NC Good Sam Samboree in Marion, NC

Our last stop before heading back to Florida was at the NC Good Sam Samboree that was held in Marion, NC. We camped with five other RVs from our Sams-O-Wake club (plus about 275 other RVs from all over) for the week and took part in the many activities these gatherings offer - like playing bean-bag baseball, ring toss, bingo, hide and seek (only kidding on this one!), shopping at vendor booths, enjoying to the evening music performances and waiting to see if we won anything at the Chinese Auction - and we did!

We also took a few side trips early in the week. On Tuesday, our friends Art & Sandy took us to the mountains where we visited Cherokee, NC. This is a touristy area mainly populated by the Cherokee Indian Tribe with most stores and decorations depicting their lifestyle. While there, we went into their humongous casino and spent some time playing the penny slot machines (we're not big gamblers). I didn't win anything but Susan came out over $6.00 ahead. Wow! The next day, we drove up to visit Little Switzerland up in the mountains. It was a beautiful drive but there wasn't much to see in the town itself - especially since the fog was so thick on the mountain tops that we almost missed the town when we got there. Tomorrow, we'll drive home to Florida and prepare for our next big adventure.

Heading South

We spent the following week at another campground near Lancaster to attend an RV club outing with our long-time friends from the Sams-O-Wake club in Raleigh. While we were there, we visited even more fascinating Amish places, ate way too much good food and got caught up with what's happened since we moved away. What a fun time!

Then we headed South to Greensboro, NC to attend the High Lonesome Strings' Fall Camp n' Pick. We have belonged to this bluegrass club for many years and really enjoyed this opportunity to see some old friends, eat some fine country cooking and play some good old bluegrass music with them again.

Strasburg, PA

Another short drive from the campground finds us at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. What a cool place! Inside their humongous building are a wide variety of locomotives from the very first steam carriage (ca. 1825) through the mid-1900s, passenger cars, freight cars, mail cars and cabooses in near perfect condition. They even have an exhibit that looks like an early 20th century passenger depot. You almost fell like you've gone back in time. Outside are even more locomotives (more than 100 of them in all) and various other rail cars. A very impressive collection.

On our way home, we passed through a small town by the name of Paradise, PA. This must really be Paradise since, as this sign shows, there is a very important office here.

Harrisburg, PA

We went to Harrisburg to do some genealogical research into Susan's family. We visited a large cemetery searching for the burial site for one of her relatives. While we didn't find the one we were looking for, we did find some other Facklers (Susan's family name) and even some Cooks (my mother's family).

After returning to our campsite, I noticed that the gate to the Museum of Antique Machinery had been opened for a blacksmith class so I went in and watched them work - notice the hot fire on a collapsible wooden bench - look safe to you? Then I went to look at some of the old steam-powered equipment (like this 1908 Avery tractor) on display. Pretty cool stuff.

Intercourse, PA

A short drive from here is a little town with the most unusual name of Intercourse. It is loaded with a variety of small shops that mainly peddle Amish goods and other local art and foods. One of our stops was at the People's Place Quilt Museum, located in the Old Country Store, where some awesome quilts (this one is called Picket Fence) were on display. The we went across the street to a collection of small shops where a band played to amuse the husbands while their wives shopped. I listened to them a lot. ;-)

Lancaster, PA

We started the day by taking a Segway tour of downtown Lancaster, Our tour guide provided us with a lot of local history and showed us many interesting sites such as their local farmers market, several large art murals and lots of old buildings.



Our next stop was at Wheatland, the home of our 15th President, James Buchhanan. The house tour was very interesting and I was even able to get a picture of Susan with our 8th dead President.

Lititz, PA

We took a short trip to Lititz, PA (just north of Lancaster) where we visited the Wilbur Chocolate Company. Local folks say they make the best chocolates. Well, they've been making chocolates here since 1884, so they must know what they're doing. We toured their chocolate museum displays, watched women making chocolates and, of course, bought more chocolate than we should have...but, what the heck, chocolate is supposed to be good for you. I'm not sure if it is really good for you but it sure tastes good! Yum! I agree with the locals.

Kinzer, PA

We're now in southern Pennsylvania where we'll spend the next week and a half - mainly due to the Labor Day holiday (campsites are hard to find). We're in the heart of Amish country and literally surrounded by large Amish farms. Most of the crops are corn but they also grow tobacco and a few other crops interspersed between the rows. The scenery is beautiful. Right behind the campground is the Museum of Antique Machinery which, unfortunately, is closed. This doesn't stop us from admiring some of their collection through the chain-link fence. Besides old farm tractors, there have antique trucks, steam shovels, steamrollers and other heavy equipment. I sure wish it was open.