Day 6, Saturday 17Sep16 - Driving, Howe's Caverns

Saturday we had a lazy morning at the campground and decided that rather than return to Gettysburg battleground we would work our way towards home and stop if there was something that caught our fancy.

Since we had a late breakfast at the campground, we decided to skip lunch and head for Howe's Caverns which is just south west of Albany, NY. June and I have driven by so many times and never stopped, Ed and Jean were there many years ago.

The drive was pretty uneventful, we had a tail wind most of the time, so that was a bonus.

If you have never taken the time to visit Howe's Caverns, you should, it is worth the stop.

As you enter the visitor center, there is a Harley on display that was built by Orange County Choppers...definitely the bike to ride on Halloween.







The caves themselves are quite amazing, to think that in 1842 a farmer stumbled upon these caves by following his cows to a hole in the ground they gathered at on hot summer days. The farmer explored it by letting himself down with ropes and gave tours himself.

It became more accessible to the public until 1929, when elevators were installed.  It is about 150ft underground and about a mile long. The tour covers about 1/2 mile of it, the remainder is 'unconditioned' meaning pretty much like it was since it was closed around 1900, but tours are now starting thru that section since last year.  It takes $150 and 3 hours.

Much of the tour is on elevated walk ways.

The caves were formed by water erosion of limestone over millions of years. It has stalagmites and Stalactites, don't ask me which is which.

After about a 1/4 mile walk you get into a boat to float down 'Lake of Venus' for another 1/4 mile.

The lake is narrow and the boat bangs off the walls, and as the guide says "If the wall is getting to close to your face, move your face".

After the boat ride you walk back up the cavern with a few more stops, one a the bridal alter, where over 275 weddings have been held, the first was Lester Howe's daughter in 1854. The alter is complete with an embedded calcite heart that is back-lit...pretty cool.

The tour is ended with a one of the coolest parts, the 'Winding Way', it is over 100 yards long and barley narrow enough to get thru, just fascinating.
















Howe Caverns was a great stop, from there we tried to go to Brown's Brewery in Troy, NY for dinner, but when we called, they don't take reservations and it was an hour wait, so we moved north and stopped in Glens Falls at 99, it was still pretty good.

We arrived home safe and sound around 10:30 PM, it was a great trip but good to be home.

It was a great trip, a lot packed into less than a week.

As usual, here are the statistics.

About 1155 miles of driving, using 54 gallons of Diesel, at an average price of $2.55/gal, for a total fuel expense of $137.  We had a strong tailwind much of the time, driving at 63-65 mph, we got fantastic fuel economy of over 21mpg average.

Day 5, Friday 16Sep16 - Gettysburg

Friday we took the short drive from Hershey to Gettysburg. We went straight to the Visitor Center which was new in 2008.

We had been here with the kids but with the new visitor center the museum has been significantly upgraded, you could spend all day just in the visitor center.

Especially cool is the Cyclorama, it is a 360 degree 80ft x 340ft painting of the battlefield done in 1864. We saw it when we brought the kids here about 15 years ago but it was in disrepair, in 2003 it was shut down for a 5 year restoration and in 2008 opened in the new visitor center.  It is very cool this picture is just a sample.







From the cyclorama we spent a long time in the museum and did not see all of it, you really could spend the entire day inside the visitor center.

Eventually we visited Abe and moved on.














We decided to do some of the Auto tour in our Van before checking into the campground.  Again, we probably didn't cover 25% of it and may go back today, but the history here is very moving.

We made sure we paid our respects to the New York memorial, It was amazing how many New Yorkers gave their lives at Gettysburg. New York had over 20K soldiers engaged, second only to Pennsylvania, and had the highest casualties of any state.

There were many, many, NY memorials.

All the states that served on both sides have their memorials and there are many, it took us some time be we eventually found the most prominent Vermont Memorial




















We eventually had to break off the tour to get checked in at our campsite, so there is plenty left to see tomorrow if we decide to go back.

Also our friends, the Malloys, who live in Fairfax, Va, fought the DC traffic to drive 2 hours north to see us. We gathered at camp for a nice evening and meal, it was so nice to see our friends. Again good time were had.

Fred and June Bob....

















We have not yet decided if we will return to the battlefield today or just head north...regardless it has been a great trip overall.

Day 4, Thursday 15Sep16 - Harley, Chocolate, The Six String Circus

We used up the whole Thursday and just a bit of Friday.

We were unsure what our complete plan was for the day so we decided to drive the Roadtrek and just by coincidence when we left the camp, I looked down and it had just clocked 60K miles.  It has been a fun vehicle so far.

Our first the Harley Davidson Factory in York PA, this is quite the pilgrimage to the holy land in Wisconsin but close, Wisconsin is on the list for a later trip.

They don't allow pictures inside but the free tour is roughly an hour and they take you right onto the assembly line, we all enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.






After the tour, we were hungry, so with the wonders of Google we picked a brewery downtown that had good reviews for food.

We went to the Mudhook Brewing Co. in downtown York and it was awesome. Turns out the owner was there and he loved to chat, he told us all about how he started and the struggles of starting and expanding a brewery.

We had an awesome lunch with the most chocolaty beer you ever tasted, Daybreak Stout, we got a growler for June and Jean to go.

From downtown York, we decided to go back to Hershey and checkout Chocolate World.

It was fun but it is really for kids....so the twins loved it. They have a ride that is like going thru a small small world at Disney, but with cows.












As we walked to Chocolate World we could here sound checks going on at Hershey Stadium next door and we saw the banner for The Six String Circus which is Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett and A Thousand Horses. It was around 4:30 PM and people were already starting to tailgate, we chatted with a few that told us tickets were still available. So we just walked up to the window and bought 4 tickets with pretty good seats for a total of $120, a lot cheaper than the fair at home.

The weather was just perfect, 70's with a full moon and a red sunset. The concert crowd was friendly and fun.

The girls were all mushy over Thomas Rhett.

Over all a fun time.













We got home a bit after midnight and will make our way to Gettysburg this morning.

Day 3, Wednesday 14Sep16 - Hershey RV show and Troegs

Wednesday we got our exercise. It is a short drive to the Hershey Giant Center where they are holding the largest RV show in the Northeast, if not the country.  We arrived around 10:30AM and walked and walked and walked, but we saw only a small percentage of what they have here. If you are looking to buy a new tow behind RV, this is the place to come, they have every configuration you can think of and they are all discounted significantly. They have everything from popups to 40 footers...just mansions on wheels.

One interesting towable is from Hymer, the German company that bought Roadtrek, they have trailers that weigh 1400 pounds and can be pulled with a Mini Cooper.



We even went through a few of the 40+ foot big Motorhomes, they are just crazy, two bathrooms, dishwasher, cloths washer&dryer, you name it..they have it.  For about half a million you can have what ever you want. Jean and Ed are thinking about it...

We saw so many B's and B+'s our heads were spinning, they are all different but all the same. In the end there was nothing that made us go Wow! I will say watch for more Ford Transit chassis rigs, they have a really nice setup with a V6 diesel at a better price point than the Sprinter chassis. All the Sprinters demand a premium and they do not discount them very much, it is an interesting phenomena going on where it appears Mercedes very closely controls what can be done on the Sprinter.

We had lunch inside Giant center, it has AC and it was about 90F outside.  The food stations that would normally be for a sporting event were open and you could just get your meal and go sit in the stadium...it was very nice.  On the stadium field vendors were selling everything camping or RVing related...we browsed but did not buy.

We eventually were blurry eyed and hot enough that we headed for the exit.

June suggested we stop for a cold one before heading back to camp, I had previously looked up a brewery in Hershey, Troegs Independent Brewing, turns out is was only 3 miles down the road. It was a great place.

They had may beers on tap and good appetizers to go with them.

It was hard to sample them all..but we gave it the old college try.

We had a really nice time, grabbed a six pack of their Hop Knife and headed back to camp.

Of course we drank the six pack back at camp and we may even visit Troegs again tomorrow.

Today we do not plan to return to the RV show but will find something in Hershey to do.

Day 2, Tuesday 13Sep16 - Yuengling

The drive from Moriah to Binghamton was pretty easy, we did hit some construction but overall not bad.

Ed in my rear view mirror.

We spent the night at Cracker Barrel in Binghamton, it is a convenient place to overnight if you have an RV and we always buy at least one meal to encourage the practice.









We got up around 7 and had a good breakfast at the CB and were on the road about 08:00, traffic and construction on I81 was the usual...lots of construction and rough roads.

We arrived in Pottsville, PA at Yuengling in time for the 11AM tour. Things have changed at Yuengling. June and I toured Yuengling in March of 2015 with Candy and Tom, so we picked up on a few of the changes. You can't go onto the brewing floor because some idiot pulled a valve and caused a big spill and they moved the bar from the basement to a new more modern bar upstairs. Much of the tour was the same and it was still a good time and I would recommend the stop to anyone passing through.

The caves where hand dug to rack their beer at a constant 50F.

Water supply from a few blocks north.
















We toured the canning line and ended the tour with a free tasting in the new bar, it was a fun time.

The new bar came from a restaurant across the street, it seemed to fit Jean pretty well.

I enjoyed watching a master driver back a grain truck into the garage on a street barely wide enough for two cars.









From Yuengling it was a short drive to our campground in Elizabeth, PA. I will say the traffic and construction was still heavy, but we had no issues.

We are camped a bit apart because the campground is booked up, but we had a very leisurely evening and nice dinner, the temperature was just perfect for sitting out at the picnic table, having drinks and grilling.

Today (Wed) we plan to go the the Hershey RV show, we are not quite sure what to expect, but it should be interesting.

Day 1, Mon 12Sep16 - Almost Ready to go....

Saturday we drove to Matt and Erica's to deliver our grand-dog, Reggie.  We will miss the little turd.

Reggie looked very upset when we left...not.












We stopped on the way home in Northfield and visited June's friends Kevin and Mary, then stopped in Hinesburg and visited Paul and Lisa.  So many people to see and not enough time....

So we got home rather late on Sunday, we unloaded, dumped the tanks, refilled the tanks, and washed the van in dark.  

This morning we are loading up and doing the last minute checks, oil, air, etc..

I think we are almost ready

Today is one of those early fall days, 70's, clear....just gorgeous, it makes one wonder why we would leave VT this time of year.....













We plan to head to NY to meet up with Jean and Ed after lunch and be on our way.

September

The Jaquish's and Allen's are taking a quick trip to PA to do some sight seeing and R&R. The planned route is to visit the Yeungling Brewery then move onto Hershey, PA to visit the largest RV show in the east. We may do other things in Hershey but Friday we plan to move onto the Gettysburg area and spend a day or so there taking in the sights.

It is not a big trip, but I have CRS so bad, that if I don't blog it, it will be like we never took the trip.