Pennsylvania - Day 27

Promised Land State Park, near Scranton

Friday, 27 April 2018

When I was walking the dogs along Loyalsock Creek this morning before we left, a male Common Merganser flew along the creek and landed in the water not all that far from us. They’re pretty big birds, mostly white body so they’re very visible, and we couldn’t help noticing him. Dexter got really excited watching him float on the swift water, especially when the bird got to the rapids and flew farther downstream. Dexter was sure he could catch him and really wanted to try. In his heart of hearts he believes he can fly and climb trees. I don’t know how to break it to him.

The mountains we drove through when we left were called the Endless Mountains, and that’s about what it felt like. I guess we could have taken a more touristy route on bigger roads, but I’m starting to get used to these Pennsylvania country roads. It does take time to get around, though, at least for me because I’m afraid to take these twisty shoulderless roads at the speed limit.

I’ve noticed throughout PA they rarely use the term “city” but instead use “borough.” And they’re not using borough to mean “county” because they have counties. Borough apparently means something bigger than a “township,” which seems to be bigger than a “village,” but smaller than a “city.” Scranton is a city, according to the highway sign.

I guess it fits in with their “creeks” that look like rivers and “runs” that are actually creeks. Although I will agree that farther upstream the Loyalsock Creek looks to me like a stream, which is certainly not a river but which I think is bigger than a creek. But I could be wrong.

At the borough of Mahoopany I found a large manufacturing plant for Proctor and Gamble. I think PA manufactures a lot of chemical products.

When I was trying to find a radio station that was more than static (the mountains are tough for reception) I found a conservative talk radio program where the host was interviewing someone who I think is the star of the TV program “Kevin Can Wait.” Among other things, the star said the network hadn’t yet renewed any of its Monday night programs and that “Kevin Can Wait” is the most important TV show to America. Is that true? Do the ratings reflect that? I’d look it up but don’t have wi-fi at this park either.

Coming into Factoryville (didn’t I say PA has trouble naming things?) I saw a sign saying, “Welcome to the Boyhood Home of Christy Mathewson – Bucolic Factoryville.” Somehow that just struck me as odd. And they’re really proud of their hometown hero and have signs all over town saying so.

After I passed Scranton and headed east to this park, I saw a highway sign saying right lane for New York City, left lane for New England. I guess I’m getting farther north.

This campground is in the Delaware State Forest. It’s actually a PA state forest, but it’s named the Delaware Forest. Like I keep saying, they just aren’t too creative with names around here.

Every road I was on in the Scranton area – state roads, US highways, interstates – all were extremely rough. I finally had to slow down from the speed limit of 65 to near 50, just to keep the RV from shaking so much it’d cause problems for the kids. Bad enough for me and I have a steering wheel to hang onto. The roads were seriously beat up. I’d guess it was the result of winter weather except I haven’t found roads near as bad as this in the rest of the state and, let’s face it, Erie alone got a fair amount of snow this year without trashing the roadways.

A cold front came through two nights ago, on top of me moving farther north, so it’s getting cold again. Tomorrow night it’s supposed to get near freezing. This winter is haunting me.