2 Miles and 4 Feet from Home: 07/08/15

Well last night was interesting. We went to bed about 10 and about 30 minutes later a huge thunder storm rolled through. It dumped a lot of rain on us and really gave us a show. Somehow the thunder is much louder when you are in a tent. (Imagine that!) We felt like we were really out in the elements. Actually I guess we were. The tent did great and kept us safe from the rain and maybe we were just lucky with the lightning. About an hour after that we noticed that our air mattress had lost some air. Lyn had told me to check it out before we left on our trip but of course I said everything would be fine and now our mattress was obviously dying. Anyway about an hour later we were sleeping on the ground with just a piece of vinyl for a bed. When we finally got up Lyn gave me a look that had "I told you so" written all over it. We got up around 7 had breakfast grabbed a shower and headed out about 9. We decide to go to two local towns. "Bird in Hand" and "Intercourse" I have no idea where the second town got it's name and I did not dare ask. Anyway Lyn was determined to see some Amish people and also see their farms. It did not take long to see them riding around in their horse drawn buggies. We went to a few stores and sampled a lot of great foods. We also drove out in the country and checked out the farm land. It was beautiful! Large farm houses everywhere and huge fields of mainly corn. It was really neat to see them working the land and not using any modern technology to do it. I am really not sure of all the rules that they live by but obviously no cars or anything mechanical. We saw a lot of the kids riding scooters. Not just for fun, but as their main mode of transportation. It was a little like stepping back in time and waking up on the set of Little House on the Prairie. Anyway I admire them for sticking to this basic lifestyle but I think I will stick with my Townhouse no grass cutting lifestyle for sure.

After we toured around we went to visit a friend of mine that I used to work with back in my printing days. She lives in Litiz, PA which is right outside Lancaster. This town has a very cool vibe for sure. Patty was nice enough to invite us to lunch at her house and give us a sampling of some local foods that were delicious. We had not worked together in over 12 years but had kept in touch through facebook. It is really one of the most positive aspects of Facebook for sure. After lunch we left Jasper on her back porch and she took us to see a covered bridge and a local produce market. The bridge was very pretty and still being heavily used. We took some pictures and then headed back to her house. Thanks for the hospitality Patty! It was great to see you!

Next stop was Hershey. This is where the Hershey Chocolate is made. I wanted to take Lyn through the town and make a stop at the Hershey hotel. The town has Hershey kisses for street lights and has great street names like Cocoa Blvd. We left Jasper in the car with the AC on and toured the hotel and the gardens. It was very nice and we would both like to stay there one day. Anyway on our way out we ran into Mr. Reese's PB Cup himself and had our picture taken with him. We headed back to the campsite with a quick stop at Walmart to buy a new and improved bed. We also picked up some Shoo-fly pie which is a local favorite. Yummy! Lyn fixed another great dinner and as usual we were ready for bed around 10. This time sleeping on a fully inflated Queen size bed. Tomorrow we head out for Niagara Falls.