Maryland through Pennsylvania

Leaving Glen Allen Virginia we headed to our next stop for 5 nights at the KOA outside Millersville Maryland, just north of Washington DC, not a long trip – just arduous going around Washington. On our 2014 trip in the area we discovered how bad the roads are around that area so allowed plenty of time. We decided back then that any trip to include touring Washington would not be in Junior, fly in and find a hotel – so no pictures of the Capitol.

We took two trips, one to Baltimore and the harbor and Annapolis where we took a trolley ride around the town. Baltimore was really quite amazing, the harbor is really interesting and we went on a harbor cruise and sat at the bow on the upper deck – had to carry Rusty up the steep stairs – he hates to be carried.

The carousel at Baltimore Harbor

Dolphin water feature in Baltimore

Hard Rock Café and Dicks Last Resort in Baltimore

Bubba Gump restaurant in Baltimore

Submarine Museum at Baltimore Harbor

Two of the 4 military ships moored in Baltimore harbor

Fort McHenry defended Baltimore from the English Navy in 1814

USS Constellation in Baltimore harbor

Connie and Rusty on the Baltimore Harbor Cruise – Rusty shade bathing

On board the Annapolis Trolley Bus – courtesy of the tour guide

Maryland WW II Memorial – Severn River and the Annapolis Naval Academy in the distance

Annapolis Wall Painting

Another day it was raining so we just took a drive over to Delaware to eat in Dover and visit a small town right on the Maryland-Delaware state line called Marydel, it has one post office and 2 town Mayors – of course.

Our next stop was in Palmerton, Pennsylvania another 5 day stop. About the only thing we wanted to do here was visit the Pocono Mountains, Callie’s Candy and Pretzel Kitchens and of course take a trip to the Amish area around Lancaster. The chocolate and pretzel stops are dangerous places – ginger dark chocolate, orange in dark chocolate, jalapeno pretzels and more – really yummy. The chocolates only lasted a couple of days around my sweet tooth; we still have some pretzels left.

We found an Amish buggy ride in a town called Bird in Hand; there are some really “interesting” town names around here – Fertility and Intercourse to name two we saw. Ruth Ann was our young Mennonite driver, who answered all our questions including a lesson on the difference between the Amish and Mennonite communities – very interesting hour.

One horsepower buggy

Amish pedal power

Our horse drawn buggy at Abe’s

From there we were headed for Moodus in Connecticut – and that was where we had a really interesting drive along a toll road that had a weight limit. Randi (GPS system) who led us here in the first place, continually reminded me at every intersection we were too heavy, we managed to travel to our designated exit without incurring the wrath of the New Jersey police. Maybe if we had been pulled over we might have avoided hitting the deer on I80 east – yes – a large deer took out the front grill and most of the nose of Junior. If there is any luck about that it was that the oil coolers and radiator only suffered superficial damage so we were able to continue on to Moodus. The toad also took a hit from the grill bars that travelled under Junior, again, still drivable. The deer was not so lucky.

The grill is no longer there

Oil cooler and AC

It was at this point we decided to cut out 4 stops in Vermont, Maine, Canada and Niagara Falls – just start making our way back to Texas to get Junior fixed. The insurance company sent out an appraiser on Memorial Day and that part of the process was quite painless.