WHAT?! THIS CAMPGROUND ISN’T OPEN EITHER?!
Day 86 – We went to bed early last night and were up by 7 a.m. this morning. It was 46 degrees & cold in the RV (no electric heat) and the girls didn’t have their electric heating pads to sleep on. They were a little grouchy and then they found we were traveling today, yet again. Meow, meow, meow.
218 miles, (4:55), 37386−37604
We departed at 9:45 a.m. after jockeying ourselves around a bit to make the turn to get out of our campsite. It was 50 degrees and sunny. We took the narrow roads back to Route 219 north, crossing Deep Creek Lake near the State Park we couldn’t stay at last night, and entered the town which turned out to be a resort community, fancy-schmancy, and there was even some man-made snow left on the mountains.
Deep Creek Lake, Oakland, MD
In ski country again! Oakland, MD
In ski country again! Oakland, MD
We continued on Route 219, leaving Maryland and entering Pennsylvania. There were farms on rolling, green hills. The trees & bushes had no green on them yet. Spring has not arrived here. The 219 became a 4-lane expressway; it made traveling quicker. Our destination was Bald Eagle State Park where we’d stayed in September 2017, the first night of our long, cross-sountry trip. We looked forward to visiting again.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We stopped for lunch at an empty parking lot in a large shopping center in State College, PA (home of Penn State). The girls enjoyed their break and willingly went back to the bedroom to finish the trip; we weren’t too far from the campground. The roads had not been as winding & hilly, so it wasn’t as hard on them today in the back of the RV. It had only remained fully sunny for the beginning of our trip this morning; the high today was 68 degrees and it was mostly cloudy and overcast.
We got to Bald Eagle State Park only to find when we arrived at the campground, the Park was still closed for the season & would be opening in a few days. Not again! Tired of driving, we looked for other options online. (Yes, today we finally got a computer & phone signal again.)
Bald Eagle State Park, Howard, PA
Bald Eagle State Park, Howard, PA
Closed!! Russell P. Letterman Campground, Bald Eagle State Park, Howard, PA
When we saw that it was a distance to other State Parks & National Forest campgrounds, and because we were tired and really wanted to settle in, we chose to try the closest independent campground we could find. Holiday Pines Campground in Loganton, PA was about 45 minutes away & their website said they were open. The road to the Campground was scenic. We passed Amish buggies at barns & a couple of horse-drawn buggies on the road. Mmmm, Amish baked goods, anyone? We arrived Holiday Pines at 2:40 p.m. and they were open (they said we were their first campers of the season). It was adequate, though not as private and more expensive than the State Parks we prefer. $38 for one night, electric & water hook-ups, dump station at the campground, campsites close together & overlooking the seasonal & full-time campsites. Our assigned campsite was short & not level and Rob had to move the picnic table to even attempt to enter the campsite, plus clean the tree branches off the ground before parking. But hey, beggars cannot be choosy!
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We set up camp, started a new loaf of bread, and finally were able to check e-mail, texts & phone messages in case of emergencies. We worked on the blog, catching up & posting the last few days. Back on track again.
Holiday Pines Campground: 16 Pine Tree Lane, Loganton, PA 17747; (570) 725-2267; www.holidaypines.com. We’ve found that there are very few independent campgrounds that we like enough to stay in for more than one night (the exceptions are The Moorings in Belfast, ME overlook Penobscot Bay; Champlain Adult Campground in Grand Isle, VT on an island amidst flowering trees; Cherrystone RV Park overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia; and our land in Maine overlooking Haycock Harbor). Sometimes, though, it’s necessary to stop at the closest campground you can find. Furthermore, we do have independent campgrounds we stay at regularly for one-night stopovers. They are conveniently located between point A & point B. And not all of them are terrible. Holiday Pines Campground runs parallel to Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania and the traffic noise was pretty loud. The campground was on a small road near Amish country & we felt safe there. We have seen much worse. We had site #22, $38 for one night with electric & water hook-ups, a dump station was available. We would stay here again for one night if other accomodations were not available.