Pennsylvania & Ohio

12 Sept – It rained heavily in the night and continued raining this morning as we headed thru the multi laned roads leading thru Buffalo south. This makes driving these roads harder as it is hard to see the lane markings. Eventually we left the busy main roads and entered a hilly wooded area and the Allegany State Park. Eventually we found the camping area and sat tight as it rained or drizzled all day.

13 Sept – It was really cold last night and we had the heater on. It is hard to imagine that only 4 days ago it was over 33C and we had the aircon on. That’s what it’s like at this time of the year however. It had stopped raining so we biked a 3 ½ mile sealed cycleway around a small lake over a covered bridge and passed “Red House”, an old Tudor style building in this park. We drove on thru the Allegany State Park and at some stage, not obvious, crossed the New York/Pennsylvania border.

We went thru some pretty poor towns in Pennsylvania before driving back into the Alleghany forest and eventually found a forest park for the night. The rain had cleared and we sat outside under grey skies for a couple of hours. Cold again in the night!

14 Sept – We have revisited our route this morning so that we can take in the largest Amish settlement in the USA in a few days in Ohio. We zigzagged our way thru northern Pennsylvania in lovely sunshine and camped at a State park at Pymatuning Lake right on the lake shore. We enjoyed sitting in the sun and the view. The sun set right over the lake.

15 Sept – It was only a short drive to the Pennsylvania/Ohio border. We were in Ohio, in early June, for one night down the south when we went to the Serpent Mound.  I have decided to have the exhaust pipe professional fixed after the tyre incident outside Montreal and so we headed to a garage about 30 miles away. We waited for 1 ½ hour for them to start the job which took about 30 minutes. They charged us only $36US! We stopped at a State Park with the unfortunate name of Mosquito Lake. A nice place despite the name! 

16 Sept – We are on a detour west into Ohio to visit a National Park in the Cuyahoga Valley which follows the Erie Canal between Akron and Cleveland. Tomorrow we will cycle the tow path that follows the canal for 22 miles. We are staying close to the Park in a community camping area which is beautiful. We will stay 2 nights here. We got petrol today for $1.96/gallon. First time ever for us under $2.00.

17 Sept – We drove 10 miles to the train station at the south end of the Erie Canal Tow Path bike trail. There is a scenic train that runs the length of the Cuyahoga Valley which we flagged down and loaded our bikes onto. It was $3 each for a 1 hour ride to the north end of the trail. Our plan is to bike back. The train trip was thru forest and beside the Cuyahoga River but not particularly scenic. At the north end we set off on the Tow Path Trail. The Erie Canal was built in the 1820s and connected Lake Erie and the cities to the south.

It had many locks as the canal climbs going south. The Canal lasted until the railway was built in the 1860s. The tow path was for the horses that pulled the barges along the canal. We stopped at various points where the locks were and where there was a museum. It was a great ride in the sun and shade and quite hot around 30C. The 34km ride took us 2 ¾ hours. Back at the community camp we had a chat with a lovely couple from Florida.

18 Sept – Thru the major roads of Akron and S.E into Amish country.

We stopped at the Yoder’s Amish Farm. We took the deluxe tour for $11 each which included a guided tour of the two houses, the barn, the school house and a gig ride. The guide was very good and was related to the owners of the farm. She explained the different branches of the Amish faith and the first house belonged to the strictest branch. There is no electricity or running water. The second house was a little more “normal” but still did not have electricity. Their clothing was fascinating. Amish ladies do not even have buttons on their clothes as it is thought to be too fancy! There are very strict rules as to the style and colour of the clothes for men, women and

children for various occasions. Amish do not like having their photo taken as it is seen to be being too proud. The children’s dolls do not even have faces as it is thought to be a “graven image”. There are no Amish churches as Sunday services (lasting 3 ½ hrs) are held in a family home. The ride on the horse drawn gig (it was actually a surrey) was great. This is the normal means of transport for the Amish as they do not drive cars.

We are camped at Amish Country Campsite at Winesburg for the night. Free firewood so we will have a camp fire tonight.

 

19 Sept – We drove on thru the beautiful Amish countryside to the next town of Berlin.

On the way we passed many horse and gigs going to shop in this town. There are some strange sites. A team of horses towing a modern round hay baler would be up there however. After finding a park we looked thru several of the shops including an Amish quilting shop where Val was in seventh heaven. We are now heading S.E. towards the Ohio River. Our overnight camp was a surprise. We saw a sign on a country road and expected to find a small camp in the woods but instead it was a huge camp with many permanent trailers and 5^th wheelers. Most of them were packed up for the winter.  It rained later in the afternoon and is now much cooler. Our detour thru Ohio to ride the Guyahoga Valley Tow Path and experience the Amish lifestyle has been well worth it.

20 Sept – Only a short drive of 65 miles but we did it in three states. We set off S.E thru Ohio, crossed the Ohio River into West Virginia thru some very poor hillbilly towns and into Pennsylvania where we have camped for the night in a very small State park. After lunch we walked a great 2 mile trail thru the woods. The true “fall” colours are still not at their best yet.

21 Sept – We drove east thru Pennsylvania’s small towns and coal mining area under cloudy skies and cool temperatures. We have bypassed Pittsburgh which is north of here. Our overnight stop was at Ohiopyle State Park. In the afternoon we followed a steep track down to the town of Ohiopyle and got some great information from the tourist centre. There is a cycleway here and one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s (famous architect) houses close by so we have decided to stay another night. We trudged back up the track just before it started to drizzle.

22 Sept – A nice sunny morning so we drove back thru the town and on to the Frank Lloyd Wright house. It is called “Fallingwater” and is thought to be one of his best designs. The brief for the house was that it should feature the waterfall but instead of building it with a view of the falls he sited it at the top with the water flowing under the house. It is unbelievably beautiful, more remarkable that it was designed in 1935 and completed in 1939. Very futuristic. 

Back in the town and we cycled south on the Great Allegheny Passage. This cycleway runs from Pittsburgh in the north to Washington DC a distance of 320 miles. It is on an old railway track following the Youghiogheny River. We only cycled 9 miles ate our lunch watch people launch their canoes and then returned. A nice flat ride thru the forest with great views of the river. Back at our camp we changed sites for more sun.

23 Sept – Another three state day! We started in Pennsylvania, crossed into the “panhandle” of Maryland and ended up in West Virginia. The drive was thru beautiful countryside, a mixture of farming and forest. The “fall” colours are now on full display. We are camped at the Blackwater Falls State Park.

We spent some time researching and booking a scenic steam railway trip which we do in two days time. It was a short walk to the Blackwater Falls which were very pretty. Hopefully we will publish this blog tomorrow.