Day Ten – Tuesday Sept. 10th 2013.

Well! It finally happened and I wondered when it would.

In the last four winters of travelling I haven’t been very good at recording what we had done or where we had been on this Blog. I finally missed a day (yesterday) on this year’s Blog and you were able to get a break from my dribble-drabble!

As you may have noticed this Blog contains some descriptions of what we are doing and where we have been but also some of my thoughts.

Yesterday we stayed the night before last in a Wal-Mart again.

Proof that the Messner Hicks actually camp at Wal-Marts!

It was in Grove City, Pennsylvania. What was so unique about this Wal-Mart parking lot was that there was a spot for Horse & Carriage parking! You will see in the picture that they even have a place on the wall to tie your horse up! You know you are in Amish country when this happens!

Wal Mart has Culture too! It also has Horse & Carriage Parking for the Amish people!

Tie your horse up tot he hooks in the wall!

We spent the day driving east and north farther into Pennsylvania and stopped in a couple of towns along the way.

At one point as we starting to climb into the mountainous region we stopped in a town called Franklin. This town was started in 1795. The architecture and old buildings left me desirous and wondering why we in the west do not do more of this. They have done like so many other American cities a wonderful job of preserving their past and they are proud of it too!

Always a good palce to get Tourist Info about the area - Welcome to Franklin!

Some of the homes and old buildings - beautiful!

Real Estate is very affordable here, $3-400,000.00 will go a very long way towards a beautiful restored home. 

Real Estate prices here are really low and one could live in what was a called a mansion back in the day for $3-400,000.00 easily. We have seen homes for sale here under $30,000.00!

We parked the rig and took a nice long walk up and down Main Street. Lots of affordable antiques (way cheaper than in the west), small shops and friendly smiling people. The original Town Office was built in 1880 and appears to have been torn down but the foundation brick is still lying in the lawn. Many other buildings from the 1800’s still sit here today and most of them are very nicely preserved and restored.

If you like history you could spend weeks in this area exploring.

Its hard to describe what it took to drive up into the mountains here where these towns are but it seems like you are truly in the middle of no where, surrounded by dense forest, creeks and rivers. This is a very beautiful state and from what we have seen in the NW area quite laid back and relaxed.

As we continued our climb past Oil City we decided to stay at a family run campground called just that. As you continue the drive to reach there you wonder if it will every come and after what seemed like a hundred mile drive you learn you only travelled about 16 miles reaching your destination.

This campground sits at the top of one of the mountains. The mountains here are not like the Rockies that we are used to. They are densely covered in trees all the way to the top.

We are in Pennsylvania oil country here, and if you have ever heard of the term Pennsylvania crude this is where it came from. In fact Quaker State Oil has their home office not far from here in Oil City. I have yet to see an oil derrick or pump jack, which makes one question where they are working for all of this oil? I am sure they are back in the hillsides here somewhere.

After I woke up this morning I began doing my usual routine of making coffee, cleaning up and taking my coffee and Romeo outside to enjoy the morning. After two days off cool low 70’s weather it was clear the weatherman was going to be right about the next few days.

At 9am it was already hot and humid again. We haven’t seen rain since we left but last night we had a quick shower adding to the humidity I’m sure. We are not all that far from Lake Erie and that along with the Atlantic Ocean likely adds to it as well.

Sitting outside this morning was so quiet and peaceful. Other than Romeo and the odd bird there was nothing moving. The trees are starting to slowly change color and the wind going past the leaves was about all one could hear. Amazing how quiet it can be. I don’t think I have experienced that true peace in some time.

The trees are tall Oak and Aspen with the odd Pine. As described earlier we are at the top of the world here and surrounded by the trees. IN the middle where we are is this huge circle where the trees were cut out and one just imagines by whom and how long ago this one done. There are a few other RV’s here but not many. The quiet season has begun. I only saw 3 other people here last night and they had a camp fire a few hundred yards away. This morning there is no one around.

Yesterday we saw a Horse and Buggy on two different occasions. We are told to watch for them, as there are quite a few Amish people up here. The sides of the roads have a few horse droppings indicating this is true. It was quite the sight to see these people in their black buggies and simple ways of days gone by as they trot down the country roads heading to what ever it is that they do.

Unlike our Motorhome these guys get great fuel mileage.

They are brave on these roads!

You can bet than when I get some Internet time somewhere I will be studying up on the Amish and wish I had done this before we had got here.

Today we will head into town with the car and tour around to see what we can learn, do and see. I will record what I can with photographs so that we can share this as usual.

It’s a bit funny that all the towns here end in either “Ville” or “Burg.” 

I'm guessing Ville is from the French and Burg is from the Dutch or Germans? I will check on this and confirm it once I know.

I keep wondering as we travel here when I will come around a corner and see some towns of my childhood TV experiences such as Mayberry but that doesn’t end in Ville! We did go through a town called Pleasantville but I cannot recall what TV show that name was used in ha ha.

On another note you may have noticed by now and so have we that we have spent way longer in this leg in the USA than we intended too. This has occurred for two reasons. One of which was noted a few days ago, we are tired and have had to lay down and rest more than we imagined.

Some of these drives have been long ones. The other reason is that there is so much to see. It’s quite amazing when one thinks of the history in these parts and I only know of about 1% of that! I wish I would have studied it more before we left home.

Romeo our family dog is beginning to worry us a bit more. As many of you know about a year ago he became old. He had hurt his lower back and his rear legs became quite weak although they did heal somewhat. As we got home last spring the Dr. had told us that if nothing changed he had only about two weeks left. As it turned out he bounced back and had a wonderful summer.

As I noted earlier he has developed cancer in his mouth. Why there, I have no idea. The tumour was removed once but they knew they couldn’t get it all. As of yesterday the new tumour is a lot larger than the one we had removed. His rear legs are showing signs of more weakness again and he spends a lot of his days just sleeping. 

We are monitoring this closely.

Romeo our Travel Buddy!

Yesterday’s walk in Franklin really tired him out. I am happy to say that when I took him outside with me this morning he was full of energy (about as much as one can expect for his condition) and seemed quite happy. After about 30 minutes he went inside and back to sleep in one of his favourite spots in the motorhome. He has two favourite spots. One on his doggy pillow and the other under the dashboard on Barb’s side of the rig where he is sleeping now.

I'm currently sitting in a parking lot in MacDonald's to get wifi.

It is so hot here today again. They say for sure it will hit 91F and perhaps pass the record of 93F. The humidity is in the 90's making it feel like 110!

Today we have headed out to explore Oil City, Titusville (where we are now) and a town in an Amish area where we are going to try and have an Amish dinner.

Once we have time, stories and photos we will post some more.

Make it a great day and know that yes, we are still alive!

Jim.