pntaylor1997

May 5, 2018

Another catchup here, but at least I should get points for trying uh?

On April 29^th, we took the rig back to Cross RV Repair so that they could remove the outer shell in preparation for the welding crew to arrive on the 30^th to get this play in the tongue fixed. The repair shop measured it and it came out with a 3-4” play.

So, we had to leave the shop and go to a hotel for the night. One bad thing about staying in Amish Country on a Sunday is that there is nothing open to go out to eat, so we ended up going to Sturgis, Michigan for dinner.

So, we fast forward to Monday, April 30^th, after a quick breakfast at the hotel, we are back to our places in the shops waiting room. The guys from Lippert finally showed up about 8:30 (they were suppose to be there at 7:30). After they got through inspecting the damage, they found cracks in the cross beam that supported the entire front end of the rig, cracks in the tongue piece and in the welding seams where the two connected. It’s a wonder we didn’t lose the rig going down the road a long time ago!!

Anyway, it took them more than 8 hours to cut out the old pieces and put in the new. Then the guys in the shop had to put the outside shell back on the rig, get it all glued and screwed, which took another 2-3 hours. Phil pulled the finished product out of the shop bay just before dark, and we spent the night hooked up along side the shop.

May 1, 2019

We said our goodbyes to the staff of the shop, paid our bill and we are on the road again!!!

Since we got a later start than usual (and everyone knows we are not early birds), we made it a short day. Even at that I think Phil had his eyes in the rearview mirror most of the day and he kept saying, ‘it’s not moving, it’s not moving!!’

We only traveled 151 miles, but, we made it out of Indiana!! Our campground for the night is Milan RV Park, Milan, Ohio. The weather has warmed a bit, it was sunny all day and topped out at 79*.

May 2, 2018

From Milan we continued our travels east on I-90, the main thoroughfare along the north coast of Ohio. This route took us though the very north west corner of Pennsylvania, where we left the 90 to catch the 86, which took us into New York. This part of New York is mountainous and very different from the New York that I think of in my mind, which is the mass of people in New York City.

Spring is slow to make its appearance this year, just last week the last major snow storm of the year, dumped on this area, then two days later the temp hit 80*. The melt off was fast and swift, swelling already swollen rivers to overflow their banks. The evidence is along the banks and at every turn, trees pulled up by the roots, tangled with debris from the shore. The trees along the mountains are getting that faint green tint that comes at the first blush of spring, but for now we mostly see the winter gray fighting to hold its grip.

Just after the city of Jamestown is a little burb called Kennedy, it was here we left the interstate for the night. Our campground tonight is called Bella Vista Campground, which is funny because we have a Bella Vista in Arkansas. Phil was so impressed he bought another coffee cup for his collection!

We traveled 209 miles today and it was a very muggy 80* when we parked the rig!

May 3, 2018

Back on the 86, traveling east, we skirted the base of the Allegany State Park, its cloudy today, can’t see the very top of the mountain. The 86 kind of wanders all over the place to avoid the worst of the mountains and passes through some very pretty, little valleys where we find small little towns, and wonder, what brought these people here to start with, what industry, what factory??

Weirdest name for a town today goes to Horseheads, just north of the 86 and the town of Elmira. What were they thinking??

Just as we were getting close to the exit off of the 86, the GPS got it’s wires crossed, took us past the exit we should have gotten off of, to the next exit. I told Phil I thought we should go back, as I was looking at the old-fashioned atlas that I always refer to hundreds of times a day. He thought we should see if there wasn’t a bridge to go over the Susquehanna River that was on our right and should have been on our left. He finally believed me when the voice blurted out that there was a dirt road ahead. Not a lot of places to turn this big truck and rig around on these narrow two-lane roads. We did find a place to turn around and managed to do it before anyone came at us from either direction.

We finally did find our campground for the next three nights. We are at Pinecrest Campground. The mailing address is Windsor, NY, we are about 3 miles from the NY/PA state line. We drove 241 miles today and managed to miss and dodge 2 different lines of heavy rain.

From our back window we can watch the Susquehanna River flow past the campground.

May 4, 2018

The reason we came to this neck of the woods was to explore the town of Harmony, which is now Oakland. Oakland is located just across the border of PA. This is the area where Isaac Hale (1763-1839), my Patriot for my induction into the DAR, had settled with his wife, Elizabeth Lewis (1767-1842). Before we left on this trip I did some research into the town of Oakland, I called the Historic Society and in talking to the lady she told me I needed to visit the restoration site that the Mormon Church had worked on. Why would the Mormon Church be interested in this little backwoods town??? Because Emma Hale, Isaac’s daughter was married to Joseph Smith, one of the founders of the Mormon Religion.

So, we drove down to the site, and we were both amazed at what the church had put into the site. We met two very nice people who were very happy to just guide us through the history of the site, the background of who Isaac was, what he did for a living, how he interacted with Joseph Smith and Emma. They understood that we were not there for the church’s sake and didn’t try to force it on us. They were excited to see us, they have had a few visitors that could trace their linage back to Isaac, or Joseph, but not many.

Included on this site is the reconstructed house of Isaac and Elizabeth, plus the reconstructed house of Joseph and Emma. Isaac had sold some of his acreage to Joseph. Our guides walked down the hill to the site of the houses and we got to walk through them. Afterwards, we went to explore the cemetery and our guides left us.

The cemetery was a gold mine of my ancestors, Hales, Skinners, Wards, lots of them unreadable for the most part. The cemetery is still being used, so it is kept up and damage has been kept to a minimum.

Isaac was not originally buried in the cemetery, but in the garden plot, per his request. But, when the railroad came through, it wanted to go right over the garden, so they then moved Isaac to the cemetery and placed him next to his wife, Elizabeth.