Heading east from Ohio we traveled to Hills Creek State Park, in Pennsylvania. Making tight turns in the small towns surrounding it, we took a chunk out of a tire, which we have yet to get replaced. Fortunately, the folks who pulled into the spot we ended up in (more about that in a minute) were really helpful. They have been at this trailer camping a lot longer than us and had a flat jack to share with us. We replaced the tire and have been carrying it around in the back of the truck, waiting for spot to get a new tire. No blow out -- but we don't want to be without a spare.
As we headed into the park, we crossed over a lovely small dam; here's the view of it from inside the park.
Speaking of inside the park, we headed to our reserved spot and HATED it! There was a girl scout group camping right next to us, so lots and lots of active kids, and our spot had virtually no separation from their site. Fortunately, this was not a weekend, so we were able to swap the site for a handcapped site that hadn't been chosen yet. We ended up with a fairly private spot, paved and flat, and we were right next door to the nicest folks who helped with the tire swap. This was one of those times where we thought we might have made friends if we had been staying longer. As it was, we just appreciated how much campers help one another. While we were setting up, some folks who have been coming to same park for 40 years came by on a walk with their adopted grandson. Jason, who was 3, had a lot of fun chasing Bailey around!
The next morning, we were on our way for the last leg east, to Wells State Park in Sturbridge, MA. Oh my goodness...how can folks drive on these roads every day! The trip that was supposed to be around five hours took almost eight -- and every one of those miles was grueling! The roads were horrible, the drivers even worse, and accidents and road construction delayed us over and over again. I can say with some confidence that we will not travel this far east with the trailer again. A whole bunch of things came loose -- our awning, and even our indoor heater was jarred loose from its moorings. A gravel road in the West is so much smoother than these paved highways. We arrived at Wells State Park much later than expected, and exhausted. We knew we wouldn't have any hook-ups here, so it wasn't a surprise, but we did miss air conditioning as the humidity made sleeping difficult.
Our site(#2) was HUGE, and it had a great view of the pond.
It would have been a great place to have a vacation, since it had the swimming beach and lots of trails. However, we were in Massachusetts for the family reunion, so we didn't do much but sleep (damply) there. Scott and DJ came out to see it as we were leaving, but otherwise it was just a stopping place. Since we arrived so much later than expected, we decided to go out to dinner rather than cooking. We ate at the Center Street Grill, and we'd highly recommend it. The food was amazing, as was the service. You have the choice of tapas style food or main dishes (or both), and everything we had justified the rather high cost.
After the reunion, during which it was fantastic to see family, we headed of on our first leg west. We traveled to Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in NJ, and we'll meet up with friends here tomorrow. The trip was less stressful than we expected, basing our expectations on traveling in Massachusetts two days ago. The site is really quite private, although we did see one of the campers baring his bottom to the entire campground as we drove in. We are at the end of the loop, right next to a hiking trail and relatively distant from other campers. This seems to be a kind of hidden gem. There is lots of mountain biking, and the husband is ready to head out on the trails first thing in the morning. We've got water and electric hookups again, so we can knock some of that humidity out of the air tonight and get a good night's sleep. Looking forward to it!
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