas where you know there are frequent shootings and gunfire. I usually take the long way around those.
The sky cleared entering New Jersey - the rain returned briefly and by the Pennsylvania Turnpike the sun was out and it was clear. Including a stop for lunch we were at the campground in four and a half hours. We checked in with the lady who we have known since we started coming here when we got the Roadtrek and received a warm welcome back. We were very glad to see her still there! We chatted and went to the site. As always when coming in to a campground site, we find a level spot on the site, mark it to be able to get right to it when we come back later in the day - and every day for the stay, and then we test the power box for polarity and voltage. This site was slightly off. It took putting the Roadtrek on an angle diagonally in the space and then turning the front wheel all the way to the right to get onto a spot that was very near level. The campground was not empty but not full. We saw when we entered that a travel trailer group was having a get together there and many of those who were there were part of that group. It did not bother us any; we go and come back each day and do our own thing. The power box was fine and we were off for a first half day in Lancaster since last October. Oh yes, heavy rain kept us away in December - those reservations had to be cancelled - and this campground did not charge us anything for the cancellation (some do, many do).
Let me put out right here that we like going to campgrounds. I know that some Roadtrek owners don't. In fact recently it has been their trend to put down all campgrounds. We don't want to stay in Walmart parking lots for days. (You actually are only supposed to stay in one over night for one night only.) We don't want to find some corner in the woods to stay in - I don't think anything like that here even exists - without trespassing. Nature is nice. To me relaxing nature are farm fields in rolling hills and what makes this area relaxing for me is being around the Plain People at places that are not places the tourist much know about. I have been coming here several times a year for more than fifty years. At one point we thought about buying a home here as a second home. We bought the Roadtrek instead - or we would be going no where but here. When we travel I want to know that there is a place for us to be when we get there and I want that settled in advance. So if you don't like campgrounds, that is fine for you. Everyone does what they like to do and this is what we like.
This was a happily uneventful trip - Roadtrek-wise. Nothing went wrong. Nothing broke. There were no water issues. The small issues that we did have were a few minor annoyances that were resolved during the trip (with one minor exception that remains to be resolved and does involve the Roadtrek). The lever support that holds the outside cabinet up and open is letting go with the slightest touch. This never happened before and the door fell on Meryl's arm twice. I have to find a way to fix this or come up with a way to keep it in place with some addition. The rest, as I say, were just annoyances. As this was a short trip and I had just started a new insulin pen I did not need to bring a spare. An unopened pen needs to be kept in the refrigerator above freezing and not above 36 or so degrees F. We did not need the fridge for insulin which was a good thing because the remote thermometer that Meryl had set up the night before for the fridge and was working then, was dead in the morning when we left. We were only guessing at the temperature inside which only mattered to keep the soda bottles and cans from exploding if they froze. That night a trip to the local Walmart and we had a new remote thermometer ($10). Regulating the temperature inside the AC/DC Nova Kool fridge was a bit of a challenge as the temperature outside suddenly was into the upper 80s during the trip and several times the temperature inside the Roadtrek was at or near 99. We keep forgetting to open the ceiling fan vent when we are parking the Roadtrek for several hours on a hot day. We usually get the temperature down in the fridge and find the spot on the control dial to keep it at and it stays fairly consistent for entire trips unless the temperatures outside vary a lot and on this trip they were all over the place, hot to cool and back to hot again.
One thing that took us a while to figure out since we got the Roadtrek because of the temperatures that the inside of the Roadtrek can get to on hot days - and cold days it how to deal with the insulin pen that cannot be put back into the fridge once it is started and must be kept at "room temperature". Room temperature is never figured to be 99 degrees. Last year we resolved this with a cooling pack called a Frio. Perhaps I will do an article about this in the future. It keeps the pen 20 degrees below - or above in cold weather - the temperature outside of it and does so with no power or mechanics involved. So far it has worked as advertised to the Diabetic community.
So... we went to the spots we like to go to. We spent the entire day on Friday at Green Dragon Farmers Market - and we commented to each other that it seemed early for the tourists to have arrived already and how we like this much better when it is not tourist season, but still had a relaxing and good time. At Green Dragon the aisles in the acres of parking lot are narrow - pretty much rows of cars on gravel that form their own front to back rows - so we always head out to the far corner and park in two spots. There are often RVs parked - just for the day - off in a grass field on the edge of a wooded area and we could have gone there - and will the next time as it is a closer walk and less up and down hill than where we tend to park. Of course, the horse and buggies get preference parking and there are stalls for them right along the edge of the market. We brought sub sandwiches back to the Roadtrek from the market for lunch, started the generator to run the A/C - it was already 90 inside at lunch time - turned the front seats, pulled out the front table, and had lunch (trying hard to keep crumbs off the floor so as not to attract any critters inside). After lunch it was back to the market. We had dinner at favorite restaurants each night.
Sundays, as I have written about before in this area, are off days. Most things relating to the Amish and Mennonites - especially local restaurants are closed. We now come here avoiding Sundays, so we check out on Saturday morning and we spend the day and a good deal of the night in the area and then drive home Saturday night. This means that Saturday is now dump the tanks day and this has to be done before we leave the campground. We don't want to spend the day doing this so we were up a little earlier than we would usually be and went out to dump the tanks. I decided that with 2/3 of a tank of fresh water left I wanted to keep that water in the tanks - and fill the black tank and add water to the grey tank before we dumped using a gallon bottle filled at the campsite water spigot. I should have just decided to use the water in the tanks and refilled them before we left, as this process took more time than anything else. I wanted fresh water in the tanks in the event that we needed to use them for whatever reason on that day going home. The black tank was reading 2/3 before we left home and all that could be in there was about a gallon of antifreeze that we had not dumped after de-winterizing (anticipating one of those trips that did not take place in the weeks after). By the end of Thursday night the black tank showed full. If you don't already know, RV tank monitoring sensors and gauges are notoriously incorrect. The systems just do not work for so many reasons - and this holds true for all RVs and travel trailers. You have to guess when the tank is actually full - or know your pattern of use - we figure now four days of use to fill the ten gallon black tank. You can tell for sure if you see water come up through the pipe that flushes down into the tank in the toilet. I knew the tank was no where near full and I wound up adding six full gallons of water to the so-called full tank to actually fill it. It only needs to be 2/3 full to dump but with these conditions of knowing what the level really is, how can anyone know 2/3. The grey tank monitor on my Roadtrek is actually pretty accurate and it only took a gallon or two to get it to show 2/3 on the panel. This is what takes the time. The actual dumping with the macerator takes minutes.
The tanks emptied, I added the usual one gallon of water to the black tank - never leave it dry - plus two ounces of tank chemical and we were good. We pulled the electric plug outside and the cable tv cable, put them away and we were off. The trip was too short. We spent a nice day in the area on Saturday, saved the best restaurant for last, and headed home - again with the Copilot running along with the Tom Tom. In this direction the Copilot almost mirrored the Tom Tom.
When we got home, I checked to see how much data the Copilot used on the drive home to report traffic - the only thing the Copilot needs a data connection for and it was less than 9 mb. Not bad.
We were home, safe, and I was grumpy - because once I get away I want to stay away, but life calls at home and things just can't always be set aside and ignored.
Good trip - and we will be heading back for the Fourth of July! And I have some ideas for a few new trips in between - if the weather cooperates - this week there is no day without rain in the forecast... Those were lucky three days that just went by!
We planned this trip since April and every week we cancelled the trip. I usually make reservations ahead of traveling but current forecasts and long range forecasts were just not cooperating. We had initially planned to attend the annual 18th Century Market Fair at Fort Frederick in Big Pool, Maryland. The weather forecast was dismal and I learned after that the rain was so bad - when we would have been there - that the place flooded. We then decided that we would go to Lancaster, PA - our home away from home and with that I looked for decent weather from a Wednesday or Thursday though Saturday. Week after week it was raining at the end of the week there - and here for most of that time. At one point we heard on the radio, following another of what was becoming too usual a forecast, that it had rained on Thursday and Friday for the past eight weeks. I was sick of the snow - and it seemed that the rain was taking its place. (Yes, in some parts of the country - particularly on the West Coast - there has been a severe drought, if possible we would have gladly sent this rain back in your direction.) Anyway, week after week passed with no trip. There were a few weeks when I thought - go anyway. But with the cost of tolls and gas - to go where we wanted to go and be there in the rain, it was not worth the trip - no matter how badly I wanted it. Finally, a week ago, things were looking promising. They had looked promising other weeks too until the days were almost there, and then the weather reports that had said sun a few days before were saying severe storms. I even considered, two days before we would leave, calling to our favorite campground and making reservations. I was also eager to get to this campground as I had learned that there had been some big changes there and what was not being said was if the management had changed. (I will be publishing an updated review of the campground shortly and will not go into details here.) I decided not to jinx the weather and we would wait until the last minute to call for a reservation. We would call on Wednesday - we would leave on Thursday - as Wednesday was now forecast for rain. It would rain on Thursday but only at home. The call Wednesday was disconcerting - only an answering machine answered. We left a message. Two hours later we called again and this time got the reservation - not for "our space", but at this point I did not care. We still could not tell if the management was the same and there were more indications that it might not be. Anyway, we were set to go and there was no cancelling now.
We filled the water tanks and Meryl made the bed up in the Roadtrek. It was a hot day for the first week in June and I started the generator so she could have the A/C going while she did so. We then packed the Roadtrek with everything that we needed for just three days - really two nights - that could be packed and not needed that next morning in the house. A bag is set aside in the house for the must haves - medications, personal items, etc. that can only come out when we are about to leave. As each of those items is used and not needed again until we are on the trip, it goes into the bag. There is just s much that you want to have always in the Roadtrek that you get duplicates of for that purpose - and some things we have can't go in until the very last minute.
This was the first time that Meryl was making the bed with a new piece that she asked me to make for her. The boards that make up the bed fall short about six inches at the bottom of the bed leaving about six inches without support. This support is not needed as support but Meryl realized that bottom corners of the middle of the bed (see Meryl's method of making the bed) were not remaining tucked in because of nothing under them. She asked that I make a board to fill in that space. Our Roadtrek came with a short board that did not fit anywhere - it seemed to have been an extra piece of wood - in not so great condition (perhaps a cutoff) - that was just in the back with the rest of the boards. It was too big to fit in with the other boards and we just set it aside in the house waiting for some need for it. I took that board and after careful measurement of what was needed cut it down in my workshop, rounded the unfinished edges and fit it into place. It fit perfectly. So now Meryl had a platform of boards that went under the mattress cushions with no gaps of mattress without a board under it. She made up the bed with the new board in place and was very happy.
The next morning we were ready to go and it was pouring. That was OK as it was expected. I was just counting on the reports that in Pennsylvania that storm would have passed by 10 am and we were heading into clear weather for the next three days.
This was the first trip that we would be using the Copilot GPS app on an actual trip and not just test drives. It would be out in three states on interstates. I also had the Tom Tom in the Eclipse in the dash programmed with a pre-planned route to take us where we needed to go on roads that we were permitted in the Roadtrek to drive on. I set the location in the Copilot and knew that there were going to be some arguments between the two GPSs because the Copilot was going to send us correctly on roads that avoid some that I know I can get away with - as any RV GPS would do. Had I not been driving these local roads for more than forty years, I would not chance going as I would be going and I would have followed the Copilot's "safe" route. We finally set off.
What I learned pretty quickly about the Copilot was that its traffic function can be very valuable but very annoying if you know you are going a different way than it wants you to go - as it kept telling me to make turns that I knew I was not going to make - and it was finding traffic delays of hours along the route it had planned. I just ignored these - and discovered that the special traffic screen that comes up to present the alternative to you or asks if you want to just keep going the way you are going, goes away in less than a minute and returns to the map and route display. Good. Once it got to a point locally that it had no alternative but to follow the route planned on the Tom Tom, it settled down and the two routes agreed - no traffic ahead too! And it was raining!
Even with my modifications to the "RV safe" and permitted route, it takes us about a half hour longer to get off Long Island than it would in a car - and that gets added to what, with traffic and road construction, already can take four hours or more. Once off Long Island the routes on the Tom Tom and the Copilot agreed - except where I went the way I like to go which is not the short way. One thing to be aware of with any GPS is that it does not know about traffic light delays and it does not know to avoid streets in areas where you know there are frequent shootings and gunfire. I usually take the long way around those.
The sky cleared entering New Jersey - the rain returned briefly and by the Pennsylvania Turnpike the sun was out and it was clear. Including a stop for lunch we were at the campground in four and a half hours. We checked in with the lady who we have known since we started coming here when we got the Roadtrek and received a warm welcome back. We were very glad to see her still there! We chatted and went to the site. As always when coming in to a campground site, we find a level spot on the site, mark it to be able to get right to it when we come back later in the day - and every day for the stay, and then we test the power box for polarity and voltage. This site was slightly off. It took putting the Roadtrek on an angle diagonally in the space and then turning the front wheel all the way to the right to get onto a spot that was very near level. The campground was not empty but not full. We saw when we entered that a travel trailer group was having a get together there and many of those who were there were part of that group. It did not bother us any; we go and come back each day and do our own thing. The power box was fine and we were off for a first half day in Lancaster since last October. Oh yes, heavy rain kept us away in December - those reservations had to be cancelled - and this campground did not charge us anything for the cancellation (some do, many do).
Let me put out right here that we like going to campgrounds. I know that some Roadtrek owners don't. In fact recently it has been their trend to put down all campgrounds. We don't want to stay in Walmart parking lots for days. (You actually are only supposed to stay in one over night for one night only.) We don't want to find some corner in the woods to stay in - I don't think anything like that here even exists - without trespassing. Nature is nice. To me relaxing nature are farm fields in rolling hills and what makes this area relaxing for me is being around the Plain People at places that are not places the tourist much know about. I have been coming here several times a year for more than fifty years. At one point we thought about buying a home here as a second home. We bought the Roadtrek instead - or we would be going no where but here. When we travel I want to know that there is a place for us to be when we get there and I want that settled in advance. So if you don't like campgrounds, that is fine for you. Everyone does what they like to do and this is what we like.
This was a happily uneventful trip - Roadtrek-wise. Nothing went wrong. Nothing broke. There were no water issues. The small issues that we did have were a few minor annoyances that were resolved during the trip (with one minor exception that remains to be resolved and does involve the Roadtrek). The lever support that holds the outside cabinet up and open is letting go with the slightest touch. This never happened before and the door fell on Meryl's arm twice. I have to find a way to fix this or come up with a way to keep it in place with some addition. The rest, as I say, were just annoyances. As this was a short trip and I had just started a new insulin pen I did not need to bring a spare. An unopened pen needs to be kept in the refrigerator above freezing and not above 36 or so degrees F. We did not need the fridge for insulin which was a good thing because the remote thermometer that Meryl had set up the night before for the fridge and was working then, was dead in the morning when we left. We were only guessing at the temperature inside which only mattered to keep the soda bottles and cans from exploding if they froze. That night a trip to the local Walmart and we had a new remote thermometer ($10). Regulating the temperature inside the AC/DC Nova Kool fridge was a bit of a challenge as the temperature outside suddenly was into the upper 80s during the trip and several times the temperature inside the Roadtrek was at or near 99. We keep forgetting to open the ceiling fan vent when we are parking the Roadtrek for several hours on a hot day. We usually get the temperature down in the fridge and find the spot on the control dial to keep it at and it stays fairly consistent for entire trips unless the temperatures outside vary a lot and on this trip they were all over the place, hot to cool and back to hot again.
One thing that took us a while to figure out since we got the Roadtrek because of the temperatures that the inside of the Roadtrek can get to on hot days - and cold days it how to deal with the insulin pen that cannot be put back into the fridge once it is started and must be kept at "room temperature". Room temperature is never figured to be 99 degrees. Last year we resolved this with a cooling pack called a Frio. Perhaps I will do an article about this in the future. It keeps the pen 20 degrees below - or above in cold weather - the temperature outside of it and does so with no power or mechanics involved. So far it has worked as advertised to the Diabetic community.
So... we went to the spots we like to go to. We spent the entire day on Friday at Green Dragon Farmers Market - and we commented to each other that it seemed early for the tourists to have arrived already and how we like this much better when it is not tourist season, but still had a relaxing and good time. At Green Dragon the aisles in the acres of parking lot are narrow - pretty much rows of cars on gravel that form their own front to back rows - so we always head out to the far corner and park in two spots. There are often RVs parked - just for the day - off in a grass field on the edge of a wooded area and we could have gone there - and will the next time as it is a closer walk and less up and down hill than where we tend to park. Of course, the horse and buggies get preference parking and there are stalls for them right along the edge of the market. We brought sub sandwiches back to the Roadtrek from the market for lunch, started the generator to run the A/C - it was already 90 inside at lunch time - turned the front seats, pulled out the front table, and had lunch (trying hard to keep crumbs off the floor so as not to attract any critters inside). After lunch it was back to the market. We had dinner at favorite restaurants each night.
Sundays, as I have written about before in this area, are off days. Most things relating to the Amish and Mennonites - especially local restaurants are closed. We now come here avoiding Sundays, so we check out on Saturday morning and we spend the day and a good deal of the night in the area and then drive home Saturday night. This means that Saturday is now dump the tanks day and this has to be done before we leave the campground. We don't want to spend the day doing this so we were up a little earlier than we would usually be and went out to dump the tanks. I decided that with 2/3 of a tank of fresh water left I wanted to keep that water in the tanks - and fill the black tank and add water to the grey tank before we dumped using a gallon bottle filled at the campsite water spigot. I should have just decided to use the water in the tanks and refilled them before we left, as this process took more time than anything else. I wanted fresh water in the tanks in the event that we needed to use them for whatever reason on that day going home. The black tank was reading 2/3 before we left home and all that could be in there was about a gallon of antifreeze that we had not dumped after de-winterizing (anticipating one of those trips that did not take place in the weeks after). By the end of Thursday night the black tank showed full. If you don't already know, RV tank monitoring sensors and gauges are notoriously incorrect. The systems just do not work for so many reasons - and this holds true for all RVs and travel trailers. You have to guess when the tank is actually full - or know your pattern of use - we figure now four days of use to fill the ten gallon black tank. You can tell for sure if you see water come up through the pipe that flushes down into the tank in the toilet. I knew the tank was no where near full and I wound up adding six full gallons of water to the so-called full tank to actually fill it. It only needs to be 2/3 full to dump but with these conditions of knowing what the level really is, how can anyone know 2/3. The grey tank monitor on my Roadtrek is actually pretty accurate and it only took a gallon or two to get it to show 2/3 on the panel. This is what takes the time. The actual dumping with the macerator takes minutes.
The tanks emptied, I added the usual one gallon of water to the black tank - never leave it dry - plus two ounces of tank chemical and we were good. We pulled the electric plug outside and the cable tv cable, put them away and we were off. The trip was too short. We spent a nice day in the area on Saturday, saved the best restaurant for last, and headed home - again with the Copilot running along with the Tom Tom. In this direction the Copilot almost mirrored the Tom Tom.
When we got home, I checked to see how much data the Copilot used on the drive home to report traffic - the only thing the Copilot needs a data connection for and it was less than 9 mb. Not bad.
We were home, safe, and I was grumpy - because once I get away I want to stay away, but life calls at home and things just can't always be set aside and ignored.
Good trip - and we will be heading back for the Fourth of July! And I have some ideas for a few new trips in between - if the weather cooperates - this week there is no day without rain in the forecast... Those were lucky three days that just went by!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Pine Hill RV Park Campground, Kutztown, Pennsylvania
We took a trip to two different events in northeastern Pennsylvania. One was a muzzleloader gun makers fair located in Kempton, PA which appeals to reenactors and muzzleloader hunters and the other was a quilt exhibition and vendors show in Hershey, PA. We wanted a campground that would be convenient enough to both of these events. With some research looking at campgrounds and their reviews I found Pine Hill RV Park campground located in the town of Kutztown, PA. Kutztown is the home of the Kutztown Pennsylvania Dutch Folklife Festival that is an annual event at the beginning of July and it is also home to a university. This campground is perfect if going to the Kutztown Folk Festival or if visiting the university.
The campground is very easy to get to and is right off Route I78. There is an exit right by the campground and if coming from the east ignore the exit your GPS wants you to take and continue to the next exit which is Route 737 North. The exit sign says Krumsville which is to the south. Get off on Route 737 going north and go to the intersection and make a right. The campground is down this road on the left. There is a small lit sign for the campground and the campground is hidden from the road by large hedges. This is a local residential and farm road.
The campground office is ahead to the left in a building that seems to be the home of the owners of the campground. The woman in the office was very friendly and welcoming. There is a small store in the office and there was a sign outside that said that hot fresh pizza was being served inside. This is not a restaurant but the pizza was convenient to take back to your RV.
The campground has sites with 30 amp electric hook ups or 50 amp electric hookups. The 30 amp sites can be selected with or without cable TV service. All of the 50 amp sites have cable hook ups. All of the sites have water and sewer hook ups. There are also a couple of cabins for daily rental. There are actually also four 20 amp sites.
Sites are gravel and our site was LEVEL. For a Class B and a Roadtrek this is very important. There was no problem getting level - the site was level. The sites are, of course, next to each other but not right on top of each other. There was a grass area between every site.
Many of the sites are pull though. There are 30 amp sites with cable that are backin sites along the edge of the campground. We had a pull though site.
While it was no problem, the electric box does not have its own circuit breaker for the outlet. Every so many sites had a large circuit breaker box for several adjacent sites.
We were in a site with such a circuit breaker box (but our site did not seem to be in that box). So when you plug in, you are plugging into a live outlet. In the photo to the right you can see the small box at the bottom to the right. That is the 30 amp outlet. There are no other electric outlets at the site. The larger boxes are boxes for the circuit breakers and electric circuits that go to other sites. You can see the water connection to the right. On the opposite side of this was an box with the cable TV connection which can be seen below.
The cable TV at this campground had the most channels of any campground that we have been to so far. When I scanned for cable channels 160 digital and analog channels locked in. Now, in that number there were duplicates and even triplicates of some channels but the selection to watch was broad and included many of the channels that you might expect at home - with the exception of the premium movie channels.
The wifi was not as good as the cable and the connection at our site was marginal. We were at almost the end of the campground so closer to the main buildings might have had better wifi. My tablet had no problem making a connection but my phone was not able to get a good connection to the wifi. Here in the mountains cell voice service is good but data service is marginal which has nothing to do with the campground.
The sewer connection at the site had a hands-free cover. The lid was on a foot pedal and lifted up without having to touch it. I have not seen this at other campgrounds that we have been to. The usual is just a screw on pipe cap.
The campground was very clean. There is a trash dumpster near the office and that is where garbage is placed. There is no trash pickup at site. The restrooms were small but very clean and well maintained. There are showers in the men's and ladies' restrooms. There is a large hall for parties, a recreation room/game room and an ice cream parlor on site (these were closed while we were there). There are shade trees but you are not in the woods - which is fine with us. There is a playground for children and there is a free miniature golf course.
The people who run this campground are very nice and are very attentive to their guests. We also found that the people in the other RVs here were also very friendly. We don't always find that. There were some very large Class A's here, trailers, Class Cs and even a Class B other than ours.
The campground is located along I78 and there is traffic with trucks that travel along this route. We could hear the traffic OUTSIDE of the Roadtrek but could not hear any noise inside. A suppose a thin-walled trailer may hear some noise. This was not a problem for us in our Roadtrek.
We had a very nice stay at Pine Hill RV Park and we will be going back again. The events that we attended on this weekend are annual and we will happily stay here again to attend them. The gunmakers' fair at Dixon's was just down Route 737 from the campground. Hershey is about an hour away down I78. Right near this campground is a shop named Dietrich's Meats and Country Store that sells many unusual smoked meats and foods that are local to this region of the Pennsylvania Dutch. You can get sandwiches or buy by the pound here. It is not a restaurant. It is well known by any who come to this area. Also a little further west on I78 is Cabella's Outdoor store, one of their largest stores and a destination store to visit. Not only is this a great place to shop for items outdoors, fishing, and hunting but there is a room sized aquarium of local fish to walk through. This is not to be missed if you come to this area.
I definitely recommend Pine Hill RV Park. Rates for this area are reasonable. It is located at 268 Old Route 22 in Kutztown, PA 19530. The phone number is (610) 285-6776. There is a toll free reservations number at (800) 217-6776. Their website is pinehillrvpark@verizon.net. They have a website at http://pinehillrvpark.com/
Just to note - if driving on I78 and you go through the toll for the Delaware River bridge, the toll is over $6.00 because the Roadtrek's weight puts it in the toll class with commercial trucks. The sign says a $1 for passenger vehicles but this does not apply to the Roadtrek over 7000 pounds.
The campground is very easy to get to and is right off Route I78. There is an exit right by the campground and if coming from the east ignore the exit your GPS wants you to take and continue to the next exit which is Route 737 North. The exit sign says Krumsville which is to the south. Get off on Route 737 going north and go to the intersection and make a right. The campground is down this road on the left. There is a small lit sign for the campground and the campground is hidden from the road by large hedges. This is a local residential and farm road.
The campground office is ahead to the left in a building that seems to be the home of the owners of the campground. The woman in the office was very friendly and welcoming. There is a small store in the office and there was a sign outside that said that hot fresh pizza was being served inside. This is not a restaurant but the pizza was convenient to take back to your RV.
The campground has sites with 30 amp electric hook ups or 50 amp electric hookups. The 30 amp sites can be selected with or without cable TV service. All of the 50 amp sites have cable hook ups. All of the sites have water and sewer hook ups. There are also a couple of cabins for daily rental. There are actually also four 20 amp sites.
Sites are gravel and our site was LEVEL. For a Class B and a Roadtrek this is very important. There was no problem getting level - the site was level. The sites are, of course, next to each other but not right on top of each other. There was a grass area between every site.
Many of the sites are pull though. There are 30 amp sites with cable that are backin sites along the edge of the campground. We had a pull though site.
While it was no problem, the electric box does not have its own circuit breaker for the outlet. Every so many sites had a large circuit breaker box for several adjacent sites.
We were in a site with such a circuit breaker box (but our site did not seem to be in that box). So when you plug in, you are plugging into a live outlet. In the photo to the right you can see the small box at the bottom to the right. That is the 30 amp outlet. There are no other electric outlets at the site. The larger boxes are boxes for the circuit breakers and electric circuits that go to other sites. You can see the water connection to the right. On the opposite side of this was an box with the cable TV connection which can be seen below.
The wifi was not as good as the cable and the connection at our site was marginal. We were at almost the end of the campground so closer to the main buildings might have had better wifi. My tablet had no problem making a connection but my phone was not able to get a good connection to the wifi. Here in the mountains cell voice service is good but data service is marginal which has nothing to do with the campground.
The people who run this campground are very nice and are very attentive to their guests. We also found that the people in the other RVs here were also very friendly. We don't always find that. There were some very large Class A's here, trailers, Class Cs and even a Class B other than ours.
The campground is located along I78 and there is traffic with trucks that travel along this route. We could hear the traffic OUTSIDE of the Roadtrek but could not hear any noise inside. A suppose a thin-walled trailer may hear some noise. This was not a problem for us in our Roadtrek.
We had a very nice stay at Pine Hill RV Park and we will be going back again. The events that we attended on this weekend are annual and we will happily stay here again to attend them. The gunmakers' fair at Dixon's was just down Route 737 from the campground. Hershey is about an hour away down I78. Right near this campground is a shop named Dietrich's Meats and Country Store that sells many unusual smoked meats and foods that are local to this region of the Pennsylvania Dutch. You can get sandwiches or buy by the pound here. It is not a restaurant. It is well known by any who come to this area. Also a little further west on I78 is Cabella's Outdoor store, one of their largest stores and a destination store to visit. Not only is this a great place to shop for items outdoors, fishing, and hunting but there is a room sized aquarium of local fish to walk through. This is not to be missed if you come to this area.
I definitely recommend Pine Hill RV Park. Rates for this area are reasonable. It is located at 268 Old Route 22 in Kutztown, PA 19530. The phone number is (610) 285-6776. There is a toll free reservations number at (800) 217-6776. Their website is pinehillrvpark@verizon.net. They have a website at http://pinehillrvpark.com/
Just to note - if driving on I78 and you go through the toll for the Delaware River bridge, the toll is over $6.00 because the Roadtrek's weight puts it in the toll class with commercial trucks. The sign says a $1 for passenger vehicles but this does not apply to the Roadtrek over 7000 pounds.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Root's Country Market & Auction, Manheim, Pennsylvania
As part of this last trip we spent Tuesday at Root's Country Market
and Auction in the town of Manheim, Pennsylvania. Root's is a farmers
and vendors market that spreads over a large piece of land just off
Route 72 between East Petersburg and Manheim, PA. I have written about
Root's before but I want to give it an article all to itself and include
this in places to visit when in Pennsylvania. I have written about
another similar market in Pennsylvania called Green Dragon. Roots is
smaller but offers a similar experience.
I don't have photographs to show you of Root's. Going around the market taking pictures would make me too much of a tourist there. There is a nice website and there are plenty of photos there.
Root's is only open on Tuesdays. The hours are from 9am to 9 pm in April through October, and from 9 am to 6 pm in November through March. The grounds do host some special events during the year but while these may include craft shows or flea markets, the regular market is not open.
Root's is out of the usual tourist areas of Lancaster and those at Root's tend to be local. Root's has been serving this community for85 years. If you want to interact with the Amish and the Mennonites you will find them as stand holders selling produce and baked goods made in their kitchens and you will find them shopping. In the back of one of the parking lots there are horse stalls to park a buggy and tie up the horse.
The market is made up of a large building with an L extension and a T extension that houses most of the market vendors. There are two other buildings on the property with vendors and one of those has antiques on a second floor (the building in the back that looks like you are walking into a barn). There is also a building with animal stalls that is an animal auction. If you want to buy chickens, ducks, rabbits, or goats (and sometimes larger animals) this is the place to come and bid and take home some livestock - though I would not suggest doing this in your Roadtrek.
Scattered through all of this there are outdoor vendors selling everything from farm fresh produce to cell phone covers. There is a little of everything for sale at Root's including furniture. Around the back there are flea market vendors that come in and set up in an open lot. Across the road from Root's is another related property with two buildings selling antiques and an outdoor flea market area for vendors. The flea market vendors in this area come early and are packing up to leave by 1 pm. By 2 pm they are almost all gone. (I never really understand why but this is how it has always been at this part across from Root's.)
Parking for Root's is in surrounding fields around the market and none are paved. There are some gravel roads but most are dirt and the spaces that you are parking in are grass or dirt. This is - so far - only proven to be a problem for the Roadtrek once when it has rained the day before and I was hesitant about getting the Roadtrek stuck in the mud. On that trip we went across the road to a business parking lot that was closed and parked there. On this trip we parked in a spot in the main parking area that was up against woods and we could pull up enough so that the rear of the Roadtrek was not hanging out into the lane behind. There was another Class B parked in the row behind us and when we returned at the end of the day, there was a Class C parked next to us. If you come here with a Class A you are going to have to be creative and polite in finding a place to park, but I am sure it can be done.
The auction part of Root's is the animal sales auction as I described and also an auction of household items, new and sold in bulk, at auction. This is in the back of the building with the antiques on the second floor.
Not only are there fun thing to look at and buy at Root's but there are a lot of tempting food stands. We tend to eat at Raub's Subs which sells hoagies, subs, grinders, hero sandwiches or whatever big sandwiches on a long roll are called in your part of the country. There are tables out behind the main building to eat at. There is a stand selling fried seafood sandwiches that always has a crowd. The biggest crowd this day that we were there was the Pit Beef stand which had a line that people said was an hour long. The sandwiches looked good and the people working the stand continually coming around the back to the smoker to get more meat and also refill it for cooking. This stand also sold smoked pork, as does another stand nearby (without the same long line - so this place must be real good!) If the weather is not great, take your lunch back to the Roadtrek. When I went to get our sandwiches, Meryl went to the Roadtrek to get cold cans of soda from our fridge.
If you care for dessert or a snack there are several bakeries selling freshly made backed goods, some Amish ladies selling home baked goods outside, and a stand outside selling nice large soft pretzels. All of this is to take with you or eat right there on the spot if you cannot resist and can't wait to have a taste.
There are also stands inside with refrigerator cases selling meats and cold cuts to take home. The meats here (and in Green Dragon) always look so much better than the meat in the supermarkets. Produce stands are selling fresh vegetables and fruits. There are even stands selling plants to bring home to your garden.
This type of market may be common in some parts of the country but there is nothing like it where I live in New York so it is a novelty for us to go to these markets. You may be saying, "Oh that is just like the XY Market around here - what is the big deal?" For some of us, this is unique.
To get to Root's take Route 72. If you are coming from Lancaster it will seem like you are driving a long time but you are really not. You will drive through towns and fields. There is a golf course next to Root's and Root's Nursery which is not the same place (though likely related). For your GPS the address is 705 Graystone Road, Manheim, PA 17545 and you can call them at Phone: (717) 898-7811.There should be no concern for height clearances coming from the south on 72. I do not recall any from the north but I cannot confirm that.
While writing this article I discovered that Root's has a Facebook page so "LIKE" Root's on Facebook.
I don't have photographs to show you of Root's. Going around the market taking pictures would make me too much of a tourist there. There is a nice website and there are plenty of photos there.
Root's is only open on Tuesdays. The hours are from 9am to 9 pm in April through October, and from 9 am to 6 pm in November through March. The grounds do host some special events during the year but while these may include craft shows or flea markets, the regular market is not open.
Root's is out of the usual tourist areas of Lancaster and those at Root's tend to be local. Root's has been serving this community for85 years. If you want to interact with the Amish and the Mennonites you will find them as stand holders selling produce and baked goods made in their kitchens and you will find them shopping. In the back of one of the parking lots there are horse stalls to park a buggy and tie up the horse.
The market is made up of a large building with an L extension and a T extension that houses most of the market vendors. There are two other buildings on the property with vendors and one of those has antiques on a second floor (the building in the back that looks like you are walking into a barn). There is also a building with animal stalls that is an animal auction. If you want to buy chickens, ducks, rabbits, or goats (and sometimes larger animals) this is the place to come and bid and take home some livestock - though I would not suggest doing this in your Roadtrek.
Scattered through all of this there are outdoor vendors selling everything from farm fresh produce to cell phone covers. There is a little of everything for sale at Root's including furniture. Around the back there are flea market vendors that come in and set up in an open lot. Across the road from Root's is another related property with two buildings selling antiques and an outdoor flea market area for vendors. The flea market vendors in this area come early and are packing up to leave by 1 pm. By 2 pm they are almost all gone. (I never really understand why but this is how it has always been at this part across from Root's.)
Parking for Root's is in surrounding fields around the market and none are paved. There are some gravel roads but most are dirt and the spaces that you are parking in are grass or dirt. This is - so far - only proven to be a problem for the Roadtrek once when it has rained the day before and I was hesitant about getting the Roadtrek stuck in the mud. On that trip we went across the road to a business parking lot that was closed and parked there. On this trip we parked in a spot in the main parking area that was up against woods and we could pull up enough so that the rear of the Roadtrek was not hanging out into the lane behind. There was another Class B parked in the row behind us and when we returned at the end of the day, there was a Class C parked next to us. If you come here with a Class A you are going to have to be creative and polite in finding a place to park, but I am sure it can be done.
The auction part of Root's is the animal sales auction as I described and also an auction of household items, new and sold in bulk, at auction. This is in the back of the building with the antiques on the second floor.
Not only are there fun thing to look at and buy at Root's but there are a lot of tempting food stands. We tend to eat at Raub's Subs which sells hoagies, subs, grinders, hero sandwiches or whatever big sandwiches on a long roll are called in your part of the country. There are tables out behind the main building to eat at. There is a stand selling fried seafood sandwiches that always has a crowd. The biggest crowd this day that we were there was the Pit Beef stand which had a line that people said was an hour long. The sandwiches looked good and the people working the stand continually coming around the back to the smoker to get more meat and also refill it for cooking. This stand also sold smoked pork, as does another stand nearby (without the same long line - so this place must be real good!) If the weather is not great, take your lunch back to the Roadtrek. When I went to get our sandwiches, Meryl went to the Roadtrek to get cold cans of soda from our fridge.
If you care for dessert or a snack there are several bakeries selling freshly made backed goods, some Amish ladies selling home baked goods outside, and a stand outside selling nice large soft pretzels. All of this is to take with you or eat right there on the spot if you cannot resist and can't wait to have a taste.
There are also stands inside with refrigerator cases selling meats and cold cuts to take home. The meats here (and in Green Dragon) always look so much better than the meat in the supermarkets. Produce stands are selling fresh vegetables and fruits. There are even stands selling plants to bring home to your garden.
This type of market may be common in some parts of the country but there is nothing like it where I live in New York so it is a novelty for us to go to these markets. You may be saying, "Oh that is just like the XY Market around here - what is the big deal?" For some of us, this is unique.
To get to Root's take Route 72. If you are coming from Lancaster it will seem like you are driving a long time but you are really not. You will drive through towns and fields. There is a golf course next to Root's and Root's Nursery which is not the same place (though likely related). For your GPS the address is 705 Graystone Road, Manheim, PA 17545 and you can call them at Phone: (717) 898-7811.There should be no concern for height clearances coming from the south on 72. I do not recall any from the north but I cannot confirm that.
While writing this article I discovered that Root's has a Facebook page so "LIKE" Root's on Facebook.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Sundays in Lancaster, PA
After our jaunt into the past - with all of its surprises - we headed back to the present with a few days in Lancaster, PA. As planning for this trip turned out, we arrived in Lancaster on a Saturday night and our first day there would be a Sunday. We have been avoiding being in Lancaster on Sundays. Most of the local attractions here and the local Pennsylvania Dutch restaurants are closed on Sundays. This is an area where the main attraction is the large Amish and Mennonite farm population. These are very religious people. There entire lives are lived around their religion and their beliefs and business on Sundays does not take place.
What is left to do in this area is everything that is non-Pennsylvania Dutch related. There are large outlet centers here. This was one of the first areas in the country with outlet stores and I am talking back to the 1960s. In addition there is the Strasburg Railroad, a steam locomotive railroad attraction that will take you on a ride on an old steam engine pulled train through the farmlands of Paradise, Pennsylvania. Across from the Strasburg Railroad is the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum with an extensive collection of engines and rolling stock. The museum will appeal to the "rail fans". The Strasburg will appeal to everyone and it also has small train rides for the kids. Right next to the Old Mill Stream Campground is Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park for younger children. This is a perfect way to spend a Sunday with young kids. If you are up to driving a slight distance, Lancaster is about an hour or so to Gettysburg and in another direction to Hershey. You can visit the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg (this year is the 150th Anniversary of the three day battle which took place from July 1 through July3). In Hershey there is a large amusement theme park, an attraction about making Hershey's chocolate, and a zoo.
One of the best things to do on a Sunday in Lancaster is take off in your Roadtrek (or car) and head onto the roads that run among the Amish farms and enjoy the rolling fields and hills which depending on the season are either being planted, harvested, or sitting waiting for the warm weather to return. You will pass fields of cows and horses. You will see Amish and Mennonite homes that have no electricity and plumbing that is supplied by a windmill pumping water to the house from a well. In a way we were still time traveling - but this time we were looking in on people living in a way that many today have forgotten how to do, but that these people do every day of their lives. Amish transportation is a horse and buggy and you will see them on every road including some very busy roads along side car and truck traffic.
Sundays for the Amish are either Church Sundays or Visiting Sundays - these alternate week to week. Either way you will see Amish buggies on the side roads either on their way or coming home from their services or from visiting friends on their farm. You may see Amish children and teens playing ball. You may see large gatherings of people outside a house on a farm. This is how the Amish spend their Sundays and as a visitor if you keep your distance, don't stop, but drive by you can witness this part of their lives.
I have said this in almost every article I have written about visiting Lancaster. Be very careful of the buggies on the Road when passing them. You will inevitably encounter a horse and buggy on a hill on a one lane in each direction farm road - which most of them are - and these roads turn and climb in such a way that you are blind to any traffic coming down in the single opposite direction. It is best to wait until you have reached the top of the hill and can see clearly what is coming toward you in the opposite lane before you attempt to pass the buggy. Yes, this sometimes means driving at 5 mph with a line of cars behind you but it is better to wait than to risk your lives and the lives of the people in the buggy. It is not uncommon to see the results of those who did not follow this simple advice.
Another thing to be aware of in this area. It is against the Amish religious beliefs to have photos taken of them - in particular their faces. Do not take pictures of them. At a distance you may photograph the back of a buggy as it goes past and you can photograph the beautiful fields and farms, but not the people. Following this is a sign of respect. The Amish are not unapproachable and if you would like to talk to an Amish person you will encounter them (on any day but Sunday) at a variety of businesses that they work at or at a farm stand on the road at the edge of a farm where many Amish sell produce to those driving by. But you will not see any that are open on a Sunday.
We left the campground that Sunday morning after arranging with the very nice people who are in the office at Old Mill Stream Campground to move to one of our regular sites which would be available that afternoon. We made a stop for lunch - nothing exciting is open in the way of lunch restaurants on a Sunday so it was lunch at McDonalds and then headed out for a drive through the farm fields. And just as I indicated above we encountered more than one buggy climbing a hill.
We also headed over to the Strasburg Railroad, but not to ride the train but to see the trains. There is construction going on now at Strasburg and there have been some changes made to the children's attractions there. The small steam train ride has been moved and now spreads the length of the property making the ride - for kids and adults - longer. At one end of the line there is a small turntable to turn the engine in the opposite direction and this is something most have never seen in operation. This small it is easy to see how it works and is a must to show kids whose heads now think in terms of computers and electronics instead of mechanics.
While most think of these steam trains as coming from the 19th Century, many that you see in operation in museums like the Strasburg Railroad actually were in use in the United States until the 1950s. Today you will only see them in places like this.
We left the Strasburg Railroad to do some mundane things like shopping and of all places that we could go to any day at home we went to Home Depot for a few things that we would need at home when we got back. After that we had dinner, our usual trip at night when traveling to Walmart (it is more for a place do some walking for exercise than for shopping though we get some shopping in too), and then headed back to the campground. As promised by the hosts, the site we wanted was empty and we pulled into our usual - and level - site.
Sunday night TV is not particularly exciting, especially late night TV. The campground has cable but on this particular Sunday night there was nothing of interest on. There would be on the digital over the air signals through the antenna and I put the antenna up and switched the TV and the A/B switch over to Antenna and started the TV scanning for channels. I had the antenna pointed toward the city of Lancaster where most of the broadcast signals come from. We have had good reception here - in this site - in the past. That night - nothing. I spent almost an hour turning the antenna and scanning without results. I just gave up and switched back to what little there was on the cable. I mention this only because that night I decided to get a Digital Signal Finder that connects to the antenna and takes away all of the guess work about pointing the antenna. I had seen one in the shop at our Roadtrek dealer. Every time we are there I look at it and don't spend the $40 to buy it. I decided that now I was definitely buying this. (A future article will tell you where to easily get it and how it was to install - and how it works.)
Perhaps you can see now why we avoid Sundays in Lancaster. I am not saying that you should too but after visiting this area for more than 50 years I have found the same about Sundays. Now we plan our trips to spend the week while all things are open and leave late Saturday night for home.
My tales of this trip will continue as we have three more days before we head home.
What is left to do in this area is everything that is non-Pennsylvania Dutch related. There are large outlet centers here. This was one of the first areas in the country with outlet stores and I am talking back to the 1960s. In addition there is the Strasburg Railroad, a steam locomotive railroad attraction that will take you on a ride on an old steam engine pulled train through the farmlands of Paradise, Pennsylvania. Across from the Strasburg Railroad is the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum with an extensive collection of engines and rolling stock. The museum will appeal to the "rail fans". The Strasburg will appeal to everyone and it also has small train rides for the kids. Right next to the Old Mill Stream Campground is Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park for younger children. This is a perfect way to spend a Sunday with young kids. If you are up to driving a slight distance, Lancaster is about an hour or so to Gettysburg and in another direction to Hershey. You can visit the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg (this year is the 150th Anniversary of the three day battle which took place from July 1 through July3). In Hershey there is a large amusement theme park, an attraction about making Hershey's chocolate, and a zoo.
One of the best things to do on a Sunday in Lancaster is take off in your Roadtrek (or car) and head onto the roads that run among the Amish farms and enjoy the rolling fields and hills which depending on the season are either being planted, harvested, or sitting waiting for the warm weather to return. You will pass fields of cows and horses. You will see Amish and Mennonite homes that have no electricity and plumbing that is supplied by a windmill pumping water to the house from a well. In a way we were still time traveling - but this time we were looking in on people living in a way that many today have forgotten how to do, but that these people do every day of their lives. Amish transportation is a horse and buggy and you will see them on every road including some very busy roads along side car and truck traffic.
Sundays for the Amish are either Church Sundays or Visiting Sundays - these alternate week to week. Either way you will see Amish buggies on the side roads either on their way or coming home from their services or from visiting friends on their farm. You may see Amish children and teens playing ball. You may see large gatherings of people outside a house on a farm. This is how the Amish spend their Sundays and as a visitor if you keep your distance, don't stop, but drive by you can witness this part of their lives.
I have said this in almost every article I have written about visiting Lancaster. Be very careful of the buggies on the Road when passing them. You will inevitably encounter a horse and buggy on a hill on a one lane in each direction farm road - which most of them are - and these roads turn and climb in such a way that you are blind to any traffic coming down in the single opposite direction. It is best to wait until you have reached the top of the hill and can see clearly what is coming toward you in the opposite lane before you attempt to pass the buggy. Yes, this sometimes means driving at 5 mph with a line of cars behind you but it is better to wait than to risk your lives and the lives of the people in the buggy. It is not uncommon to see the results of those who did not follow this simple advice.
Another thing to be aware of in this area. It is against the Amish religious beliefs to have photos taken of them - in particular their faces. Do not take pictures of them. At a distance you may photograph the back of a buggy as it goes past and you can photograph the beautiful fields and farms, but not the people. Following this is a sign of respect. The Amish are not unapproachable and if you would like to talk to an Amish person you will encounter them (on any day but Sunday) at a variety of businesses that they work at or at a farm stand on the road at the edge of a farm where many Amish sell produce to those driving by. But you will not see any that are open on a Sunday.
We left the campground that Sunday morning after arranging with the very nice people who are in the office at Old Mill Stream Campground to move to one of our regular sites which would be available that afternoon. We made a stop for lunch - nothing exciting is open in the way of lunch restaurants on a Sunday so it was lunch at McDonalds and then headed out for a drive through the farm fields. And just as I indicated above we encountered more than one buggy climbing a hill.
We also headed over to the Strasburg Railroad, but not to ride the train but to see the trains. There is construction going on now at Strasburg and there have been some changes made to the children's attractions there. The small steam train ride has been moved and now spreads the length of the property making the ride - for kids and adults - longer. At one end of the line there is a small turntable to turn the engine in the opposite direction and this is something most have never seen in operation. This small it is easy to see how it works and is a must to show kids whose heads now think in terms of computers and electronics instead of mechanics.
While most think of these steam trains as coming from the 19th Century, many that you see in operation in museums like the Strasburg Railroad actually were in use in the United States until the 1950s. Today you will only see them in places like this.
We left the Strasburg Railroad to do some mundane things like shopping and of all places that we could go to any day at home we went to Home Depot for a few things that we would need at home when we got back. After that we had dinner, our usual trip at night when traveling to Walmart (it is more for a place do some walking for exercise than for shopping though we get some shopping in too), and then headed back to the campground. As promised by the hosts, the site we wanted was empty and we pulled into our usual - and level - site.
Sunday night TV is not particularly exciting, especially late night TV. The campground has cable but on this particular Sunday night there was nothing of interest on. There would be on the digital over the air signals through the antenna and I put the antenna up and switched the TV and the A/B switch over to Antenna and started the TV scanning for channels. I had the antenna pointed toward the city of Lancaster where most of the broadcast signals come from. We have had good reception here - in this site - in the past. That night - nothing. I spent almost an hour turning the antenna and scanning without results. I just gave up and switched back to what little there was on the cable. I mention this only because that night I decided to get a Digital Signal Finder that connects to the antenna and takes away all of the guess work about pointing the antenna. I had seen one in the shop at our Roadtrek dealer. Every time we are there I look at it and don't spend the $40 to buy it. I decided that now I was definitely buying this. (A future article will tell you where to easily get it and how it was to install - and how it works.)
Perhaps you can see now why we avoid Sundays in Lancaster. I am not saying that you should too but after visiting this area for more than 50 years I have found the same about Sundays. Now we plan our trips to spend the week while all things are open and leave late Saturday night for home.
My tales of this trip will continue as we have three more days before we head home.
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