And Willie Said: A Tough Day at the Start!

Day 15 - Friday, July 29, 2022

Shenango Recreation Area Campground, Transfer PA

65 degrees under a mostly cloudy sky sounds cool, but it quickly warms up to 74 as I see the sun peering out from the dark clouds when I look toward the back parking lot for the eighteen wheelers at Der Dutchman. I love the yellow and gold fire colors, because it might mean there will be no rain for our trip today.

We have been in the Eastern time zone for a few days, and I am still getting confused. My friend Nancy, who is in CR, is two hours behind where I am now in the Eastern time zone, one zone away, but CR does not go on Daylight Savings time. If I text her at 7a my time, it is 5a her time, but she can silence her phone and it won’t disturb her sleep. So I don't have to worry about waking her.

Boondocking in the parking lot of Der Dutchman was great yesterday, and today we get on the road early for our check-in to another US Army Corps of Engineers park in Transfer, Pennsylvania. Ah, I love the name of the town, and wonder about the origin. We will be half boondocking, with only electricity available at the site. If we need more fresh water for our tank, we have only to drive less than a mile to a common area.

This is a really tough day!

Our route is I-71, then I-76 and 80 East through Akron and Youngstown. I get excited as I see signs for New York City, but we won't go there in the motorhome.

Lady Luck is with me today to get a photo of the Pennsylvania State sign, and we stop at the Welcome Center to get a map and brochures for points of interest.

As we near the campground, our GPS guidance develops an accent and our Southern ears make a wrong turn down a really narrow road. When we meet another vehicle, we stop to let the other go past us because they can maneuver better. I'm so glad we don't meet another RV.

While stopped, the man in a car asks if we are ok, then gives the true directions to Shenango Campground. We arrive to our site on New Duck Loop and discover that there is a ditch with a culvert that we should back Sweet Georgia Brown into. Oh, and it is an ACUTE angle, so that makes it even worse. As Herb begins to back into the site, two really nice guys from the camp site across the road come over to guide him over the narrow culvert.

Happy to be parked, we reflect on the town of Sharon that we came through, and are glad it is quite large enough to have several nice restaurants and shopping. We'll look through the brochures we have for things to do while here for three days.

As the shadows get long, and the temperature cools, we take our evening walk. We enjoy watching the geese, but must watch where we step. When they want to cross the street in front of us, we wait. So do the folks riding bicyles. Some geese decide the feeding is better on the other side of the road.