Fallingwater

 Frank Lloyd Wright has been heralded as one of the greatest architects of all time. He was a pioneer in the Prairie School of architecture and designed over 1000 structures over a period of 70 years. Wright not only designed buildings, he designed the furniture to go in these structures. While I admire his talent and I find his work interesting, it really doesn't ring my bell. The furniture always seems rather uncomfortable and the houses that I've visited, with few exceptions, don't seem to be very livable. That said, for some reason, I never seem to pass on visiting a FLW building. Fallingwater, located in Mill Run Pennsylvania checks all of my reasons that I don't care for the architecture, but boy – this place is stunning.

Decorative Arts

 

Henry Francis Du Pont (1880-1969) was born at Winterthur (an estate in northwestern Delaware) with a silver spoon in his mouth. The Du Ponts had made their fortune in the manufacture of gunpowder. H.F. was a sensitive boy who clashed with his authoritarian father who was a mover and shaker. All H.F. wanted to do was raise his prize Holstein-Frisian cattle and garden. When he was 43, he discovered a passion for antique furniture and went nuts (my words).

Blood, Guts And Cheese Steak

 

Most tourists go to Philadelphia for the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Not me – I needed to go to Philadelphia for the Mutter Museum. It is a medical museum that contains anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models and antique medical equipment. The museum is part of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Ok, that doesn't sound all that exciting until you look a little farther and see what some of their exhibits are about. How can you not go when you see exhibitions titled “Spit Spreads Death” or “Dracula and the Incorruptible Body”?

Steamtown

I am now going to leave Pittsburgh and travel almost all the way across the state of Pennsylvania to Scranton. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state and I can only imagine how great it must look when the leaves all turn. Huge rolling hills and deep valleys give great pleasure as you travel down the road. That said, even though Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, I just don't feel the joy, the connection that I have felt in other states. That is ok, there are 49 other states to find that ever elusive connection.

I know I've mentioned it before but my favorite Eleanor Franklin quote is “Do something everyday that scares you” which I have always interpreted as 'get outside of your comfort zone. Don't settle'. Today I am going to do my best to follow this adage. I am going to take this big honkin' fifth wheel into a Pennsylvania state park and back into a site. I do really good going forward with this FW. I do pretty good backing up in a straight line, but this is going to be backing up at an angle. As I approach my site, the nerves are beginning to get to me. I start sounding like Thomas The Train. I think I can, I think I can. I round a curve, see my camping site and start pulling past it. What do I see in the road, but the corner of a boat, sticking out. The picture doesn't look like much, but it is going to be just enough to cause intense worry because my truck is going to swing out in that direction. Ok, though, I can do this, I am woman, I am strong. I start my backward attack and get past the boat with a mere inch to spare. I even missed the motor. All of a sudden, as I start backing in, I am surrounded by people who are all going to help me. I find I don't need them (well, the guy in the very back telling me when to stop backing was helpful) because I've got it. Yay Me!!!! I am now officially state park ready.

It may not look like it is all that far into the road.  

Keep in mind that a lot of times when I'm backing, the truck ends up in the weeds on the right side of the road.

And I'm in.  I may be a tad too far to the left but I didn't hit anything which is the important part.

I have come to the Scranton area to go to a National Historic Site called Steamtown. It was developed to tell us all about steam railroading and it's people. I am not particular excited about this – railroading just doesn't seem all that interesting. Boy, was I wrong. Fascinating. Steamtown is the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (D,L&W) train yard. There are two roundhouses where they are working on restoring old steam locomotives. The History building told the story of steam railroading, in particular the D.L&W line. The Technology building was interesting and very interactive. You could watch how the steam powered these huge machines. There was place where you could blow steam engines horns – it is like a secret language.  Ex. Four blasts mean you are approaching a crossing. One blast means you have stopped and set the brake. There was even a Turntable that they would drive the locomotives on. It would turn to the appropriate roundhouse track where that locomotive would be getting maintenance. 

The turntable. See the little house in the center.  

Somebody would sit in there and make the turntable go around and around.  

I guess it would be like his own little merry-go-around.

I even got to take a steam locomotive train ride which basically just went up a hill and then back down for a total of 45 minutes. It was just pleasant to hear the whistles, the chugging along because it was a most beautiful day. 

The mighty engine that dragged me up the hill

You need to burn coal to make steam.  I guess this is not the most ecologically correct form of transportation

And the passenger car

I was a little disappointed though that there was no mention of the legendary Casey Jones.  I'm not talking the Casey Jones whose dramatic death happened while trying to stop his train and save the lives of his passengers.  Nosiree Bob.  I'm talking about Casey Jones of Lunch With Casey fame.  I spent almost every day as a little kid watching tv and having lunch with Casey Jones and his buddy Roundhouse Rodney.

JoggerCat seems to have found 'his' spot

The Steel City - Pittsburgh

I'm heading to the Hudson River Valley.  Where I want to go is only two hours north of New York City so I figured that I should, dare I say, make reservations. We all know what a commitment phobe I am so it was tough. I just didn't want to have all those hordes of New Yorkers wrecking my camping plans. Turns out that the campground I had picked was unavailable for several days after I needed it so I had to make some filler plans. I looked at a map and saw that Pittsburgh was only an inch or so away. So, off to Pittsburgh I go.

I found this campground called Mountain Top RV Park. It was actually on top of a mountain - go figure. My campsite was right on the edge, overlooking a valley. Very very nice. The park also has live bluegrass music on Saturdays. I was going to miss that, but I am definitely putting this campground on places to return to. As I said, the view was wonderful and I faced west so I could watch for sunsets.

My daytime view

My sunset view

I did venture off the Mountain Top into Pittsburgh. I'm now driving a ¾ ton pickup and this thing is a monster. Pittsburgh is an old town with many narrow streets, some even with cobblestones. It was a challenge driving around. I liked Pittsburgh, it had a nice vibe. But then, I was driving around perhaps the more upscale parts of Pittsburgh.

I had heard about Randyland, a place on the north side of town. Randy Gilson bought Randyland on a credit card in 1995. Every day after waiting tables, he came home to paint and bring happiness to his neighborhood. He even started painting his neighbors' houses. Randyland had such a nice vibe – outsider art at it's best.

Randy's House

And here is Randy.  He had various cardboard cutouts of himself in different poses scattered around

Randy's neighbor's house

There was even a huge sandpit that kids could play in

No visit to Pittsburgh is complete without going to see the Andy Warhol Museum. As a child of the sixties, Andy was a household name to me. Everybody knew Andy Warhol. I have to admit, I was/am not much of a fan of his art. Again, my definition of art is 'if I can do it, it ain't art'. While I may not have the technical expertise to paint a soup can, at least I could visualize it. Of course, Andy's genius was that he not only visualized it, he put it out there for everybody to see. He was not only into the painting, but he also worked on film and graphic design. One interesting note is that he designed the cover for the Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers' album, the one with the jeans with the working zipper. That was a very cool album cover, if I do say so myself.

Art critic that I am (not), I just don't get it

But I love Pepper Pot soup, the best soup ever. Alas, they no longer make it.  I mourn.

from the sublime to the ????

And here is the Oxidation Picture (sorry folks)

From Solar to the Revolution

Greg showed up this morning to teach me all I need to know about my own personal solar system and run through everything to make sure it all works. Ha. Generator didn't work. Turned out that some of the wiring done yesterday (not by Greg) needed to be rerouted. So...Generator works. Batteries are charged. All systems are go. And I know a lot about solar. Well, I know that if it snows, I need to get on the roof and brush the snow off. I learned where the on-off switch and the circuit breaker switch is. The most important thing I learned is that beyond cleaning off the panels every now and then, there is zero maintenance. I actually did learn more about wiring and other things, but I don't know how long that stuff will be retained.

Greg and Craig also did some maintenance and had suggestions on some of the things that I've asked Hilltop Trailers to take care of and haven't gotten much satisfaction from them. One of the things I'm excited about is that I know how to change my generator oil and filter. Evidently I'm easily amused. It will be something fun to try to do when I get back to Minnesota.

I finally got to be a tourist today. Valley Forge is about a half hour away and I decided I would go revisit it. Last time I was there, I was in second grade and I really don't remember much about it. I won't go into the history of Valley Forge – we all learned about it in school, how it was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. Ok, one fact that I found interesting, which I never thought about was why Valley Forge was called Valley Forge. It was because there was an Iron Forge in this particular valley. Don't know why it never occurred to me. Duh...

Of course guess what today is? It is World Family Day. This means that there are busloads and busloads of families descending on Valley Forge. Once you get past the horror of all of the crowds, there were some very interesting events happening. There was musket firing, there were demos on how to build the enlisted men's' quarters. Lots of people wandering around in period costume. I watched the movie in the theater and then took the ten mile drive around the Encampment Trail.

Enlisted Men Quarters

Inside the Enlisted Men Quarters - damp and dank - lots of disease wandering around back in 1777-1778

Dedicated in 1917 - the National Memorial Arch honors the soldiers perseverance

General Wade statute - commanded Pennsylvania troops

General Washington's Headquarters - they said that about 25 people lived here - it is a really small house for 25 people

It was an entertaining way to spend the afternoon. I did buy one thing that was rather special. C-Span used to have a show on that was called First Ladies. Each week they talked about one specific first lady. I've always had a soft spot for the First Ladies – you never hear about them, but I think an awful lot of them were very important to our country. I really liked watching this show. I found the companion book for the show. I'm excited that I can spend time with my First Ladies.

 

 

Living Off The Grid

I had a big drive today – maybe thirty minutes. Love it. This area of Pennsylvania is lovely, rolling hills, every time you turn a corner there is a house that you know was built hundreds of years ago. It seems that the roads are following the old trails also – fairly narrow, no shoulders. Speed limit was 45, I felt sorry for the people behind me, I was only going thirty because a) it was all the faster I could handle and b) it was all the faster I could handle. There was no place to turn off to let them pass so at least they got to go slow and smell the roses.

I'm at Brandywine Creek Campground. Lots of seasonal people here but I happened to get a prime spot. I am overlooking the creek and happen to be right at a section where there are some mini rapids so I get the sound of the babbling brook as I sit in my site.

 

This campground has all these cardboard dogs scattered around the property.  They have gold tags that say Goose Patrol
 

The main reason I'm here in this area is that I am going to get solar put on my rig. I'm super excited about it. It means that I can go anywhere and not have to worry about having electricity to hook up to. I can go to Camp Wally or out in the boondocks and still run my microwave, have lights and watch TV if I do desire.

The premier RV Solar company is a place called AM Solar in Oregon. Putting solar on an RV is a little different than putting solar on a house – and AM Solar specializes in RVs. The guy I'm having do my solar is Greg Young at RV Solar Solutions. He was trained by AM Solar and is recommended by them. He lives full time in his RV and travels around the country doing installs. I tried to get an appointment with him when he was in Illinois but he didn't have any appointments available. He did have one appointment available in Ohio but the timing did not work out for me. So the next place was Pennsylvania where he only had two openings. So I guess I've chased him around the country. I'm happy that I got to snag one of them. The whole process is supposed to take two and a half days. Two days to install, half a day to educate me how on all the ins and out of the system. I'm nervous about this because this installation involves drilling holes in my RV. It hurts to think of that part of it. My pretty little RV.

Tech Info for those who care – feel free to skip over this paragraph if your eyes are glazing over.
4 160 watt solar panels
3024i MPPT Charge Controller, IPN Pro Remote meter, shunt kit for IPN Pro remote meter, temperature comensation sendor, wiring harness
4 Lifeline AGM Batteries 6V 220 AMH

Greg and his friend Craig spent most of yesterday doing the install while I spent most of the day in a lawn chair overseeing their work. Fun guys and very efficient. By the end of the day, they had the install completed. Greg did not want to turn the system on because it was the end of the day and if something went wrong, he would have to hang out and fix it. Craig evidently did not hear Greg say that and turned everything on. They call it a smoke test – the first test is to make sure that everything is hooked up correctly and is not going to blow up, cause fires, hence the smoke test name. I must say, they were pretty much kidding about smoke test – but in the end, it seems everything went well. They turned it off and everybody went their separate ways for a couple of hours, Miko and I wandered over to their place to hang out at their campfire with Craig's wife Jo and Greg's dog Hobie. Their drink of choice was Red Bull and vodka. I had never heard of that combination before. Evidently, it keeps you awake as you get buzzed.

Miko and Hobie

 

 

Yesterday, Greg said - “I can't believe how easy this install is going” What a terrible thing to say because when they showed up today to finish up, of course there were problems. You just don't say things like that before a job is finished – it causes the Jinx Gods to get all riled up. They decided that they were going to upgrade a charger that I had and they went under the bed where all the wiring for the coach are. What they found was a total mess. I worry about our future when basic workmanship is so underrated. They spent most of the day changing some of the wiring around and keeping me calm which in itself is a full time job. I am pretty impressed so far with these guys. There is no problem with the solar install and with the solar charging my batteries. The problem is coming from the batteries into the coach. I swear the electricity in my couch was done in the factory early on a Monday morning after the electrician had a very hard weekend.

 

Getting Started

Nice Day to Be working outside



The guts of the system

One of the ongoing problems I've had with my rig is that the CO2 indicator keeps going off.  I thought it was going off because of low battery.  It seems that it might not be going off because of low battery but it might be actually alerting me to a CO2 or a LP problem.  Greg went out and bought me a portable CO2 detector and we will see if that goes off also.  It might just be a wiring problem though like everything else in this rig.  At least it gives me something to think about.

 

Hopefully everything is working out.  Tomorrow is education day

Hopewell Furnace

Boy, did I luck out when I picked this campground. I have 58 over the air TV channels (I don't watch much TV), a couple of bars of Verizon so I can access internet, full hookups, it's costing me less cause they gave me the senior rate cause I'm old and....and...it is within walking distance of Hopewell Furnace which is a National Historic Site so that I can check this off of my list.

To get to the site, we have to walk on the Boone Trail. Evidently Daniel Boone was born about five miles away from here back in the day. This trail is listed as moderate and it is a pleasant trail except for all the rocks and roots that go across the trail. It makes it hard to see what the scenery is like because you always have to be watching where you put your feet. Besides that, while it is a trail that winds it's way downhill, all I can think of is that I have to walk back up it to get back to the campground.

Yes, this is the trail

 

This gave me pause - lucky I'm wearing my bright red windbreaker

As we are walking along, through the woods, there is nobody around. All of a sudden, a dog comes crashing out of the woods. Then another dog and then another one. There are three of them. I'm looking at them and I'm thinking these are some sort of English Setters. My family had one when I was a child and I've always had a fond spot in my heart for them. These guys were a little shorter and stockier than what you normally see as English Setters. Soon their person shows up and we chatted. He tells me that he used to breed English Springer Spaniels and one of his breedings resulted in a Westminster Best in Show Springer in 2007. He decided that after that, he was at the top, there was nothing more to accomplish so he switched to the English Setters. He breeds and raises Field Setters which explains why they were a little stockier and shorter.

Dennis, Buddy, Rascal and ?

 

Miko and I get to Hopewell Furnace.

Hopewell Furnace is an early American industrial community that operated from 1771 to 1883. The cold-blast iron furnace and accompanying community has been restored to the way it looked during the 1830s and 1840s, when the furnace was at its height of activity From the NPS site

It had some really interesting things to see. Miko especially liked the water fountain which was built with a dog in mind.

I had to help Miko push the button, she couldn't quite figure it out

 

They had a huge water wheel that was actually turning. It was amazing how a very small creek could turn something this big.

 

I also learned how they made charcoal. I guess charcoal doesn't just come in those bags that you buy at Menards. It was a very time and labor exhaustive process.

In the visitor center, there were exhibits about everything that was produced by this furnace. It seems that while they helped arm the troops from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, where they made the most money was in making stoves. Evidently, stoves were rather revolutionary in themselves. They talked about how the creation of the stove freed women from having to tend the hearth fires all day long like they used to. The stoves saved many women's lives because they said that a big cause of death for women back then was because their clothes would catch on fire from the open hearth in the home. Not to mention it was much easier to boil water so it cut down on “childbed fever” which happened often during the birthing process.

 

Note to Self: Make sure dog leash is stashed before taking picture.  It actually looks like a steel cable though - yup, my dog is one strong dog - need a cable to hang on to her

 

After the visit, we wandered back home up the Boone Trail and I mean up. Oh well, we keep telling our horses when we make them walk up hills that they are building their butt muscles. I need say no more. 

 

Tomorrow I move down to the Philadelphia area. Pope Francis is coming to town this upcoming weekend. This is huge – most of the way, as I drove across Pennsylvania, there were huge signs on the freeways telling people to expect major delays. I have heard that most roads are closed throughout the whole city. They are expecting several million people to show up. I looked up some of the sights I was planning to see and most of them are going to be closed during the visit. I guess I will have to adjust. I will find out more when I get down in that area. 

Driving, Driving, Driving

I called and called around but could not find anyplace that had openings for the evening that were in my price range. These easterners sure do pay a lot for their camping experiences. Much more than out west. I'm having a little bit of sticker shock.

I finally found a place in Snow Shoe Pennsylvania. It was right off of the freeway, about the distance where I wanted to stop. I couldn't find any reviews of the place so I decided I would just wing it. If I didn't like it, I could always push on and try to find something different. I pull into the place – it is right behind the town's ball field. Turns out the town is having their fall festival. I thought this would be great because I could walk to it from my site.

This trailer park was pretty trashy. Sewer pipes were above ground – the electrical pole and the water faucet was shared by three other trailers. I had water hoses crisscrossing over my site. There was no breaker on the electrical post which meant that there could be surges and all sorts of nasty things that could wreck my electrical system. I do have a surge protector installed on the RV, but not everybody is as fortunate as me. Everybody was right on top of each other. And to top it off, they charged $45 for the privilege of staying there.

On the positive side, the managers were extremely nice people – Jane and Clyde. And lets not forget the Fall festival. They had a car show, they had trinkets and crafts. They had homemade chili and pierogies. It was pretty much a flea market with some cool looking cars.  Mildly amusing. 

I spent some time with the people parked behind me. This park is located on the north side of a mountain range. I have to get to the south side of that mountain range and my mountain driving handbook is telling me that most of the roads crossing the mountains have very big grades. To the point where they require truckers to go no more than 20 mph. I was pretty scared, but my neighbors talked me down off of the cliff and told me that I would be fine. They drive it all the time. Ok, I feel better – I can make it – I probably won't die. So all is good.

Good night sleep, a rain storm and winds came through. Woke up, packed up and got ready to go. As I'm pulling out of my site, I hear a little crunch. Turns out my steps hadn't retracted like they should have and they caught on the little wooden patio that was provided for me. The steps pulled the patio a little bit apart and bent the steps back a little bit. The neighbor guy kicked and pushed the steps back into place and everything seems to be working again.

The major problem, though, was I had no internet service on my phone. If I don't have internet, I don't have the GPS working. That is ok, the neighbors told me how to go to get across the mountain range. The RV has a GPS, but it doesn't always make the best decisions, but it is all I have. What I didn't take into account was that my neighbors (who drive across the range all the time), take shortcuts. They always go the back ways. So, there I am, driving down these little tiny roads, causing a huge traffic backup behind me because I am too afraid to drive very fast on these twisty, turny roads with no shoulder. I climb, I climb and then I get to the top of the mountain. I decided that I was going to be like a truck – only go 20 mph down the hill and I made it!!!!! Yay Me!!!!

So now I'm across the mountain and decide that I will listen to the RV GPS for a little bit. Where does she take me – onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I had been trying to avoid paying tolls and now I've been forced onto one. I always thought turnpikes were supposed to be better roads which is one reason why you pay to use them. Not in Pennsylvania. I will say the scenery was beautiful – huge mountains covered with trees. They are much softer than the Rockies – they make me feel better just to look at them.

I am spending a couple of nights in Elverson Pennsylvania at the French Creek State Park. Both Miko and I will like having a little down time and not have to travel.  I just feel very comfortable in the state parks - they make me happy to be in them. 

 

Pennsylvania has some strange pet rules for their campgrounds. If the campground has five loops and you have a pet, you can only camp in one of the five loops. Every other state I've been in you could camp anyplace in the park with your dog. They also do not allow alcohol in their park, so according to all the online reviews I've read, you need to do stealth drinking if you choose to imbide.

No pictures, I've just been driving.