Did you catch that picture in the beginning? Proof positive that the sun is still around and the sky is still blue. What an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday. However, we’re back to rain for the next several days. Want to guess when it starts to get better again? If you said the day we leave, meaning next Tuesday, you would be right!
Yes, the gang is all gone. I felt so bad for all those who came here for the Memorial Day Weekend. Friday through Sunday it was just so yucky. Then, yesterday when everyone was leaving it was the nicest day of all. Yet, the weather never stopped the kids from getting out. They were out riding bikes and gathering in the playground. Good for them.
Since yesterday was so nice we decided to gather together for a picnic. We had salads and other fixins out on the table.
We had burgers on the grill. Hey, I didn’t kill them this time.
OK, not the best of pictures. Ms. Barbara, my sister Cindy and her husband Charlie. A great time was had by all. In one sense, it will be hard leaving here because we’ve had – and still are having – such a great time with my sister and her husband. But in another sense it is going to be easy to go because of the yucky weather we continue to have. As with everything in life there are trade offs.
That is where we are on The Road of Retirement. We’re hanging in there and making the best of the hand we’ve been dealt. Life is still good no matter where we are nor what the weather is like. We are as I’ve said before two of the most blessed and fortunate people in the world.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Remember, take time to stop and smell the roses and live each day that God gives you to the fullest.
These are the voyages of Elvira and her two intrepid travelers. Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.
There’s no other way to put it. Just Plain Yucky. Cold. Damp. Where is the sun? Has it disappeared altogether? The past two days it has been raining. And the temperatures never got out of the 40’s. Well, the temperature is still in the 40’s today but at least the rain has stopped. But for how long?
It wouldn’t be all that bad if we had DISH or OTA. But we have neither. The trees put a nix to DISH and the bad weather to OTA. We’ve been, as you might have guessed, playing a lot of Mexican Train, watching movies we already recorded, and listening to Sirus on my phone.
Thankfully, we still had enough bandwidth to attend virtual worship today at our home church in Colts Neck.
We also have been
spending a lot of time with my sister, Cindy and her husband, Charlie. Being with them is well worth living with this miserable weather. Our time together has been priceless. We’ve talked about everything under the sun and then some more. We’ve eaten until finally we all called uncle because we are just stuffed. There is nothing better, if you ask me, then being with family.
We normally spend most of our time on her back deck but the weather hasn’t allowed it as of yet. Hopefully, before we leave we’ll get there. It’s such a beautiful place to just sit back and relax.
And this is why, this is a partial view of her backyard. A wonderful reminder of the beautiful world that God has created.
That’s where we’re at on The Road of Retirement. But before I go, a reminder, lets take a moment tomorrow to remember all those who served and continue to serve in our Armed Forces. Let’s remember especially all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we might enjoy the freedoms we do today. Freedoms, unfortunately, that are now in jeopardy by those who continue to push lies and misinformation. They disgrace all those who wear the uniform of our country by their despicable actions. Just my opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.
These are the voyages of Elvira and her two intrepid travelers. Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.
Well the weather has definitely taken a turn for the worse. It is cold, wet and just down right miserable. It is definitely not what we signed up for. I guess the old saying still holds true that being into every life a little rain must fall. But, please someone turn the thermostat up a bit!
So, what have we been up to. First and foremost, we’re spending a lot of time with my sister Cindy, and her husband Charlie. Which is the best part of this trip.
We went over to her house on Wednesday.
We had supper together. Once again she prepared a delicious meal. I again became a member of the clean plate club – which is not hard to do at all with the wonderful meals she prepares. It’s just great getting to spend time with them. I can’t think of anything better than spending time with family.
Thursday morning we did some sightseeing in the area.
It was a beautiful day so we decided to take the Ole Covered Wagon Tour into the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It is also known as The Pine Creek Gorge which begins south of Wellsboro and continues south for 47 miles. It’s deepest point is 1,450 feet and rim to rim at its widest it is 4,000 feet.
The Ole Covered Wagon Tour is a family owned and operated business. They provide a horse drawn covered wagon tour into the gorge. No, they don’t go the entire length just an hour up and of course an hour back.
Our two horsepower team. I’m standing with Doug and Ms. Barbara is standing with Ike. They are Belgian Draft Horses and are 6 years old. They were purchased from an Amish farmer in the area and they will continue to work pulling the wagon until they are about 15 years of age. When they reach that age they will be sold to either the original owner or another Amish farmer who will continue to use them to do light duty work such as pulling a mower or plowing a garden. They are never sent off to the glue factor. The tour has a total of 6 teams of horses that they rotate on a daily basis. In the background holding the reins is the owner of the tour, Brad.
This is Jim our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor. It was fun listening to him as he shared with us his wealth of knowledge about the Canyon.
Over the bridge and into the Canyon.
The ride up and back is on The Pine Creek Rail Trail which has been voted by USA Today as one of the 10 greatest places to take a bike ride. The trail begins in a small town called Jersey Shore, which is just west of Williamsport, and runs north for 62 miles to just south of Wellsboro.
Since it only has a moderate 2% grade it is great place for a bike ride.
There are numerous access points along the trail where you can park your car and enter the trail.
As you ride along and look at the dense growth of trees on either side of the Canyon it is hard to imagine that at one time the slopes were bare of any trees. In the second half of the 19th century the slopes had dense growths of two types of trees that were very much in demand – eastern hemlock and white pine. Enter the logging industry who went to work.
In the beginning log rafts were floated down the Pine Creek to saw mills in Williamsport.
Then in the late 1800’s the railroad laid a line from Williamsport north. Then logging began in earnest. However at the start of the 1900’s the trees were completely gone and the logging industry vanished from the area. The train, though, continued to run carrying coal, freight and passengers between New York and small towns in Pennsylvania. The tracks were finally removed in 1989 – this is portion of the original tracks left as a sort of memorial of those days.
So how did the trees come back?
Enter the Civilian Conservation Corps which began in 1933 and ended in 1942. It was made up of men between 17 and 25 years of age who came from families on various forms of government assistance. They were required to enlist for a minimum of 6 months, however, some stayed for up to 2 years. Most men came to the camps hungry and poorly clothed. They were issued uniforms and given 3 meals a day. There was a doctor in each camp and each camp also offered the chance at additional education. They were paid $30 a month and were required to send at least $25 back home. The camps were run by the military but the work was under the direction of the Forestry Service.
This is the road that leads back to The Darling Run Camp that was established in Pine Creek. Nothing remains of the camp today except a few old foundations. However, when it was active it was home to 125 men, one of which was our guide Jim’s grandfather. He shared with us that these men planted 6 million seedlings over the course of two years in the Canyon. In addition to planting trees, they fought forest fires, built roads and buildings, and created state parks. In the Canyon, Colton State Park and Leonard Harrison State Park were built by the men of this camp. Today, the site of this old camp is being developed as a primitive tent only camping site.
Some of the sights up and back in the Canyon.
Ducks galore and of course if you looked real close you could see trout in the creek.
Look close in the middle of the picture and you’ll see a broad leaf plant known as Skunk Cabbage. Pick it and you know immediately how it got its name!
And the mountains, towering all around you. Absolutely breathtaking.
This tour had to be one of the most delightful that we have taken in a long time. We learned so much, and there was so much of God’s handiwork all around you to enjoy.
Sure enough, another new T-Shirt!
But the day wasn’t finished.
My sister, Cindy and her husband, Charlie and their dog Eddie came over for a visit and supper.
Even Eddie likes whipped cream!
A perfect end to a perfect day.
So that is what we have been up to on The Road of Retirement. Life is good, really, really good. Our time with my sister and her husband make this trip definitely well worth the distance traveled. I wouldn’t trade a minute of our time together for anything else in this world.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.
These are the voyages of Elvira and her two intrepid travelers. Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.
We accomplished what we set out to do by coming to Pine Hill. That is, we were able to make a trip into New Jersey to worship at our home church; and, spend time with some great friends we have known for years. Mission accomplished it was now time to get back on the road.
We honestly had no idea of what we would find in terms of traffic and road condition. We did know, though, that the estimated drive time was between three and four hours. Therefore, we decided to get out no later than 9 am.
We packed up as much as we could the night before. Thus, this morning we had only about forty five minutes of work to do. Once I was finished with SEW I came in and brought the slides in. Then it was jacks up, jack blocks away and we were ready to roll. We moved to to the upper parking lot and hooked up the car. We were ready to roll and roll we did right on time.
It turned out to be an easy ride. Absolutely no traffic. The roads were in great condition with only a couple of construction delays. We had a number of mountains to climb but nothing that Elvira couldn’t handle. Most of the time I just left the cruise control on having to take it off only a few times when I got caught behind a slow moving truck climbing a long hill. The nice thing was with all the hill climbing we did, Elvira still managed a respectable 8.5 mpg.
In due time we arrived at the entrance to the campground.
There is still no one to check you in. In essence, you must make a prior reservation and when you arrive you need to know your site number. Then, it is a simple matter of just going to your site.
This is our new home for the next two weeks. It is paved, sloped to the back, but we have FHU. Unfortunately, it is also in a mess of trees so we have no DISH. We do have one, that’s right one and just one, OTA channel. Ah well, we’ll survive.
Looking up our block.
Looking down our block.
That was our day on The Road of Retirement. We had a great trip and we are now settled in and just sitting back and relaxing. We are looking forward to spending some time with my sister, Cindy and her husband, Charlie, as well as, doing some sightseeing. Life is good.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We always appreciate your company, your comments, and your suggestions. Keep safe, keep healthy, live to the fullest the days that God gives you.
These are the voyages of Elvira and her two intrepid travelers. Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.
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"On The Road of Retirement" 