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Wednesday, 9 July -

This morning I took care of a few small issues and then took the Concours for a ride to get the oil circulating and the disc brakes cleaned off. I then got the Thruxton out of the utility trailer (where I had stored it during our vacation) and rode down to Starbucks on this mid-Eighties-but-breezy morning.
On the way back from Starbucks I checked construction progress on the new segment of rail-trail between Crist Park and US30. From the bridge I can see the trail has been dug out and a base of stone put down. Hopefully, the asphalt will soon follow and I can celebrate by riding my mountain bike to the Starbucks from Rudy Park.
Back home, I researched a series of topics but spent the most time on .22s and .410 shotguns for backpackers. I’ve always been fascinated by this topic and still have a Savage 24C (C for ‘camper’) over-and-under (.22/20ga) I bought in the 70’s. I’ve used it a few times for hunting squirrel but it’s heavier than I think it should be and it certainly isn’t a backpacking gun. Today’s searches took me to the Pack-Rifle and also to a kit-gun (a Titanium Goat PRK kit) which converts a Cricket child’s .22 into a backpacker’s take-down gun. Very interesting but both are expensive. In traveling with my brothers in May, I ran onto a Little Badger wire-frame single-shot .22 and spent more time looking at it today. I can get one for less than half the cost of the other alternatives but would like something even smaller and lighter. The Henry Survival rifle is also interesting but is a semi-auto so I wouldn’t be able to use that for hunting here in PA.
In mid-afternoon I needed exercise and thought I might take a walk. But the thermometer read 89 and I saw the dew point was well up into the 60’s so the air conditioning of the gym beckoned. I did my regular 10-minutes-per-station routine and felt pretty good after.
That evening we watched two shorter programs-- one on Netflix about the use of stereoscopes by the British in World War II to find V1 and V2 rocket sites and the other on Smithsonian Channel called ‘Warriors of the Kalahari’.

Tuesday, 8 July -

We arrived home this morning at 0700 and it only took about 20 minutes to get the house systems back online and carry in a few covers for a nap. We both were a little wound from the trip (and I had had a Doubleshot) so we read for a bit before falling asleep.
I got up around 1030 and found Labashi had just gotten up 20 minutes before. We finished unloading the van and took showers and had lunch.
I drove over to the post office and picked up our mail and went through it while Labashi started watering her trees. The lawn looks awfully dry and wasn’t nearly as long as it had been in my imagination.
I then rode the GS over to the gym. I was curious how the muscle pain in my back from the dock fall two weeks ago would do. I was pleasantly surprised to find that only the machine with a bar directly against my back caused any pain at all. I did the normal weights, rowing machine, bicycle, strider, and elliptical circuit in about 75 minutes.
That evening we had a thunderstorm come through and kill power to the house about 1830. I see from Twitter on the iPad that about 11,000 Met-Ed customers in York County have had their power interrupted so it’s going to be awhile. The fridge should be okay overnight but then it will be time to start up the generator if power hasn’t been restored by morning. I spent the evening catching up the blog and Labashi read and played a few games on her laptop. If all else fails, we just go out and get in the van!

Monday, 7 July -

This morning after breakfast and showers we drove south from Sinnemahoning State Park. We stopped a few minutes at ‘the Lakeside’, the little country store where I got air and bought a tire patch kit last evening. We let them know all had gone well and thanked them for the help.
We then drove on down to the eagle’s nest across from the cemetary but again, nobody home.
We continued down to SR120 and crossed it to go up Wyckoff Run Road into the Quehanna Wild Area. We stopped at the Laurel Draft parking lot for the Quehanna Trail and looked around a bit. After, we continued up to the Quehanna Highway and across it to the Hoover Farm elk viewing area and trailhead.
We took the Robber David Lewis trail toward Reactor Road. About a half-mile in we came to a bog and noticed blueberries..... EVERYwhere. They were small and it was clear we were early but many of them were ripe enough to eat.
As we approached the end of the trail at the parking lot off Reactor Road, we ran into ‘Mimi’ who was also out picking blueberries. She said she’s from Florida now but grew up in the area and her Dad has a home in nearby Driftwood. We had a nice chat and I told her a few stories about David Lewis since she wasn’t aware of the significance of the trail name.
Labashi and I then turned onto the Bellefonte Posse Trail and the character of the trail changed completely. The Robber David Lewis trail was a cross-country skiing trail--- wide an grassy--- while the latter was narrow and overgrown but beautiful.
The first segment of trail wound through pines and rocks and reminded us of premium trails in Maine or Canada. We eventually came to a bog, though, and couldn’t continue. We could see the lay of the land was such that we might be able to bushwhack around the boggy area and gave that a try. In the process we found ourselves at an old cabin foundation, heavily grown over. We slowly worked our way using the GPS to keep a breadcrumbs track and by setting a waypoint here and there to lead us back to the trail. We could always go back if we can’t get around.
After perhaps a half-hour of working our way around, we found another old foundation and chimney. Someone has been here recently and cleaned away all the vegetation from a stone box and we saw someone had marked the area with a white post. At that post we could see a yellow trailmarker in the distance. We made it!
We continued following the overgrown path, keeping an eye out for any odd shapes or movement in front of us. The path worked its way up an open small-stream valley, then climbed a hill and started turning us back toward the van (according to the GPS map). The trail changed character as we entered the woods on the hillside. Now it was mixed hardwoods with many, many ferns.
The trail eventually put us on a fire-road and we walked perhaps half a mile before the trail turned into the woods again, now following another small stream valley but following it with an an overlooking view of the stream and beaver dam. There we spotted a young buck and Labashi shot a very nice little video clip of it moving through the brush, then looking up toward us, it’s velvety antlers in full view. Magnificent!
As we entered this section, a light rain started and our pants were soon soaked by the wet ferns encroaching on the path and our shoes were wet from the grass. The trail eventually brought us out to the east side of the elk-viewing field so we knew where we were. Thank goodness we had the GPS to confirm how to get back to the van since the yellow-blazed trail merely ended.
Back at the van we had a snack and checked our tracking devices. We had walked six miles in three hours and 45 minutes. Three hours of it were moving and about 45 minutes standing still (taking photos, etc). We agreed it had been one of the best walks we’ve done lately. Nice!
We then set the GPS for Bald Eagle State Park. The drive took us about an hour and we went directly to the new(ish) Nature Inn. We were introduced to it by the receptionist and realized we were wrong in thinking it was also a nature center. It’s more of a destination hotel, albeit in the state park setting and with a bird-watching and nature-study theme.
We had hoped to have supper in the dining room but they don’t have an evening meal. The receptionist gave us alternatives, however, and recommended the Hublersburg Inn. We found it easily and had an excellent meal. I LOVED their cream-sherry-peppercorn sauce on my ball-tip steak and Labashi enjoyed the crabcakes.
After dinner we realized we’d have to drive back to the state park and pay $21 for the night when we really only needed a place to park for the night. We decided we could save the $21 and driving miles back and forth if we just go to the Walmart between us and home.
The Walmart looked good but proved to be the Walmart from Hell for sleeping purposes. The lot was large and nicely spread out but the lot-sweeper was on duty, a nearby bus-stop was busy every half-hour, we heard lots of rumbly pickups, rice-burners, and unmuffled Harleys. An eighteen-wheeler came in at 2300 and started up a fairly loud generator. But the real problems started at 0300. That’s when the weed-whackers started. They were weed-whacking the parking lot at night! And at 0400, the jackhammers started. A construction crew had an 0400 start for work on a project by the Garden Center! OK, that’s IT!
We got dressed and at 0430 drove next door to an all-night McDonald’s for an early breakfast. We then drove to the other side of State College to check the Walmart there but it had ‘No Overnight Parking’ signs.
We started the planning to go to the Walmart in Lewistown but when we realized it was only an hour further to home and the sky was already starting to get light, we just headed home. We pulled in the driveway at 0700.

Sunday, 6 July-

We had a perfect night last night at Dark Hollow Equestrian Camp and woke refreshed on this very nice day.
After a quick breakfast we drove Bell Draft Road and visited the nearby Gas Well Equestrian Camp where we saw three sets of campers with horses tied nearby. We then continued down to Dent’s Run Road and ran into a young guy with his son walking the road with backpacks. They had been out backpacking for the last three days and we were the first humans they’ve seen all weekend.
At SR120 we turned east and very soon went up Hicks Run Road to West Hicks Run and Pine Tree Natural Area. There we hiked the Pine Tree Trail, a loop up into the surrounding steep hills. The trail map said the trail is 1.75 miles but it has a loop and by the time we finished we had done three and a half miles and more than two hours of walking. This one is an interpretive trail with many numbered stations identifying the names of the trees. That was a great excuse to catch a breath.
We had parked at Hicks Run Campground, an Elk State Forest campground which is free but sites must be reserved with the district forest office. Our only purpose today was the walk, however, so we only had lunch there after the walk. But I’d love to spend a night there sometime this Fall.
We then drove to Sinnemahoning State Park’s Wildlife Center. We did a slow tour of the center, reading all the historical and wildlife displays.
After, we drove along the park road to the boat launch where I saw the young ranger my brothers and I met in May. I parked beside her patrol vehicle and when she emerged Labashi and I talked with her about how her season is going. She chatted with us for a few minutes then had to go lead a pontoon boat tour. I’m happy to report her season at Sinnemahoning is going well.
We then drove along the park road looking for wildlife. We ended up at the dam overlook and took a short walk, hoping to see the fledgling eaglet known to frequent this area.
We didn’t see the eaglet but as we returned to the van Labashi noticed one of the tires was low. I checked it and found my right-front tire only had 16.5 psi. We drove to the nearby store and the previous owner brought out a compressor and over-filled the tire to 40 psi.
We then went to the park campground and picked a site for the evening. When I checked the tire, I found it had lost five pounds already. I got out the Windex and started spraying the tire and found the leak very easily. I searched through my tools for the repair kit but couldn’t find the reamer or insertion tool. But when we were at the store, they had told me they had kits.
I quickly finished up supper and drove to the store to buy a repair kit.
At the campsite it took only a few minutes to do the repair. A subsequent test showed the leak had indeed been stopped but of course I’ll have to keep an eye on it for a few days. Fortunately, the tires are due for replacement soon so I won’t be putting a lot of miles on the repair.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and planning where to go next.

Saturday, 5 July -

We started out the day with a pancake and sausage breakfast in our site at Ridge Campground in the Cook State Forest. We then drove down to River Road and followed the Clarion River for many miles. Labashi saw a bald eagle right near the state park office and we stopped a few times just to watch the river go by. I was expecting to see a lot of people on the river but we only saw a few.
We continued following the river up into the Allegheny National Forest. Finally, the road climbed up and away from the river about ten miles west of Ridgeway.
After Ridgeway we set the GPS for Benezette and the Elk Country Visitor’s Center. We toured the center slowly and walked all the trails but saw no elk in the area. We drove out to the Winslow-Porcupine viewing area and again were skunked but that’s hardly a surprise mid-day.
We then drove back Porcupine Road to the Dent Run Road and on up the Little Dent Run Road to the turnaround at the State Game Lands. We then continued on by foot and almost immediately started seeing interesting things. In quick succession we saw a hummingbird near some spectacularly-red bee-balm plants. Then we spotted elk tracks in the mud and shortly thereafter we saw bear tracks and bear scat. We saw turkey tracks, raccoon tracks, a ____ warbler, two red-tailed hawks hunting by circling high overhead. We walked in a little over a mile before turning back. On the way back Labashi nearly stepped on a black racer snake. It was just a small one. It had apparently been lying in the grass between the twin-track and I must have startled it as I passed. That sent it zipping across the path right in front of Labashi. She had just made a step and had her other foot up and on the way down when the snake appeared under her partially-completed step. She let out a little whoop but the snake was across and in the grass so quickly I saw only the parting grasses as it raced off.
When we got back to the van Labashi said she had just been stung by a sweat bee. The sting was between her first and second fingers on her bad hand. She said it immediatley started itching very badly and we could see the spread of the venom in the back of her hand and her palm. The quick spread freaked us out a bit. We had been planning to take a break here and do some planning for where we’d stay this evening but we decided this was too serious to ignore. We applied Sting-eze and ice from the cooler and we decided we’d better start out of this remote area. The GPS told us a hospital at Saint Mary’s was about 40 minutes away.
Once we got out to the hard road we decided we’d try the Elk Country Visitor’s Center for info about other options than running to the hospital at Saint Mary’s. We were thinking there might be a medically-trained person at the facility or there might be a local first-responder unit we could talk to. By that time, though, the sting was beginning to subside. It had never reached a point where her breathing was compromised though the red swelling did go up past her wrist.
Since the symptoms seemed to be subsiding, we decided we’d stay in this area within about a half-hour of medical help if that turned around. We drove to the Old Bull Cafe and had supper-- some very good burgers. The cafe also offered wine tasting so we tried some tiny portions of wines from Elk County Winery.
We then drove back up to the visitor’s center and walked back to one of the viewing areas. No luck. Nobody seemed to be seeing any elk at the visitor’s center so we drove on to the Winslow-Porcupine viewing field and hit paydirt. We saw two dozen elk, albeit far across the valley in an open field. Still, they were a magnificent sight. We also learned there was a young bull just below us on the hillside so walked down and got some shots of it feeding voraciously. It had short little antlers in heavy velvet but was a massive animal.
We drove on to Winslow Hill proper and saw two cows there but little else. We went back down Porcupine Road and Dent’s Run Road and turned up Bell Draft Road to the Equine Camping area. We were happy to find the place abandoned and picked out a nice spot for us for the night.
We spent the evening planning and catching up the blog.

Friday, 4 July -

This morning we went to the park office down by the river for a map and a trail recommendation. We drove up to the environmental education center and walked the Longfellow-Ancient Forest loop of something over a mile. The terrain was fairly steep but we got to see an incredible number of massive old-growth white pines, hemlocks, beeches, and a few oaks.
After lunch in the van, we drove north to Greenwood Road where the North Country/Baker Trail crosses. We had only started walking when we saw a thru-hiker coming toward us. We asked how his hike was going and struck up an immediate connection. His trail name was Nidhatik and though he was quite young, he has had a lot of trail experience. For this trip, he had originated in New York and had plans to walk to the Pacific Coast. He had recently suffered a leg injury and had taken time to heal and was now too late to expect to make it all the way this year.
We had a long and animated conversation. It turns out he knows a hiker we follow on Trailjournals after meeting at a ‘ruck’ at Pine Grove Furnace and at the Florida Trail Conference. I thought at first Nidhatik might be playing me a bit but when he named the hiker’s long-time trail companion, that cinched it. We also talked at some length about the International Appalachian Trail and learned he had been all the way up to L’Anse Aux Meadows. We were just touring in the van and taking a short walk here and there. He walked there! We also talked of New Zealand and the Florida Trail in the Everglades and Big Cypress.
After parting with Nidhatik, we continued out the North Country Trail segment for about a mile before turning back. This was all old-growth area and was quite impressive.
We drove back to the campground for a shower and found our previous site was no longer available. That didn’t surprise us much on this holiday weekend but what DID surprise us was we ended up getting the last available site. It was an extra-small site in a busy area but we didn’t mind. All we needed was a parking place for the night.
We showered and then drove to the Forest Nook Inn for supper. We really liked this little place even though all we had was a deluxe pizza, drinks, and dessert.
We then drove to the Seneca Fire Tower Road and walked in to the abandoned tower. We climbed the steps to the top for the view. We then walked to Seneca Point for it’s scenic view and could see the Clarion River off in the distance.
Heading back down the tower road we saw a magnificent little buck which seemed to be very cautious but also didn’t seem to realize we were a potential danger. Labashi got some nice shots of it’s velvety mini-rack.
We then returned to our little campsite (109). We grabbed out chairs and walked over to the amphitheater for a ranger presentation. Tonight it was the park naturalist and his subject the hemlock wooly adelgid invasive insect which is threatening Cook Forest’s old-growth hemlocks.
After the presentation, we went back to the van and went to dreamland very quickly.

Thursday, 3 July -

We left Erie in rain this morning and set the GPS for Cook Forest State Park. But a funny thing happened on the way there. After going through Titusville, we saw a turnoff to Oil Creek State Park. We thought we’d take a quick look, having last been there back in the Eighties.
On the way to Oil Creek, we saw a turnoff to Pithole City Historical Site. We found it fascinating. It was an oil-boom town which last only a few years. After oil was discovered in 1865, a town of 15,000 sprang up within months. But then the oil ran out and by 1868 it was a ghost town. Today, it’s little more than grassy fields on a hillside. The visitor center is only open weekends but we could see quite a bit looking in the windows and reading the outside displays.
We then went on to Petroleum Center at Oil Creek State Park. After a visit to the office, we walked the historical trail, which included a visitor center at the train station. It was closed. However, as we finished up the walking tour we saw a group of kids being led that direction as rain started falling and guessed they were heading to the train station. That turned out to be correct. And there we met Mike Mietus, a fantastic resource in all things historical in the area. Mike is a Vietnam vet--- a Huey door gunner in the war. He has been doing French and Indian War re-enactments and recently started doing Civil War re-enactments with a mountain-cannon he built. He had been a boiler-maker by trade after the war and has been back to Viet Nam twice. His stories of his visits there were wonderful.
We then drove on to the Drake Oil Museum, getting there just an hour before closing. We did the best we could to cover everything and were happy with our visit but could have used another two hours to slow down the pace.
We then drove to Cook Forest State Park’s Ridge campground. We selected a campsite and set out in our chairs long after dark. Our time sitting there was interrupted by an encounter with a raccoon. We’ve never seen such a cheeky fellow. He climbed right up on Labashi’s chair-table looking for food before we shooed it off. That was a sign it was time for bed.


Wednesday, 2 July -

This morning we went back to Presque Isle to continue exploring. We walked to the Perry monument and had a pleasant talk with a volunteer who gave us a recommendation for a restaurant this evening. We then drove to a pull-off with a nice view of Lake Erie and had a long, leisurely lunch.
That afternoon we went to the Tom Ridge Environmental Center expecting a quick visit. We visited the exhibits but also went to two of the movies, one on the Great Lakes and one called ‘Unseen World’. We end up spending three hours there.
We next drove downtown, thinking we might walk around the maritime museum or library but they were standalone venues and it was too late in the day to visit them.
We turned back toward Presque Isle and had a fresh perch dinner at Syd’s Restaurant, the one recommended by the volunteer. Nice!
We then went back to our sunset beach pulloff to look for a sunset. We walked the beach a bit and took some photos as the sun set.
After dark, we drove back to the west-side Wal-Mart for the night.


Tuesday, 1 July -

walk at Heart’s Content Scenic area in morning, talk with Doug (incl ‘portals’), left after lunch. Drove to Rocky Gap to check out nothing there, then in to Warren to Walmart for shopping, then headed to Presque Isle. Rained on us throughout trip but cleared at Erie. Went to Beach 11 area and hung out there, started supper when Charlie Swartz showed up. Spent the rest of the day with him talking about travel vans, art, charlesart1 / artvan , after dark he went to Sarah’s and we went to Walmart.

This morning we walked from our campsite at Heart’s Content to the old-growth walk at the Scenic area. We did a slow tour of the beautiful old-growth trees and walked back to the van for a total of 3.5 miles. As we ate lunch, Doug, the campground host came down and talked with us. Our chat ranged far and wide but by far the most memorable thing we talked about was ‘portals’. Doug claims he talked with a guy who says (in all seriousness) there are seven portals in the Allegheny National Forest. If you happen to be walking through the forest and your view starts to shimmer, you are approaching a portal. Doug says the guy told him he has been on one side of a portal in a subtropical setting while the other side is winter in the ANF. At the end of his story, Doug said he noticed the guy had tinfoil sticking out of the bottom of his trousers. That seemed like stretching the story just a little too much.
We left our campsite after lunch and drove to Rocky Gap ATV trailhead but there wasn’t much to see. We continued on through Warren to the Wal-mart north of there to replenish supplies and ice. After, we drove on to Erie and Presque Isle State Park in a light rain.
At Presque Isle, the rain cleared up and we took a short walk at Beach 11 near the Coast Guard Station. By then it was late afternoon so we went to the Beach 11 parking lot and a nice overhanging tree to make supper. Shortly after we stopped, a guy drove in in his camper van to ask if we were staying the night there. We weren’t but invited him for drinks and salad. That’s how we met Charlie Swartz from Baltimore. We spent the rest of the evening talking travel vans, art, and art education. Finally, Charlie departed for the nearby Sarah’s Campground and we went to the west-side Wal-mart for the night.

Monday, 30 June -

We had rain yesterday afternoon and evening and it rained in the night. I didn’t think we’d want to hike today. We drove to a series of all-terrain-vehicle trailheads to check them out for a future visit with ATV in tow.
At the Timberline trailhead we talked at length with two very nice women who were camped there. Their husbands had gone to town for supplies and parts. They were a goldmine of information about ATVing here and at the nearby trails and were familiar with places I’ve run my ATV. That made it easy to compare and get a sense of what the trails are like. Cost for a permit is $35 for the year or $10 a day and the season follows the same dates as the PA state forests.
We then went to Pig’s Ear trailhead and Labashi made lunch while I took a short walk back a trail to get a sense of the surface, trail markings, trail width, etc. It all looked very professionally done.
We then continued on to the Marienville ATV trailhead. There we spoke at some length with a couple from the Pittsburgh area who have a cabin in the area and quite a lot of experience riding the local trails. They said the trails are all safe to ride so long as you stay away from the motorcycle trail... it’s just too rough and technical. They also mentioned there’s a dangerous set of steep hills on one side of the trail complex at Rocky Gap (southwest of Warren). The one side is pretty and nice but the hills on the other side are crazy-steep and have sharp turns and obstacles.
We then visited the nearby ranger station visitor center and learned how permits work. After, we drove on to Buzzard’s Swamp for a long walk. We walked back the forest road past the wildlife enhancement ponds built in the 60’s for about two miles. There we found picnic tables in a breezy and shady grove of trees overlooking a pond. We rested and had a snack before taking the long hot walk back to the van.
It was time to figure out where we were staying for the night. We picked Heart’s Content and a route that would take us past Minister Creek so we could check it out. There’s a pretty little campground of only six sites and the trail winds along the gin-clear creek. We’ve got to come back to this one.
We went on to Heart’s Content for the night and chose a site bordering the green open space. After supper we read and planned and caught up the blog.

Sunday, 29 June -

We woke early today-- about 0630. We also got underway earlier than usual and headed down to the marina for ice. We then drove the Longhouse Scenic Drive.
We walked at Jakes Rocks and realized we had missed that entirely on our last visit here (many years ago). We then continued down along the Reservoir, checking out each campground and launch ramp. The lake is extra high and all the launch ramp docks are underwater at their landward end. Someone needs to redesign the anchoring points to allow those dock sections to float.
We had lunch at Bob’s Ice Cream shop and drove from there across to Ludlow and then via forest road 133 to the Tionesta Scenic Area. There we walked for an hour and a half in the old-growth forest, marveling at the massive hemlocks and oaks. We took the long loop trail and managed to wet our feet several times.
Once back at the van we drove out of the forest to the town of Kane, PA to mail a letter. We had forgotten to pay rent on our storage unit in advance and won’t be back in time so had to get a check on the way. I also called the storage folks and let them know it’s on the way.
We then drove to Twin Lakes Recreation Area and found a nice campsite close to the showers building. We took long, leisurely showers and then spent the rest of the evening reading and relaxing.

Saturday, 28 June -

We woke late-- around 0900 and prepped for a hike. We chose the Land Of Many Uses trail right there at Tracy Ridge. Our hike was about four miles and a highlight of it was a vernal pond with many tadpoles and egg masses. The trail runs through a mixed hardwood forest and much of it is quite open in the understory.
We finished up the hike by 1230 and had lunch at the van. We then drove down to the National Forest Visitor’s Center and chatted with the girls there for quite a while. I also bought a very interesting book about tanning, wood-alcohol, and lumbering as well as the latest forest service map for the ANF.
We stopped at the marina at Kinzua Point for ice cream and ate it watching Sugar Bay.
We then drove back to the Rimrock picnic area and checked out the views and the cliffs. By then it was 1600 and starting to cool off a bit. We drove to the Timberdoodle Flats Interpretive Trail and spent an hour walking the trails through the wildlife habitat project.
We then returned to the same campsite at Tracy Ridge. After supper we walked back to the vernal pond for more photos, this time with the tripod. I spent the rest of the evening writing an email to my brothers about our Cherry Springs experience and catching up the blog.

Friday, 27 June -

We woke to a perfect morning. After breakfasting and showering we drove Mocha Joe up along the lake and followed Lyman Run for miles. We took a short walk along the Run but soon ran into impassable mud and turned back. We continued driving up to Billy Lewis Road and followed it south to a logging area. There we took a longer walk on a skiing and bicycling trail (actually the boundary road for the timber-cut area).
After lunch in the van, we followed the maps to Prouty Place State Park. We had been there many years ago....probably the late Eighties... but it looks the same. It’s just an old farm in a remote valley but somehow has a special feel. We sat around in our camp chairs having a coffee and enjoying the breeze for an hour or so.
We then continued down Prouty Run to the hard road and turned up toward Coudersport. As we drove we saw a bear attempting to get corn out of a corn crib at the Summit Township maintenance buildings but we weren’t quick enough with the camera.
We then drove west on US 6 through Coudersport and on to Port Allegheny. There we went to Knowles Sporting Goods and talked with the owner. She remembered me from our last visit with my brothers a month ago.
From there we continued to Kinzua Bridge State Park and enjoyed a couple of very enjoyable hours at the Skywalk.
We then drove the half-hour to Tracy Ridge campground in the Allegheny National Forest for the night. I was surprised to find even fewer people there than I had seen a month ago. We found some decent firewood at a neighboring site and gathered up some kindling and spent the evening watching the flames dance.

Thursday, 26 June -

We had a nicer day today but still had multiple short rain showers. We wanted to see where Deadman’s Hollow Road went so followed it for miles. But then we came to Painter Run and saw the storms had turned it into a flash flood and undercut the road. We considered crossing but when we saw we had no cell phone coverage and remembered we were in Deadman’s Hollow, we turned back. We backtracked to the Painter-Leetonia cross-road and took that for variety. On it we happened upon a dozen young mountain bikers and gave them a thumbs up as we passed. We also ran into road-crew guys and told them about the road washout. The crew chief said they have 179 miles of roads in the Tioga State Forest and there are problems all over the place today.
The road took us back to Colton Point and we went on down to the Barbour’s Rock trailhead and walked in to the overlook, about a mile round trip.
We then drove on down to US6 and turned west to Grimes. There we stopped at Ziggy’s Gun Shop, a shop my brothers and I had tried to visit last month but had been closed due to a funeral. We spent a very fun hour or so chatting with Laurie and John, who, it turns out, had just moved up from York County last year. They told us all KINDS of stories--- everything from mountain lions to local history to cemetaries, to the best places to eat. Laurie even gave us her phone number and told us to call if we had any questions as we drove around the area.
We then went to the Lumbermen’s Museum near Denton Hill. The new building still isn’t open but I wanted Labashi to see the old equipment and the birch oil still so we toured the outdoors areas.
We then drove back to Galeton to the Perma-Stone Inn as recommended by Laurie. We shared a burger, fries and corn nuggets and had WAY too much food and all of it good.
We had decided we’d stay at nearby Lyman Run State Park but realized we weren’t far from Cherry Springs. The latter doesn’t have showers so we went ahead and selected a site at Lyman Run and took a walk along the lake until about an hour before dark. We then drove up to Cherry Springs for the dark sky.
We were very surprised to see there was a Star Party underway. It was only Thursday night and the place was packed. We walked the streets of the venue, checking out the camping and star-viewing rigs. We then crossed back to the public area and sat in the van awaiting the sky to fully darken. It was at that point we realized we had left a jacket at the Perma-Stone Inn. We abandoned our plan and drove to the Perma-Stone, arriving about 1030 and retrieved the jacket. We then drove to Lyman Run and parked at the only open-sky area at the dam.
We had a magnificent sky! The Milky Way covered the eastern sky and we saw seven satellite passes in the 45 minutes we sat out. We finally succumbed to our long day and drove back to our site for the night.

Wednesday, 25 June -

We woke to a rain-threatening day. We drove to Colton Point for the view and then down around to the rail-trail where we took a short walk.
We then hit the Tioga County Visitor’s Center on our way to Leonard Harrison State Park. At the park we watched movies about park and area history and had a brief look at the canyon before the rain started falling yet again.
We then drove into Wellsboro and had a coffee and some surprisingly-good lobster bisque at the cafe at Dunham’s on main street. We had learned at the county visitor’s center that there was a Fringe Festival event tonight called ‘Twisted Sisters’ and thought we had seen them many years ago in Harrisburg. We checked out the venue and decided to hang around.
We spent the next several very rainy hours at the Wellsboro Library and had a wonderful time. We also spent an hour or so in The Pennsylvania Room and I found records of my third great grandfather’s Civil War service in the 133rd Pennsylvania Regiment.
We had supper at the Wellsboro Diner and then went to our event. It turns out we were completely wrong about it. The ‘Twisted Sisters’ in this case were three men dressed up in nun’s habit’s telling bawdy jokes and encouraging the audience to join in. We had fun but it wasn’t what we were expecting!
We then drove out to Colton Point campground for another night.

Tuesday, 24 June -

This morning we were up and doing final packing by 0730. We left at 0930 but first had to run to Carlisle to pick up a rain jacket Labashi had left behind at a medical appointment last week. We dropped off the untreated planks I had bought for the boat trailer at the Carlisle Home Depot and then ran back across the valley to Bass Pro to return the expensive bunk carpet I hadn’t needed after all.
We then drove north to Mansfield where we shopped for our supplies for the next few days. After, we drove to the Burning Barrel at Ansonia where we had a few tacos for supper before driving on up to Colton Point for the night. Within ten minutes of our arrival, the rain and wind started. I spent the evening catching up the blog and Labashi read.
The rains continued heavy though the night but the wind subsided so it didn’t seem all that bad. The next morning, we learned there had been a tornado watch in the area.

Monday, 23 June -

This morning we drove in two cars to the Altland House in Abbottstown for lunch with our guests. They then continued on home down US15 and we returned home.
That afternoon I made a quick run down to Starbucks for sustenance and then we began prepping the van for our Northern PA trip. I put the ATV back in its trailer and pulled the Thruxton in behind it and then parked the Concours and GS next to it.
I was feeling energized and mowed the lower 40 and the back yard and then washed the van for the trip tomorrow.

Sunday, 22 June -

I had brought the Thruxton with us to my brother’s home so my nephews and brothers could try it out. They’ve all expressed some interest in the classic cafe racer and this weekend was probably the only time we’d all be together anytime soon.
After everyone had a chance to ride, I loaded it up and we headed home. We needed to rush home to meet Labashi’s brother and his wife. They arrived shortly after we did and we then drove up to Mom and Dad’s apartment for a visit. We spent a few hours there and then went out to eat at the What-If Cafe- East.
We returned home that evening and spent the rest of it chatting and sipping wine.

Saturday, 21 June -

We left for Chambersburg late morning and arrived shortly after noon. We were attending a party for my nephew’s graduation. I took it pretty easy but did manage to play some volleyball.

Friday, 20 June-

I spent the morning recovering from my fall. That afternoon I very gingerly helped Labashi clean out the van for our weekend trip to Chambersburg for a family celebration. We got a late start on the van cleanout so worked until 2100 at it.

Thursday, 19 June-

Today was the test sail of the sailboat with the prospective buyer. I towed the boat to Lake Clarke and we erected the mast and ran into our first problem-- the ramp was too shallow. After backing further into the water and with both of us giving it a heave-ho we managed to get the boat off.
We spent the next three hours sailing, most of it pleasant but some in a light rain. As the rain got heavier we went in to the launch ramp dock and there I had a major mis-step. As I stepped to the dock, my feet went out from under me on the very slippery surface and I banged down hard on the edge of the dock. I was still holding onto the boat but it of course did the classic thing of going away from the dock and I fell in between in about four feet of water. That little dunk ruined my cell phone and soaked my wallet.
I felt I had hit pretty hard but didn’t have a lot of pain so went ahead with tearing down the boat and preparing it for trailering. The prospective buyer had agreed to buy the boat and we transferred it to his car for towing to Runkle’s for the paperwork transfer.
We met Labashi at Runkle’s for the transfer and by 1830 I was no longer the owner of the sailboat and trailer! What a relief. After all that prep work and expense I can understand why they say the happiest days of your boating life are the day you buy it and the day you sell it.
That evening we watched episode 3 of ‘True Detective’.

Wednesday, 18 June-
I spent the day doing more prep for the test sail tomorrow at Lake Clarke and then went over to B and B and picked up the Thruxton. The new fuel injection map makes a tremendous difference in smoothness and in getting rid of the barking, snapping exhaust note. I like it!
That evening we watched the first two episodes of ‘True Detective’.

Tuesday, 18 June-

Today was the hottest day of the year so far but we chose to do the boat bunks today anyway. We dropped the boat in at Goldsboro and tied it off to the dock before returning home with the trailer.
We spent the next three hours fitting the planks to the uprights and brackets and covering them with the outdoor carpet.
We picked up the boat that evening and were happy to see it slide easily into place on the bunks and force the planks to bend just right to fit the curve of the hull.
That evening we watched an Orange Is The New Black episode.

Monday, 16 June -

This morning I took the boat trailer brackets to my local garage for welding. I picked them up mid-afternoon and spent the remainder of the day fitting them to the trailer uprights and drilling half-inch holes in the steel. After everything fit properly, I removed them and painted them with a cold-galvanizing compound.
That evening we watched the first ep of the second season of ‘Orange Is The New Black’.

Sunday, 15 June -

This morning I rode the GS down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my regular Sunday morning ride. I worked on the blog and then rode over to Harbor Freight and Sears, looking for a tool roll for my wrenches (without success).
That evening we watched ‘Last Love’, a ridiculous romantic comedy with Michael Caine.

Saturday, 14 June-

Today Labashi and I took the sailboat down to Goldsboro for a test launch. I towed the boat with the van and Labashi followed in her car in case we had a breakdown and needed to run for a part or tool. Everything went fine with one exception. Today is the day the back door on the van decided to quit working. The latch cable must have come loose internally so now we have to open the back door from inside until I can research and fix that problem.
After a successful launch and retrieval I drove to I-83 and ran down a couple of exits to see how the trailer does at speed. Everything checked out fine.
That afternoon I did some prep work on the new brackets to prepare them for welding. The brackets came in two pieces and were bolted together. However, the way I want to use them the bolt head will be in the way. I’ll need to get them welded.
That evening we went to supper at Chili’s and then to Lowe’s and Home Depot for stainless steel staples for the bunk carpets.



Friday, 13 June-

This morning I loaded the Thruxton into the utility trailer and drove it to B&B in Manheim for it’s new fuel injection map. After retuning home I drove up to Bass Pro for brackets. Back home, I put the wheels back on the boat trailer and connected up to the van, then finished cleaning up the halyards with a bleach bath.
That evening we watched a Southland episode.

Thursday, 12 June-

This morning I checked the strap winch on the boat and found it surprisingly good for as bad as it looked. I fixed the nail in the tongue jack gear and cleaned up the wheels and tires and took them up to the station to air up. I also found the spare wheel and separate tire I had bought years ago for the boat but had simply stored away since I didn’t have a good way to carry it.
We then took down the mast and secured it, breaking a spreader tip in the process. Fortunately, I had a spare and it only took a few minutes to replace.
I also went down to our local launch ramp today to determine whether I’d be able to drop the boat there for a few hours while working on the trailer bunks.
After supper I replaced the air filter on the Thruxton with a high-flow K and N filter to match the new flow-through silencers. We then watched two episodes of Southland season 2 on DVD.

Wednesday, 11 June -

Today Labashi took her mom to a medical appointment and I drove up to Bass Pro for bunk carpet and brackets. I found a great bracket to solve my mounting dilemma. I then bought two pressure-treated 2x10’s for the bunks at Home Depot. I had already bought non-pressure treated boards but then talked with the prospective new owner and he wanted pressure-treated ones and I figured any other prospective buyers will probably want the same even though there’s an argument that the pressure-treated ones cause more corrosion of mounting hardware. I also bought two 12”-wide strips of outdoor carpet for the bunks.
That evening we watched ‘SoLa’ --- stories of South Louisiana since Katrina-- on Netflix.

Tuesday, 10 June -

I spent much of the morning reading up on boat-trailer bunk replacement on the web. One of the bunks on the sailboat trailer had come loose the last time I launched it and I had tied it in place with a rope. I thought I’d look for a way to re-attach that plank yesterday and started poking around. I found the plank so badly rotted it would have to be replaced. But I had no idea how to replicate the curve in it with a new plank. I found a description of the process someone used for a smaller sailboat but wasn’t convinced that’s the right way to go.
Labashi asked me to install a new toilet seat she had bought to replace one which had broken a hinge. Unfortunately, this one had a slow-close feature we both hated. We decided to take it back and drove in to the York Lowe’s and Home Depot to both replace the toilet seat and also to buy lumber and hardware to replace the boat trailer bunks.
That evening we watched ‘Inside Man’, the Unions episode, and then watched ‘Ocean’.

Monday, 9 June -

This morning I drove up to Harrisburg and reinstated the boat trailer license at the DMV office. I then picked up Labashi at home and took her with me to Runkle’s to get my boat registration renewal (that one has her name on it). At Runkle’s we learned they can’t do same-day registration service but if we went to their Red Lion office we could get it done today. We drove to Red Lion and took care of that but then took a few hours for ourselves. We drove on down 74 and across Holtwood Dam and up to Susquehannock State Park. I’ve been here maybe a half-dozen times and almost always have seen Amish people here. Today was no exception. There was a large gathering of Amish at the picnic pavilion and they were playing baseball on two fields. The young courting couples were strolling and the horses were being watered down by the overlook. It was quite charming. They smiled and nodded but maintained their distance. Can’t blame them!
We then drove to Long Level and I looked at the launch ramp I could use for the test drive of the sailboat with the prospective buyer. I also talked with a woman in charge at Long Level Marina and bought a map of the lake (Lake Clarke).
We then drove to Lowe’s in East York for stainless steel parts for the front hatch’s latch-down mechanism. After, we had ribs at the Texas Roadhouse before going home to watch ‘Monsieur Ibrahim’ and ‘Forest’ on Netflix Instant.

Sunday, 8 June -

I still have abdominal pain this morning and am not good for much. I worked on the blog and felt quite sick through the morning but as the day went on I improved. I ended up finishing the mowing that evening and was surprised how well I did.
That afternoon I had watched an Australian movie called ‘Swerve’ and that evening we watched a short photography movie called ‘Desert’ by photographer Louie Schwartzman.

Saturday, 7 June -

I woke very early and had abdominal pain. I suspect lactose intolerance is the culprit. I nevertheless rode in to Runkle’s for my photo driver’s license renewal and boat trailer license renewal. The latter turned out to be impossible, though, since the title record had been purged. They are purged in something like seven years of non-renewal. I’ll have to go to Harrisburg to get a reinstatement.
That afternoon I mowed the lower 40 with some difficulty. I was feeling lousy and have a minor fever.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Lonesome Dove’ and the ‘Inside Man’ episode on drought.

Friday, 6 June -

This morning I got under the sailboat and inspected the swing-keel cable and swage and checked and photographed the cable on it’s winch. It’s a stainless steel cable and looks like new. I also spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning off stains from bird-doo-doo. Apparently the bird had been eating mulberries and the morning dew caused the berry juice to run down the side of the boat and stain it. I spent quite a while trying various products without much success.... a very frustrating process. I also installed the boat’s solar vent in the hatch. The last solar vent I bought did not match the bolt pattern of the previous one so I simply laid it in place. It worked for a year or so and quit. I didn’t think it made sense to bolt it down now since a new one could have yet another bolt pattern. I was looking for a way to zip-tie it in place but finally realized I only needed three screws to hold it in place. I found three stainless steel machine screws and nuts and washers in my spares and bolted it in place. The solar-powered fan doesn’t work but it still serves as a passive vent for the bow compartment.
That evening I rode the Thruxton into York to join the street rodders. The Eastern National Street Rod event is going on this three-day weekend and the Thruxton’s classic looks are perfect for this event. I made a pass through town and across the bypass before heading home.
We watched ‘Inside Man’, the bankruptcy episode tonight.

Thursday, 5 June -

Today we drove the hour and a half to Greencastle to visit my aunt. She’s the last of the family elders and is sharp as a tack. We went out for lunch at Mikey’s and had a pleasant afternoon reminiscing.
We returned home by 1700 so I could host a prospective buyer of the sailboat. I spent several hours with him and he seems very interested but wants a ‘test drive’. I was hoping to avoid this but it really is a reasonable request. The boat hasn’t been on the water in ten years so showing that it floats and that the motor runs really should be done. But it causes a lot of hassles in preparing for it. I agreed to the test drive and will talk with him in the next few days about scheduling.
That evening Labashi and I watched ‘Inside Man”- the elder-care episode.

Wednesday, 4 June -

Today we drove up to Mom and Dad’s apartment to be there while a technician installed Dad’s new Caption Call phone. We then went out to dinner with them at Olive Garden and I had my first glass of Chianti in many, many years. Why haven’t I been drinking more of this? I’ve been complaining I can’t find a nice table red and this is quite good for that purpose.
That evening we watched the last episode of ‘Rake’ and an ‘Inside Man’ episode.

Tuesday, 3 June-

This morning we drove over to the tax-prep office to sign off on our taxes. That afternoon I installed a set of British Customs Predators exhaust silencers on the Thruxton. What a difference! I’m not sure I like it.... it’s TOO loud. But I do have to reserve judgement until I get the fuel injection system re-mapped.
I rode the Thruxton to the gym for my workout and after supper rode into York to the Quaker Steak and Lube.
That evening we watched ‘Inside Man’, the Education episode.

Monday, 2 June -

I took a ride into town this morning to hit the Five Guys for a burger (I guess yesterday’s hit the spot!) and thought I’d wash the F650GS that afternoon.
Labashi had the hose strung out to water her trees and that can be an all-day affair so I was stuck with a bucket of soapy water and no hose. I buzzed over to Walmart and bought a stretchy-hose to attach to one of the other hose bibb outlets and took care of the wash job. I also learned the secret of the stretchy hose. It only stays stretched when it has pressure. As you use it, the pressure drops and the hose starts retracting. That 50-foot hose you had is now more like 30 feet long in actual use. Still, it collapses down for easy storage.
That evening I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks for a coffee and had an interesting chat with Aaron, a real-estate agent from York. He had had a Triumph years ago and was very interested in the Thruxton.
That evening Labashi and I watched a Longmire episode and then went out to watch the International Space Station pass overhead. After, we watched the Immigration episode of ‘Inside Man’ with Morgan Spurlock.

Sunday, 1 June-

I took the Thruxton to the Tollgate Starbucks for my regular Sunday ride. After catching up on the news, I hit the Five Guys for fuel, and then rode to Rocky Ridge County Park for a walk. I did my regular five-mile end-to-end loop.
Back home, we watched ‘Longmire’ episodes that evening.


Saturday, 31 May-

Today I hosted Lee, the prospective buyer of the boat. I showed him the boat for two hours but in the end don’t really expect a call from him. He has a dream of boating but he’s too frail physically and says his wife has claustrophobia and probably would think the cabin is way too small.
After Lee, I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks for a break and then went to Rudy Park and took a walk for about an hour.
That evening we watched three episodes of the new season of ‘Longmire’.

Friday, 30 May -

I did some final cleanup on the boat and mowed the lawn today.

Thursday, 29 May-

I’m still working on the boat as I find minor problems but also got to the gym today.



Wednesday, 28 May-

My prospective buyer was supposed to come today but cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday.

Tuesday, 27 May-

I did a some minor work on the boat today. I also managed to get in a motorcycle ride for a coffee and went to the gym.

Monday, 26 May

Another day of boat prep and we’re pretty much ready now. I even got to the gym today for my standard 10-minutes at lifting, then rowing, then spinning, then striding, then elliptical.

Sunday, 25 May-

It’s Memorial Day weekend but we’re spending it all cleaning up the boat. I have a prospective buyer coming by later this week and have to be ready.

Saturday, 24 May -

We spent the day cleaning the sailboat and its gear. I was disappointed to see I had to once again clean the ring around the cockpit seat and again it gave me trouble.

Friday, 23 May-

Well, time to get back to work on the boat. I’ve got to sell this thing soon or the season will be too far gone for anyone to have interest in it.
We began by taking everything out of the boat-- and that’s a lot of gear. Labashi took on the task of cleaning the gear while I cleaned the inside of the boat.

Thursday, 22 May-

Today I cleaned up the van and put gear away, then spent the afternoon mowing the lawn. It was a very hot day today and I felt like I struggled to get it done.

Wednesday, 21 May -

This morning we awoke to heavy rain so weren’t really disappointed that we were going home today. We drove the Tundra into Mansfield and moved gear in a relentless rain, soaking us through.
Maypo and I headed south, Orat north. A couple of hours later I dropped Maypo at his pickup at the Dauphin park-n-ride and drove on home.
I had a few tales for Labashi and unloaded the key items from the van and relaxed.

Tuesday, 20 May -

This morning we woke to a pretty day--- and a dead battery in the truck. Orat had left the fridge connected to the battery rather than switch to propane as he normally does. The fridge was very cold so it seemed like it wouldn’t need much. But it nevertheless killed the battery very, very dead.
Fortunately. we had the deep-cycle battery we had brought for Maypo’s CPAP machine. It had run the CPAP all night but still had plenty of juice. Orat dug out his jumper cables from under the seat of his truck and soon had the truck started.
We then drove back down SR144 to the SR44 turnoff and followed it south to Jersey Shore. I had wanted to go to Jersey Shore to see the National Guns shop and wasn’t disappointed. They had many guns you don’t see in run-of-the-mill shops and even had a selection of suppressors. Very, very interesting place.
I asked one of the gun shop guys for a lunch recommendation and he sent us down the street a block to a family restaurant and it was indeed good--- and cheap!
We then realized we were close to Lock Haven and the Piper Aircraft Museum. It was a bit of backtracking but well worthwhile. We spent a couple of hours touring the old aircraft factory.
Afterwards, we drove back east,and on to Woolrich. We did the obligatory drop-in at the Woolrich Outlet store but were all disappointed by the goods. Clothes have gotten very expensive and even a discounted price on a Woolrich hunting jacket is at least five times what I’m willing to pay for one.
We then drove back north, this time up SR287 the whole way to Wellsboro. We had been hoping to find a brewpub in Wellsboro but the nearest is in Mansfield. We decided we’d better clean up a bit if we’re going to town so went to our campground for the night at Hills Creek State Park and had our showers before heading to Mansfield. To our surprise, we couldn’t get in the brewpub. It was jammed with college kids and an announcer leading a trivia game. We went next door to a bar and had wings and a brew and were happy where we landed.
We then went back to camp and enjoyed a campfire until bedtime.

Monday, 19 May -
This morning after a leisurely start we drove down to the wildlife center. This is another of the new visitor centers in the Pennsylvania Wilds. It’s pretty well done--- lots of taxidermy mounts and explanatory displays. I particularly liked the explanations about invasive species.
We then headed back south and stopped to check out an eagle’s nest we had been directed to by a girl at the Wildlife Center.... but the eagles weren’t home.
We then drove on down and crossed SR120 and took Wykoff Run Road to explore into Elk State Forest. We followed a pretty little stream up to Quehanna Highway and stopped there at an elk viewing pavilion. And there I saw a familiar name--- the Robber David Lewis trail. And it intersected the Bellefonte Posse Trail. Well anybody who knows anything about Robber Lewis knows that he was captured by the Bellefonte Posse in 1820. I was tempted to see where the trails went but resolved to come back for that. I also need to do a bit of web research on it. None of the maps I had show those trails.
We then drove on down to Karthaus to get to the lower end of the Pennsylvania Highland Scenic Highway, Route 144. Along that road we took the Yost Ridge Road to a cul-de-sac and river overlook, then to a roadside elk-viewing area. We continued on until we saw a sign to a mountain bog natural area and tried to find it. We eventually realized we were on a forest road above it but the only way to actually get to the bog was to hike in. We continued on to Pete’s Run Road, which kept getting smaller and smaller--- not to mention steeper and running along a steep drop-off. The Tundra was just barely narrower than the road. I had some inkling it was going to come out alright by the look of the track. Obviously someone else had come this way so why not us? As we descended the steepest, narrowest part, I asked Maypo if he was still bored. “Nope,” he said, “I’m more like scared shitless that this is going to get even worse.” But it didn’t and 20 minutes later we came out on a hard road into Renovo.
After gassing up in Renovo we continued east to Hyner and took the steep road up to Hyner View. We just had a few minutes to admire the view as we saw a storm coming right at us. We made a dash for the truck and almost made it before the rain came down heavily.
Instead of going the whole way back down the mountain we turned onto a forest road and worked our way back to SR120. We then went west back through Renovo and turned north on SR144.
We worked our way up to Ole Bull State Park. We toured the park and almost made a decision to stay there at one of the nice campsites along the creek. But we were also very interested to see the dark skies at Cherry Springs State Park for ourselves. I’ve been there a time or two but only in daytime.
At Cherry Springs we had to go through the campground twice to find a flat-enough spot to camp. Most of it’s on a hill but there was an old filled-in foundation which made a nice spot for us. Just after setting up, another camper came down and talked with us. He and his buddies--- a guy and three girls-- had just finished school for the year in Ohio and were out celebrating. They were almost comical in their ineptness. They had a tent they couldn’t get set up because of the fresh breeze but then the lucked out as evening came on and the breeze dropped. They couldn’t get their fire started to make supper so they piled in the car and rushed off to the nearest Sheetz to buy charcoal-lighter fluid. By that time it was dark and we had walked over to the public star-viewing area and we’d see these massive flare-ups at their camp.
On the other side were four young guys with Connecticut plates. About a half-hour before dark they saw a bear try to get into a bird feeder not far away. We later noticed they had made spears and had stood them on end--- pointy side up --- around the picnic table. They had been smart enough to put their cooler in the car so we think the spears were simply being placed there for a quick grab should they need to defend themselves. I bet they didn’t get any sleep at all that night.
We ended up being disappointed by the lack of dark skies. We couldn’t even see the Milky Way and this was supposed to be one of the darkest areas in the Eastern U.S. The problem was we were at the wrong phase of the moon. The sky never really turned dark after twilight, I believe because of the about-to-rise moon.
We turned in around 2300 and slept well.

Sunday, 18 May -
This morning we sat around the campfire ring enjoying our coffees. We had arisen to fog among the trees but it quickly thinned as the sun cleared the treetops and exerted its influence. We then took a nice long walk through the Heart’s Content nature trail. It’s an old-growth forest area donated by local lumber barons years ago. The giants are mostly hemlocks and are indeed magnificent. The trail meanders down to a stream and then circles back up to the parking lot. As we returned we met a young US Forest service guy coming back to his truck from servicing the toilet. He was almost giddy with excitement as he told us it was his first day on the job with the forest service. He had graduated this Spring from university and was finally, FINALLY, out of school and working his dream job. No matter today’s task was cleaning toilets. His enthusiasm was remarkable and made us all smile.
We returned to the camp ground via a trail through a tree-farm plot. Much of the trail led through a wide-open cathedral of pines. In some areas, though, an incredible number of birch saplings crowded the trail and closed us in. I wondered what small difference in drainage or sunlight or soil composition there was to explain why so few birches in most of the plot but so many in others. The density of the birches also made us realize why birch stills could be productive in Pennsylvania’s forests. We had seen a full-scale birch still at the Lumbermen’s Museum and wondered how it would be economically feasible to build and operate a birch still. But once we saw acres and acres of birch saplings like this, the economics made more sense.
We then packed up and headed out, leaving a substantial firewood pile for the next lucky camper. We drove southeast to Benezette and the Elk Country Visitor Center. Inside we watched the “4D” visitor presentation. It was a bit lame in its execution. The main characters were four statues and each would be lighted when it was his or her turn to speak. That may not have been a bad idea but the script was almost hilariously bad. When a breeze was called for by the script, we’d hear industrial sounds of fans getting up to speed, completely ruining the idea of being in a pristine outdoors scene. But then again, it’s not an easy thing to bring Mother Nature indoors at $3 a person.
We took a slow tour of the center and were generally impressed. The display areas are simple and well executed. The main draw, of course, would be seeing the elk in the nearby open grassy areas but we learned there hadn’t been any sighted yet today.
After walking the short trails to overlooks, we decided to have a late lunch at a picnic table near the bus-parking area. We made sandwiches and were eating them when we noticed something moving in the woods on the far side of the parking lot..... elk! Five phantoms slowly emerged... all female...gliding out into the open to graze. I snapped a quick photo but the coats of the elk were all shedding so they looked bedraggled.
We then drove to the Winslow Hill viewing area but no elk were visible. We followed Porcupine Road back into the State Forest backcountry, traveling through pretty woods all fresh with new growth.
The forest road brought us out to the hard road at Dent’s Run.
We continued on to Sinnemahoning and the state park there. At first we were frustrated because we couldn’t find the after-hours-arrival procedure posted anywhere. We asked another camper and he directed us to the campground host who took us to it. As we stood there talking to him, a ranger drove up. And that’s how we met Ranger Justine.
Justine _______ is a recent graduate of Slippery Rock State College and has held ranger positions at the Delaware seashore and Yosemite National Park. She’s originally from the area and dreamed of getting an assignment near home. She tickled us with her can-do, gung-ho attitude about everything. She told us she made many marijuana-possession arrests at Yosemite (“it smells like skunk”, she said) and hopes to become only the second K9 officer in the Pennsylvania DCNR. Her enthusiasm was contagious and so refreshing. You can’t help but wish her well in her career.
Orat and Maypo built a fire while I made my signature spinach salad, this one topped with hard-boiled eggs, bacon bits, mandarin oranges, and raisins. The boys then cooked hot dogs and we feasted!

Saturday, 17 May -

Today we drove back down out of the national forest to Kinzua Dam State Park and the Skywalk. The latter is an interesting railroad bridge over a 300-foot deep ravine. The iron railroad trestle had been badly damaged by a tornado in 2003. The remaining bridge structure was rebuilt as a ‘skywalk’, i.e., an observation platform with a partial glass floor.
We were there at a good time. There were only a few tourists and we had a beautiful morning. We dawdled quite a bit and took a few staged photos. I also found some trilliums as we walked down the path to take photos of the under-structure.
After watching the historical presentation at the kiosk, we headed west again. We stopped at the visitor center at the main part of the lake but it was closed. It had a sign directing us back to the state forest office but we had already been there and it too was closed... not a great plan for tourism! But we did have a pleasant picnic lunch at the picnic table as we watched kayakers follow the distant shore. They had apparently put in at the marina and were headed up-lake.
We had rain threatening by then and decided we’d head to Presque Isle. I was hoping weather would clear in that direction but as we approached Erie I could see on the iPad that there was a whole series of light rains headed that way.
We drove around the lake drive and stopped at the marina for a short walk to look at sailboats in their slips. It’s still early in the season and most owners are just now getting around to starting to clean up and prepare their boats for the season.
Late in the afternoon we headed out of town and back to the Allegheny National Forest. This time we selected Heart’s Content campground. I thought I had been there with Labashi years ago. I didn’t recognize the campground layout but when I saw the nature trail brochure I remembered we had indeed been there. That was probably sometime in the Eighties.
We set up camp just about an hour before dark and set to building a fire. I wanted to see how the electric chain saw would do. I dug out and started up the generator and carried it to a few nearby downed dead trees. In ten minutes we had a largish pile of firewood.
The chainsaw draws 11 amps and the generator handled it fine. It can handle a sustained load of 16 amps, if memory serves.
That night we built up the campfire and we needed it--- the temp dropped to 37 that evening. The fire felt great!

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Friday, 16 May -

This morning we took showers in the nice, new bathrooms Lyman Run and then drove into Galeton for breakfast. We had a tasty breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits and chatted with the guys at the table next to us about the fishing tournament coming up tomorrow at the park.
After breakfast we went to the Lumbermen’s Museum just a few miles west. They’ve built a nice, new building but it’s not open yet because they don’t have their occupancy permit. We decided to stay and tour the outlying buildings and they were worth the visit.
We continued west to Coudersport where we visited Potter County Outfitters and Knowles’ Sporting Goods. I found a backpacker’s buck saw at the latter and was happy to buy it. It’s called a Trailblazer and hasn’t been made for years.
We then headed west and north to Bradford. We visited a gun shop, Allegheny Arsenal, which specializes in tactical and survivalist guns and gear. I’m not heavily into either subject but do enjoy checking out the gear. I was fascinated by the ‘Little Badger’, a skeletonized single-shot .22 for backpackers and survivalists. It sells for under $175 and weighs less than three pounds. That would be an interesting alternative for my squirrel-hunting trips.
We then drove out into the Allegheny National Forest to a campsite at Tracy Ridge. This one is a set of five loops of sites and serviced vault toilets. While I made supper the guys cut wood and built a fire. Later, as we sat around the campfire I thought I’d introduce them to Bushmills-and-honey. Unfortunately, the honey we had bought in Galeton was very different than the local honey I get from a neighbor. The honey didn’t seem to sweeten up the whiskey much, perhaps because the colder weather slowed the process. But then again, whiskey-covered honey-on-a-spoon isn’t bad!
The fire was very welcome tonight. Temperatures these last few nights are in the low-Forties in the evenings and mid-Thirties overnight.

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Thursday, 15 May-

This morning was a bit foggy and threatening rain. We explored the area- the little drive to Colton Point before driving to the other side of the Grand Canyon at Leonard Harrison State Park. At the touristy overlook we had an interesting encounter with several other tourists. I had noticed a woman taking photos of her friends and offered to take the photo so she could join them. She seemed very surprised and delighted I’d offer. Later, as we were leaving, she approached us in the parking lot and offered--- almost insisted--- she take a photo of the three of us in return. We moved to the nearby trailhead of the Turkey Path trail and posed as if we had just come up the trail out of the canyon. The photo turned out great and the lady was so happy to have done us the favor. I love little encounters like this. It was such a simple thing but a delightful exchange between strangers.
We then headed back to Wellsboro to check out a gun shop-- Nile’s Guns and Gold--- but didn’t see anything interesting.
We then drove south out of town to the District Forest Office and had lunch at the nearby picnic area.
We then continued south and drove around to the other side of Pine Creek and came up through the State Forest road, circling back around to Colton Point. I was surprised that we didn’t see any wildlife at all in this area.
We drove west on SR6 into Gaines where we tried to visit Ziggy’s Custom Barrels but the shop was closed today for a funeral.
We continued on to Galeton, where we loaded up at the State Store and I bought an electric cord at the hardware store. I had remembered to bring the electric chain saw but it only has a six-inch cord and I had forgotten to move the heavy-duty extension from the van to the truck camper.
We then drove to Lyman’s Run State Park south of Galeton. We arrived in our campsite just as it started to rain. The campground was empty but Orat wanted to camp in the most remote campsite even though it was far away from the bathroom and showers. We had a good supper of cheesy-rice and chili.
The rain continued steady through the evening but overnight it came down very hard, a deafening sound on the camper’s metal roof. In the middle of the night I remembered we had cracked open the vent over the the cookstove. I found we had indeed shipped some water but it had come in onto a woolen blanket and just made it damp.

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Wednesday, 14 May--

I left for northern PA this morning in Mocha Joe. The plan was to meet Maypo at a commuter parking lot north of Harrisburg and drop his pickup there before going on to meet Orat at the Mansfield Walmart.
All went well and we met Orat at noon. After shopping for groceries at the Walmart, we dropped my van for the week in Mansfield. I had called the local police last week to see where I might leave the van, thinking they’d send me to a park-and-ride lot along 15. The officer suggested I park in Smyth Park, a baseball field complex behind the Pump and Pantry convenience store. However, I also checked with the Pump and Pantry clerk today to be sure I hadn’t misunderstood and the very nice lady there confirmed it was okay and said they’d keep an eye on the van while I was gone. Nice!
We drove a few blocks to Cooper’s Sporting Goods, our first tourist stop. I regularly stop at this small-town sporting goods shop to see what used guns they have. Mansfield is about half-way to Orat’s home for me and it’s a good place to take a bit of a break and perhaps grab a burger at the Wendy’s or take a short walk at the Lamb’s Creek hike-and-bike trail nearby.
After checking out the shop, I asked the owner if there were other gun shops in the area he might recommend for our tour-de-gunshops this week. He suggested we might want to check out two up on Route 49 along the New York border.
We drove up 15 and checked out the Tioga-Hammond Lakes Recreation area, a very nice set of lakes with an Army Corps of Engineers-run modern campground. Then we went on up to Cowanesque Lake to a similar lake and campground. We then traveled west on 49 to Knoxville to drop in at Beikirch’s Hunter Supply. When Orat mentioned he was from the Rochester area, we learned the owners had recently moved to Knoxville from there and, indeed, the wife knew one of Orat’s employees at his pizza shop. We learned the move from that area to northern PA has been very good for their business but they can’t find good pizza locally. Orat invited them to stop in at his shop for a freebie next time they’re in the area.
We then continued on west on 49, a beautiful drive among well-tended farms. At Westfield, we dropped south and headed down to SR 6 at Wellsboro. Then a bit west.
At the turnoff for Colton’s Point State Park we stopped at The Burning Barrel, a nice little country bar and restaurant for a brew and wings (it was wings night). Earlier in the day, someone had recommended the Burning Barrel to us.
After, we continued to the primitive campground at Colton Point State Park. We drove through and were a bit surprised to see most campers clustered around the upper end of the campground. After supper, we realized why.... there’s no bathroom on our side and it’s a longish walk around to it.
We gathered wood and built a campfire and settled in and had a good beef-stew dinner. Sometime later, I decided there might be a bathroom closer by at the West Rim Trail trailhead and indeed found that the map showed one there. I walked down there in the spooky darkness only to find it locked up. Frustrating!
We set up for our first night in the camper, finding there was a great spot for the big deep-cycle battery and all the wires right by the upper bunk--- perfect for the purpose.

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Tuesday, 13 May -

More trip-prep today. Since I’m taking the generator along, I’ve decided to also try out the electric chainsaw. We normally cut wood with a backpacker’s compact bow saw (a Sven Saw) and split it using a backpacker’s hatchet and a 2-pound hammer. That’s a nice, compact set of tools for travel but I’d like to see how well the chainsaw works for this. There’s a good spot for the chainsaw in the recesses of the camper so it’s no trouble to bring it along.
I also packed clothing and electronics gear and paid for a month’s-worth of cell-phone connection for the iPad. I’m struggling a bit to determine the best places to go on this trip but figure we’ll be fine if we just hit the state parks, state forests, and perhaps the Allegheny National Forest. Map-wise, I bought an updated Delorme Atlas for Pennsylvania and I know Orat has just updated his Garmin 42 with the latest map set. Between the GPS, mapbook, and the map apps on the iPad (Apple maps, Google maps, and Allstays Camp and RV), we should have plenty of guidance.

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Monday, 12 May --

I’ve slowly been getting ready for a Spring trip up north (in PA) with my brothers. Today I readied the generator we’ve decided to take along and charged up the deep-cycle battery we need. We need the battery to run a CPAP machine and the generator to be sure we can charge the battery when we’re camped far from a 110V outlet. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time researching batteries and CPAP current draws. We had used a jump starter to run the CPAP on a previous trip but it didn’t last the night. I had hoped my AntiGravity jump starter might do the job since it can be charged up as we drive but it doesn’t have the amp-hour capacity to last the night. The deep-cycle battery will run the CPAP multiple nights but it’s heavy and, if we have to take the generator along to keep it charged, inconvenient. The alternative for charging, of course, is to install a dual-battery management system in Orat’s Tundra. But we don’t have time for that before we leave.

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Sunday, 11 May-

This morning I rode the Thruxton down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my regular Sunday-morning ride’n’read.
That afternoon I waited until the shade from our front-yard trees reached the sailboat and then used the new hull cleaner to clean up the tannin stain on the cockpit wall. After trying so many cleaners and getting nowhere at all, I was surprised to see the oxalic acid of the hull cleaner do its job so easily.

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Saturday, 10 May -

This morning I installed the new turn signals on the Thruxton. I had bought both front and rear signals when I bought the Maundspeed fender-elimination kit but had only installed the kit itself and the rear signals a few weeks ago. The installation process went pretty easily and took perhaps an hour and a half. They look GREAT!
With it being such a beautiful, hot morning, I just had to get out so I rode the Thruxton in to Books-A-Million to get a Pennsylvania book map for next week’s trip. I also hit the nearby Starbucks, of course.
Back home I worked on cleaning up the staining in the sailboat’s cockpit from pine needles laying in rainwater over the winter. The tannin-stain didn’t come out despite my trying a dozen different cleaners. I then buzzed over to Walmart to pick up a hull cleaner with oxalic acid in it and will try again tomorrow.
That afternoon I watched three episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’ as I also browsed the web.
That evening we watched ‘Hunger Games- Catching Fire’. Meh.

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Friday, 9 May -

This morning I rode the Concours into downtown York to cast my absentee ballot for next week’s election since I’ll be out of town next week. This turned out to be very easy and I even snagged a parking spot right in front of the Administrative Center. The only mistake I made was nearly walking into the security scanner with my little pocketknife in my pocket.
After voting, I rode over to Beaver Street and had lunch at the Esaan Thai Cafe.... I love their Pad Panang and Thai Iced Tea.
Back home I spent several hours cleaning the wheels of the Thruxton and F650GS and oiling their chains. It’s a messy job but not difficult. I use Asphalt and Tar remover from Lowe’s that does a great job of cleaning off the grease/wax mixture.
I had a quick call with Orat about the camper we’ll be using next week and then I spent a half-hour moving Labashi’s bundled clippings from the yews out to the driveway for pickup tomorrow morning by the township.
That evening we watched most of ‘Inside Man’, the Guns episode but we got a late start so had to abandon it toward the end and will pick up later... one of the perks of using Netflix Instant.

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Thursday, 8 May -

Today I wanted to run the outboard a lot more. I started it and let it get good and warm and ran the prop in both directions to circulate oil. Afterwards, I painted the top surface of the rusty flywheel with a high-temp paint.
That afternoon we went to Mom and Dad’s apartment to install a ‘Merlin’. It’s a monitoring device for Dad’s pacemaker. There was some doubt it would work with the multi-line telephone lines in the apartment but it turned out to work fine.
On the way home Labashi and I had an early supper at the local Isaac’s and then once home I rode the Thruxton in to Starbucks before coming home to mow the upper 40.
I still had some energy left so I pumped out the accumulated rainwater from the bilge of the sailboat as the evening grew dark.
We then watched ‘Inside Man’ with Morgan Spurlock .... the marijuana episode. Good job, Morgan...

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Wednesday, 7 May-

Today I changed the engine oil and gear oil on the outboard and spent much of the day trying to get water flowing into the engine to start it up. I zipped over to Walmart and bought a flushing attachment but screwed up and bought one that was too large for my motor. After a trip back to exchange it, I tried again. The engine started but didn’t have its tell-tale water flow out the back so I had to shut it down. I went crazy trying to find the flushing attachment that came with the motor and finally found it about an hour before dark. But then it was a simple matter to hook it up and try again and this time I had success..... water out the tell-tale indicated all was well.
That evening we thought we’d try something new--- the pilot for ‘The Walking Dead’ on Netflix. Can’t say we’re fans but we did stick out the entire episode.

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Tuesday, 6 May -

Today I had a long Skype video call with Orat and then a shorter one with Maypo. We’re planning a trip later this month to northern PA.
I then drilled holes in the outboard mounting board and bolted it tight. I carried the motor out from the barn and mounted it and, to my surprise, found there was no resistance to a pull on the starter rope--- nothing. The rope pulled right out to full extension but wasn’t pulling against anything.
I then found I couldn’t even open the latch to remove the engine cover. After working with penetrating oil and slowly working it back and forth, I finally worked it open and removed the cover. Inside I found the reason-- the inside of the engine cover was filled with a giant mouse nest. There were about four big handfuls of nesting material and of course it smelled to high heaven. The side of the engine was covered in corrosion, apparently from the mouse leavings.
I cleaned up the motor as best I could and took the latch apart and cleaned it up. I found the pull-rope problem. And after a quick trip to Advance Auto for outboard gear oil and fogging oil, I removed the spark plug, fogged the cylinder, and pulled the rope a few times to get the oil worked around the cylinder in preparation for a start-up attempt tomorrow.
I mowed our lower-40 section of the lawn before supper and then rode the Thruxton down to Starbucks for a coffee and the pleasant ride down there.
Later, Labashi and I watched a ‘Rake’ episode and the last three episodes of the season for ‘Legit.’

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Monday, 5 May -

Today I made a new mounting board for the outboard on the sailboat. The old one had been plywood and had deteriorated quite badly--- to much to use again. I had thought I’d just sell the sailboat as-is and that would be the next guy’s problem. However, I also needed to test the outboard motor and ensure it starts and I need to mount it for that.
I cut out the mounting board from an old 2 x 8 shelf and painted it and will finish tomorrow.
I then went to the gym for my 10-minute workouts on weights, rowing machine, bike, strider, and elliptical machines.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Legit’.

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Sunday, 4 May -

I spent most of the morning writing up an email about our SprinterFest experience, both for myself and for my brothers.
That afternoon I replaced a light switch in our bathroom and then worked with Labashi to clean mildew stains off the vinyl covering on the backs of the sailboat’s cabin cushions. It appears our storage unit’s corner wall was a good environment for the mildew to grow. Fortunately, it only grew on the backs of the cushions and was fairly easy to clean up.
That evening we watched two ‘Legit’ episodes. Funny stuff!

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Saturday, 3 May -

Today Labashi and I spent the day at SprinterFest East, an event for owners and owner-wannabes of Sprinter vans. There were about 25 Sprinters and 60-or-so people attending. We learned a lot from the presentations and really enjoyed meeting the owners and chatting with them about their van projects and experiences.
That evening we watched two ‘Legit’ episodes. No gym today but I did get in 10K steps according to the Fitbit.

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Friday, 2 May -

This morning Labashi and I drove Mom and Dad to Willow Valley in the Lancaster area. Dad needed to meet with an audiologist about adjusting his hearing aid and the closest one for his brand was there at the retirement village at Willow Valley.
While Labashi accompanied Dad to the appointment, Mom and I took a nice walk around the manicured grounds of the reception center-- very impressive!
On the way home we had an early supper at JB Dawson’s at the Park City Mall.
That evening, Labashi and I watched the pilot for ‘Legit’ with comedian Jim Jefferies. It kind of reminds us of ‘Louie’.

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Thursday, 1 May -

I spent much of the morning writing an extensive email to ‘Ian’, a guy who had been a prospective buyer of my sailboat. He had decided against buying my boat to instead buy a Catalina 25. I had offered to answer questions so he asked about my experience with my boat and what I thought of the Catalina 25. The short version of that answer is that a Catalina 25 is much heavier and therefore you have to have trailer brakes and a vehicle with a lot more towing capacity. And if he doesn’t have that vehicle, he should consider leaving the boat at a marina on its trailer.
That afternoon I mowed the yard and therefore didn’t need the trip to the gym.

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