Thursday, May 22, 2014

Random Thoughts and Things

Location: Hickory Hollow Campground; Rockwood, PA

1) Tomorrow is travel day and today was laundry day. This campground only has one washer/dryer so I went into town to the wash-a-teria. The machines only took a card that you had to buy there, no quarters. That works good if you are a regular customer and can use the card on each trip. I bought a card and put $10.00 on it since it used to cost me about $15.00 a week back in Shreveport to do a week's worth of laundry. Turns out it is much cheaper here as it only took $8.00 to do everything. On the way out, I gave the card to a lady who looked like she could use it.

2) I have reservations at Gaslight Campground in Emlenton, PA for Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night. The campground doesn't look too bad on Google Earth and I feel lucky I was able to find a place on such short notice before a major holiday weekend. The guy on the phone said he would put me up in one of their seasonal sites since all the traveler sites were full. He said, "you will have to back it in". I said "ok, is it clear backing or are there trees everywhere". He said, "it is mostly clear." Feeling thankful that I had a spot at all, I didn't pursue the conversation anymore and will find out tomorrow what the space looks like. The old saying, "Any port in a storm" is appropriate now.

3) Since I was in the reservation mood, I went ahead and reserved a campsite at Lampe Marina and Campground in Erie, PA for next Monday thru Thursday. It is in a marina off of Lake Erie. You would think a place would be super expensive, but it is as cheap or cheaper than most of the campgrounds I've stayed. Apparently, it is owned by the parish county and they keep the rates low. It looks nice and if I like it I may extend through the following Sunday. This is one of those that was booked solid for this weekend.

4) While I was riding around I took a picture of a truck escape ramp. They are located on long down grades and if a truck loses his brakes, he hits the ramp and the deep sand/aggregate stops him. I took the pic on the fly as I was driving by it.
Truck escape ramp

5) The wind is blowing hard here this afternoon. I just checked the wind conditions for tomorrow while I'm traveling and I need to be at the campsite by 1 or 2 to avoid strong wind gusts. At least I'll be on Interstate if the winds pick up too bad. We will see.

6) While I was finding the escape ramp picture I found an old picture of a sunset back on January 22, 2014 when I was camped at the Red River South Marina. I think it looks pretty good so I figured I would post it.
Red River South Marina Campground (1/22/14)
 
 
I didn't crop out the highway cone because I think it adds to the picture. Those are the sunsets I'm looking for but haven't been able to see many yet.
 
7) Some people have asked what camera I'm using to take the pictures. Most of the pictures are taken by my cell phone. It is a Nokia Lumina Icon with a 20 megapixel camera. I like it a lot because it is always handy in my shirt pocket. I've been satisfied with the quality of pictures it takes so I haven't been using my fancy one much at all.
 
8) I haven't turned the TV on in weeks. I look at the Drudge Report online to see any interesting news. I also watch a couple of my favorite shows online through Hulu. I usually wait until I have a strong Wifi connection at a campground to watch those shows so I don't use up my data from my hotspot. Surprisingly, I haven't missed the TV much at all. I used to have it on all the time but now I know it was mainly just to have some background noise in the apartment/house.
 
9) Thanks to everyone who left comments on the posts. The feedback really helps with the blog.
 
10) Freedom got here oil changed, tires rotated and a 16 point check-up at a Ford dealer I drove by on the way to Elizabeth the other day. I told the service woman that I was traveling around the country and needed my truck serviced but couldn't wait around very long. She took care of me and I was back on the road about 45 minutes later. Good people are everywhere just waiting to be found.
 
11) I'll probably be laying low for the weekend, trying to stay out of the way of the holiday people. I'll drive around and see what I can see.
 
Ya'll take care of each other. Cya down the road.






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