TRAVEL DAY: SIGEL, PA TO HANOVER, PA.
Day 9 – At 7 a.m. it was 38 degrees, clear and very cold. Brrrr. We took our time getting ready to go and departed at 10 a.m. after dumping tanks. Not a cloud in the sky. The sun was shining through the trees and by the stream as we left beautiful Clear Creek State Park, definitely worth a picture.
We saw many corn fields, past growing season, stopped for gas in the RV and got on I-80 east. The first half of the trip was through mountains and hills. The fall colors were nice, better in the hills, but still muted. We’ve heard it’s due to all the rain this spring and summer. Again surrounded by large trucks, we finally left I-80. We were then traveling south & east.
As we descended out of the hills, we stopped at a boat launch and rest stop for lunch. It was on Junita River which flows into the Susquehanna River. It was the first place we’d found to get off the busy thruway.
We were following the instructions from the GPS. We didn’t realize it then, but it was taking us on a convoluted journey, not exactly a direct route, and we spent much of the day on thruways traveling through major cities, like Harrisburg. If we’d bothered to look at the map ahead of time, we may not have gone this way. Lesson learned again; scout out the trip in advance of driving day.
Around Harrisburg we saw a long train crossing the Susquehanna River on a large train bridge. Lots of railroad activity, major industrial areas. Older houses and row houses. Big city and traffic.
Finally routed off the various thruways and turnpikes, we drove through smaller cities. School had just gotten out and we were stuck in traffic behind school buses on two-lane highways. We are happier with shorter drives; the cats agree.
We followed the GPS directions and turned off in a residential section of Hanover. We were routed through neighborhoods, turning left, veering right, etc., until we ended up back on the road we’d turned off of; why we just didn’t continue on that road, we don’t know. But eventually, fairly close to the city of Hanover, we found Codorus State Park, our destination. The Park was large, by a huge lake (Lake Marburg), it was forested, hilly, and there were four campground loops.
We arrived at 3:40 p.m. It was 70 degrees and sunny. Checking at the ranger’s station, we were told there was only one campsite left and we grabbed it, sight unseen. We got fresh water on the way to the site. We passed Loop A which was almost empty. Pets were not allowed in that section. Loop B did allow pets and we turned in, found our campsite, and set up camp. We were lucky; site #45 was just fine.
As usual, the girls were happy to be done traveling for the day. And as usual, when Rob was hooking us up outside and I was setting us up inside the RV, they were clustered at the door meowing for Rob to come back inside.
By the time we were all set up and the cats were happily asleep on the dashboard, it was beyond happy hour. We enjoyed our Rosemary Bourbon Drinks while reading the literature from the ranger station about the Park. Since our campsite was quite adequate, we looked for availability online for tomorrow night. We were able to reserve the same campsite for then, and also an additional night at the campground we’d previously reserved in Delaware for the weekend. This will put us closer for a future visit with my stepmother, Gail, in Maryland.