Time Keeps Marching On....We're Still In PA

We extended our stay at Hershey, PA. Why not? It's free, with our Thousand Trails membership. We went for a visit over to the next park on our list, also a Thousand Trails park, (Appalachian RV Park in Shartlesville, PA) which is an hour or less away from the Hershey Park and the atmosphere there was PARTY TIME! Of course, it's Halloween MONTH at RV parks, and it's party time every weekend during October. So the Appalachian RV Park was super crowded, the lanes seemed narrow, with tight turning corners and we honestly felt it would be much more stressful moving again to another park that maybe didn't have as much space to maneuver around with our big rig as the Hershey RV park does. On a less busy weekend, it would not be a problem.

Look at all this green space/tree space at the Hershey RV Park...It's fabulous!

Sparky loves taking walks around the park....the maples are truly massive...at least they seem that way after living in Florida and seeing a whole different kind of flora and fauna.

We went through a wonderful Halloween weekend with the other campers. Lots of activities for the kids. Lots of campground decorations and spookiness. We had lots of trick or treaters. We put the wrapped candy spread out on a table and watched the little ones from afar come up and take just one at a time. Such restraint! Not sure about this dude, if he was collecting his own or for his kids, haha.

Sparky decorated her own pumpkin and had a lot of fun with that, using a Pumpkin Masters carving kit. You tape a pattern to your pumpkin, then punch all around the lines with the puncher poker tool, then take the paper off and start carving. Turned out nicely, she thinks!

Another beautiful day for a ride on the Lebanon Valley Rails to Trails bike trail. Sparky has done three rides of about 20 miles each time. The third time she did 25 miles, because she needed to work out a little  attitude adjustment due to many things going on in the world and in her life. (It's a long story, says E.) Riding the trails is truly one of Sparky's favorite ways to decompress....

There are many memorial benches along certain sections of the trail. It is so beautiful what some people do to remember their loved ones, even their furry ones. Rest in peace, Jezebel. 

The weather is perfect for bike riding...In the fifties at first, and now sixties and low seventies...It's a beautiful trail path, not in the best shape by any means with some rough sections, but the donations for trail maintenance are needed, so hope people continue to support this very worthy cause (the Rails-to-Trails organization), to help people stay healthy and keep moving. Motion is lotion, Sparky heard someone say once.

So, here we are...two days left to go to stay at this beautiful Hershey RV park. 

We head next back to Ohio, sort of a last stand chance to hear and be near if and when our awnings come. It's been five weeks since a whopper tree limb took both of them out, and the RV repair place said 4-6 weeks. That probably means 10-12 weeks or more. At this point, we have to continue with travel plans. You can't mess around and be loosey goosey with your planning. Years ago, we often traveled and planned by the moment and on the fly. You can't do that now. People are flocking to the RV parks in droves, and yes, it is VERY difficult to find places to stay. We are doing well with our Thousand Trails membership, because with our particular plan (there are so many of them!) we can book far out ahead. But then when you travel, you have to find other campgrounds that are not closed for the season, and are not full, and are NOT in our membership plan for some areas, and are big enough for us to maneuver around the campground and get situated with our big 5th wheel.

Until next time...which might be Ohio! See you around....

A Quick Stay in PA

We spent only two nights at Twin Bridge Campground in Chambersburg, PA because we were on the way to Hershey, PA. If you don't have a weekend reservation at a campground in 1.) the fall, 2.) during October and Halloween mania, (which for RVers is just about a month long celebration), you are up a creek without a paddle. We had a TOUGH time finding a weekend campground because we didn't book out far enough, two weeks isn't enough when you are looking at fall leaf season/October/Halloween in Pennsylvania. But we did find this campground.  It's a good location for exploring nearby town of Gettysburg, about 30 miles. 

It's really nice....and different as far as layouts of sites goes. Most RV campgrounds are laid out with the sites many in a row, fairly close to each other. This campground has singles spread out, or two here, two there, in pairs, and then quite a few of them in rows depending upon which part of the campground you are, in a variety of settings--creek side, field, shade, no shade, surrounded by farmland. We are in the field for two nights with just water and electric and 30 amp for 39.00 a night in October.The backdrop for this lovely setting is the Tuscarora Mountains. It is in Chambersburg, PA, near Gettysburg, Shippensburg, and Hagerstown, MD. AND--a portion of the Appalachian Trail runs through Pine Grove Furnace State Park, which is about an hour from the campground. Oh, boy...Sparky is hoping to get on the trail, but it's Eldo's turn to do something he wants to do, maybe visit Gettysburg or something. So we shall see.....Today we just spent relaxing after a harrowing drive (well, sort of,) from the Uniontown KOA to here...Steep grades for quite a bit, traveling on route 30, 8 and 9% grades. VERY hilly. The truck performed admirably. (That's Chuck, the truck, the Dodge Ram diesel 3500 Laramie Longhorn dually.) Sparky decided to give it that name. Many RVers name their rigs and their trucks/motorhomes. We don't have a name for our Pinnacle yet, as Sparky hasn't decided the gender yet. But the truck is definitely Chuck. (Eldo is just shaking his head....)

At any rate, the next day, we decided to go explore Gettsyburg. Unfortunately, we decided to explore on a Saturday afternoon and not early Saturday morning. The streets all along the battlefields were crawling with cars, and downtown Gettysburg sidewalks were very crowded with tourists as well. We went to the visitor's center and got some information. We thought about doing a double decker bus tour where you could sit out on top and be in the fresh air and be safer than sitting in an enclosed bus for 2-3 hours, but it got to be too late in the afternoon. There was also a car audio tour we could have done, but we like hearing the real rangers or tour guides on a tour. At that point, we decided it was best not to be around such big crowds and we would return another day, another time, and try during the week. We were really surprised at how crowded it was this late in the season! But it's fall, the leaves are incredible, and it's getting closer to Halloween.

Time to leave again...Do we get tired of moving around fairly frequently? No, not yet. We are moving around a little more at the moment because we can't extend our park stays through the weekend so we have to find alternative campgrounds to cover for the weekend until Halloween is over. When we get into December, we will start staying in our membership parks for up to three weeks as a time. FREE....(Thousand Trails membership, Sparky and Eldo really like it.)

We arrived today, Friday, at Thousand Trails Hershey Pennsylvania RV Park. It's just outside of Hershey, the "sweetest town in America". A friend asked Sparky if she could smell the chocolate driving through town. No, darn it! 

It's a beautiful park out in the countryside, actually located in the town of Lebanon,PA. When you arrive at a Thousand Trails park, you don't get a specific assigned site, you have to drive around and find an open one you like, which is a little challenging when you are still hitched up and pulling a 41 foot rig behind you. We found a good pull through site with full hookups. 

Just an FYI...Many Thousand Trails do not have full hookups--(water, sewer and electric). Many Thousand Trails parks do not have very many or NO pull throughs. If you want 50 amp in a newer section of this park, it's 3.00 a day additional charge. It's hilly here, so you have to pick your site carefully or be prepared with stacker blocks (some kind of blocks to put under your jacks so you can get your rig level).

It's a beautiful park, the sites are spacious in some sections, and a little tighter and closer together in other sections. Lots of amenities but restricted during Covid. Newer playground, pool, horseshoes, mini golf, pickle ball, swan paddle boats, laundry, a spa (closed, darn it!) and more.

We will be here five days..it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so it's going to be a Cabelas (THE sporting goods store, an experience in itself), and a Camping World store kind of day. Sparky is researching rails to trails bike trails. They are out there, somewhere, she's sure!

Happy fall, y'all!