expedition56

I left Amish country today and there wasn’t a horse or buggy to be seen – a far cry from yesterday. Then I realized they were probably all at worship services, which proved to be true when I passes one farm with about 15 buggies in the yard, and all the horses were unharnessed and tied up at 2 hay wagons munching on hay. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that families rotate hosting Sunday services. And by about noon, even though I’d made my way north, there were lots of buggies out on the road again!

Before I left Lancaster, I made a stop at Target. One of the groups I want to make a donation to every week is the military, and that was my donation for the day – getting stuff for a care package to mail overseas. The post office gives a $2 discount on their large flat rate boxes for APO/FPO addresses, so my stop at Target was to buy the goodies to go in it. And I’ll just mail it tomorrow since the post office was closed. I ended up getting a Sports Illustrated magazine (all football this week), and trail mix, lemon drops, Spanish peanuts, honey roast peanuts, jerky, granola bars, red licorice, tic tacs, fruit snacks, jolly ranchers, and gum. If anyone has better ideas, let me know! I have to somehow cram it all in the box, but that will have to be done in daylight because I’m at a campground tonight.

The first walk of the day was in Ephrata, which was such a nice town that we covered 3 miles – through the middle of a very nice town, then by stately homes, then across a muddy little river to a neighborhood with trim smaller homes – but so quiet on an early Sunday afternoon! Although there were a few tantalizing aromas of Sunday dinners being cooked!

I continued north (passing quite a few women on bikes in long dresses and black bonnets – Menonites??) and next stopped in Myerstown and walked around that and the adjoining pond/lake and community park and got in another 1.5 miles. I was getting into the mountains and coal country – I was headed toward Centralia, which is on some maps but not others. Along the way, I came to Ashland and since we were in the Appalachian Mountains the whole town was strung out along a mile-long hill. Many of the houses and businesses were connected, or they were skinny little houses. The side streets were steep and only went back a block or 2. Tula and I started at the bottom of the hill and trudged all the way up, but it actually wasn’t too bad. It was more fun walking back though!

Then I found the little that is left of Centralia. 50 years ago today, Centralis’s town dump caught on fire and somehow ignited a coal seam right under the surface ground, and the fire has been burning underground for the last 50 years. The residents all had to evacuate and no homes or buildings are left- the roads are being taken over by Mother Nature and it’s just kind of a desolate little area. I read some people can see steam rising from cracks in old pavement, but I didn’t see anything like that – nor did I linger long or go too far back in!

I continued north on 2 lane roads thru the mountains with no particular destination in mind except to find someplace to stay, and I saw signs for 2 campgrounds. With money running low for the week, I checked out the first one and it was so awful I almost thought I wouldn’t want to camp tonight! But then I went to look at the other one and it’s an awesome little place that doesn’t have many people and the view from my little campsite is a covered bridge!! Tula and I finished our walking for the day by exploring the whole campground and walking across the covered bridge – they’re so cool! It was getting dark by the time we got back, and I was a bit more efficient on getting things set up with an extra blanket too – I’m wearing a sweatshirt for the first time this trip. But I’m glad it’s not 90 degrees out anymore! After I was organized, I enjoyed the rest of my Amish cheese and “bologna” with some crackers, grapes and carrots while catching up with my journal. The headlamp works wonderfully well and it’s so peaceful and beautiful (with trains in the far distance)that I can’t imagine a more perfect place to spend my last night in Pennsylvania. I have to finish up a few miles of walking from last Monday (it seems impossible that a week has gone by)and mail my package and then New York here I come!

I was up and out early to get my walking in before the bad weather was due later this afternoon (and I was not quite 100% successful with that!). I drove all around the Amish countryside, and the horses and buggies were out in full force. For one of my walks I parked near a huge hardware store, and there were more buggies parked than cars! They tie the horses to hitching rails, and the hardware store even had a 4-buggy “garage” that they could pull into. There are lots of different kinds of buggies and most are pulled with one horse, usually trotting briskly. Many smaller towns have roads with a wide shoulder which is kind of a buggy lane. But I also saw quite a few kids (and a few adults) on a thing that looked like a cross between a bike and a scooter – 2 bike tires with a scooter platform instead of a seat. They can get going pretty fast on those. When I passed buggies, I could see carpeted interiors, nice wood dashboards with numerous knobs – they have headlamps for driving at dusk or dark, and flashing red lights in different patterns on the backs which they activate in dark or rainy weather. And a lot of them seem to add windshields of sorts when it was raining.

It was hot again, and Tula and I walked in 3 different towns in 1.5 or 2 mile chunks, and we knocked off 5 miles by noon. I got alarmingly low on gas (I’m so absorbed with scenery I sometimes forget to check – I have made a mental note of that!) and was happy to run across a busy Turkey Hill gas station (lots of those around here). And what do I see set up on the sidewalk near the pumps? Cub scouts and a couple moms selling popcorn to raise funds for their pack – I couldn’t resist – that had to be my donation of the day. I bought 2 individual bags of microwave popcorn that I’ll be able to use somewhere along the way for $1 apiece, and they were surprised and happy to get a little more than that in payment. I’m having such fun with this! And it’s a good program – there’s an Eagle scout in my family 🙂

I was hungry at this point, and earlier in the morning I had driven by some group of people starting to grill chickens for take-away meals. I managed to find them again, and bought a meal – good BBQ chicken, chips, roll, a bottle of iced tea and a whoopie pie (sort of like 2 pieces of chocolate cake with fluff in between) – they seem to be popular around here. I had to find a place to eat it because they were only selling take-away meals and even I couldn’t eat that and drive at the same time. I soon came upon a pretty community park and ate there, and then noticed their walking paths so we walked another mile after finishing lunch. It was actually a really pretty park, and the there were lots of different trees and each one had a memorial plaque by it – kind of a nice remembrance for loved ones. I wanted to finish off my last 2 miles along the country lanes, but I had to drive around for a while to find a place to leave the van. The roads are so curvy and narrow outside of town, that I can’t just pull over – there are literally no shoulders. And I became aware of gray clouds in the distance. I finally came to a church and although I wanted to explore the cemetary (lots of German names) I knew I had to finish my walking and thought I would be able to beat the rain. I left Tula in the car since I figured she’d probably had enough for the time being, and walked a mile down Zeltenreich Lane (so many fun names!). I talked to an old Amish guy working in his garden – he had veggies for sale but mostly squash which I can’t use, and passed a father and sons shelling corn with some kind of generator-powered equipment. Earlier I had passed lots of farmers out in the fields with either draft horses or mules pulling plows (and 1 young boy trying to get some stubborn mules to pull a fertilizer cart and they weren’t budging!) And I passed homes with soap shops, rope shops, quilts for sale, harness repair, buggy repair – so much to see! Anyway, I finished the first mile, turned around to head back to the car, made note of rapidly approaching clouds and picked up my pace, and with about 1/2 mile to go, the rain started – at first kind of gently, but it quickly turned into a torrential downpour, and I got totally drenched – my shoes sloshed with every step – the country lanes are not meant for that kind of rain! So I misjudged the rain by 10-15 minutes, but I finished my 8 miles! Luckily I had towels in the car, and I was very thankful to not have a drenched dog in addition to my drenched self (she was sound asleep when I got back to the car!).

I was also happy to have dry clothes back at the motel and figured I had good timing with my 2 night stay. But, I also wanted to first stop at the Bird in Hand Farmer’s Market – I had noticed that the night before – a big enclosed building and it was open on Saturdays. So I drove there and sloshed in (there were other wet people too!) and enjoyed looking all around. Strangely, only one counter had produce – everyone else was selling meats and cheeses, lots of baked goods, candy and fudge, popcorn, sandwiches, etc. Many of the people selling goods were Amish, and I heard a lot of German. I bought some “bologna” which to me looks like some kind of sausage (which technically I guess it is) cut in cubes and some cubed cheese, and a piece of the “bologna” wrapped with veggie cream cheese – a few little munchies to be part of a light dinner later. And I found what I wanted to try – a piece of shoofly pie! I had no idea what was in it until I talked with the lady selling it, and I’m not generally a fan of molasses which is a main ingredient, but I just this minute tasted it, and it’s probably a good thing I haven’t discovered this before – it’s very good! There was a little note in the bag that says the main ingredients are molasses, brown sugar and cinnamon. They don’t need refrigeration, which made them very popular in homes without refrigeration. People could bake the pies and set them on the windowsill to cool, but because they’re sweet, they attracted flies and “much time was spent shooing these pests away from the cooling pies.”

I made it back to the motel, and enjoyed a relatively quiet evening getting caught up on writing and record-keeping and emails and all.

I slept really well at the campground last night. I probably got more sleep than I have so far on this journey! With the vents open and the windows cracked a tiny bit, there was a bit of a breeze (it’s been in the 90s here) and lots of pretty night noises.

In the morning I headed to downtown Gettysburg, and walked around the historic part of town – it’s not all that big, and I was happy it wasn’t all congested with tourists and traffic. Then I started heading for Lancaster because I wanted to spend some time in Amish country. I decided to get out and walk a bit more in New Oxford – one of those towns with a town square and fountains and old brick homes lining the street. Got another mile and a half in – in 90+ degree heat. I parked in the town square next to a fruit vendor, so got a big peach and apple to bring along. My next stop was York (I wasn’t planning on it, but when I see signs that say “Historic Downtown York” I can’t resist. Since it was so hot out, Tula stayed in the car (I can lock it and leave it running with the AC on)and I just walked a mile up and down the main street. There was an old half-timber tavern on a corner that was built in 1741 and looked kind of out of place next to the rest of the brick buildings. But nice to see it still standing!

By this time I had decided that my donation of the day would be food for an organization in Lancaster called Bridge of Hope, which helps homeless women and children get back on their feet. They’ve been around for almost 25 years. The lady I spoke with gave me some suggestions for the kinds of food they could use, and it was fun going to the store (a Giant store this time, not Wal-Mart!) and taking advantage of some good sales – this time I got stuff like rice, pasta, pork and beans, hamburger helper, tuna, soup – stuff the women can use when food stamps run out. And they also needed some snack stuff like cheez-it’s, pretzels, peanut butter to have on hand in the office when hungry kids come in. The ladies were very nice when I dropped the food off, and gave me some good suggestions where exactly to head to get out and do some walking in Amish country.

So I headed in the direction they suggested, and turned off the state highway, and drove thru beautiful rolling hills full of Amish farms. There were horse and buggies out and about, and the roads were pretty narrow and it took me a while to find a place to park the van so I could get out and walk. I finally came upon a church with a big parking lot and Tula and I enjoyed walking 2 1/2 miles past homes and farms. Tula behaved when the horses and buggies passed. I would have walked farther there, but my peaceful road ended on a busier one. So I headed to Bird in Hand (I liked the name, and one of the ladies had suggested it) which was a hopping place on a Friday early evening – there were some hot air balloons in the sky, and they were getting ready for a marathon tomorrow, so there were people all over the place – lots of horses and buggies co-existing with cars. I walked another mile and a half, and as I was getting back to the parking lot I left the van in, I saw 3 horses and buggies tied to a hitching post, and then 3 teenage Amish guys were walking together, and they all got into their buggies, and were quickly trotting down the road. They might not be able to drive a car, but most teenage boys certainly don’t know how to harness a horse to a buggy and drive it, so I guess they’re even! I still had a mile and a quarter to finish off and since light was fading and Bird in Hand ran out of sidewalks, I headed back to Lancaster and finished my walking on the sidewalks near the motel I’m at – noisy with traffic and lights. Kind of an extreme opposite to the peaceful country roads, and I much prefer the quiet! But I had to finish!

I’m going to try to figure out some more photos tomorrow. Time to sleep now because I want an early start to the walking since the weather may be bad in the afternoon. And I’m staying 2 nights in the same place (one of my “rules” every week so I have some time to get caught up!) so I hope to work on photos tomorrow afternoon if it’s raining.

I’ m sitting here in a dark, quiet campground near Gettysburg, and I think everyone turned in by 8:30 when it was dark! There’s barely any lights on in any of the tents and RVs, and I will be happy for an early night too. I’m glad no one was here to watch me set up “camp”. With some strategic rearranging (which I presume I’ll become more efficient at!)I have my inflatable mattress in the van with sheets and a pillow, and a beautiful 56-square quilt that my friend Sherry made (all you YDT people know what beautiful work she does!) I’ll be cozy.

Today I started in Chartersburg, where I ended up last night. So we started with a 3 mile walk around town and along part of the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail, which we happened to cross. Then I researched donations in Gettysburg and came across a humane society – The Adams County SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) – I had to ask! I went to WalMart and got nearly 70# of dog food, 20# cat food, canned food for both, and some treats. I went to the facility which was a pretty drive thru rolling hills on very narrow streets. It was a nice place and their phones were busy. They happened to sell engraved dog tags, and I had been wanting to get one for Tula with her name and my cell # in case we somehow become separated, and was happy to get that checked off my list. We then ventured out to the Gettysburg National Battlefield, and there is a 25 mile auto route throughout all the battlefields with lots of statues, monuments, cannons, and history. Most of it is on one-way roads which are designed to allow cars to pull over anywhere so people can get out and walk. And that’s what Tula and I did! Got 5 miles in and absorbed some history. Tula hasn’t quite done the full 8 miles each way – usually she does around 6. I’m trying to give her a break here and there to ease into it, but I’m not sure she needs it!

Dinner was at the campground – peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a Roma tomato and carrots. I’m eating pretty simply, but well enough. Since I’d been to Walmart, lunch was yogurt, string cheese, a banana and grapes. And I had bacon and eggs compliments of the motel for breakfast. I’ve been snacking on trail mix and pretzels. I’ll eat a normal meal at restaurants now and then, but not on a daily basis. Although subway is quick and easy – a “salad” along with the sandwich…when the dog doesn’t eat it!

My walks today took me all around 4 towns and alongside (and over!) 2 rivers. I started the day in Warren PA, which is a historic town along the Allegheny River. We walked 2.8 miles through the historic part of town, past some grand old homes with beautiful landscaping, and over the river to a path that ran alongside. While wandering through town, I passed a pink(?!)brick building that was the local office for Habitat for Humanity, so I decided that would be my donation of the day. I would have preferred to buy actual supplies, but since I have no idea what is needed, and no one was currently in the office, I just wrote a check. It would be more fun to shop, but that wasn’t practical in this case!

I then headed through the Allegheny National Forest and soon came to Kane, which at first glance looked like a fun place to walk around – big 2-story brick buildings lining the main street. But, the town has perhaps seen better days, and I only walked 1 mile along the main streets and into the adjoining hilly neighborhood.

Further along was St. Marys, a bustling town in the Alleghenies, and it was very hilly and I felt it in my legs! It doesn’t seem to bother the dog! We covered 1.5 miles of hills, mostly on residential streets of homes that have been there for a while. The houses were fairly close together, and I could hear the clatter of pots and pans, somebody practicing the piano, kids playing ball in the street, and it seemed very timeless – what people there have been doing for generations (until a kid rode by on a bike talking on her cell phone and broke the spell!). There were lots of elk warning signs in this area, and I read later that the biggest elk herd east of the Mississippi is in these parts. I didn’t see any.

I finished the last of the walking in Clearfield along the Susquehanna River. I actually walked a little more than 8 miles because the last part of the walk was so pretty in the evening with the river on one side of me and pretty homes on the other side. The town had long straight streets so I walked up and down most of them also.

I didn’t plan to drive too much farther since it was nearly dark (it seems to be dark half an hour earlier each day, but part of it was because I was in the mountains), and I’m trying to stick to one of my “rules” about being settled somewhere by dark, but I broke that rule today…I’m still working on adjusting some of my late driving habits, and also adjusting to the fact that I probably won’t drive as much since the walking takes a bit of time!

I wrote a long post last night from the old 50s/60s motel I was in, and apparently because I was in the middle of nowhere, the post vanished into cyberspace when I hit the “publish” button. So, once again, here is a post from yesterday.

When I was looking at a map of Pennsylvania, I noticed a spit of land that jutted out into Lake Erie, with a lighthouse at the end – Presque Isle State Park. I had to go explore. But before I left, I researched food pantries in the Erie area, and discovered a Second Harvest Food Bank. So on my way out of Meadville I stopped at a Walmart and had fun picking out $56.44 worth of snack size items for their Backpack Program – juice boxes, cheese and crackers, applesauce, raisins, granola bars, fruit snacks, animal crackers and ritz bits. It filled about 6 shopping bags. I drove in the drizzle upto Erie and found the food bank – a huge, clean facility that clearly serves a lot of people. Then I found the road that led to the state park and had a good couple hours there-Tula and I logged 3.8 miles and found the lighthouse. I then wanted to walk on part of the Seaway Trail, but didn’t pick a good spot because the road next to the trail had a lot of traffic so I only walked .6 mile. I headed west – almost to the New York border (which wasn’t far)- and then turned south. I passed lots of vineyards and came to the historic town of North East – “heart of grape country” – and Tula and I logged another 2.6 miles wandering all over town. Quite by accident I walked past Mercyhurst College where several of the DAC/YDT dancers have attended summer dance intensives and graduated from college there! I always thought Mercyhurst was in Erie. I got a Subway for dinner, and ate half of it, intending to save the rest for lunch tomorrow. But as I was checking into the little motel, a certain unnamed dog couldn’t resist the other half which I had tucked away, and I came back to a chewed up wrapper and picked-off veggies. Bad dog! She looked so guilty it was almost funny – she does not typically do things like that! I walked my last mile in falling darkness near the motel.

I stayed at Tara and Josh’s house til nearly 1:00 for a little more grandma time, then left at precisely 12:56 – I had left my home in Michigan at 12:56 3 days earlier, so figured that was a good time to leave Ohio to head to the beginning of my journey. I knew right where I wanted to cross into Pennsylvania, and there was no direct route, so I didn’t actually cross the state line til 6:12pm. I crossed into Pennsylvania on a long bridge over the Pymatuning Reservoir. Five miles into the state, I came to the Spillway for the reservoir, and Tula (the dog) and I walked our first 2 miles along an abandoned railroad bed by the spillway so that there was water on both sides – a beautiful beginning. We walked by the Pymatuning Wildlife Education Center, and although it was not open at the moment, I decided I would like to make my first $56 donation to them, since that’s where I began my adventure, and my walking, and I support wildlife education. From there I drove on to Meadville through the rain, which let up long enough for us to take a 1.7 mile walk through town – we started on S. Main St (I want to walk on lots of Main Streets!) walking by lots of old houses that I think college kids rent (Allegheny College is nearby) and then on to the historic district and a huge town square with a statue, fountain, bandshell, and a large boulder commemorating Revolutionary War colonel who’d been “burned at the stake by Delaware Indians” – yow! I was happy to get 3. 7 miles of walking done today considering the very late start – the other 4.3 miles will be made up next Monday before crossing into State #2 – nice to have a little flexibility on the days I leave one state for another. Tomorrow will be the first full day of the adventure and 8 miles a day from here on in!

It’s been a wonderfully busy weekend of grandma time-playing with a very active 20-month-old, and lots of snuggle time with the newborn baby. We capped off the weekend by going over to Indian Lake to see the Ring of Fire, which symbolizes the end of summer. Everyone lights red flares on their docks and beaches right after sundown, and it’s really pretty to sit out on the dock and enjoy the lights and some fireworks and some flying lanterns.

After 3 nights here in Ohio, it’s time to shove off and begin Expedition 56 tomorrow! So, Pennsylvania here I come!   Ready or not!!!  The journey begins at long last:)

(I’m posting entries on an iPad which I can use all over the place, but I haven’t had wireless service for days, so pictures will simply have to be added later…and that will be trial and error for me too!!)

Once in a blue moon, a series of events occur at the same time that make a day seem almost magical.  And today was one of those days – I began my long-awaited journey, and held my 1-day-old grandson for the first time, which is a miracle in itself. And to add to the magic of my 56th birthday today, the full moon tonight is literally a blue moon! I’ll take that as a good luck charm for the upcoming year – I’m astonished how everything has come together 🙂

(A blue moon is the second full moon in any single month, and doesn’t happen very often.)

On my 56th birthday (and I was born in 1956), I’m leaving on a 56 week road trip to all 56 states and U.S. territories; making a $56 donation every day to a worthy cause and walking 8 miles a day (because 8 miles a day times 7 days a week is…well, you get the drift!). This is only possible because of the sale of my business, and the fact that the kids are now all out of college. I have a set budget each week, and the more frugal I am with expenses, the more donations I can make, but it must be a minimum of $56/day. Donations will include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, military-related organizations, animal causes, and countless other possibilities. And the walking will be a good way to balance the time in the car on many scenic roads that will beckon. Tula, my chocolate lab, will be my co-pilot and walking buddy!