Crossing the Mason-Dixon Line
It has been a while since we made the big lefthand turn at Savannah, GA and pointed Harold the RV to the north. As we crawled up the Southeast coast, then veered into central Virginia, it was just a matter of time before we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line, destination New England.
About that… I’m embarrassed to say I had to refresh my nerdy tech laden brain and bone-up on what the heck the Mason-Dixon Line is. All I knew before writing this blog is it is some “thing” that, generally speaking, separates North and South. If you want the historically accurate explanation of this special line of demarcation, check out Wikipedia. But for the purpose of this blog, what I’m really trying to say is after an extraordinary 3 month journey through the South, we officially said goodbye when we crossed into Pennsylvania..
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
After leaving our friends Tim and Barb who live near Richmond, VA, we turned to the northwest and made our way towards the Shenandoah Valley and its National Park. Along the way we lunched in Charlottesville and stopped at (are you surprised?) Smoothie King to get a quick fix for one of our new found Southern addictions. Little did we know, this would be our final fanatic stop for quite some time at one of these delicious franchises.
Shenandoah Valley is defined by high Appalachian peaks known as the Blue Ridge Mountains — high, that is, by East Coast standards. The National Park is laid out on top of the tallest local ridge and stretches north-south for about a 120 miles. The entire length of it is accessible via the park’s Skyline Drive, of which there are only 4 entry points. Once on it, there are perhaps a 100 turnouts affording you stunning vistas of western Virginia, exposing line after line of mountain ridges cast in multiple shades of blue by sun soaked thick humid air.
Hikes to small lakes and rocky outcrops abound, but being under the weather, we chose instead to simply enjoy the ride up and down the park. Old lodges exist with good eating, and one day we enjoyed a nice lunch with views of the mountains beyond.
During our stay, Harold the RV was parked at a densely wooded KOA. At dusk every night we got a special treat; it was show-time for countless fireflies flickering in the damp surrounding brush. I’m on the quest for the perfect firefly shot, but no luck this time as it turns-out to be a rather tricky thing to do photographically. Time to Google a better technique. 🤔💭
Click Images to Enlarge
The Amish Pennsylvania Dutch Country
On our way to our next stop, we did another one of those small-state things that is impossible to experience on the West Coast. In less than 30 minutes, Interstate 81 touched all of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania — grab a map and double-check me on this! And while you’re at it, please explain to me how the heck Maryland got its bizarre shape. Go figure…
Up the road we eventually made our way to Pennsylvania Dutch Country in Lancaster County. When we arrived, we suddenly found ourselves at a very beautiful place. Every direction we looked, we marveled at stunning rural landscapes with picturesque farms wedged between rolling hills and thick stands of forest. This is truly a very unique and enchanting corner of our great United States.
First settled more than 300 years ago, Lancaster County is several steps back in time thanks to the non-industrialized culture of its Amish residents. These people share strong values with their relatively liberal, yet nonetheless very conservative Mennonite neighbors. Together, these groups maintain pristine towns surrounded by gorgeous farms that are proudly and meticulously cared for.
Still in the throes of 4 weeks of illness, we once again skipped the hiking and explored nooks and crannies of the rural area in the comfort of our air conditioned car (yes, it was humid again). But no matter. We thoroughly enjoyed our simple meandering drives through tiny communities away from the main rural highway, leading us to quiet stops where we enjoyed unhurried peace and quiet with boundless photo opps.
For you shoppers out there, boutique stores mixed with coffee shops and nice places to grab breakfast and lunch are found in a couple of the larger towns. On the weekends, car loads of visitors were doing just that.
Thanks to Google, we located a bonus stop near the top of a ridge of hills — a 4 acre field full of hand planted wildflowers with carefully maintained paths meandering throughout. The brainchild of a local farm family, it was created as a photo backdrop for anyone willing to pay a modest fee, honor system, of course. And no surprise, we encountered small groups of people in search of perfect family photos. Enjoy our pictures!
Iconic Rural Litchfield, Connecticut
Our final stop on this leg of our journey ushered us into New England, home for the next 2-3 months. Our ultimate destinations are first New Hampshire, then Maine, so rural Connecticut was simply a stop along the way during our first ever visit to this state.
On our trip from Pennsylvania, we did a one nighter at yet another Harvest Host property, this one at Scranton, PA in the parking lot of a mom and pop family restaurant. Masterminds that we are, we chose this stop for an easy supper and a hot breakfast before leaving the next day. Bummer… despite the signs advertising dinner, the owners had since morphed the restaurant into a breakfast and lunch place, closing at 2:00 pm. Worse yet, our morning meal wasn’t anything to brag about. Oh well, you can’t win them all. 🙁👎🏻
We loved the trip from Scranton to Litchfield, CT — passing through the high northern Appalachians, down into upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, then back up the other side into Connecticut.
As for the small town of Litchfield, it is quintessential New England. But believe it or not, dinnner at a Mexican restaurant in nearby Bantam was very good. We also drove a short ways to a small family dairy farm that produces — you guessed it — all things dairy, but they also make their own chocolate delights. It seems the husband had one idea for their farm; the candy loving wife had another. In any case, I found it funny that their store sold chocolate bars, fresh milk, and vanilla milk, but no chocolate milk! I wonder why? A missed business opportunity? Maybe they don’t own brown cows? Ba Dum Tss 🥁 — at least I didn’t see any. 👀
The End(s)
Cow butts
