Life in the S-L-O-W lane. . .

We left camp in New Lisbon at 10:25 a.m. on Wednesday. What a wild two weeks. We started at New Lisbon, flew to Florida and back in three days, then moved the motorhome to the state park for two nights, then moved back to the New Lisbon camp. Then we had hair appointments, bloodwork, doctor appointments, etc., in New Castle, then two doctor appointments in Indy. After my annual mammogram, we drove the car up to Goshen to see Mom and Dad one last time before they leave for the winter. We also closed up the storage condo there and then drove back to New Lisbon. We flew out the next day to Houston, more doctor appointments, then flew back on Tuesday this week, then headed out. Tired yet?

Once we left there, we don't plan to return till spring. We drove the first night to Cabela's in Wheeling, West Virginia. We actually planned on boonmooching there for one night. What did we think of the experience? Well, I didn't like the trucks using the parking lot, so we parked clear at one end, but the trucks continued to come in and roll around us. Finally more RV's showed up and more/less blocked that end, so the trucks had to stay on the other end. That is where the entrance/exit was anyway, so they had more room. It was nice and quiet and I felt safe, but we did not put out all our slides. It is difficult navigating in the bedroom with only one slide out, especially since we had a lot of extra stuff we are taking to Brandon's.

The next day we drove on to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and we are here visiting Amish country. We are parked in Flory's campground. It is kind of tight getting into some of the sites, but once in we are comfortable and I don't think it will be hard to get out.

We left early yesterday morning and took in some of the markets and shops. We do a lot of driving around in the countryside looking at landscapes. The farms appear to be much closer together here than in Ohio or Indiana in Amish country. A lot of farmers were in their fields cutting or raking hay. We saw many horse and mule teams hitched up and working. Here apparently the church leaders do not allow the use of bicycles because we haven't seen any. Instead we have seen scooters which use smaller bike tires, a T-shaped handlebar and a scooter footrest between the tires. Even the adults use these scooters. That is quite strict in my book if you cannot even use a bicycle. . . Terry said it must have to do with gears, etc. We visited the Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lititz. We were told not to miss it, but it was a disappointment. We bought a small bit of chocolate and didn't care for it. We also visited a pretzel company which started there. The pretzels are no longer made here though and they just have a small room where they sell a few products. But across the street from there was Linden Hall, which is the oldest boarding school for girls. Right on the corner of the grounds was a Moravian church which was founded by early settlers to the area.

We ate yesterday at the Shady Maple Smorgasboard near here. It was huge, there were hundreds of people there, but we were able to get food quickly. I didn't like the food as well as Essenhaus, but we still had a good meal. Terry tried the shoo-fly pie. He concluded as I did several years ago. . . not to his liking. It must be an acquired taste. I did sample his again because I had forgotten why I didn't like it. . . I still don't!

Today we went down to Strasburg, south of here. In the entire area, there are old houses which are so elegant and reminiscent of an earlier time in our country's history. The streets are narrow and it is hard to imagine what life was like for people 2-300 years ago. We visited a couple shops in town, then we went out to the Strasburg Railroad. We got there in time to see the sightseeing train leave the station. It looks to be very comfortable. You can book a seat in a dining car or other cars. The cars all looked to be nicely refurbished.

We walked across the road to the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum. What a treat! This is a very large building and inside are housed dozens of railroad engines and cars. They are displayed on "platforms" on tracks and there is a mockup station, baggage room, etc. Some of the cars/engines can be boarded for a closer look and they have docents who tell you about the car. I have never seen so many old engines before. There are different types, portraying the different eras of railroading. Outside in the rail yard are more train cars and engines in various states of restoration. They even have a "turntable" for moving cars onto the tracks that go into the building. They are in the process of enlarging the museum so there will be more indoor viewing area. There is also a second floor walkway where you can look down on the trains in the display area. If you are in this area, I highly recommend visiting this museum. There are also shops, of course. A museum shop for one, but also across the street at the Strasburg Railroad, there are shops where you can buy momentos.

We didn't take in the Choo Choo Barn, which is back toward Strasburg, but if you have small children, that would be a must see. Also the National Toy Train Museum would be a good stop. On that same road is the Red Caboose Motel where they have something like 15 railroad cabooses which are the "motel." You can spend a night in a caboose! There is also a miniature horse farm to the north of the motel where your kids can ride a minature horse. These are all good activities for the kids. I'm thinking my grandson Ronan would love it!

Tomorrow we head out to Gettysburg. It has started raining here and it is pouring. This area is totally saturated already from Hurricane Irene and they could use a break from all the rain. But we are probably going to have rain in Gettysburg as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale