Friday, 21 July – to north west Pennsylvania – Lake Shenango

No sleep in for us today, up at 7 am - we are on a mission - we are moving on.  We are on the road by 9 am and driving west to a lake almost on the border of Ohio.

We drive through half a dozen little country towns, up and down lots of hills, see more agriculture and even though we see the road signs warning of horse and buggies in the area, we don’t see any Amish today.

Didn't see any Amish on this stretch of road

We don’t even stop for a Walmart as we want to get to the Lake before early so we can pick up a nice walk-up site, we haven’t booked and it is the weekend.  We drive through the little town of Patton.  Then we drive through the little town of Carrolltown (twice – as we came across a road closed a little further up the road and had to double back).

Main Street of Patton about 9.30 am

Rural town of Carrolltown (my sister has a town named after her)

Observations:  Diesel is expensive in west PA, $2.75/gallon.  It is not compulsory for bikers to wear helmets in PA.

About half noon we arrive at Lake Shenango, near Transfer, an Army Corp of Engineers recreation area with 330 sites, only 107 with power. This is one of the places where you drive around to find an available site, squat on it and then walk back to the office to complete the paperwork and pay. Luckily we get the last site with electric, there are a few others available with no facilities, but it’s 90F so we need power. It is only $24 night (here for 3 nights) and have 30 amp electricity, but no water connection.  No WIFI here but OK cell coverage.  We back right on to the lake and there is a track from our site leading down to the water.  We catch glimpses of the lake through the trees.

 

The microwave rattled all the way here so we disinstall it - again (it’s a heavy mother) but we’ve got it pretty much handled this time and while we are at it plug the wiring back in so that it still works, at least for 59 seconds each time.

Then we are ready for a relax outside in the shade and a cold drink.  “The use or possession of alcoholic beverages are prohibited on Shenango lands or waters”.  We get this often in state parks but as long as you are discreet nobody seems to pay much attention. Nobody has ever asked if we have any alcohol on board, or asked to see!  The power cuts out while we are outside so we get to meet the neighbours on both sides while trying to sort out if it is just us or the whole loop.

We have a chicken coconut curry for dinner, mild enough so Kim even enjoys it, or at least eats it!  Cooked outside so we aren't subjected to any long lasting dinner aromas for the rest of the night.  It was nice for a change too, run out of ideas on what to have sometimes!

  

We have TV here (yay) so watch America’s Got Talent, then phone Carrol for a chat (they are three hours behind us in Arizona) and then it’s time for bed once again!