West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Tuscarora State Forest trips

 


(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 - 31 October, 2013)



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Thursday, 31 October -

Hmmm. I felt nauseous overnight and not much better today. I’m not sure what’s going on but it’s passing.
I pretty much stayed in my chair all day, researching some items in the Tuscarora State Forest. I’m also thinking about buying another sporting gun so did some research on the alternatives for both gun and ammo.
I also found something interesting while reviewing our health insurance. I can get a health-club membership for a discounted rate. And it’s available at the new club only about ten minutes away from us.
I’ve been thinking I need to add some resistance training. I’ve been doing well in keeping my daily-walk average up above 10,000 steps and I added in the modified pushups this summer. But I need more variety and I need to get out of the house. With cold weather coming on, I’m going to need to do more that mall-walking.
That evening we watched two ‘Scandal’ eps.

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Wednesday, 30 October -

This morning I unloaded the van and then caught up on my web patrol. I also spent a few hours researching the DJI Phantom Drone and the GoPro camera. The Phantom is supposed to be an easy-to-fly quadracopter which can carry a GoPro for overhead video phototgraphy.... and even point-of-view flying. Very, very interesting.
That afternoon I buzzed down to Starbucks on the Thruxton but didn’t go walking. I did drive to Rudy Park intending to walk but realized I had left my cable-lock for my riding jacket back home (silly boy) and wasn’t willing to chance it. I had talked with a park ranger last month about thefts and he had said they’ve had a few, including smash-and-grabs from vehicles so I didn’t feel comfortable taking the chance.
That evening we watched two ‘The Good Wife’ episodes and one ‘Parenthood’.

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Tuesday, 29 October-

Last night was dead quiet.... either that or I was so exhausted I just didn’t hear a thing. This morning I woke refreshed, had a quick breakfast and then got back to catching up the blog for an hour or so. I’ve been putting that off too long.
At mid-morning I drove to the Three Square Hollow area and to Gunter Valley Road. The road petered out at a gate and a small parking lot. I walked back the road behind the gate and found it led to a game plot for wild turkeys (according to a sign there). On the other side of the plot I found a trail and quickly realized this was really prime hiking area. The trail wound through very lush mountain laurel and into a beautiful mature woods at the base of the steep mountainside. This would be a perfect camping area for a scout patrol.
When the trail opened up I started noticing red trail blazes, faded ones but there. I followed the blazes through the woods but had to be careful at each blaze to look around for the next one. The red-blazes ended as I emerged from the woods but the trail ahead was apparent. I walked another mile through brushy growth and was soon on an old road. I’m guessing it sees some ATV and jeep traffic from the other end. The confusing thing is the trail and road aren’t on the map. The maps only show a short road behind the gate and that terminates at the turkey plot.
In any case, I was of course on the lookout for squirrels and didn’t see a one. I saw a few songbirds but the only game I saw in the whole four-mile walk was two wild turkeys--- and they were running away from me, head down and in a big hurry.
Back out at the van I started lunch. I was about done when I saw an SUV coming. Since the SUV had to turn around at my van, I got out to say hello. There were two guys in the car and they got out to talk. They were doing the same thing I do-- just wandering around the State Forest. But yesterday they had walked into the downstream end of the Gunter Valley Reservoir. That had led them to wonder whether they could come in to the upstream end of it from the watershed above, i.e., the State Forest. I’ve wondered the same thing and that, in fact, is why I had chosen to hunt in this area today.
We talked for the better part of an hour. The two gentlemen are from Newville and they are both retired from what was the Masland Carpet plant in Carlisle. We talked at length about the trail and state forest. They were interested in Mocha Joe and its travels and wanted to know where I had worked, etc. It was just a very pleasant conversation among strangers.
Shortly after leaving the Gunter Valley Road in Mocha Joe, I encountered a DCNR pickup coming the other way. He pulled off to let me by so when I got alongside I gave him a friendly ‘Hey, whatcha doin’ out here?’ and ‘Are you seeing any game?” greeting. He was amenable to the question and replied that he was preparing for a timber sale. When I asked if the projects are auctions, he told me yes and added that he has a list of 82 bidders for timber sales. That prompted me to ask about the clear-cut area I had seen off the Alfarata Trail. He said that is one of his timber sale projects. I observed that that one seemed to be nearly clear-cut. He said that one was indeed ‘cut hard’... but there’s a reason. He asked if I had noticed the pine trees left standing. Those, he said, are Tabletop Mountain Pines and are a species of interest. They regenerate best after fire and fires are now very rare. The ones we do have are fought hard and not permitted to spread. These pines do best in very direct sun, so opening up the area around them promotes their regeneration. (Now that I’m back home and writing this, I’m wondering if a controlled burn of the remaining debris from logging would be helpful).
I’m not sure of this but I don’t believe that hilltop was cut hard only because the Tabletop Mountain pines are there. I’m guessing that the area was otherwise ready for harvest but after the survey found these trees, the cut was allowed to be more extensive than it would otherwise be.
The timber guy also told me he expects that area to regenerate in oaks. I’m not sure how that will affect the long-term survival of the Tabletop Mountain Pine.
After our conversation I continued on Three Square Hollow Road. There’s a pulloff along there for a memorial to a crashed military aircraft. I’ve long been aware of the memorial but today noticed there’s a red-blazed path behind it. I donned my hunting gear and walked back in a half-mile, thinking it might lead to engines or some remnant of the aircraft. But as the trail led downhill I saw a tree with both blue and red blazes. Oh, yeah, this is the Tuscarora Trail. It used to be blazed blue but is now red.
As I returned to the memorial I realized how open and flat the terrain is. There’d be no reason for wreckage to still be here.
Back at the truck I set the GPS for home. I was surprised to see it was only an hour away until I saw why. Once I descended the mountain out of Three Square Hollow, I could easily jump on the Turnpike at Blue Mountain and buzz home.
I called Labashi on the way home and made it home before dark. That evening we watched ‘Scandal’ and ‘Parenthood’ episodes.

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Monday, 28 October-

I planned to get up at 0630 this morning but found myself awake at 0500. I arose at 0530 as it became clear I’d not be getting back to sleep. After quickly showering, I left as quietly as possible, trying not to wake Labashi. After a stop at Walmart for a bit of provisioning, I drove to Fowler’s Hollow State Park and parked just outside the campground at the Alfarata Trail trailhead. I donned my hunting gear and headed across the field to the woods. I had barely loaded my .22 pistol when I saw two squirrels. They were close but had didn’t waste any time running up a tree. I sat there a bit but never saw them again.
That pattern pretty much repeated itself through the morning. I saw a dozen squirrels but they were extra jumpy, it seemed. I didn’t see them in the distance and when I’d finally come upon one it would be high-tailing around a tree. I never even had reason to draw.
As I walked up the forest road to the top of the hill, I noticed a newly logged area to the east. After topping out, I came upon a new road cut in by the loggers and took it. That led to the clear-cut area and I had a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The clear-cut itself was a jumble of branches and roots. I was surprised to see how few trees had been left standing. But I did notice two fairly large pines, my attention drawn to them by a bluebird, then several other birds flying in and out of them.
I also saw a white plastic pipe about 18 inches long and capped on both ends. It was bunjied to a tree at the beginning of the clear-cut. I considered opening it but then figured it wasn’t any of my business and moved on.
I returned to the main forest road and continued south to the Tuscarora Trail shelter known as Shelter 2. After signing the log and taking a snack break, I worked my way back toward the park, now along the the pretty little creek.
Once back at the truck I decided to see if the Couch Road gate was open. Nope-- once I got there I saw the sign saying it’s only open December 7 - 14. That made me nervous about the other gates but at the Hemlocks Natural Area I found the gate to Stewart Narrows Road open. I drove to the parking area and walked around a bit, then had a bit of lunch and took a nap. I wasn’t seeing squirrels anyway and had already walked five miles, so why not?
After the nap I drove on to the Bear Pond Trail crossing. There I found new research plots. The exclosures had signs with the phone numbers of the researchers. I wrote down the numbers and will give them a call. For now, I know only that they are for a project on forest regeneration.
I loaded the gun and walked north on the Bear Pond Trail but only for a half-mile or so, pausing to watch for squirrels. Nothing. But it sure was a nice day up there.
I was about an hour from sunset and decided to had back to camp. But once I reached the state park I decided I’d rather drive on to the Doubling Gap overlook and see what the valley looks like as the sun falls. That decision took me up the Wolf Road, a new one to me. Once at the overlook I was disappointed to see how overgrown the lookout point was. Not much to see there.
As I drove back the Bower Mountain Road, darkness came on. I was hoping to see deer along this road but that was not to be.
I set up at site 11 in the park, plugged in the heater, heated up some of Labashi’s wonderful chili for my supper, then started the long process of catching up the blog. The Fitbit said I walked 8.3 miles today.

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Sunday, 27 October -

Wow- what a great day today. We had been having cool days and frosty nights but today was up above Sixty. I had thought I might be done riding the Thruxton for the season but today was a good one for it. I hit the Starbucks and then went searching for posi-taps. I’d just like to have a few on hand and I’m thinking I’ll use those when I get around to installing replacement turn signals on the Thruxton (after I install a Fender Elimination Kit). No luck at all. None at Pep Boys or Advance Auto or Autozone. I had also looked for them at Lowe’s and Home Depot yesterday. They must be more specialized than I thought.
Back home I spent a few hours working on Mocha Joe. After our recent trips I’ve become frustrated with the curtains falling off when bumped. I attached the bottoms of them with screws and added short pieces of velcro for stowing them. I also fixed the curtain on the big side window by adding a piece of velcro so the center is held up more reliably.
Toward evening I packed for my hunting trip tomorrow and then we watched ‘Parenthood’ episodes.

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Saturday, 26 October-

Today I tried to find a replacement cafeteria tray for the one on Mocha Joe’s door. I mounted the old tray to the door with fold-down brackets and it works very well for cooking both inside and outside of Mocha Joe (depending on whether the door is closed or open). Unfortunately, the old one is made of melamine and broke.
I wasn’t able to find a local place to buy a direct replacement but thought I might find something at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Wal-mart or Tractor Supply but no luck. The closest I found was a cookie-baking tray but then that would look like a cookie-baking tray, wouldn’t it?
After wasting the day hitting all those stores, I headed home with nothing-- not even a good idea.
That evening we watched ‘Scandal’ and two ‘Parenthood’ episodes. We call the latter our sappy show. Sometimes they just go way to far into sappy-land.

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Friday, 25 October-

Today we drove up to Mom and Dad’s apartment to set up fax function on the new multi-function printer and take care of several other small items. Dad then served us a really excellent meal of scallops, double-fried frites, and cheesy cauliflower.
Two more ‘Good Wife’ eps that evening.

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Thursday, 24 October -

I spent the morning online and then rode the GS down to Rudy Park for a short walk. The GS battery is acting a bit flaky. I had charged it up a few days ago and was surprised it seemed weak when I came out of Starbucks and started up. I pressed the starter button and nothing happened for a second. I tried again and same thing. On the third try the bike started. It acted normal after my walk at Rudy Park. It’s the original battery from Spring 2010 so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m wondering, though, if my charging system is operating up to spec. I was using heated gear today so was drawing 100 watts for the heated gear plus up to 50 or so for headlight. I think it’s supposed to have a 400-watt capacity so I should be good.
Early that evening we went to Accomac Inn to celebrate a milestone. Like our recent trip to Pittsburgh, we had drinks and appetizers only. We seem to now prefer to emphasize tastes and minimize the size of portions. Good meal!
We watched two ‘The Good Wife’ episodes.

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Wednesday, 23 October-

This morning I replaced the old Gerbing battery harness on the Concours with a new one for winter. The center conductor on the plug had gotten rusty last season and I had to wiggle the plug around to get a connection and I want it to be dependable.
I ran over to Manchester to pick up some screws for the storm window on the window I had repaired and installed it. I also finally got around to replacing the rusted screws in the GS650’s front brake disc with stainless steel button-head screws and lock-tited them in place with blue Lock-tite.
That evening we drove up to the doctor’s office to get our annual flu shots. We then watched ‘Survivor’ and two ‘Parenthood’ episodes.

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Tuesday, 22 October-

This morning I finished the window frame. I put on another layer of Bondo and shaped it to match and painted it with a primer.
I then spent two hours mowing.
After the mowing I buzzed down to Starbucks for a fix and then returned to watch an episode of ‘Breaking Bad’ season five. Labashi has given up on this series but I’m interested enough to keep going.
Later on we watched three episodes of ‘Parenthood’ together.

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Monday, 21 October-

I blogged for an hour or so this morning and then worked on an exterior window sill which had been water-damaged. After removing the damage, I made a repair splice about 15 inches long, cut it close to shape and screwed it tight to the undamaged portion of the window frame. I then did some cosmetic work with Bondo, getting fairly close to the original shape but I’ll have to do more tomorrow.
That evening we watched ‘Parenthood’ and ‘Scandal’.

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Sunday, 20 October -

This morning I installed the battery harness for the Gerbing heated jacket on the Thruxton. I of course then had to test it out with my Sunday ride to the Tollgate Starbucks. The jacket worked well in this 50-degree weather but when it gets any colder I’ll have to switch to my full-face helmet or start using a mask.
I went back home after my ride but then decided to take the GS to Rocky Ridge for my walk on my regular end-to-end 5.6 mile course.
That evening we watched four episodes of ‘Scandal’.

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Saturday, 19 October-

This morning we had a hearty breakfast at the nearby Trenthouse B & B and then drove to Seven Springs Resort. We have passed the signs along the turnpike for Seven Springs many times over the years and just wanted to take a look today.
We got lucky and found the resort was having a Fall Weekend event. There was a small crafts fair, hay-bale maze, pony rides, several bands, and county-fair-like equipment displays. We enjoyed a walk through the resort and were interested in its ski-lodge architecture. The lodges face the slopes and I imagine have a magnificent view on a snowy winter day. Now I need to go back to see that.
As we headed out I wanted to take a look at the sporting-clays course. As it turns out, you can’t see much of the course but you can tell how it’s laid out by the sounds of the shooting. We saw several groups of shooters heading out in their six-man golf carts, each with, oddly enough (!), gun racks. That drive to the course takes you to a trailhead trails everywhere and a connection to forest roads of the Forbes State Forest. Nice!
We then drove to the turnpike and continued home, arriving by 1530. After unpacking we watched the end of ‘Pollyanna‘ and the start of ‘Swiss Family Robinson‘ as we worked away on the web.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘The Good Wife’, Season 4.

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Friday, 18 October -

This morning we dropped down off the hill at the La Quinta to the Starbucks in the little strip mall below. We needed to make a quick Skype call to Mom and Dad to check in.
Since all was well back home, we drove on to the Frick Museum, out in the burbs of the city. The Frick Museum celebrates the Frick family and offers tours of their home. We had come to see the art museum and it had a smallish collection of European art and hosts a photo exhibition which in 2000 attempted to re-create the feel of the Frick lifestyle with silver-process photos.
We had a quiche-and-salad lunch on the patio of the small, stylish cafe and I splurged with a Maker’s Mark Manhattan though it was only lunch time.
After lunch we toured the garden, the greenhouse, shop, and carriage house before going back to finish the art museum tour we had interrupted for lunch.
We then took a short stroll into Frick Park but decided we’d better head out of town before the worst of the rush.
We again hit some heavy traffic on US30 as we headed out but then reached the turnpike for open road. We exited onto US31 to get to Laurel Hill State Park for the night. Along the way we encountered Laurel Hill Inn and had an excellent black-and-bleu burger.
We then drove on to Laurel Hill State Park where we had a nice campsite on a hill all to ourselves.

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Thursday, 17 October-

This morning we went looking for a Walmart to return our Redbox DVD. The GPS showed one only ten minutes away, albeit in the wrong direction. Alas, it turned out to be a Sam’s Club. Note to GPS users--- Garmin GPSs show Sam’s Club stores as Walmarts. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good when you’re looking for a place to stay overnight since Sam’s Clubs have the same overnight-parking policy. But it’s a bad thing when you need something Walmart-specific, like a Redbox, or you don’t have a Sam’s Club card.
We drove on to the Carnegie Museum in Oakland. Admission prices again seemed high at $17.50 per person. I also made the mistake of parking on the street at $2 per hour so our visit cost me $14 in parking.
The museum itself is well worth a visit. We first had an early lunch at the cafeteria, again, like the Warhol, good, fresh and tasty food.
In addition to the regular exhibitions, the museum was hosting it’s Carnegie International event, a showcase of artists from around the world.
Our eyes seek out classic European and American art of the late 19th and early 20th Century and we did very well today.
The best individual displays for us were musical instruments crafted from guns and a photography exhibit on Utopian societies in the US. In the former, the instruments are made by welding together gun parts and, in some cases, entire guns in unexpected ways and putting them to an unexpected use. The artist determined what sounds the parts would make and crafted them into mechanical instruments of music driven by a programmable controller. As we walked through the area we’d hear individual sounds, perhaps two or three a minute. Eventually, we’d hear a short composition from the instruments playing together. The guns, it turns out, were from Juarez, Mexico, from police and government seizures and from turn-ins by citizens. Perhaps one of the more bizarre sculpture/instruments included a four-foot horizontal arc of welded-together classic 1911-style semi-automatic pistols to hold musical strings. On first seeing it, we notice only the striking shape of the arc and the part it plays in the instrument. Then we realize the arc has a history--- possibly, even likely, a very bad one. Or maybe, even likely, some of the guns were used for defense. From a technology and resource standpoint, it seems a shame that all that technological achievement went for nought. Did it? Or are our own biases at play here?
The latter exhibit, the photos taken at Utopian communities across the US, captured our interest in both the photos and the stories behind the communities. The photos do their best to represent each community but of course are only a very small part of their story. We spend far more time reading the accompanying description than examining the photo. And in both cases are encouraged to seek out more.
We also made a brief foray into the attached Natural History museum, enjoying the American Indian, Polar Cultures, and Saudi Arabian artifacts rooms.
After the Carnegie we headed back downtown for supper and encountered the worst traffic we’ve seen in quite a while. Someone at the Warhol had suggested Bar Marco in the Strip District. It wasn’t on the GPS so we tried to use the girl’s vague directions but first had to get downtown on Penn Street. What a mess. When our directions didn’t work, we asked at a Hampton Inn in the area.
Bar Marco is a small, upscale little place of only about a dozen tables. We were lucky to get a table and a nice one at that... close to the front window. We had cocktails, red-beet soup, fried dates wrapped in bacon (!!!!), squash ravioli, and a burger made with espresso and chili powder, all very, very good. After another round of cocktails, we had panna cotta dessert. We then drove about ten minutes back to our overnight spot at the Holiday Inn/La Quinta and had the giant parking lot all to ourselves.

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Wednesday, 16 October-
Today we drove into Pittsburgh to the Warhol Museum. We were shocked to see the price of tickets-- $20 each-- but the museum is seven floors and is very well done.
We first had lunch in the basement cafe and the food was very fresh and good. We then spent about four hours just slowly working our way through the displays, starting at the top floor and working our way down.
The new things we learned about Andy Warhol were that he had won many awards in his early career as a commercial illustrator and that we was an incredibly prolific artist and had his hand in everything. We didn’t know about his music production or his television series on New York city cable TV. I also was impressed by his organization system for his personal life.
We left the museum around 1600 and walked across the bridge into Downtown and walked up Penn Avenue. After checking out all the restaurants within walking distance we chose ‘Nine on Nine’ and had a fancy meal there. Our meal consisted of appetizers and drinks but that still put our bill over $100. Labashi had something that surprised me--- roasted marrow --- and I learned something else about her after all these years. Her mother used to serve marrow to them when they were living at home.
We also had pumpkin bisque, an excellent red beet salad and a fig-and-candied almonds salad. While Labashi had her roasted marrow, I had mac-and-cheese with big pieces of lobster in it.
After dinner we drove to the North Hills Holiday Inn. I had asked our parking attendant at the Warhol Museum if there was anyplace in the area where we could stay the night cheap or free in Mocha Joe, as is our custom. He surprised us by directing us to the Holiday Inn and said we could park there free. We followed our GPS there and found the Holiday Inn was now a La Quinta--- but the front-desk girl said it was still okay for us to stay overnight in their parking lot for free.
That night we watched ‘Iron Man 3’ on DVD from the Walmart Redbox. This one wasn’t terrible, terrible but it certainly wasn’t good.

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Tuesday, 15 October-

We broke fast at the Eat-and-Park near St. Vincent College this morning. We don’t normally go out for breakfast but thought we’d try it. As it happens, today is Senior Tuesday and we had the big buffet for $4.99 a person. Our waitress was very nice and gave us a coupon for a free slice of apple pie when she learned of our upcoming anniversary. We took it along for later!
We drove to the Southern Alleghenies Art Museum after breakfast. The exhibition was very fine bronze sculptures by a Philadelphia family of sculptors (sorry, I didn’t write down the name).
We then drove on to the Westmoreland Art Museum at Greensburg. We were shocked to learn the main displays are closed on Tuesdays. But the very nice woman in charge escorted us into those displays.... an incredibly nice gesture for us.
We then drove to St. Vincent College and visited the cathedral and drove through the campus.
Afterwards, we did a bit of shopping at the Greensburg Wal-mart and hooked up to the Web at the Starbucks.
We then found a nearby park-- Twin Lakes-- and walked around the lakes-- another three-mile jaunt.
We then had a fancy meal at the Longhorn restaurant before driving back to Keystone State Park for the night. We watched ‘King of Summer’ on DVD (from the Redbox at Walmart). Terrible, terrible movie.


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Monday, 14 October -

Today we finished packing up and departed for our Pittsburgh trip. Labashi has been talking about an arts trip to Pittsburgh for weeks now so it’s time to go!
We drove out the turnpike and got off on old 30 west of Bedford. I thought I’d been on this stretch of US30 but didn’t recognize it. The day was overcast and as we rose, we started hitting fog until it was so foggy we had to slow to about 30 miles an hour on the mountaintops.
Our goal today was Keystone State Park, which we reached around 1600. We went out for a short walk and ended up circling the sizable lake, about a three-mile walk. Labashi didn’t feel like cooking and we had picked up a half-baguette at the Giant-Eagle at Ligonier, so we just had deviled-ham-on-baguette slices for supper. We then spent the evening blogging and reading.

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Sunday, 13 October -

This morning I took my Thruxton to Starbucks then to Rocky Ridge Park. I finally remembered to set the Fitbit to capture the walk as a standalone event and learned my five-mile course is actually 5.6 miles and takes me about 1:50 to walk and do four sets of pushups.
Most of my walk today was just the routine round-the-horn walk I do but today was a bit different. There was a 5K run going on at the park today. Part of my regular course was now a race course. As I exited Sue’s Trail, I saw the runners on the early part of the course, just turning into the woods at the other side of the parking lot. I hurried along so I could finish the part of my course shared with the race course layout. It was odd at the end, though. I came out very close to the finish line and had to walk along off-trail to get past the timing gate.
That evening we watched the last ep of ‘Orphan Black’ disk 1 and the two last episodes of ‘Parenthood’- Season one.

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Saturday, 12 October-

The roads finally dried out enough to ride.... so long as I carefully pick my route! The creekside roads are all flooded and I have to take the long way around to get anywhere.
I made it to Starbucks, though, and wished Crystal a good trip. She’s leaving tomorrow on a mission trip to Ethiopia for ten days.
I buzzed over to Rudy Park and walked the short inside-the-park course (about two miles today)
We watched an ‘Orphan Black’ and two ‘Parenthood’ eps. The latter is clearly the better show, though it’s awfully sappy sometimes.

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Friday, 11 October-

Rainy again today. I spent the entire day on the web. We did receive the weed-burner propane torch I had ordered so I gave it a test.
I had hoped to attend York’s food-trucks event this evening but it was still raining and there was quite a lot of flooding in the area so we skipped it. Maybe next time.
We watched two ‘Orphan Black’ eps and a ‘Scandal’.

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Thursday, 10 October-

Another rainy one today. We drove up to Dad’s apartment to work on his printer. It’s making odd grinding noises as it tries to print. We spent an hour or so trying to save it, then I researched multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax machines. We settled on a Canon model and went to Best Buy and bought it. Installation was mostly uneventful and then we had a terrific mac-and-cheese supper. That evening we watched two ‘Orphan Black’ episodes, a new series for us. Plus a ‘Scandal’.

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Wednesday, 9 October -

Today I caught up the blog to the end of August (yikes!) and posted it. I took the Thruxton for coffee and rode on the Rocky Ridge Park for my walk today. There I encountered a guy with a BMW R1200GS, the fancy adventure-style bike. We struck up a conversation and I learned he was Paul from Lancaster. He had bought his bike at the same place I bought my BMW-- Trans-Am Cycles in Lititz. He had been gathering mushrooms and had two Walmart-size shopping bags of them. We talked for a half-hour or so about our bikes and our travels. Good guy!
I then walked my five-mile course at Rocky Ridge for the first time in months. That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Scandal’.

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Tuesday, 8 October -

The morning looked dreary but the day improved as it went on. At the AutoZone yesterday I had bought two cable ends so I can salvage the nice 4-guage cables for Labashi’s car. Silly me, though, I only bought two ends and need four.
I rode the Thruxton for coffee and then hit the AutoZone for two more cable clamps. On the way home I took my walk at Rudy Park, shortening it a bit because I still wanted to get the cables done.
I finished the cables and found a good spot for them in Labashi’s car. When I told her about them, she said she already had a set in her map-box. Sure enough there’s a fairly nice, but short, set there. I can’t win.
That evening we watched three Parenthood episodes and I caught a very brief glimpse of the International Space Station flying over. I had gotten a flyover notice from Spot The Station so we looked out a half-hour before and the sky was completely clouded up. I went out anyway at the flyover time and saw it briefly-- maybe ten seconds-- before it went back into the clouds.

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Monday, 7 October -

It’s a rainy day today. We’ve not had a lot of rain lately but today’s the day Dad has a battery problem with his car. Labashi and I took Mocha Joe so I’d have my tools and heavy-duty jumper cables. Unfortunately, my heavy-duty jumper cables turned out to be junk!
I bought 4-guage cables and have had them under the hood in Mocha Joe for years. I thought I was being slick keeping the cables up front right where they’d be needed. But what I hadn’t counted on was the connectors rusting so badly they wouldn’t pass a current-- and in fact broke off. These are the heavy ones but that just made for heavier rust.
I was quite disgusted that I couldn’t even get the little Honda to get any current at all. I drove the van to the location where I had bought his battery and the Battery Warehouse is gone. I thought I’d try Sears but then saw a new AutoZone only a few blocks away. I bought their heaviest cables--- 2 guage and 20 feet long --- for $50.
The Honda started right away with the new jumpers and I let it charge 20 minutes or so then drove to the AutoZone to have them load-test the battery. It passed fine. We surmised the problem was due to Dad leaving the lights on after church yesterday but I wanted a load-test of the battery as well as an alternator charging test.
Afterwards Labashi and I left but then stopped at the nearby Isaacs for an early supper.
That evening we started another new series-- ‘Parenthood’ and watched two ‘Scandal’ episodes.

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Sunday, 6 October -

This morning I did some web research on pop-up truck campers. I can spend hours and hours on this subject. I see the Four Wheel Camper guys have kicked their prices up a good bit. An empty shell used to be something like $6200 and is now north of $7500... for an empty shell (with a pop-top roof).
After a coffee run on the Thruxton I came back home and got back to it, then a few hours later rode to Rudy Park and walked four miles.
We watched ‘Scandal’ that evening.

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Saturday, 5 October-

I was working on the Web much of the day. In the afternoon I rode the Thruxton down to Starbucks intending to then go for my walk at Rudy Park. But as I left Starbucks I saw dark clouds approaching from the west. I could see virga and rain under the clouds so I beat a hasty retreat home. The rain started shortly thereafter.
Tonight we started a new series, ‘Scandal’. I’ve had this one on the list of shows to try and earlier this week saw the female lead (Kerry Washington?) on The Daily Show. The pilot looked good.

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Friday, 4 October -

Today I unpacked from the trip and caught up on the news. To summarize this year’s trip, then...
It was great to get Maypo involved. This is his first visit to the Canaan Valley and I’m sure we’ll do it again.
Using Orat’s pop-up truck camper was a great success. There’s room enough for the three of us to sleep (though it’s downright luxurious to have that top bunk to myself!). We need to solve a few minor problems but it worked very well.
The trip was too short. We didn’t have enough time to seek out new places or take more time where we were. The Dolly Sods visit was rushed (though the visit with the bird-banders was extra-special this year).
We did a bit more walking with short hikes at Bear Rocks, Camp 70, Laurel Dry Fork, and Falls of Hill Creek but should do more. We didn’t have time to fish.
We met very interesting people again--- the bird-banders, the Raleigh photographer, and the Spruce Knob couple come to mind.

That afternoon Labashi and I visited her parents and we then went out to dinner at Bonefish. That evening we watched ‘Louie’ and ‘Call the Midwife’ episodes.

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Thursday, 3 October -

This morning we left our informal camping site at Spruce Knob and headed toward home. We drove a super-twisty back road up to Seneca Rocks, then took SR28 to Moorefield.
Rather than just take 55 across the mountain into Virginia, we detoured south to see Lost River State Park and then came back north to turn east at Lost City. This put us on the Judge Rye Road I was on this Spring and we continued on to Wolf Gap.
I was surprised to see a CLOSED ribbon across at Wolf Gap. If there’s anywhere that has minimal need for maintenance, it’s Wolf Gap. We walked around the camping loop and then took a look at the dispersed campsites across the road.
We then drove Forest Road 92, hoping to see any sign of life but saw only a few birds. Then again it was mid-day and we were driving a stone road which gave wildlife plenty of notice about an approaching vehicle.
We continued on to Interstate 81 and bee-lined for Maypo’s, stopping only briefly at the Winchester Starbucks for fuel.
Once at Maypo’s we swapped hear and chatted with Maypo a bit, then headed out. Orat headed for New York and I for York Haven.
That night Labashi and I watched two ‘Louie’-S3 episodes and a ‘Call the Midwife’ episode.

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Wednesday, 2 October -

This morning we drove on to the Falls of Hills Creek for a morning walk. I’ve been here several times but never went beyond the first set of falls. It’s only a 25 footer but the next one is a 45 footer and the last a 65 footer. Very nice!
We then drove back to the turnoff at the Cranberry Visitor’s Center and then down along Tea Creek and on to the Hanley Wildlife Management Area for a look-see.
We continued on to Cass, where we encountered a road rally for very expensive sports cars. They were on a 1000-mile tour (the ‘Mountain Mille’) and had their own break-down crew following in a truck and trailer with two brand-new Porsches inside. If you break down and they can’t fix your car, you get to drive a new Porsche for the rest of the rally.
We motored on to Green Bank and then went looking for the Elleber Sods location we had heard about from a guy at Spruce Knob. He had called it Ebener Knob but when we asked about it at a Green Bank gas station, the lady said she had heard of Ebener Sods but not the Knob. Whatever! Apparently it’s both.
We tried to follow the GPS up to the top of the mountain but it led us into a dead end this time. A guy had warned us at the gas station that this road (Country Road 4) got narrow and rough and recommended we take Route 250 to the top. We took 250 to the Camp Allegheny sign on top of the mountain and then took FR1681 to the end-- a gate blocking the road. Orat and I decided to walk to the top, hoping for a view of the radio-telescopes at Green Bank. From our angle it appeared the road topped out in about a quarter of a mile. Instead, it turned right and went up another hill. Then another. We finally topped out in the middle of a pasture at a geodetic benchmark. We had a great view to the east and north but couldn’t see the Green Bank area.
Once we made it back to the truck we headed back down 250 for the turnoff to SR28. We headed north toward Spruce Knob, now racing the sun. We wanted a shot of the sunset from atop the knob.
We didn’t quite make it but as it turns out, that didn’t matter. There was a low-level cloud bank blocking the sunset anyway. We walked to the tower and then to the west side, hoping against hope but it was not to be this time.
After dark we moved the truck and its camper to a level spot in the middle parking lot and set up for the night. This high up our cell phones were now working so we made calls home.
After awhile, a pickup came through and I noticed it slow down, stop, then back up and head toward us. Perhaps the Federales were working after all and were going to kick us out.
What followed, though, was a highlight of our trip. A youngish guy and his girlfriend drove up and asked what we were doin’ up here. We said we were star-gazing... and what are YOU doin’? The guy didn’t hestitate. “We’re drivin’ roun’ drinkin’ BERE!” he said. And he said it multiple times. It was clear he had had a few already.
We talked a bit more about our purpose and said we had seen satellites and shooting stars. He didn’t seem to know what a satellite was. In the process of explaining, Orat said we’ve also seen the International Space Station. Again, a blank look. I told him there are, right now, as we speak, six people aboard the space station, flying around the earth at more than 17,000 miles per hour. Our guest was duly impressed. He then asked if we had one of them giant stethoscopes (in order to see those six guys, I presume). His girl corrected him and he then said he knew it didn’t sound right when it came out.
He and his lady friend told us they were drinking Bud Light and offered us a beer (nice!). We said thanks but we do indeed have some beer, though it’s Bud Light Lime. He allowed that Bud Light Lime was also good.
We told him we were wondering if he was ‘the man’ when he drove up to our camper and was about to kick us out. He said, “HELL, no. There ain’t nobody gonna bother you up here-- this is GOD’s country!” He seemed shocked we’d even have the thought. He called this area-- and the ridge extending north-- “Top of Spruce”.
We somehow got to talking about bears and he told us some poor guy had been attacked not far from here by a bear. He was camping in a tent and had food inside the tent and the bear had attacked him for the food and ‘beat him up pretty bad’.
He said he and his friends had killed two bears so far this year and said hunting bears and deer was what everybody does here. He told us how to find where the deer are: Look for ‘akerns’. There aren’t a lot of akerns up on Top of Spruce this year but there are areas further down with lots of akerns (!) (and therefore lots of deer).
We also learned the lights we see off toward the west are at Elkins. The girlfriend works south of Elkins at the prison as a correctional officer. The guy is a truck driver and hauls lime, including trips to Lancaster, PA.
I hope I’ve not given a poor impression of our visitors. They were genuinely nice people and were quite friendly and inquisitive. We loved it!
The next morning, as we drove off Spruce Knob, we saw two Bud Light cans at the intersection that hadn’t been there when we came in last night. Hmmm.

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Tuesday, 1 October-

This morning Orat and I first checked out a new road (for us) just outside of Davis. I was happy to see a sign indicating it was part of the Canaan Valley Institute and hoped it would lead to trails on that side of the river. Instead, it led to the acid-remediation facility and ended at the dam just upstream of the plant. The plant itself was interesting in that it reminds me of my acid-remediation tank at home. My tank is 47 inches tall and ten inches around. The tank at the plant looked like it’s about 40 feet high and ten feet in diameter. Mine is filled with calcite and I imagine that one is too.
There were no trails back there but just south of there are two small trailhead parking lots. Something to look forward to for our next visit!
We continued down through the valley and drove across to the FR10 turnoff for the Laurel Dry Fork Wilderness area. We drove for quite a while and began to realize we had a problem. Orat’s truck was telling us we had 80 miles of range and the GPS was telling us that the closest gas station was 40 miles away... in a direction we didn’t want to go. At least until we had a good look around.
We motored on to Laurel Dry Fork campground, a pristine little campground we had to ourselves. I really need to go back and stay there but for today we just had lunch there. After lunch we walked the upstream-side trail for two hours. This is a good one.... it stays up on the bank enough to keep you out of the mud and provides a view of several beaver-dam ponds along the way. We saw several bear-scat piles and one of them was very recent... and huge!
We decided we really needed to head out for gas at Elkins since we only had about 20 miles of leeway between range and the distance to the closest station. The GPS took us out of the wilderness area and through the little cross-roads of Glady. Then the gravel road turned to a stony road too narrow for vehicles to pass. And we started seeing small washouts. We started to get concerned that we’d encounter a washout or tree across the road and have to re-trace our path back to Glady; we didn’t have enough gas left for that.
Eventually, though, the road opened back up and put us on hard road to the gas station.
We then turned south and drove down to Snowshoe resort. I’ve been in the area several times but never took the trip up the mountain to the ski resort. We had a spectacular view but the resort itself was almost deserted. It was a very odd thing thing to see a Starbucks at the resort and see that it had current operating hours in this deserted place. Its hours were 0900 to 1600 and it was closed Tuesdays (today) so we must have just happened to hit a very deserted time.
We then drove on down to the Highland Scenic Highway and on to our goal for the night at Tea Creek. I’ve been here several times before and know there are dispersed campsites along the creek but we thought we’d first check out the formal campground. However, the campground was closed because of the Federal government shutdown. We noticed the gate was swung closed but there were people in many of the campsites. Apparently those people who had campsites before the shutdown were allowed to stay but new campers were now being turned away. That actually makes a lot of sense to me but I would have been upset if I didn’t know of other campsites in the area.
We drove back along Tea Creek to a very nice little campground which doesn’t have a gate. It’s not far from the Tea Creek Campground and the ranger had taped off the payment box but campsites themselves were not blocked off (nor was the road in).

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