49 states in 49 years!

While the two main reasons for my quick trip out East were to see the Hershey RV show and to camp at Assateague Island, my third reason was to visit Delaware for the first time (my 49th visited state!).  So now, only one more state to go (and hoping I’ve saved the best for last!)… Hawaii.   I’ll save that for next year to take the gloom off of turning the big 5-0

Before getting to Delaware, I spent a few days getting to know Pennsylvania better.  I’d experienced the “edges” of this state a number of times (Philadelphia for business a few times, visited Gettysburg as a kid, and drove the toll road along the Lake Erie shore), but had never driven and explored the broad interior of the state before.  I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed!

I drove to Hershey via the northern East-West route of I-80 and then turned near State College (home of Penn State) to drive through the mountains and along the Juniata and Susquehanna rivers into Harrisburg and over to Hershey.  Even though it was a cloudy day, the hills, rivers, and farmlands made for a scenic and tranquil drive!

I camped a few days at the Hershey Thousand Trails Preserve RV Park.  I’m not a Thousand Trails member yet, but my emergency road service, Coach-Net, offered a discount deal if I purchased a ReadyCampGo card through the company that owns Thousand Trails and Encore resorts, ELS.  For a $25 annual fee, I get 15 nights of camping at an ELS resort at a discounted rate of $25/night.  A great no-risk way to test out ELS parks to see if I might want to buy one of their broader memberships in the future.  While a number of these parks also participate in the discount camping program I already subscribe to (Passport America, which offers 50% off the nightly rate on typically weekday and/or off-season stays), the ReadyCampGo card will offer a discounted rate for the times when the PA-rate is not available(weekends and in-season).

Hershey Preserve had just been flooded the week before by the torrential tropical storm rains that impacted much of the region, but fortunately, all except for one road within the park were now fully recovered.  That one closed road, though, made it very challenging to get to this site!


When you make a reservation at Thousand Trails, they don’t assign you to a campsite, but rather just tell you how many campsites remain.  As I was arriving on a Saturday, I knew that first night only had between 1-19 sites available.   When I arrived to the front gate, the park rep gave me a map and said I could go pick out any open site I wished.  While this normally is a great system, it’s not so great when there’s only 1-19 open sites in the huge park of 200+ sites, one of the main roads is closed, you’re towing a car and can’t back up, and the gate agent gives you absolutely no clue where the 1-19 available sites might be located……get a clue where this is going yet?

Yep, I finally experienced getting stuck in a spot for the first time where I couldn’t turn around and needed to un-hook the toad to back up.  Of course that happened just as it also started to pour rain!  So, let’s just say that my first impression of a Thousand Trails park was not very favorable

Fortunately, I had brought my little Dahon folding bike, so I just parked the toad where I unhitched it, put the bike in the motor home to go find the ever elusive available open sites, and once finally found, road my bike back to pick up the toad—fortunately, by then it had stopped raining!

After getting a good night’s rest, the park looked much more pleasing in the morning, and I actually ended up liking the park.  Sites were fairly big, there was a nice pond and walking trails, and oodles of amenities that I unfortunately didn’t have time to enjoy.  I also, unfortunately, didn’t have any time to explore the town of Hershey and it’s many tourist attractions after spending all day at the RV show, but it certainly looked like a pretty little town with lots to see and do.  I’ll need to plan a longer visit here next time!

 

Lots of Canada geese call this park home as well!



After working a few days from the RV, I drove to my next destination of Assateague Island, Maryland, where I planned to work a few more days from there.  The drive took me through a number of small towns in southeast Pennsylvania.  The towns all seem to have houses that are built similar to businesses and come right up to the sidewalks.
 

I also drove the backroads of Lancaster county where many Amish farms are located.  Lots of horse-drawn buggies on the roads, and a few even had turn signals!

 

 

 

 

 

You can tell you’re approaching an Amish farmhouse when you see the laundry out drying on the clothesline!


After all the interesting scenery of Lancaster county, the drive through Delaware was much less memorable.  The large peninsula known as “Delmarva” (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia), is fairly flat with coastal beaches on the Atlantic, numerous marshland coves on the bay side, and mostly farmland in between.

The biggest thing in Delaware (that I saw, at least) was Dover Air Force Base.  It’s huge, and home to the biggest transport planes in the military--.

Dover also serves as the main mortuary for troops killed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan before they are returned home to their families.  An excellent movie, Taking Chance, featured some of the dignified work the personnel at Dover do to ensure each fallen soldier is prepared impeccably for their final trip home.

Delaware is only about 100 miles long, so in less than 2 hours I was now entering Maryland for the final leg of my trip to Assateague Island.

The Sweetest Place on Earth–Hershey RV Show!

Hershey, PA is not only home to America’s largest chocolate maker (thus, the town calls itself the “Sweetest Place on Earth”), but it’s also home to America’s Largest RV Show.  I had watched the annual special on HGTV called, RV 2011, RV 2010, etc. for a few years and always wanted to come see the show “live” in September (rather than have to wait until January for the TV show to air!), so with my trip out East already planned for Fall, I decided to make Hershey a stop!



This is indeed a massively large RV show!  It runs 5 days, takes up a large stadium and much of the parking lot around it, and has many smaller RV manufacturers in attendance who don’t normally go to the other RV shows around the country.  So, it was a great show to see some new and different things!

I had hoped to come a week early to attend the RV-Dreams Rally, but my work schedule was not going to be able to swing the time off. I still decided to stay at the park where the rally had been held, Thousand Trails Hershey Preserve.  I wanted to try and meet Howard & Linda, but my timing was a bit late as I watched them roll past my rig this morning on their way to their next destination.

But, I did get a great opportunity to meet another travel blogger today, Suzanne (who also reads my blog).  We met up at the show to peruse Winnebago’s many RVs on display.  Suzanne is hoping to full-time soon and is shopping for her 1st RV.  What a dizzying array of choices at the show for her to consider!

I have no idea what models the upcoming HGTV RV 2012 show will feature, but here are the ones that I found most interesting:

Small Travel Trailers:

The manufacturer who recently purchased and revived my beloved T@B brand, Little Guy, did not attend the show.  Little Guy is currently only making one of the T@B floorplans, leaving those wishing for the old T@B clamshell model out of luck.  But never fear, the new-aged retro trailer brand, R-Pod, now has a clamshell available…and it even has a slide-out as well as a full bath on the inside!  Pretty nifty:

Travel Trailers:
I’ve not seen Airstream attend an RV Show in over 5 years (apparently, they don’t think they need to), but there’s a new competitor aimed to give them a run for their money, Element RV.  Priced similar to Airstream (i.e. “expensive”), the Element uses modern materials and technology throughout it’s 24-26 foot designs.  No wood is used in the trailer at all, and the interiors are as “Euro” as I’ve ever seen for an American-made RV.

5th-Wheels:
There were plenty of boring white box 5th-Wheels on display with boring conservative interiors,  but a few started to break the mold.  Among these, this Elite Suites model featured windows that were not only flush-mounted, but “skinned” in the same paint scheme to become nearly invisible!

The interior of the Elite Suites was fairly conservative except for the neon blue accent lighting!

But, without a doubt, the most innovative 5th wheels on display were those from Open Range.  Here’s their 39’ model that has usual TV and fireplace, but also has a patio door leading to a large fold-out balcony!

The bathroom is innovative as well—a glass vessel sink!

And in the kitchen, a center island with a twist—it’s on wheels, and easily moves to where ever you want it!


Open Range did a very neat thing on one of their shorter 5th Wheel models.  They put folding countertop panels on the rolling island and made it double as the dinette!  Ingenious!


Class B and B+ Motorhomes:
The usual camper van manufacturers were there, such as Roadtek and Pleasure Way, but a few “B+” manufacturers were there as well, namely, Coachhouse Platinum and Born Free.  The Coach House 261XL CL on display was very intriguing for a “work from the road” RV’er—one of the benches of the dinette had been replaced with a free-standing dinette chair (which could easily be removed and replaced with an office chair if desired. Finally! Someone “gets” it!  Only problem was this coach was $135,000!
  
Born Free had some nice units too—exceptionally sturdy construction, but rather limited in interior décor options.

Class C Motorhomes
Of course, my vote here goes to the Winnebago View! It still was the highest-quality construction of any Class C’s I saw.  But for most outrageously innovative Class C?  That winner would be this Super C model with it’s own garage for your Nascar racer, and a balcony on the roof to watch the race from!  Insane!


Class A Motorhomes:
Tiffin and Winnebago had some very nice, high-quality Class A’s on display (I liked the interior décor of the Winnebago better, though).  If I were wanting a giant motorhome to replace my house, the Winnebago Journey 40U would certainly be on my short list!

But for pure design innovation, the Monaco Vesta was quite different looking on the outside.  Unfortunately, the interior was not as efficient or innovative.

Park Models:
The largest units of wheels look more like mini-mobile homes and are meant to be semi-permanently parked at an RV resort.  I really liked this unit by Fork Creek.  At $79,000, it wasn’t much more than a 5th Wheel, but had vaulted ceilings, a full sized kitchen, a computer desk nook, and a neat mirror in the bedroom that allowed the TV behind it to project through the glass!

After a long day at the show, my feet were sore and it was a long walk back to the parking lot.  Where, oh where, did I park my car?


I really love having my little yellow Tracker!!!

Revisiting Summertime Scenes of My Childhood

After my long drive across Kansas, stopping for the night in the small town of Iola would seem like an unusual destination.  But actually, it was my main reason for routing home through Kansas in the first place!

My new ReadyBrute towbar with built-in surge braking, just didn’t feel like it was kicking in very much when I was descending steep passes in Colorado.  Yes, the little dash light was coming on saying that the surge mechanism was activating, but I wasn’t feeling much of a difference in braking.   My dealer had admitted they’d never installed a ReadyBrute/ReadyBrake system before, so I decided to have my setup inspected by the experts themselves—the folks who make ‘em, Night Shift Auto (NSA RV Products) in Iola, Kansas.

It just so happens that the little town of Iola also had a nice, quiet and CHEAP campground (Passport-America rate of only $11/night for full-hookups, wow!), so it was a very RV-friendly town to spend the night..

I arrived at the NSA “corporate headquarters” just after they opened in the morning:

The supervisor on duty came out to the parking lot to see my setup and turned right around to get a few hand tools.  The surge brake cable had indeed been set too loose by my dealer and was not activating the toad brakes at all.  He also noticed some clamps had been installed on the wrong side of the cables and corrected that.  Within 5 minutes, he had everything adjusted properly and showed me how to do it.  I offered to pay him for his time, but he humbly refused. 

It’s so refreshing to see an honest company making a solid product, selling it at a decent price, and then standing behind it with excellent service!  I’m so glad I purchased this towing system versus some of the bigger corporate brands. If you’re ever considering towing a car behind a motorhome, check out all the positive comments about Ready Brake on RV.net and other forums.  Highly recommended!

After leaving Iola, I took a brief drive through Fort Scott, Kansas.  Very neat historic town, but I unfortunately didn’t have time to stay long:

It was then on to the state I was born in, Missouri.  Continuing along Highway 54, the hills began to get a bit bigger as I got into the Ozarks.
 

My earliest childhood memories were of the family driving along these rolling hills to and from my grandparents’ house at Lake of the Ozarks for summer vacations.  My grandfather spent a number of years building their retirement house at the end of Lookout Point. He built a long deck that wrapped around 2 sides of the house and overlooked the first long stretch of the lake near Bagnell Dam. 

We all used to sit out on the deck in the summer watching the sun set over the lake and listening to the big tour boats go by—The Tom Sawyer, the Larry Don, and the Commander.   For a few summers, my grandfather owned a motorboat and would take us cruising on the lake.  At lake-level, those tour boats seemed massive, and the waves from their wake were the biggest and most-feared on the lake (especially the Commander’s!). 

I was eager to see “the Strip” again, where my grandparents would take me and my brother for countless hours of fun at the arcades, the go-kart track, the bumper cars, the fudge shop, and various other tacky tourist shops.  The old Frosty root beer stand, where we used to get root beer floats in big frosty glass mugs, had closed years ago when the 4-lane bypass highway was opened.  The Ozark Opry, where we’d go to hear a cheesy country musical show kind of like “Hee Haw” was also long gone.  But, there were still some familiar sites along the Strip that were still going strong, now almost 40 years later (ugh!)…. Dogpatch was still the same:


I used to spend hours there playing skee ball to exchange my long strands of tickets for desirable prizes such as plastic rings, yo-yos, or rubber snakes!

The go-kart place was still going strong as well:

My little brother used to always beat me racing at this track.  He still beats me today when racing our Subaru Outbacks too…must have been that training he learned here!

The tacky tourist shops were changed a bit, but the buildings were still the same


And the old bumper car place was still there too!


I was amazed to see the little church my grandfather had preached at for many years, Lake Ozark Christian Church, now expanded to triple it’s original size!

As I got to Bagnell Dam, I was saddened to see that most attractions there were out of business (on the positive side, it did make parking my View with tow car much easier).

All 3 of the big tour boats were still docked at the end of the Strip, but upon closer inspection, they didn’t look as if they’d sailed in a few years (perhaps the Tom Sawyer still is, but it was closed on the day I was there in the prime of August summer season, which did not seem to be a very good sign).
 
The Larry Don and Commander looked in far worse shape:


But curiously, it appeared as if their dock area was being renovated and railing was freshly painted.  Perhaps a rebirth awaits these 2 old boats next summer???  I do hope so!

The Dam itself seemed completely unchanged—still as narrow as ever to drive across, and I was thankful to do it in my “Skinnie Winnie” rather than a big Class A!

My grandmother sold the house at the lake in the mid-1980s to move back to Kansas City after my grandfather died.  We knew the people who purchased it had planned to add on to it and make some big changes.  Seems like many people were starting to do that with the original houses along the lake at that time, and new construction was absolutely insane during the 1990s and early 2000’s.  So, I was a bit apprehensive as to what I might find when I drove down their old street to see our old house.

The top of the street and most non-lakefront houses all looked amazingly the same:

 

 

 

 

 

But my grandparents’ house and the house next to it at the end of the point were completely unrecognizable.  My grandparents used to have a white ranch house with a front yard, little vegetation, and no garage.  In back, my grandfather had cleared the trees on 2 sides of the house to get large lake views from the deck.  The new owners, however, seemed to have gone an entirely different approach—no front yard at all (consumed by vegetation and a large 2 car garage), and prime lake views out back now appeared to be completely overgrown.  Strange, very strange.


In the cove across from my grandparents’, used to be a cute little motel called “The Lighthouse”.  It was low-key, surrounded by lots of trees and nature, and quiet.  Well, the condo boom of the 1990’s seemed to eliminate that kind of thing.  Now the view of the quant, quiet cove had a massive condo building with huge boat docks.  

There seemed to be monster condo buildings and big boat docks at the end of every cove along the lake, and while boat traffic on the lake always seemed to be busy in the summers I was there, it now seemed unimaginably congested with the advent of cheap jet skis.  Certainly no longer a soothing, peaceful place to spend the summer.  They say “you can never go home again” and in this case, the saying seemed painfully true.

I was very glad I’d decided not to spend the night at the lake, and instead head on to Jefferson City.  But before I got there, I took one final detour through the little town of Eldon, Mo—the one and only town my grandmother ever learned to drive to after getting her drivers license at the chipper age of 65!  She was forced to learn to drive after my grandfather had died, and she did learn how to slowly drive her big Olds 88 sedan with a V8 engine up to Eldon every few days to go to the grocery store, the drug store, the bank, and the beauty shop….no other driving destinations than those! 

Back then, most shopping was done along Eldon’s main street, and I was happy to see it looking pretty much unchanged:


In the 1970’s, Eldon was one of the first places I remember ever seeing a Wal-Mart.  They were small stores back then, and Eldon’s Wal-Mart still continues to be on the smaller side as Wal-Marts go:


I arrived at my campsite at Binder Park in Jefferson City around dinner time.  Nice little city-owned park with a nice lake that Millie, of course, had to swim in!


After dinner, we took a quick drive downtown to see the Capital.  In Missouri, you can still drive up pretty close to it:

The next morning, one of my old college radio friends drove down from Columbia to meet me for breakfast at this great little diner, the Towne Grill.  We hadn’t seen each other in nearly 30 years, but due to Facebook, got reconnected a few months ago, and our conversation seemed to pick right up where it’d left off without missing a beat!

Mary is one of only two I know from our class of Communications majors from Stephens College that has managed to stay employed in the industry all these years.  She’s currently a news reporter for the state-wide radio network and is still passionate for the pursuit of knowledge and unbiased journalism.  What an energizing way to start the day!

After breakfast, I returned to pack up camp and hit the road to head home.  It was a fairly long, boring drive along old, familiar roads.  We crossed three big rivers—the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Illinois

Saw a neat courthouse in the town of Pittsfield, IL:


and finally ended our 6-week roadtrip with a nice sunset!