Our first visit to Pennsylvania
We travel to Pennsylvania for the RV show and more
It’s been a long time since we updated our journey journal. We’ve been having way too much fun! A little over a month, actually. I’ll try to catch us up.
Keeping Cool
After laundry Day on August 17, we had a few days without our Mini Lite. First stop was a repair facility in Elkhart, where Lippert sent us to have the new Chill Cube installed. We have been testing the Chill Cube since, and a review will be out shortly. Actually, this took me so long to prepare that Episode 326 is now available!
August 17 was also, inconveniently, the last day that it was super hot and humid in Elkhart. Isn’t that just the way! It is still humid, compared to New Mexico, so we have been testing the Chill Cube as much as possible. We are grateful for the break in the heat though.
More repairs
Once the Chill Cube was installed, we dropped the Mini Lite at Rockwood’s repair facility. We had a couple minor repairs that needed to be done and we were in town with access to hotel rooms, so we checked into a hotel for the next few days.
Kind of a boring week, journey-wise
Peggy sat in the hotel room catching on work, while Tony worked with RV Trader on RV reviews. In the evenings we had dinner with the RV Trader crew. Really, there is not much else to tell about that week.
Well, I will say that we have sort of a set of restaurants we go to with this crew. One person is vegan, so we accommodate their needs as much as possible. There is a Mexican restaurant called Don Jose that everyone likes, and the Wedgewood Brewery has a menu everyone can order from. So those are our go-to spots.
We had planned to just stay that one week, but more work opportunities popped up, so when we picked up the Mini Lite we took it to Shipshewana Trading Place campground for the next week of work.
Actually, I forgot a stop. First, we spent a couple nights moochdocking in the ABC Upfitters lot. This was a mutually-beneficial site. On one hand, we needed a place to camp. For their part, ABC was hosting an open house, so we we onsite to show off our upfit to anyone who wanted to see one in action. After those few days, then we went to Shipshewana.
Work, work, work
Over the weekend we visited the RV and Manufactured Home Hall of Fame, and got to interview the director Jose Rodriguez. You can hear that podcast episode 322 here.
The following week was sort of a copy of the last; Tony did RV reviews and I worked on the podcast. I did get finished in time to take a walk through the Shipshewana Flea Market. That is one of the reasons, among many, that we like that campground. The flea market is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I worked really hard to get done in time.
Camping on a holiday weekend.
When our time was up in Shipshewana, it was Labor Day weekend. We didn’t really want to fight looking for a place to camp, and Tony and Tina from TNT RVing had invited us to mooch dock in their yard. So we took them up on that for the long weekend.
This was our first visit to Ohio, and we had a great time hanging out with Tony and Tina. They took us to a few breweries (surprise!) And also to Castle Noel where we got into the Christmas spirit in August.
Camper College
Our next destination had us in eastern Ohio, to teach our RV Basic Training to a group of Girl Campers. I love teaching these classes, and seeing the light shine of confidence in eyes where trepidation had lurked before the course. In each class we have someone who uses their propane for the first time. That’s how I measure my success as a teacher LOL.
Rustic Acres
Earlier in the year, we had scheduled a four-day stay at Rustic Acres in western Pennsylvania. The extended work opportunity in Elkhart preempted that, and we only got to spend one night on the way east, and one night on the way back west. We made the most of our stay, and recorded podcast episode 324 from there I also did a couple loads of laundry. It’s a nice little park, and we hope to go back someday and spend more time. We hear there is a trail we can ride our bikes, to a brewery. You know that is on our list!
Gifford Pinchot State Park
Rather than try to get a spot in Hershey during the “America’s Largest RV Show” we opted to stay at a state park campground a bit out of town. This park is near Harrisburg, and it is a really nice place. Bill met us there, and he and Zappo would take their morning walks around the camp area, near the lake, and through the loops. He reported on the unusual RVs he saw each morning! There are also a lot of walking and hiking trails in the park, but we didn’t find time to visit those. We were too busy at the Hershey show, Hershey chocolate, local breweries, and ice cream shops!
“America’s Largest RV Show”
Is it America’s largest? My understanding is that it depends on how you measure. Acreage, number of RVs, number of visitors? I’m not sure. Most people just call it “the Hershey show” and avoid the argument.
Whatever you call it, we were excited for our Hershey RV Show experience. We attended a gathering of content creators on Monday night, then were allowed access to the show on Tuesday, as an “industry day” before it was open to the public. We got to meet several people face-to-face with whom we had only emailed, or maybe video-chatted in the past. To us, that chance to actually meet people was the highlight of our time at the show.
I know a few people who were at the show to find their next RV. They did not have limited choices! There were so so so many RVs there! They pack them into the parking lots of the Giant Center (hockey venue) and boy, do they pack them in! It was truly overwhelming to me how many RVs were there.
We are not shopping for an RV, so we picked out way through the RV sections to look at new offerings by different companies, and to meet manufacturer representatives. I’m guessing Tony will be writing a more in-depth review of the show offerings.
I was excited to wander indoors and surrounding the building, where vendors had booths of every size set up to show off their wares. Again, I didn’t need to buy anything but I cannot resist walking through the vendors just to find out what is available. Honestly, we have most of what we saw. We love our gadgets!
We did get to see a few new, innovative products and really enjoyed our days at the show. We are already making plans to return next year.
Our first visit to Pennsylvania
Since we were that far east, we decided we should spend some extra time and explore the area a bit. Bill was, as always, a super tour guide and took us to the Gettysburg battlefields, to the Hershey store, and to Yuengling Brewery for a tour. He also took me on a trip to Lancaster County, but unfortunately Tony was not feeling well. So, we made notes for our next visit. Yes, we plan to go back next year for the RV Show and some more exploring.
Another week gone
Well, I started writing this almost two weeks ago and never finished. Now we have spent another week back in Elkhart looking at RVs. Maybe one of us will relay that experience, but if I try to add more to this post I’ll never finish. I’m going to process some photos for this entry and get it posted already!
