Today’s stop was at Farm Wife Mercantile, Harvest Host site. Small goat and cattle farm. Lenny got to meet Tucker, a Pygmy goat that was a pet.
Torrential rains and winds came early evening but we were safe inside for dinner and reading our books.
Tomorrow we’ll be in New Paris, OH at The Coffee and Wine shop … two of my favorite beverages. It’s another Harvest Host.
Packed to the hilt, we are on our way across the US. We plan to bike some, hike some, and rest. It’s been a busy time getting Belle packed and ready to roll. In among that, we had two graduations … Andrea’s D.Ed from Slippery Rock and Nathan’s B.S. from Lehigh University.
A beautiful sunrise started our day off.
Tonight we’ll stay at Bill’s brother, Lew and Sister-in-Law, Denise’s place.
Sat on their deck while we caught up with each other. Went to the Rainbow Restaurant for dinner and then Shirley’s for ice cream.
Denise’s sister Brenda had us over to their house around the non-lit fire pit (because it was too hot). Reconnected with Brenda and Doug and their daughter, Jenna and her 3 kids.
In the morning, Bill, Lenny and I took a walk along the farm lane where Bill and his brothers lived. Lew and Denise live and farm here now.
Lew and Denise’s RV.
Sister Brenda stopped by to say goodbye.
And now we are on our way to Raymond, Ohio, to stay at Harvest Home Farm Wife Mercantile tonight.
This is Nathan’s’ weekend. It started with their house party. I had forgotten what college kids houses look like! Bethlehem is built on hills. I think Nathan’s house must be on the highest one.
This is Linda Bailey, Carter’s mom doing a keg stand. No, i didn’t try it.
Graduation day - Lehigh University graduates outside in their stadium. Today is bright and sunny. We are happy it’s not raining but those sun rays are hot.
Several of us sat under some shade trees to watch.
After Nathan crossed the stage and waited for his team mates crossed, he was able to leave the searing heat for pictures.
Lunch at Marblehead Chowder House. Delicious food.
Then is was time to say goodbye but not before a toast to Nathan.
Belle is on the road again. This time to Slippery Rock for Andrea’s D.Ed graduation.
Beautiful sunny day for traveling. We will park Belle at Coach Fred and Janet’s house for the weekend festivities.
After the festivities, we spent time catching up with the Powells and teaching them SkyJo.
We have wanted to ride the Pine Creek Rail Trail for a while so made a quick decision to go Monday. Kristen was able to go with us so we packed up her trike and our 2 bikes and away we went.
It’s a beautiful, well maintained trail. We started at Jersey Shore and rode past homes, forests, waterfalls, and farms, along Pine Creek to Waterville and back. Clocked about 28 miles. All of our butts were hurting. This was Kristen’s first long rail trail ride and we haven’t ridden longer than 16 miles around home. Need to toughen up!!
Learned some history that we didn’t know - Ramsey Village is the site where Thomas Ramsey, wagon master for George Washington’s Continental Army .
Lenny and Pixie were so tired from their ride, they slept the whole way back home.
Belle (the RV) needed a test run to make sure everything was working as it should AND to make sure we remembered how to do everything.
We decided to stick close to home so headed to Bald Eagle State Park in Howard. We can’t remember when we’ve camped in April in Central PA. It was chilly and rained a little but we enjoyed the time there. Kristen and Pixie brought their new camper, which made it even more fun.
Kristen and John’s new camper. Just perfect for them and Grange Fair.
The sunrise one morning was colorful but the sun didn’t stay bright too long as clouds moved in
Kristen had to go help whelp Julie’s lab. She brought 4 puppies into the world before she came down to meet us.
Even though it was in the 50s, it wasn’t raining so we got a lot of biking done.
Kristen had to see if her bike would run on the sand. She made it down but coming back up was a little harder.
John was able to visit us one night for a fire
Lots of s’mores for Kristen and me!
When we woke up Wednesday, it as cold and supposed to rain so we all packed up and left
Good trip and Belle did great!! She (and us) are ready for the west trip
We were so excited when Terry and Sandy Countmine called to invite us to a storytelling festival in Roanoke, VA. We quickly said YES and invited Linda Zubler to go along. We had a blast listening to 6 tellers, 4 of our favs from the Jonesborough Festival- Bill Lepp, Josh Goforth, Donald Davis and Kim Weitkamp. Two other tellers to add to our list of interesting stories were Antonio Rocha and Dolores Hydock. In a day and a half, we laughed till we cried, learned some cultural history, and sang along with some foot stomping music
On the steps of our cabin - Wildwood - could sleep 12 (bunk beds!)
Kim Whitkamp at the Teller’s breakfast
The stage and where we sat to listen to
The one and only Bill Lepp
Josh Goforth and Michael (have to get his last name)
This is the cabin where we slept. Good thing we were all good friends.
Here’s just one example of Bill Leo’s storytelling expertise.you can find other tellers there as well
