2016-21

summer camping

Sharpsville Pennsylvania
Shenango PA
Youngstown Ohio

a relative of Kermit's?

Campground:  Shenango Public Use area: Army Corps campground.  Half price senior rate, $12.00.  Electric only.  No water or sewer at the sites.  Half of the sites are dry camping many having nice water views.  (Same location as end of last week)

Shenango campground is unusual, in that it is run by a concessionaire for the Army Corp.  Most of the electric campsites are now by reservation only, leaving a small number for 1st come 1st served sites.  After the weekend I moved to a more level site, but still no water views.  I was told that they don’t have electric near the water as this is a flood plane and last July the dam/lake filled and flooded the campgrounds.

Now where did I leave off from last week.  Oh yah, I was going to tell you some big news.  Well here goes.  I’m going to be a land owner.  I’ve put down a deposit on the Rv lot in Shelter Cove, St Cloud Florida.  Although I don’t plan on using it all that often, it will ensure that I have a spot close to my sister Dorothy and one of her daughters family.  And of course I’ll be back in the Orlando area where I lived for 35 years and still have some friends living in the area.

My current plans are to winter in Florida for the next two winters and then go back out west for a couple of years.  During the times that I’m away from Florida I hope to be able to rent out the Rv lot to any of my Rv friends who might want to visit Central Florida.  I’ll eventually add a link on my blog site with information on the Rv lot for weekly, monthly and seasonal use.

The purchase transaction should be completed sometime in November 2016.

my corner lot purchase will be finalized in Nov 2016

down payment sent out, your looking at my new RV lot

On a totally different subject, as a confirmed person of leisure, I have often espoused the concept of doing only one project a day.  That being said, I’ve been so lax lately that I haven’t even been doing that one project a day routine.  So today, I went ahead and did two.  The first was a requirement.  I added a couple notches to my belts as I’ve lost a fair amount of weight in the past year or two with my low-carb diet.  That took all of 5 minutes to accomplish and I can now wear a couple of my western belts that had originally cost quite a bit of money. Whew.  Moving on, I purchased a fuzzy mitt ($2) that’s normally used to wash a vehicle.  I decided to use it to clean the wood blinds in my camper and I can tell you it worked out really well.  The micro fibers really captured all the dust and held onto it.

An interesting observation on the area since re-entering Pennsylvania is that lots of people still smoke up here.  Seems everywhere I’ve gone recently I’ve come out smelling like cigarettes.  At the campground where I rarely see smokers throughout the country, here in Pennsylvania I not only see adults but young folks smoking as well.  Kind of reminds me of life 20 or 30 years ago.

My campsite here in Pennsylvania is relatively close to the Ohio boarder and the other day I drove over to Youngstown Ohio as they have a tire company that is a member of the company I had purchased my truck tires from.  And of course they would rotate my tires for free and you know that’s my favorite price point.

Youngstown Mill Creek Park gardens

red is always a hard color to
capture on camera, this one turned out pretty good

Note:  A few days later I thought I’d better check the tire pressures just to make sure the tire company inflated them properly.  I had asked them to inflate the front tires to 75 lbs and the rear tires to the full 80 lb max the tires are rated for since I tow a camper.  Well I checked the tires and they had inflated the front tires to 65 lbs and the back tires to 90 lbs.  I figured there was something wrong when I turned on my tire monitor system and it started to go wonkers making a shrill beeping noise.  It really does help to double check doesn’t it.

After getting the tires rotated, I had time to tour the city a bit.  The Butler Museum of American Art was a real highlight for me.  It was the first museum to showcase American Art only.  And they have quite an extensive collection.  From Tony Bennett, Georgia O’Keeffe, a number of Wyatt family artists and much more.  Tony Bennett besides being a famous singer has also produced some wonderful paintings throughout the years and his works are in many art museums throughout the country including the Smithsonian.  There was even one painting by Vincent Van Gogh.  An unusual acquisition for an all American Art Museum, but quite a joy to be able to get so close to a work by such a master painter who died at the young age of 37.  

so life like

Abe Lincoln with a copy of the newspaper
the day he was assassinated 

one of Tony Bennett's paintings, my favorite

another realistic figure

what a great painting

another of my very favorites

one whole gallery devoted to western art

Then it was off to Youngstown’s Mill Creek Park.  The highlight being Lanterman’s Mill.  The park itself is about 20 miles long with over 15 miles of walking trails.  The Mill built in 1845 was state of art for it’s time and has the large water wheel enclosed inside of the building to protect it from the bad winter weather in the area.  It was out of use and closed up for almost 100 years before being restored.  The natural water falls next to the mill makes for a beautiful location along with the re-creation of a covered bridge just upstream.  Other features of the park include a gulf course, a large formal gardens, recreation areas and a 20 mile drive through lush forests along the creek.   Surprisingly the gorgeous park is hidden from the outside as many commercial buildings and old homes bordering it obstruct the view.  Also the outer perimeters of the park are not manicured as one would see in most city parks.  It’s a jungle of wild growth around much of the perimeter.  An interesting day exploring this once thriving steel industrial city.  It’s now on the mend and the city is seeing signs of redevelopment.

Lanterman's Mill, built 1845

this covered bridge is not original, but still very nice

Lanterman's Mill

I was also able to get together with wonderful friends, Kaye and Rich who live in Ohio not far from Youngstown.  We met at a local restaurant in Sharon Pennsylvania called Quaker Steak and Lube a popular local restaurant.  So nice to meet up with such fine folks I’ve met along the camping trail.

One last day in the area and I had to do a bit of touring early morning as the humidity is about 90% and it’s expected to get to 92 degrees today.  I found one more covered bridge right in this area as well as the number 10 lock, the last remaining lock of the Erie Canal Extension.  You know, before the automobile and paved roads and before the railroad, there were canals dug to transport merchandise to market.  From the canals which would link to rivers or large lakes, farmers were able to transport their goods fairly quickly to the big cities.

Kidd's Mill Covered Bridge 1868

Kidd's Mill Covered Bridge 1868

Lock 10, the Erie Canal Extension

Lock 10

a house above lock 10

walking path goes right through lock 10

river, below the flood control dam

So until my next report, that’s about it for now.  Stay cool, go jump in a lake.

Pictures:

Youngstown Ohio

Covered bridge and Lock 10 Erie Canal