Camping With Friends

Ever since we left Shanksville, we've been very busy with little free time. 

On our way to Goshen for the National Rally, We stopped in Ohio to have lunch with two RV couples.  After lunch, we pulled into Elkhart County Fairgrounds for eleven days.  

Since the National Rally won't start for a few days, we had time to explore some of the sites.  We spent part of one day at the National New York Central Railroad Museum.  

They had a really nice model train setup. 

After the museum, we had lunch at the West Side Soda Shop in Goshen.  They were featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives several years ago.  They are famous for their pies.  

The next day, we went to the Shipshewana Flea Market.  It is the biggest in the mid-west.  

Once the rally started, we got very busy.  Seminars and vendor demonstrations consume most of every day.  Factory tours, service center tours, and service techs working on problems with our rigs on site kept all of us pretty busy.

One of the new events this year was a pet parade.  Some pets and owners dressed up for the occasion.

Today is the last full day and we'll all be pulling out in the morning.  

911 Memorial, Shanksville

We left Hershey and headed to Goshen, Indiana.  We stopped on the way to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial

This is the entrance to the visitor center.  The gap in the walls follows the flight path of the plane.

This is the observation deck looking out at the crash site.

The plane hit the ground inverted at over 500 miles an hour.  In the distance is the memorial boulder signifying the end of the flight path.  There were many wreaths and flowers placed there.

This wreath was placed by Vice President Pence on the morning of the eleventh at the annual memorial service.   Behind the wreath, is the wall of names of the forty passengers and crew that lost their lives that day.

The displays inside the visitor center were very moving.  It didn't seem right to be taking photos in such a solemn place dedicated to true heroes.  We spent about 3 hours there before we moved on.  

  

2017 Hershey

We left for our trip on Saturday morning.  We were a bit apprehensive about leaving a few days earlier when we didn't know what direction Hurricane Irma would take.  I didn't want to leave home if a hurricane hit.  It veered West so we felt it was okay to head out.

As we headed North on I95 through North Carolina and Virginia, we noticed something that became sort of a game with us.  Eight out of ten cars passing us had Florida license plates.  We guessed that they were heading to friends and relatives up north.  

The first night was a familiar stop at Candy Hill Campground in Winchester, Virginia.  We made our destination the next day in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania so we can finally visit Hershey. 

One of my favorites

We went through the store which was a very dangerous thing to do.

 After the store, we took the trolley ride with a tour guide.

We were given information about Milton Hershey and the Hershey Corporation.  This is a mural of him.  He was a remarkable man in many ways.  He was a visionary, businessman and one of this countries greatest philanthropists.    Anyone who wants to read about a true American hero needs to read about Milton Hershey.  

Some of the shrubbery lining the roads. 

This was our conductor who was raised in Hershey and was a wealth of information.

The amusement park was closed for the season and is only open on weekends.  I missed riding the thirteen roller coasters so there will be a return trip in our future.

The following day we went to the Hershey RV Show.  This is the biggest RV show in America and had something for everyone.  It was raining when we got there but mostly stopped and was overcast the rest of the day.  Row after row of RV's.  We saw a lot in eight hours and wore ourselves out.

On our last day in Hershey, we toured Troegs Brewery.  It was started by two brothers twenty years ago.  They are doing quite a bit of experimentation with different flavors.  We tried several of their brews and, of course, brought some back to enjoy on the rest of our trip.

The brewery uses all sorts of used barrels to age their beer.  There are wine, bourbon, whiskey and even tequila barrels.  

This is the hops room

They started a bottling run while we were there and we got to sample one that was rejected for not being full enough.

Tomorrow is a traveling day heading to Indiana

I was going to end the blog,  then we spent a couple of nights in Lewes, Delaware and found some more adventures.  Once we got settled in the campground, we took a drive to the Cape May- Lewes ferry terminal.   

We sat at the outdoor bar,  enjoyed a couple of beers and had a nice conversation with a local couple while watching the ferry come in.  

The ferry can hold one hundred cars and one thousand passengers. 

The next day, we took a tour of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.

The Steampunk Tree-house greets you at the entrance.  More on that later.

This is Lars, our tour guide.  He was a lot of fun and very knowledgeable. 

They age some of their beers for a month in wood vats before it is bottled.  They are the only brewery to do so.

Three of the vats are oak and two are made from Palo Santo wood from Brazil.  This is the densest and heaviest wood known.  It sinks when placed in water and    has a beautiful grain.  

Lots and lots of beer.

Dogfish Head is also a distillery.

They are producing Rum, Gin, Vodka and Whiskey still aging in barrels.

These are some of the distilling kettles.

Every one of those ports in the stack is a filter. 

It is a relatively small operation as distilleries go. 

Whiskey ageing  in kegs.

We were treated to a cocktail created by our guide.  Here is the recipe.  It was delicious.

We were introduced to Rocket Girl.  Beer kegs go into the containers at the rear of the rocket and beer is dispensed from a part of her anatomy, guess which part. 

At the end of the tour, we climbed the stairs to the Steampunk Tree-house.  It was built for the Burning Man Festival in Arizona.  The brewery bought it for a dollar and relocated it here.  Steampunk can be best described as a mix of Jules Verne and modern technology.  Another example would the movie and TV show, The Wild Wild West.

Only five of us at a time went up because it isn't all that big.  These are some views of it's contents.

The phone actually works and is connected to the brewery.

Ray guns.

We headed home by way of the Delmarva Peninsula and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  

  

 We got home and the rig is put away until the next trip.  We love RVing!