Our View From The Road

Sharing where we've been and what we've seen

Tag: PA

Pennsylvania

  • Lake Erie State Park

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    Well, the night was warm and the nearby I-65 was at times a bit noisy. Evidently there is also a railroad close to this Cracker Barrel which a few times overnight woke me. So, we are at 7:00am awake and getting ready for breakfast. The restaurant is open and based on the number of cars already in the lot, a popular place to start the day. We enjoy eggs & bacon and a cup of coffee before heading back out onto the I-65 East.

    We immediately enter the state of Ohio and for the next couple of hours enjoy its pastoral landscape. We get off the interstate and take some smaller backroads to head NorthEast towards Cleveland. At one point in a small town we have to turn around and take an alternate route as the town had closed its Main Street for a Memorial Day running event.

    We bypass Cleveland and head toward Erie, PA. We bypass Erie and head into the state of New York along I-90. We hop off the interstate before it becomes a toll road to get fuel. Our destination is a short drive along US-5 past a number of vineyards that line the coast of Lake Erie in this area.

    We arrive at Lake Erie State Park without a reservation. We had checked online and it appeared that most campers had departed after the long weekend and thus there should be plenty of room for us. We were right!!! In fact, even better was that the computer system was offline resulting in the park attendant granting us a free night!

    The park is quiet and has lots of hardwood trees scattered about for shade. The park is also right on the shore of the lake with wonderful views of the sunset. We arrived mid-afternoon and so we’re able to relax and enjoy the view and lakeside breezes before having roast beef sandwiches and salads for dinner in the van. A little TV to relax by during the evening and then a walk to the beach to enjoy that stunning sunset.

    Sunset across Lake Erie

    Good night one and all, I hope you to have recently enjoyed a glowing sunset. see you tomorrow!

  • Day 01: On the road again…

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    Welcome back to our travel blog! The long and snowy winters end approaches; however, not quickly enough for these intrepid explorers. And so this post finds us heading out in search of sunnier and warmer climes in the Southern US. Todays drive took us from the US/Canadian border, across the Blue Ridge mountains and into the state of Virginia.

    It’s 6:00am and half of the house is awake for the day, it should be a busy one. No snow overnight so at least there’s none to brush off of the van before we can drive. Now, time to go for a walk and then the final loading to complete. 9:00am target departure. Wish us luck!

    About to hit the road

    Ok, so 9:30am and we’re rolling out of town after dropping a package off at the post office. The roads are dry and it’s sunny, a good omen we believe.

    The St. Lawrence river is open water signaling that Spring is near. The border crossing is very smooth with just a few cursory questions concluding with the agent saying a rather abrupt “Goodbye”. Several hundred yards later at the bridge toll booth we were held up slightly as a trucker maneuvered his/her 11’6” wide load through a series of bollards signed at being 11’6” clear. Some of the item wrapping brushed against the bollards but otherwise no damage done. Nice driving.

    The drive across US37 towards Watertown, NY was easy and a nice way to ease into what would be a long day.

    We picked up I-81 and headed South towards Syracuse and onto Whitney Point where we stopped at the visitor center and had a ham & cheese wrap for lunch.

    Frost capped trees near Whitney Point, NY

    Binghamton, Scranton and Wilkes Barre soon followed as the interstate took us further South with each passing mile. By this point in the journey almost all of the snow on the ground was gone and the temperature was steadily above zero Celsius. By the time we cross out of Pennsylvania and into Maryland the temperature is a steady 8C, that’s 15C above this mornings temperature at home!

    Crossing the Potomac

    Driving through West Virginia the sun sets and the nighttime truck traffic is taking over the interstate, time to find a park up. Like Mr & Mrs Milddogs last year, we decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Winchester, VA. where we enjoyed a chicken dinner before settling down for the night. I was even carded when requesting a beer with my dinner! 59 and still looking under 25! I’ll take it.

    Sunset

    It was a very long day of driving which saw us arrive at 7:15pm, almost 10 hours after leaving home. Tomorrow should be shorter and will see us head towards Chattanooga, TN. Stay tuned for how we make out.

    Before signing off for the night, let’s address a few questions you, our readers, might have.
    1. How are you handling the colder temperatures? Are you not afraid of the piping freezing while driving through states with temperatures below freezing point?
    – We left home with the van still ‘winterized’ with plumbing antifreeze in the piping and plan on leaving it that way until the ambient temperatures support ‘dewinterizing’.
    2. Have you made any changes or improvements to the van over the winter?
    – We were generally very happy with the van when we last used it in 2022. We have added a small shelving system under the sink to better organize baskets that we keep there containing various items used in the galley.
    3. Was any specific maintenance performed before travelling this year?
    – As the van currently has only 15000kms on it, only an oil change and service was performed by the Ford dealer last Fall. Other than this, only the typical pre-trip checks of fluids, tyre pressures, etc. were performed. We are expecting to have to perform a little more maintenance upon our return.