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ALLENTOWN, PA

TUESDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #42

After a relatively short travel day we arrived at our destination in Allentown, PA. If you're wondering the answer is yes, it's the same Allentown that Billy Joel sang about back in 1982.

But you may also be wondering, why would we want to stay in this particular big city area? That an easy answer, another cave tour of course!

It's also only the second time in two years that we are stayng in a KOA campground, there just were no other decent camping options in this area. But hey, it's only for two nights!

Our campsite here at Allentown KOA.

WEDNESDAY - This morning we have planned to visit the Crystal Cave over in Kutztown, PA., about 25 miles southwest of Allentown.

After a quick drive thru breakfast at Dunkin Donuts we were on our way. I'm glad we padded our travel time because we ran into a little morning rush hour traffic headed into Allentown on the Interstate. We still arrived with time to spare, but we weren't the first to arrive like we usually are.

All Crystal Cave tours are first come first serve and they only take 15 people on each tour to conform with the COVID restrictions in Pennsylvania. There were only eight of us on the first tour this morning and we all had to wear our masks during the entire tour.

The ticket office and gift shop is housed in the original 1870s inn that was built when the cave was discovered and tours started being offered.

I asked everyone why there was a Conch Republic Flag from Key West, FL hanging from the second floor balcony and no one knew why. It still brought a smile to my face to see it there.

The tour starts with an 8-minute long video presentation about the history of the cave and it's exploration. You can see they take their social distancing very seriously here at Crystal Cave.

Right at the beginning of the tour we saw this stalactite formation. Doesn't it look like someone dropped their triple scoop vanilla ice cream cone?

At the halfway point in the tour there was a viewing platform high above the rest of the walkway and three of our eight guests opted out of climbing the extra stairs. We did not! From up there we were able to see nearly half of the cave tour route.

After exiting the cave we decided to take "the scenic route" home on the backroads instead of getting back on the Interstate like we did thhis morning.

While traveling the backroads home we just had to stop and take photos of this rural Pennsylvania yard art.


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ARE THOSE WOLVES I HEAR?

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #41

Today was a much longer than normal drive. We started this morning in Rhode Island, drove across the entire width of the state of Connecticut, cut across a sizeable piece of New York, nipped the corner of Pennsylvania, before landing at our final destination in New Jersey.

About halfway through the drive we pulled into a rest area in New York, the exact same one we blew a tire in back in April, to well..... take a rest, and use our own private bathroom. As a matter of fact, about half the route today was the exact same route we took back in April, except this time we're heading southwest instead of northeast.

We came upon this intersection shortly after crossing into Connecticut today. It looks like a typical cloverleaf intersection, but there are two important things missing here!

For a point of reference the top of this diagram is North.

If you approach the interchange traveling East or North everything is normal. But let's just say you're heading South on I-395, like we were, and wanting to go West on SR2, like we did. What do you have to do to accomplish that? I'll give you a minute to think about that.

That's right! You have to go around three of the four cloverleaf loops to change your direction. Same thing happens if you're heading West and want to go North. What were they thinking!

Once we did arrive at our campground we were greeted by this hand crafted sign.

That's not just paint, it's carved into the wood.

WEDNESDAY - Today we are going to explore a scenic drive along the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Those on you unfamiliar with the area probably don't know the Delaware River is want creates the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We will be starting from our campground and drive some 28 miles north along the banks of the Delaware River on the New Jersey side, traveling along the Historic Old Mine Road.

It seems that while New Jersey has managed to preserve the history of The Gap better, because most of the historic sites are on their side of the river, Pennsylvania sure did inherit the scenic views, especially when it comes to The Gap itself.

Just like most people agree that the view of Niagara Falls is better from the Canadian side (rather than the United States side) I'm sure most would agree the view of the Delaware Water Gap is better from the Pennsylvania side.

DELAWARE WATER GAP NRA

The route started with a one lane section Old Mine Road winding through the woods.
A peaceful scene along the New Jersey shoreline with Pennsylvania on the opposite shore.
This area is known as Turtle Beach and was completely submerged after Hurricane Irene went through the area in 2011.
Now here is a house we could afford...
... and it comes complete with a barn and garage.
A photo of Interstate Highway 80 as it disappears around the corner and into The Gap.
Imagine the force it took to "push back the mountain" to create The Gap.
Another shot with ROVER at the base of The Gap.
We did spot some wildlife along the route like this ground hog...
and this "rafter" of turkeys on the side of the road.

SATURDAY - One of the unique features of Camp Taylor Campground is that they lease a 10-acre parcel of land at the very back of their large property to a non-profit organization known as the Lakota Wolf Preserve.

A husband and wife team, plus a few very appreciated voluteers, operate this preserve and open it to public tours several times a week as a means to generate income and educate people to the plight the wolves are facing.

The tours haven't been running since the COVID pandemic erupted back in March, but just a few weeks ago they reopened at a very limited capacity and we were fortunate enough to pick up a last minute cancelation they had for this morning's tour. Guess it pays to finally be in the right place at the right time.

They currently have 17 wolves in the preserve (they are only permitted to house 20), along with a pair of lynx cats and three foxes. Don't worry each species is in a separate enclosure and today we learned all about each one of them.

MONDAY - Today we are going on a cave tour, our first one since early March, but we'll have to travel over 35 miles into Pensylvania to visit.

Lost River Caverns is in Hellertown, PA and will be our 28th cavern tour since we started living full-time on the road just a short 28 months ago. So far every cave tour has been worth the price of admission, as each one has some unique feature or story to share with us.

Lost River Caverns gets it's name from the fact that no one has even been able to determine where the river of water that flows through the cave comes from or where it goes. They have located where the water enters and leaves the cave and in the 1980s attempts were made using ping pong balls with phone numbers written on them asking people to call if found, no calls have ever been received.

Later more modern methods were used using biodegradable dyes to try and trace the path of the water with no success. I guess it will always be known as Lost River Caverns.

This section of the Lost River has a bridge to get across.

A wall full of flowstone formations.

This portion of the river is has sadly become nothing more than a wishing well.

Tomorrow we will be leaving New Jersey and planning a 15-day visit all around the state of Pennsylvania. Coming attractions include two more cave tours, a World Heritage Site home tour and possibly a National Memorial Site, so stay tuned!

This young buck came by our campsite to wish us safe travels this morning.


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THE OTHER SIDE OF RHODE ISLAND

THURSDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #3 - STOP #40

Last year when we visited Rhode Island we stayed down along the southern coast in Fisherman's Memorial State Park at an elevation of just 1 foot. This time we decided to visit the area around the highest point in Rhode Island, which is Jerimoth Hill at an elevation of 812 feet (our campsite is at 799 feet).

The two locations are not that far apart as the entire state is only 37 miles wide and 48 miles tall, easily the smallest of the United States. It is just over half the size of Delaware, which is the second smallest state.

When it comes to population it ranks 44th in total population, but comes in 2nd place when you start talking about population density. Only one state is more densely populated than Rhode Island, does anyone want to take a guess who holds that spot? Register your guess in our Facbook Group comments. No cheating! (i.e. using Google or any other online resource)

Anyway we are here visiting Rhode Island for just four nights, and if you add that to our previous visit of four nights, you'll get a grand total of eight nights. I imagine that will keep Rhode Island securely in last place as we track how many nights we spend in each state during our RVing life.

Since we haven't planned any entertaining activities to write about while we are here,
I thought I would write something a little educational instead. Hope you don't mind!

Our Campsite #102 here at Oakleaf Family Campground in Rhode Island

SUNDAY - is our fun day this week! Since the actual highest point in Rhode Island is only three miles from our campsite we decided to go check it out.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to a special lunch for a successful outing. Whom I kidding, we would have treated ourselves even if we had failed.

Once you see this sign look for a place to pull off the road and park.

There is a short 3/10's of a mile path through the woods you must hike between the parking lot and the summit in order to consider yourself at the top of the state.

The easy to follow path through the woods.

Once there you'll find a clearing with a large rock and an ammo box containing a register to sign, just to prove to others that you were there. You can just make out the ammo box on the right hand side in the photo below, secured to the base of the tree with a steel cable lock.

With that stack of rocks added to the high point is it now 813 feet?

The Highpointers Foundation placed the register there and maintains it. Think of the highpointers as the geocachers of the highest points in each state. If you are interested in learning more about the foundation click the link I included.

...and now for that special lunch I talked about.

If you have spent any time looking at the other pages of this blog you'll be familiar with my Bucket List Pages.

Each state has a list of activities and a few iconic foods to taste while visiting. Last year we spent over a month in Mississippi and I asked the same thing everywhere we went, "Where can I get a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie"?

Half the time they had no idea what I was looking for and the other half they had no idea where I could get a taste. So I gave up and left the state without ever finding it.

Who knew I would have to travel to the tiny state of Rhode Island to purchase ice cream made and distributed from the state of Maine to get a taste of Mississippi Mud Pie, even if it is ice cream and not pie!

In case you were wondering, Mississippi Mud Pie Ice Cream is made with coffee ice cream stuffed with crushed cream-filled chocolate cookies and a whirl of chocolate-coated cookie crumbles.

Also in case you were wondering, YES it was good to the last spoonful and YES we ate it all because there is no room in our tiny freezer, hence it was our lunch!


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WRAPPING UP IN CAPE COD

SATURDAY - Yummy! LOBSTER!

The big night has finally arrived. Everything came together right around 6:00PM with relatives showing up with fresh salad and creamy clam chowder. At 6:15PM Tricia's cousin Jeff darted out to the nearby BJ's Wholesale Club to pick up nine fresh-steamed 3-pound lobsters, one for each of us.

Tricia preparing my lobster for me. I had no idea how to do it.

Nate had no trouble getting to that lobster meat. He grew up in Maine after all.

There were also my favorites, fresh corn on the cob, homemade garlic bread and homemade potato salad.

For those that wanted to upgrade their meal to a Surf and Turf platter there was some perfectly prepared steak from the BBQ grill. I also saw a pitcher of Margarita Cocktail Mix and another with Iced Tea being passed around the tables.

We all tried to save a little room for desert, because there were a pair of fresh baked Blueberry and Key Lime Pies to be sampled.

This makes three Thanksgiving Day type feasts we've been treated to since arriving here just seven days ago. I'm afraid Tricia and I both going to need some new (i.e. bigger) clothes before this visit is over.

WEDNESDAY - Time sure flew by these last two weeks. All of Tricia's relatives we had planned to visit while here were squeezed into the last three days we were here.

Her stepfather, an aunt and uncle, two great aunts who are 93 and 87 years old and still living on their own, and a pair of first cousins and a second cousin from the aunt and uncle we are staying with.

There, I don't think I missed anyone we saw on this visit anyway?

Our home for the last two weeks.

I also took care of a couple of very important tasks while we were on the Cape.

I got the passenger-side rear tire on ROVER switched out with our never-used full-sized spare-tire so we can hopefully prolong buying a new set of tires until early next year. I'm thinking of buying something a little taller and a little more off-road capable for when we make our trip on the harsh roads of Alaska.

I also was able to renew my prescription medications so I have an adequate supply to last me until the end of the year.

Stay tuned as we start our slow push south by southwest. I'll give you a tiny hint of what's to come, there will be a lot more cave tours, a waterfall, a couple famous homes and hopefully some vibrant fall colors.


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