Cape May - 9/29/13

Met after work Friday and headed out for a planned overnight in Cape May, NJ.  The scheduling was tight - we had after-hours arrival instructions just in case.

Falling behind schedule, we stopped to eat and pick up some groceries in Philly.  Rushing to Cape May to park in the dark and sleep lost a democratic election to going to Harrah's in Philly and boondocking in the parking lot.  We played until about 11PM and made our way back to the camper which was completely surrounded in a packed parking lot.  We climbed in back and went to bed.

When we woke up Saturday morning, we were the only vehicle in the lot.  It was a little weird to think that people were walking thru the lot and moving cars all night right outside. 

On to Cape May.   After a brief detour for breakfast at a McDonalds AND a neighboring Duncan Donuts, an easy jaunt southeast brought us to Cape May.  We were about an hour and a half early for boarding the "Cape May Whale Watcher" but went to the parking lot.  Being early made getting in easy.  We bought tickets then hung out in the camper for a while.

Eventually it was time to board.  The CMWW is (guessing) about 100' long, with a large central enclosed galley, an aft seating area and open top deck seating area.  Lately on boats like this I find myself wondering what they would cost and how I would fit them out as a full-timer.

Turning slowly thru a long harbor, we finally pass the breakwater and head out into the Atlantic.  The wind was fair, and there was some surf to plow through.  We noticed a fellow passenger having a really bad time with the motion.

We churned around in circles in sight of the beach for about a half an hour.  We were chasing a small pod of dolphins.  The narrator was passionate and knowledgable, and a tiny bit self-righteous. 

We turned and head south to hook around the cape in search of whales.  The docent wasn't making any promises... it started to seem to me as tho their business model is "show them the dolphins we feed, then give them a boat ride..." which is fine.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water.

There were more dolphins near the wreck of the Atlantus, but no whales.  Rounding the cape takes you past the Cape May Lighthouse.

We made our way back to the marina via the west entrance and canal, thereby circumnavigating Cape May.  A nice boat ride, but not so much for whales.

We trucked up and headed to Wildwood to check out the boardwalk.  We got stiffed paying for two parking spaces in a lot a block off the boardwalk.  As annoying as that is, I can't imagine this would have even been possible with a mobile home or travel trailer.

Old jaded me remembers the excitement young naive me had at something like a boardwalk, but can't relive it.  We walked past the scrolling background of T-shirts exclaiming all manners of "swag", fudge shops, ice cream counters, and novelties.  There was a monster truck show happening on the beach.  We watched from a distance until sated of monster trucks.

Further up the boardwalk, we got over to the water and walked a stretch of beach.  We met some people with their dogs and took in the afternoon.

We got a kick out of what we called the "run away!" birds.  I think they're Red Knots, or something related.  Very funny to watch them do their thing.

A day late, we finally checked into "Seashore Campsites" north of Cape May.  We found a grocery store, got whatever and some redbox movies, and headed back to our sandy campsite for the night.

Frances Slocum - 8/17/13

Frances Slocum state park is North of Scranton, PA.  The eponym was a young girl kidnapped by Indians, who would later in life be 'found' by whites only to renounce her white origins, having gone native.

On short notice, we loaded up dogs and camper and headed for an overnight.

Not much to do with old dogs.  We set up and hung around, enjoying the weather.  A cranky camp host yelled at me for walking an old dog a few feet down the 'no dogs' road.

Scout thinks I'm doing something food-related in the camper and is waiting below.

Frog startled me while gathering firewood.

Mama in the camper doing something food-related.

We had a fire and s'mores.  Scout stayed with me by the fire long after dark.

The following day we went down to the lake with the dogs (and to dump tanks). Help a woman launch a kayak who we chatted with for a while.  Not a very eventful.

Pine Creek Gorge - Day THREE

Soon after breakfast, we were on the road.  On rt 44 near Cherry Springs is a scenic view of the Kettle Creek Vally.  The morning fog hadn't lifted, so yet another view was spoiled.

I don't remember West Branch road, or at least I don't remember it being paved.  I'd been to Cherry Springs a few times already on motorcycle camps with Mark and I can't imagine he wouldn't have put us on this road - other times we'd taken 44 to 144 to get to Galeton.

In any case, it's a straight shot... a 5 mile mountain road that brings you from the top of Cherry Springs down to the west branch of the Pine Creek thru woods which make me marvel at how much land is still "wild" in one of the original 13 colonies.  We enjoyed the little clouds lower than the mountaintops.

In Galeton we picked up rt 6 and in no time we were in Wellsboro.  We stopped at McD's for coffee and wifi and plotted a course for the last draw on the itinerary:  the casino at Tioga Downs.

We took 287 NE out of Wellsboro thru pretty country paralleling the scenic railroad.  At Tioga Lake, we both enjoyed - far too much - the random site of a full, yellow, perfect banana laying in the middle of the deserted road.  We brainstormed several scenarios which could explain the unlikely LOCATION of the banana, but none could simultaneously account for its pristine CONDITION.
Banana hypotheses consumed a few miles, and soon we were on 328 to Elmira and 17 to the casino.

The exit brought us to the parking lot of Jim's RV, where we'd nearly bought a truck camper.  I pulled in to get a pick of us hauling the camper we bought in Greencastle next to the camper Jim wouldn't move a few hundred dollars on.  I don't know, but I don't think that pic happened.  In a few minutes, we were at the Downs.

We played.  I lost, as usual.  She won enough to ease the pain.

Eventually we were back on 17 thru Binghmaton, then 81 S towards Scranton.  A massive rainstorm kicked up and several times traffic slowed to a crawl, many people pulling over to the side, not being able to see for the downpour.  Thru this scene emerged a pack of squids on sportbikes.  I wound up behind them, and put my four-ways on to block.  We followed them for 15 or 20 miles, slowing when they slowed, keeping our distance, and not passing.  When they finally peeled off, the lead rider gave me a wave - I think he actually realized I was actively trying to help them.

Some more highway slogging brought us home to a happy dog greeting.  A good trip, no camper, truck, or bike problems, no injuries... except for the snake Melissa ran over... looking forward to more.

Pine Creek Gorge - Day TWO

The day starts with a lucky double-yolk egg.  We forgot butter for toast, but avoided roughing it when our van-camper neighbor offered us his since they were headed home to North Carolina.  He explained that their plan was to go to Maine, but this was as far as they made it - they'd stopped to smell too many roses and ran out of time.

We broke camp and headed for the Darling Run access point near rt 6 by around 8:30AM.  The cloud cover and early start mitigated the heat.  There were a LOT of people at Darling Run, but once on the trail, the traffic really spread out - most of the time, other people couldn't be seen either in front or behind us.  We took a break about 8 miles in at the Tiadaghton camping area.  No potable water - a recurring feature of the PA outdoors.  

A few miles on we approached a guy very interested in something to the side of the trail, which turned out to be:  rattlesnakes.  We stopped and took pics, thinking it cool to see some wildlife.

Then continued on for a few miles before stopping at a bench for lunch with swarms of gnats.

The next few miles of trail was solid rattlesnakes.  Melissa stopped to take a picture of one, and while slowly approaching it from 20' away, was startled to find one crawling up beside her only a few feet away.  The path was strewn with small twigs and branches which made scanning for snakes more stressful.  Melissa claims she ran over the tail of a baby and it attacked her bike tire.

We passed thru Blackwell, pressing on to Rattlesnake Rock where we stopped after about 18 miles of pedaling to find a phone to call for a shuttle.  None found, we backtracked to Blackwell.  Ice cream from Miller's store made everything a little better.  The Miller's directed us to the free land line phone at the parking lot, from which we called Pine Creek Outfitters to learn that the "every 3 hours shuttle" has to be scheduled in advance.  The next shuttle was already full and still hours out.

A young guy was loading riders and bikes into a van marked "Stony Fork Creek Campground."  He was headed back to camp to drop off his shuttlees and pick up more, thence to take the fresh riders to Darling Run.  We offered him $20 for a ride back, but he could only take one of us and no bikes.  With little thought (and the near disaster of forgetting the truck keys in the bike pannier), a few minutes later I was in a van headed to Darling Run.  Melissa would stay with the bikes in Blackwell - I'd get the truck and come back to pick up her and our gear.

A few miles into my van ride, it occurred to me that I'd just abandoned my wife hundreds of miles from home with no money, wallet, keys, ID, or phone.  Only then I started doing the math: we were 25 miles from the truck, and SFCG kid had stops to make.  Best case scenario was a 50 mile drive on twisty country lanes with an overloaded truck - not much less than 2 hours.  It was getting late in the afternoon and the sky was getting dark - a thunderstorm was coming.  "Husband of the year" award looking less and less likely.

At SFCG, the fresh riders were dawdling, and the driver needed to hook up a trailer to carry some recumbent contraption.  More time lost.  The thunderstorm passed south of us, in the direction of Blackwell.  I pictured Melissa cold, drenched, exhausted, and freezing.

Finally at Darling Run, I set up to re-trace the last hours' driving.  I drove at my limit and a few times tested the brakes to the point of smelling them burn.  After an eternity, I pulled into the Blackwell access to find Melissa half-asleep at a picnic table, completely un-phased by the whole experience.  The storm had missed her, she took a little nap.  We loaded up and were off.

The plan was to get shuttled back to the truck at Darling Run, from which a straight shot on rt 6 would bring us to Galeton, then Cherry Springs.  With the truck now 25 miles south of rt 6, driving the gorge south seemed reasonable - there would probably be a road to take us across to rt. 44.  On the one such rode, a sign warned us of a bridge out ahead - local traffic only.  Committed and with no other options, we headed south all the way to 44, then back north to Cherry Springs - a huge detour.

We stopped at the Kountry Kitchen close to the park, then found a spot and I started leveling.  A ranger showed up and we paid for the site.  It was cloudy but the weather was supposed to clear.  It was only a few days from a new moon, and moonrise was after midnight.  I was hopeful.

At least the clouds made for a nice sunset. 

Sunset in the truck door.

I fell asleep in the chair outside waiting for stars that would never come.  Melissa woke me up after dark to 100% cloud cover.  We called it and went to bed.  At some point during the night, it started to rain.  The sound of rain on the roof from the inside of a dry RV is a wonderful thing - almost payment for the sky we were cheated.

Pine Creek Gorge Day ONE - 6/21/13

We took off on a 3-day weekend to Pine Creek Gorge one day after wife returned from 3 weeks in MN.  Truckzilla handled very well; driving is no longer a white-knuckle experience.  I rigged the bike rack on the front.   We lost a bike rack strap on the PA turnpike, so I pulled off to re-rig it, getting buzzed by semis going 85mph a few feet away from me.

Somewhere on Rt 15 north of rt 80

GPS took us on dirt roads, a little freaky with so much weight and the first time off-pavement with the rig.

Leonard Harrison State Park. 

We walked down to view the gorge.  Pictures just don't capture it.  We met an older couple there that was staying in Wellsboro.

We scoped the campgrounds (meh), ate salad from jars in the camper, and waited out a thunderstorm.  With no electric campsites available, the DNCR lady referred us to a campground close by.

Which we hit.  The office people were initially unfriendly, but they had a lab named Misty.  It was a pretty nice place.  There were 2 other (older) truck campers there.  I filled the tanks and we dropped anchor.

A path leads out of the campsite thru the woods back to Leonard Harrison. It was longer than we expected, and arriving at the rear of the campground at LH, we just took a little breather and headed back for camp.  On the way back, Missy ran thru the woods for reasons unclear.

I think we watched one of the WWII movies - I don't remember.  

Hammock Virgin

I love the idea of hammock camping, but camping hammocks aren't cheap.  There's no way of knowing if you'll be able to sleep in one, either.

Enter the $25 Walmart cheapy hammock.

My first hang at Rt 309 on the Appalachian trail:

The view up:

Obviously it's too short, but it's certainly do-able.

Doggy Daddy

Late on a Saturday - after finishing the water tank mods - the me and the dogs headed out on a solo overnighter to Hickory Run.  Wife is in MN for 3 weeks with family, we're all pretty bored.

Same campsite as last trip - 207.

The dogs spooning.  Old dogs = low-impact camping.  Like last time, Sadie likes to wander off into the rough.  It being hard to watch her while cooking in the camper I used the tie-out.

Brought wood from the pile after seeing how wet the stuff they sell you is last trip.  Eventually a nice fire, altho I didn't really need it.

Tucked in.  I forgot the dog beds, so broke out the towels and did the best I could.  No one seemed to mind.

A detour on the way home to Beltzville.  Found this great spot right off the parking lot.

Parked at home, I noticed water leaking from the truck box again.  Dismounted the camper to find a drip from the tank drain.  I must have moved the valve while installing the deck plate.  The valve is closed when facing starboard.

Dogventure I

The dog shakedown trip:

 Hickory Run, spot 207.  Electricity + dogs.

Supper cooking.

Dinner time.

Spent most of the day sitting around playing Scrabble.  Finally Sadie got a walk.  Scout was there to greet.

After some struggling, Scout managed to get comfortable on the folded out couch.  I nearly spent the night on the couch with him, worried that he would be fidgety with us out of sight in the cabover, but all the excitement of the day must have pooped him out.  Neither dog moved all night.

The view from outside in the morning.  Sadie leaps out and needs to be caught in the air.  Scout needs to be craned out.  Pretty painless for all concerned. It would be a tight fit if there were rain and we had to spend a lot of time in the camper.

Some camper mods

Water heater drain and anode

Top: the lid, which is also the template.  Right: the flange.  Left: a piece of rubber gasket material.

The fresh water tank marked out.

 A bunch of connected stab cuts with a utility knife.

Installed with stainless screws.

It not always convenient to add water via the exterior fill.  With a port on the tank, I can haul water in an aquatainer and dump it directly into the tank with no pumps or other special gyrations.  Access for cleaning and draining: not sure of the utility of this yet.

Truckzilla: rear shocks

Mileage somewhere around 137k.

After a few bouncy rides and a visual appraisal, I bought Rancho9000XL shocks for the rear end.

Here's the old left rear shock as it came off:

And a disconcerting close-up:

It's interesting that the UPPER housing would rust thru.  I saw a recommendation online to NOT install the gators on the Rancho's on the grounds that they fill with water, which - rather than guard against corrosion - accelerates it.  I assume the same thing must be going on here; I left the gators off the Ranchos.

I cranked them both to 9 and took a test drive.  I didn't notice a big difference, but I didn't bounce, either.